Page 221 of Giddy Up, Daddy

Cade came in just as I swung my legs over the side of the bed to get up.

“A little discombobulated, I think.”

“You were a bit out of it. Saved you from getting your butt roasted. Or at least postponed the inevitable,” he teased with a wink. “Lunch is waiting. It’s still warm. Why don’t we get something on you, and get some food in your tummy?”

I nodded. “Okay.”

Cade raised a brow. “Yes, Daddy,” he corrected.

I couldn’t help but smile. “Yes, Daddy.”

“Good girl.”

I threw on some comfy clothes, then went out into the main area where Cade was setting the table.

“Smells like Mexican.” I moaned like I could already taste the yummy food on my tongue. If lunch was anything like breakfast, then I knew it was going to be delicious.

“You guessed right. Steak fajitas, just for you.”

Cade dished up food, and I dug in without even waiting for him to sit down. The steak was perfectly seasoned and so tender. The veggies were crisp and fresh and cooked to perfection, and the tortillas tasted like they were freshly pulled from a cooktop.

I danced happily in my seat as we ate our fill. Cade was quiet, but that wasn’t too far out of the norm. When he had something to talk about, he would talk, and when he didn’t, he wouldn’t. Simple as that. No need to fill the comfortable silence.

“I don’t think I can eat another bite.” I sat back in my seat halfway through my third taco and put my hands on my tummy. I was going to get spoiled with all this yummy food if I wasn’t careful.

Cade reached over and took it from my plate, finishing it in one bite.

“Bottomless pit,” I teased.

“Maybe. Now are you ready to talk?”

“What do we need to talk about?”

I dropped my gaze to the table to avoid eye contact. Now that it felt like everything was out in the open, what more did we really need to discuss?

Cade took a deep breath. “I just need to know where we stand. I need to hear that you want this, and that you’re all in. I need to know this isn’t some itch you need to scratch.”

“What? Itch I can scratch? Where did that even come from?”

“Things have been one way the entire time we’ve known each other, and the change is so sudden. I just need to know this is what you want. That I am what you want.”

I couldn’t really argue with him. Things had happened at lightning speed, but why was it all on me? “You’re all I want. It may have taken me a while to come to terms with it, or whatever, but you’re all I’ve wanted for a really long time. I was just scared. This is big and scary and…” I wasn’t sure I wanted to voice all of my fears. I knew he would have some of the same, and if I started down that spiral again, I didn’t know if I could come back from it.

“I was scared in the beginning, I can’t lie about that, but I want this, Rip. I think we owe it to ourselves to give it a real go.”

“A-and the Daddy part? You’re sure that’s okay?”

“More than okay.”

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “So we’re a thing, then. This is a real thing.”

He nodded. “We are. It is.”

I looked down at my hands and fidgeted with my fingers. “What does that really mean? How much is going to change?”

Chapter Twelve

Cade

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