Page 41 of Jealous Alpha
“I don’t care and neither should you. Let’s go get your stuff.” I held her hand all the way down the hallway. Who didn’t already know will now.
I took her back to my office and got her settled at the table and only then was I able to concentrate on my work.
Every once in a while I’d look up to find her looking at me and she’d look guiltily away with that red flush on her cheeks. No need to guess what she was thinking.
My mind would stray every so often and I’d relive the night we shared and what happened right here in this room not too long ago.
As someone who prided himself on being very disciplined when it comes to work, I didn’t even mind that she had disrupted my well organized world.
I drove her home that night after sending Stanley home early. Once in her apartment I kept my jealousy under control enough that she didn’t notice it.
It was getting easier to walk into the hallway and see his face looking back at me. As long as I held onto the fact that she was mine now nothing else mattered.
For some reason that night Amber chose to bring up her father. Maybe she had some sort of intuition I don’t know, but she wanted to show me the picture of him that she kept in her room.
As I listened to her repeat his merits as told to her by her mother, I realized how selfish I had been. I’d wanted to deny this child the knowledge of her father, something I wouldn’t want done to myself.
It was easier to accept her love and admiration for him than it was her mother’s though. I was still a little raw about that.
“Are you my daddy now?” My head flew up and around to look at her mother who’d stepped into the room. She looked like a deer caught in headlights at her daughter’s question.
What was I supposed to say? I pulled her onto my lap and held her close. “I would love to be your daddy but mommy and I have to talk about it first okay.”
“Are you going to live with us? My friend Anna has a mommy and a daddy. Her daddy plays with her in the park and he calls her his little princess. Am I your little princess?”
Yep, the both of them are tag teaming my ass to see which one of them would break my heart sooner. “Yes, you are my little princess.”
I wrapped my arms around her and dared not look at her mother who seemed to have been struck dumb.
Amber was full of questions tonight and I understood it was just the natural curiosity of a child.
I answered her the best I could before reading her a bedtime story. Alice had already given her a bath and once her story was over she fell asleep as usual.
I found Gia in the living room staring into space. “Are you okay?”
“I didn’t stop to think, what your coming here like this would do to her. I didn’t…”
I knew she was about to piss me off so I braced myself and told myself not to react poorly to whatever stupidity came out of her mouth.
“I think we should cool it for a while.”
“No!”
“What do you mean no? She’s already confused she thinks you’re going to be her new daddy.”
“She’s not confused, I am going to be here new daddy. I told you from the start that I want you both.” Breathe Evan, just in and out. No need to go off the rails like a teenage girl.
“She already has a father.”
“Don’t piss me off. I don’t want to replace him in her heart, only yours. As for her already having a father, he’s not here, I am.” She opened her mouth to speak but I cut her off.
“Did you hear her? Did you hear her talk about her friend? You think I don’t want to take her to the park and play on the swings? You think I don’t want her to have a father she can turn to?”
“This is too much for me to deal with right now.” I took a deep breath and prayed for peace of mind and the strength not to strangle her.
“What exactly is your problem with this? You want to cling onto the past so much you forget to live in the here and now? Is that good for you, is it good for her?”
“I use to think I had a problem with him, but it’s not him it’s you. I look at you and see the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen in my life.”
