Page 16 of Willa’s Weddings

Jasmine reached across the table and squeezed my hand too. “I’m happy for you, babe. For real.”

“Me too,” said Briana.

Cassie grinned. “Next time, bring him so we can all stare at his arms together.”

I snorted but then remembered the second part of his conversation. “Oh, yeah. There’s one more thing.”

They all looked at me, waiting for the next bomb to drop. This one was almost bigger than the first one. Mostly because I didn’t think any of them would expect this from me. “Well, you know how everyone likes to call Troy “Daddy Troy”?

They all nodded and looked at each other, clearly wondering where I was going with this line of conversation.

“Well, that ends now. He’s my Daddy only. You can call him anything else, but Daddy is mine and I won’t share him.”

8

TROY

By Friday morning, I couldn’t take it anymore. I needed to see my girl.

Despite being scheduled to stay for the weekend, I managed to bribe Ben with an all-expense paid snowboarding weekend and got him to cover for me so I could head out early. By beating the afternoon rush hour, I was mere hours away from holding my sweet baby in my arms and letting her know how much she meant to me.

The week we spent apart was a good test of our brand-new relationship. That’s what I told myself, anyway. I wanted to prove that I could give her space and not worry about her every second of the day, but that was a lie.

Once I knew how sweet and feisty and vulnerable and independent that girl could be, I wanted more of it. More of her. Every part of her. Relying on brief texts and whispered bedtime calls was tough but it made my commitment to her and our budding relationship even stronger. I loved that wild thing, and I was done pretending I didn’t.

Willa didn’t make things easier on us either.

On Monday, she sent a meme of a baby goat headbutting a guy in the crotch and captioned it with “Guess which one is me.” On Wednesday, she told me about her outing with the girls and that they were all on board with our new dynamic…and her rule. I thought it was cute that she was suddenly possessive of me and was grateful her friends were on our side. On Thursday, she called just before midnight with a whispered, barely-awake “Hi Daddy” that made my heart expand almost as much as my dick.

How could anyone expect me to not ditch work early to get back to her?

During our calls, I was more interested in hearing about her day with clients and vendors and all the things she had to deal with as a wedding planner, but I gave her brief highlights of what I was doing too. That included the fact that I spent all of my lunch break in the lobby of the county health clinic on Tuesday to get a full blood panel done. Not because I had a reason to worry, but because I wanted to be able to show her cold, hard, medical proof that I was clean.

Willa would have trusted my word, but it was important to me that she had no reason to ever doubt me. Also, I didn’t like the idea of her taking a man at his word. Whether it was me or anyone else, she needed to always put her health and safety first.

I didn’t know if she’d gone to her own doctor yet. I put it on her online chore list as a gentle nudge, but when she didn’t bring it up, I let it go. I would never press her to move faster than she wanted.

Willa could take her sweet time with everything, but I was ready whenever she was.

More than ready. It’d only taken a single night together to turn me into a fucking addict, and in just a few days of being able to claim her as my girl, I was completely hooked. She was it for me, and I was fairly confident she felt the same way about me.

It was raining when I parked in front of her place. Not a heavy downpour, but a drizzle just steady enough to make everything look softer and sadder than it really was. As I approached her front door, I could see into her living room through the window. The lights were on, and a greenish glow from the TV leaked through the glass.

I ran my fingers through my wet hair and pulled the teddy bear I’d picked up for her out from under my jacket. It was a princess teddy with a tutu and pink slippers. Despite having just talked to her an hour ago and hearing the longing to be with me in her voice, I was still nervous about just arriving unannounced.

After a ridiculous argument with myself on the front steps, I cleared my throat and knocked on her door.

There was a long pause and I wondered if she was busy…or hurt. Then, finally, I heard a soft shuffling sound before Willa cracked the door open just far enough to peek outside.

She was wearing the same shirt I put on her before I left and based on the stains across the front, I was fairly certain she hadn’t washed it at all. Her hair was pulled into a lopsided ponytail, and she was wearing a sock on her left foot while her right one was bare.

She was the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen. I opened my arms and just stared at her. “My gorgeous Willa Rose.”

“Daddy!” She threw the door open all the way and flung herself into my arms. “How are you here? You’re supposed to be working.”

I grinned and inhaled the strawberry scent coming from her hair. “I delegated. Well, bribed. Same thing.”

“Whatev. I’m just so happy to see you.”