Page 14 of Lilly's Little Labor Day

“Yes, Daddy,” she said playfully, sticking her tongue out.

She meant the comment sarcastically, but oh how it felt so good to call him that!

“And if he steps out of line in any way, you’ll call me. Right?”

“I will,” she said. “Look, I know you’re just doing what a big brother does. Thank you. But I’ll be fine.” She reached across the table and patted his hand. “It makes me feel better knowing you’re looking out for me. You’re the best!”

She stood up, hugged his neck, and kissed his cheek before skipping away to get ready for her date.

As she made her way upstairs and to her bedroom, she was all giggles and smiles.

That had sure felt good calling him that.

Daddy.

It just had a wonderful ring to it.

Chapter 7

Edward didn’t like this one bit.

Lilly was too inexperienced and naïve to be out there on a date with some guy she met on the internet. And Edward didn’t know why, but something about this Blake guy didn’t sit well with him.

As to what that might be, he had no idea. He knew next to nothing about the man. But his instincts were heightened and raising alarm. He’d learned to trust those instincts, too. You don’t make it as far as he had in life without a sharp intuition.

He needed something to go on, though.

Lilly hadn’t been gone five minutes when he decided to do a bit of snooping. Was he being overprotective? Yep. Was it a little douchie to rifle through her things? Sure was. Was it wrong? Nope. Someone had to look out for the kid.

So he got to work.

He sat down at the desk in her bedroom and stared at the computer screen. She hadn’t bothered to shut it down, but it was locked. He thought over his options. There was a good chance the computer wouldn’t tell him anything. Almost everything was done on smartphones now. The chances of her accessing the dating program on her PC were slim. But it was on, meaning she’d had it booted up for something.

He touched the keyboard, causing the password entry screen to appear.

He put his hands on the keyboard, ready to type, and tried their parents’ names. He quickly saw it was a passcode instead. His fingers hovered over the 10-keypad. He typed in his birthday and smiled as the lock screen faded to reveal her desktop.

Cute. Kinda sweet. But easily hacked.

He opened her internet browser and checked her history.

What he saw shocked him.

“I know this site,” he said, clicking on it.

Sure enough, it was a site he’d visited numerous times. He’d used a fake name, not wanting to reveal his true identity since he was well known. He would have had to eventually confess who he was, but things had not progressed that far. He’d never found a Little who seemed like a good fit, so he’d stopped perusing months ago. Had he stayed active on the site a little longer, he would have seen his little stepsister.

“Well, this confirms that,” he said.

He spun the padded chair around and stared at Lilly’s bed where the diapered Ms. Duckworth sat.

“She’s a Little.”

Ms. Duckworth only smiled in confirmation.

A myriad of emotions seized Edward, all competing for mental dominance. On one hand, it thrilled him to know Lilly was a Little. Why wouldn’t it? He was a Daddy. Plain and simple. Knowing that the girl who drove him wild—the one he’d had so many dreams about—was a Little confirmed everything he’d suspected.

Not to mention what the knowledge did to his imagination.

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