Total pages in book: 51
Estimated words: 48550 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 243(@200wpm)___ 194(@250wpm)___ 162(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 48550 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 243(@200wpm)___ 194(@250wpm)___ 162(@300wpm)
They sat there quietly for several minutes. She appreciated that he didn’t rush her at all, but instead allowed her to rotate on the bench to look at each of the four paintings surrounding her.
“There’s another room?” she asked when she thought she’d memorized everything.
“Let’s go see it. Then perhaps, you’d like to pick up a book in the gift shop.”
“Yes, please.”
A couple of hours after their entrance, she forced herself to leave. “I can’t believe they had a coloring book as well.” Amber almost skipped with excitement. The kind shopkeeper had even produced a set of colored pencils with a wide display of colors. That would make the long flight home so much more enjoyable.
“And a raspberry beret for you as well,” Rio said, tweaking the slouchy hat perched on her head.
“Because you like pink, Daddy.”
They walked along in silence for several minutes, each lost in their thoughts.
“Why now, Rio? Why did you come back to Avondale now?”
“You were there. It was time to see if you’d forgotten the guy behind the bar or if I was right that we had something special.”
“And if I’d been married with kids in high school?”
“I would have remembered you fondly and dreamed of what might have been.”
“You wouldn’t have fought for me?” Amber stopped abruptly in the middle of the sidewalk.
Rio steered her to the side and stood protecting her from being bumped by other pedestrians. “I would not have ripped apart a family if you were happy with someone else.”
Amber studied his face. No, Rio would have never done that. He’d only ever wanted her to be happy. “It killed you to leave, didn’t it?”
“Yes.”
“Then we need to make the most of our time together now.”
Amber pushed her regret of not having Rio in her life for so long out of her heart and mind for the last time. She wouldn’t waste time thinking about what coulda, woulda, shoulda been. It was time to enjoy having him in her life.
“Could we go back to our room for a nap?” she asked, peeking up at him.
“A nap or something else, hmm?”
She knew the flood of heat to her face gave her plans away completely. Rio wrapped an arm around her waist to hug her closely and reached for the last two metro tickets to get them back to the hotel.
“It’s time for Daddy to examine a precious work of art he gets to take home tomorrow.”
Rio leaned against the seatback on the plane with his arm around his Little girl. He couldn’t believe how much had happened in such a short amount of time. Tenderly, he brushed back a lock of hair that had fallen over her face.
“Daddy?” she whispered at his touch.
“Go back to sleep, Ella. Daddy’s got you.”
She clutched the green stuffie a bit tighter to her chest and tumbled back into sleep. Amber had worried about having Limey out of her carryon during the flight but had struggled to fall asleep without him. With Limey tucked under the light airplane blanket, she’d relaxed enough to sleep.
Using one hand, Rio accessed the plane’s Wi-Fi and checked his messages. Finding an urgent message, he read the contents carefully before easing his arm from around Amber to pull his computer from his case. He was deep into a stack of spreadsheets when she woke and looked around.
Immediately, she carefully tucked Limey back into her bag and looked around to see if anyone had noticed.
“You’re okay, Ella. Did you have a nice nap?”
“You’re working?” she asked and grimaced at the thought. “I guess we can’t stay on vacation all the time.”
“You’d miss nursing,” he guessed.
“Most days, I’d agree. Others…” She allowed her voice to trail off before looking past him into the aisle. “I think I need to go to the bathroom.”
Rio quickly marked his spot and jotted a few notes. With that done, he closed his computer. Before standing to let her scoot past, Rio leaned over and instructed, “Take your panties off, Little girl, and bring them to me.”
She looked at him in astonishment before hissing, “I can’t sit on the plane without underwear on.”
“You can.” Rio stood and stepped out of the row.
“I’m not going to do that,” she muttered at him as she passed.
“Guidelines,” Rio reminded her.
He watched as she shook her head no the entire trip up the aisle. She turned to meet his gaze at the door. When he nodded, she darted into the small airplane restroom.
Watching her settle into her role as a Little girl enchanted him. Change was always hard, but for someone who had hidden that Little girl inside herself for twenty years, it was a challenge. Rio would never push her past her limits, but he definitely intended to challenge Amber. She needed to learn to accept his authority.
A small line formed outside the bathrooms as he waited for her to return. When the door finally opened, Amber dodged the other passengers in the aisle to return to him. She did not meet his gaze.