“Cartoons?”
We head into the living room and I find a cartoon with superheroes on. Janet explains that since Felicity has superheroes living next door she has abandoned all her normal princess-y shows for superhero ones.
As she should. Ha.
I look down at Felicity’s little body and it’s so small compared to mine, and the primal need to protect her takes over. There’s no way I will let Harrison scare her ever again. The force of wanting her and Emma to be safe almost knocks the breath out of me. When Emma told me about Harrison showing up at her place threatening her, I almost lost my shit. It took everything in me not to go and beat the shit out of him, ensuring he would never come near my girls again. Hell, I still want to. Going to Emma’s work to guarantee she was safe made me feel weak. I wanted to smash something, that something being Harrison, but Damien and Ben convinced me to be reasonable, even though they seem almost as pissed off as I am.
Felicity stares up at me and gives me a cheeky grin, saying I’m way better than the hero on TV.
“I’m stronger, too.”
Felicity giggles and Janet gives me a knowing glance. Damien’s right—another one of the Trifecta has been lost to a woman. Well for me, it’s two.
Felicity gets restless and another swipe of her forehead with my palm shows her fever is gone.
“Can we go play outside?” Her face looks up at me, making my heart squeeze, but I also know she’s not ready for strenuous activity just yet.
“Why don’t we color?”
Her face lights up. The smile she graces me with shows almost all of her teeth. She scrambles off the couch.
“You have to be quiet. You don’t want to wake up Mommy.” Felicity nods before making her way down the hallway as quiet as she can be.
“You’re good with her,” Janet says with a big smile.
“She’s a great kid.”
“I meant Emma.”
I take a deep breath, letting her words sink into my soul. “I want nothing more than for her to be happy. Having the three of you move next door was the best thing that’s happened in my life, and when I find something worthwhile I don’t let it go.”
Now it’s time for Janet to let what I said sink in. She studies me, and I don’t hide what I’m feeling. I refuse to tell her I love Emma, not until I tell Emma first, but I let her see it on my face. She smiles before looking down the hallway making sure Felicity hasn’t come back yet. “She was hurt by Felicity’s dad. She still hasn’t told me that story, but I have a feeling she’ll open up to you if she hasn’t already.”
I keep my gaze steady. Emma trusted me with her secret. I’m not going to let her down by telling anyone, even if it’s my future mother-in-law. When she realizes I’m not going to say anything she opens her mouth, but Felicity comes back with a stack of coloring books and crayons, stopping us both from saying anymore.
I’m working on a cool fucking black bunny with big yellow eyes when Emma comes into the room. She has a short pink robe tied around her, covering the shorts she’s wearing making it appear like she’s naked under the thin material. My eyes roam over her, the caveman in me wanting to pick her up and carry her back into her room.
Emma rakes me up and down before moving her focus off me. “Why aren’t you coloring, Felicity?”
It takes me a moment to realize Felicity has abandoned me. I was so intent on making this bunny the coolest bunny ever colored, I didn’t notice Felicity left her half-finished picture and curled up on her grandma’s lap.
“I was tired,” Felicity answers, getting up and hugging her mother.
Emma touches Felicity’s head and she sighs in relief when she doesn’t feel a fever.
“I gave her a dose of medicine about three hours ago.”
Emma comes over and sinks down next to me. “That’s quite a bunny you have there.”
“That’s quite a robe you have there.” I answer, trying to keep my heated gaze off her since her daughter and mother are like four feet away.
Emma leans in, whispering in my ear, “You should see what’s under it.”
My dick surges at her low voice brushing against my ear. I lean further into the coffee table hoping to hide my arousal. “You’re going to pay for that.”
“I hope so.” Emma grabs the crayon from me finishing the back foot I’d been working on.
After we finish our badass bunny, I yawn and stretch my muscles. I can’t hide the smirk when I catch Emma’s eyes roam over the patch of stomach I revealed when lifting up my arms. She has it just as bad as I do.