Page 117 of Daddy's Naughty List

Heating her mug of hot chocolate for the fifth time, Bliss pulled her hair back from her face with the hairband adorned with lighted deer antlers. Next, she grabbed the green-mud mask from the basket and slathered it all over her face. It smelled like peppermint.

While her face mask dried, she applied the first coat of bright-red nail polish to her toes and wedged the toe separators in place. She was halfway through the second coat when someone knocked on her front door.

Thinking it must be Winnie, Bliss heel-walked—toes angled toward the ceiling, hands held out for balance, fingers spread wide so as not to smudge her fingernails—to the door. She had the most thoughtful sister in the world. Winnie always did things to make her feel special.

Bliss opened the door. “Hi! I can’t believe Reid let you?—”

Connor stood in the doorway, eyes twinkling, lips twitching. “Nice antlers, trouble.”

Bliss’s entire body flashed cold seconds before waves of humiliation washed over her. “Connor! What are you doing here? Go away!” Before he could say anything else, she slammed the door in his face.

She leaned back against the door in case he decided to walk in on his own. Like her leaning against the door would stop him. She glanced around at the disaster that was her house. Served him right if he was going to stop by unannounced.

She snatched the blinking neon antlers from her head and tossed them on the nearby table, trying not to cry. With a groan, she leaned forward and buried her face in her hands. That was when she remembered the mud mask she’d smeared all over her face. Shrieking, she dashed to the kitchen sink, half-blind by the mud she’d somehow gotten in her eye. Man, that burned.

Since she couldn’t see where she was going, she kicked over the end table she’d shifted when she’d been cutting out paper snowflakes earlier. It toppled over, sending her and the lamp sitting on the table crashing to the floor. With a howl of pain, she clutched her now throbbing toe.

Eyes wide, she covered her mouth with her hand, but it was too little, too late. Frightened baby cries rang out from the bedroom, and it took all she could do not to join in.

Connor barreled in through the front door and ran to her side. “Baby, are you okay? Here, let me see.” He took her foot in his hands and gently tugged the toe separator from her foot. He inspected it, running careful fingers over each bone. “I don’t think anything’s broken. What were you doing racing around on your heels with those foam knuckle things between your toes?”

“How do you know I was racing around?” Was he Superman or something, able to see through solid walls?

“I don’t have to be Superman to look through the window, trouble. And we’ll be talking about closing your curtains at night. But it sounds like you’ve got other people who need your attention right now.”

Her gaze shot to the closed door leading to the bedroom. The babies had gone from crying to howling. Pushing to her feet, she hobbled that way, but Connor grabbed her arm. His muttered, “Hold on,” was all she got before he lifted her in his arms and carried her to the counter next to the kitchen sink.

“Let’s get this… this whatever this is, off your face.” He pulled out a rag from the nearest drawer and held it under the tap. Once it was wet, he used it to wipe the mud from her face.

As he dabbed at her cheeks, she wondered: What would it be like to have a real Daddy who would look after her like this? His long fingers were thick and calloused, but he held her as if he was afraid she might break. She’d give anything if he could be her Daddy. But the cries from the bedroom were a clear reminder of why that couldn’t happen.

It broke her heart. Connor would be a great father. Since she’d learned about his childhood, she understood. But it was still sad. She needed to remember he wouldn’t want to be in the life she had now. She needed to draw a line between them. If he kept dropping by like this, her heart was going to get broken. Again.

Taking the rag from him, she finished the task of cleaning her face. “What are you doing here? It’s kind of late.”

“I called you over an hour ago to tell you I was stopping by like I said I would last night. You didn’t answer your phone, so I left a message. Didn’t you get it?”

“What message?”

His brow got that crease in the middle, right between his brows. “I left a message to call me if it wasn’t convenient. Is your phone charged up?”

“Yes.” She had charged it. But she put it on silent when she was getting the babies down for their nap that morning, and now she couldn’t find it. But he didn’t need to know that.

“You said you needed to tell me something. So, I stopped by to hear what it was.”

Um. Yikes! Last night they’d been around family and friends. There were people there in case he got mad. Now, it was just the two of them. She wasn’t sure that was a good idea. Not that she thought he’d hurt her or anything. But he might want an explanation.

What if he didn’t like what she said? Hope flared in her chest at the thought. Maybe when he found out about Nori, he’d realize he’d been wrong before. Maybe he’d decide he wanted kids of his own. Maybe.

He helped her down from the counter and walked with her to the bedroom. “Do you need any help? With getting them settled back down, I mean?”

“I think I can do it,” she responded, letting him off the hook.

It took only seconds to see Nori was the most upset. “Poor baby,” she crooned at her youngest as she lifted her from her crib. “Did I scare you with all that noise? It’s okay.”

She could probably get the twins settled back down if she could get Nori out of the room. “Hold on, you two,” she said. “Let me put your sister in her bouncy seat, and I’ll be right back.”

Bliss walked into the great room with Nori. Connor jumped to his feet from the armchair. “Is she all right?” He looked almost panicked, but Bliss didn’t dare smile.

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