Full.
Nothing missin’ except for the place inside me that called out for him. The piece of me that needed to remain silent because I didn’t need any bad ideas shouting in my ear.
When I finished, I tipped up her chin to look down at my sweet girl. “What should we do today?”
She didn’t get time to answer before the doorbell chimed from downstairs.
Daisy’s dark eyes went wide with excitement, while a bolt of terror zipped down my spine.
Would he dare show his ridiculously gorgeous face here after what my daddy had walked in on last night?
He was lucky he hadn’t been chased off the property with a shotgun.
But this was Richard Ramsey we were talking about.
Of course, he was cocky enough to do that.
Daisy jumped up and down. “We gots company. Let’s go. Let’s go. You gotsta come because you know opening doors is another one of those rules I’m not supposed to be breakin’.”
Ugh. Did I have to? Hiding under my bed seemed like a better solution.
“Come on!” She tugged at my hand.
“Fine.” I followed her out, wearing only a tank and sleep pants and a heavy coat of anxiety, praying that it was a visitor for my mama. I edged out of my bedroom only to hear my daddy opening the front door.
And all that dread doubled.
Turbulence striking the air the second the door swung open and the shafts of bright light streaked into the room.
A silhouette stood in the blaze of them.
A god that had descended.
Graced the paupers with his immaculate presence.
The man so tall and powerful and stealing my breath.
Safe to say, Daddy was not impressed. “How dare you return to this home.”
But Daisy was already clamoring downstairs and shrieking with delight. “Mr. Richard! Mr. Richard! Did you come to see me?”
She beelined for the door.
When she got to my daddy’s side, he snatched her hand to keep her from going any farther. She popped up on her toes, leaning that way, like she was intent to do it, anyway.
Sheer, unmitigated enthusiasm.
Like she was immune to the violent tumult that raged and stroked through the air.
“I already missed you so much,” she sang, grinning her grin and the man was returning one, too.
“Well, that must have been because I was thinking about you…missing you, too.” That grumbly voice floated up to my ears.
A whisper.
A promise.
Agony pierced me. The stake of an arrow. Stalling my footsteps and expelling the breath from my lungs.
I’d warned him.
Warned him that she loved fast and loved hard.
She’d fall for him as hard as I had. Get swept up in the radiance of his presence. Consumed by what it felt like to stand in his flame.
Then he’d be gone. Attention hijacked by something more interesting. Something flashier and shinier and brand new.
Before we knew it, he’d be on to the next bigger, better thing.
I had the sudden, sharp urge to intervene. Stop it from happening. I hurried the rest of the way down the steps, only to falter when his face fully came into view.
When those intense sage eyes landed on me. A meadow in the middle of a raging storm.
An eclipse fighting against the light.
That gaze took me in like I was the piece he’d been missing.
What he was on the hunt for.
What he would fight for until the bitter end.
His presence a heavy, swelling sea.
A tidal wave that rushed.
But it was the gash and butterfly bandage on his forehead and the massive bruise surrounding it that hadn’t been there yesterday that had me gasping and rushing the rest of the way toward him.
Nothing but a fool.
“Richard. Oh my god. What happened to you? Are you okay?”
Grimacing, he shook his head. “Guess karma came to pay a visit.”
He glanced at my father when he said that.
My daddy scoffed. “Not soon enough.”
“Daddy,” I chastised.
He shot me a look over his shoulder that hiked to his ear. “What? I speak no lies. Unlike someone else around here.” He shifted his attention back to Richard when he said that.
Discomfort bounded.
“Don’t you know lyin’ is one of the rules you aren’t supposed to go breaking?” Daisy’s sweet voice cut through the disquiet. “Hey, what you got there?”
She hopped from one subject to the next without taking a breath, and she freed her hand from my father’s clutch when she noticed Richard was holding a wrapped box tucked to his hip.
She moved closer to him to get a better look.
But the only thing I could do was stare at his face.
That stunning, handsome face that was marred and deformed.
Injured.
He knelt in front of my daughter.
My spirit thrashed.
Richard’s expression flashed through a thousand emotions.
Regret and hope.
Hurt and love.
Worry and devotion.
Things he had no right to be feelin’.
It didn’t matter a bit that I knew that fact. I was still frozen in them.
Ensnared.
The man nothin’ but quicksand.
Eyes swimming with affection, he handed my daughter the present like he was offering a piece of himself. “Wanted to check on you. Give you this.” His voice was raw, the man taking her in like he would be the one to single-handedly ensure her safety. “My ma, my sister, and I were super upset about what happened yesterday. We were worried about you, and we wanted you to know how much we were thinking about you. Thought you might like what’s inside.”
“Is that a present for me?” Daisy’s voice lifted five octaves and her eyebrows shot to the sky with excitement when she realized he’d brought her a gift.
Shit.
This was spiraling out of control and fast.
“Yeah. It’s for you.”
“Oh yay! Oh, Mommy, looks it, I got a present.” She took it without saying anything else and dropped to the floor so she could unwrap it.
Paper flew as she tore it free.
Then she was squealing more when she popped the lid from the box to reveal the pair of cute black patent leather dress shoes tucked inside.
She squeezed her hands together and held them to her chest, her shoulders hitching to her ears. “Oh, I got
