Page 323 of Dark Love

Well then, I guess I’m going to need to make a bunch more brownies and pick up some flowers.

Fathers And Book Talk!

Dahlia

It’s a short walk from my much smaller townhouse to the Vincenti mansion just a few doors down. The sheer size of it would be intimidating if it didn’t have such a family feel to it.

I knock on the door and wait patiently.

The door swings open.

“Do I have the wrong house?” Because the stunning man standing in front of me isn’t Talon Vincenti and he’s certainly not old enough to be Hope’s unreasonable father.

“If those are homemade brownies on that plate, this is the right place.”

The ridiculous statement makes me laugh. “They are.”

“Then come on in. Dinner is almost ready.”

“You’d invite a total stranger in just to eat their brownies?”

“If thatstranger is as beautiful as you are, my answer would be yes every single time.”

This guy is a riot. I can’t help but smile along with him. “I’m sorry to disappoint you, but I promised two little girls I’d help them write a book and convince a stubborn man that romance novels are just as valid as any other genre.”

The man tips his head to the side, causing his blond springy curls to bounce around his stunningly expressive face. He must have women falling all over themselves to get his attention. “You can’t leave without letting me have a brownie and your number.”

A giggle bursts out of me. “You can have a brownie.” I made enough of them this afternoon to feed an army.

“But not your number?”

“No.”

“Interesting. What if I told you I was a billionaire? Would you give me your number then?”

The absurdity of this has me laughing even more. “Not even then.”

“What if I can tell you where the two imps you’re looking for live?”

“Still no. But I could have sworn they live here.” I twist around on the stoop to get my bearings. This is the house. I mean, I’ve only been over a few times, but still, it’s hard to mistake a place that looks like this even in a street full of town houses.

“They do. The girls in question are my daughter Hope and my sister Milia.”

“Daughter?!? Hope is your daughter? How is that possible?”

“When a boy falls in love with a girl…”

I shove the brownies into his arms and grab my belly. I’m laughing so hard it hurts. A handsome man just felt the need to explain to me how babies are made.

When I’m finally able to breathe and stand up, he says, “It seems that I’m the stubborn man you need to convince.” His hand slides under the wrapping to nab a brownie. “If these are as good as they look, call me convinced.”

“Unfairly judging an entire genre isn’t a trivial matter. As a man raising an intelligent and independent girl, you should know how important it is for her to be exposed to literature of all types. Excluding one type of literature because you don’t understand it is wrong on every level.”

The man blinks twice at me. His face is completely inscrutable.

Questioning his parenting skills probably wasn’t the brightest idea, but the thought of that little girl being denied the right to read a book or fall in love is too much not to say something.

“Hope Vincenti, get over here!”

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