Page 289 of Tempted By her Daddies

“Umm. I mean, please can I have Atlas.”

“That’s much better and no.”

“N-no?” He’d said no? But Roman rarely told her no. Although Dada seemed to do it quite a bit.

Which was really no fair.

Because she didn’t like that word.

“I don’t like that word,” she huffed as he shook out the green dress and put it on her.

“I’m sure you don’t. Although you probably hear it a lot.”

“Far more than I should, that’s for sure.”

He managed to get the dress on and then the ruffly bloomers. Then he undid the belt tying her to the changing unit so he could sit her up and put her arms through.

“Dada, Atlas is lonely on the floor.”

“Well, Atlas should have thought of that before he started to play the ‘throw me in the air’ game.”

Oh.

“You saw that?” she asked.

“I did. Now, there you are. All snug as a bug in a rug.”

“Why would I want to be a bug in a rug?” she asked.

“Huh. You know, I don’t know. That’s just the saying.” He lifted her down onto the floor and she rushed over to snatch up Atlas.

“It’s okay, puppy. You’re with me now. Dada wouldn’t have left you on the floor forever,” she reassured him. Then she pretended to listen as he spoke. “Atlas, Dada does like you.” She thrust her puppy up into Roman’s face. “Tell Atlas you love him.”

“Ahh.”

“Dada!” she exclaimed, stomping her foot. “Atlas thinks that you don’t like him because you were going to leave him on the floor. Kiss him and make up.”

“Ahh, how about I just call him a good boy and pat his head?”

“Hmm. Let me see.” She listened to Atlas. “He said that’s acceptable if you don’t leave him on the floor again.”

“Perhaps Atlas should talk to you since you’re the one that threw him up in the air and failed to catch him.”

She hugged her toy tight. “I tried to catch him, but he’s really bad at that game.”

“Ahh, I see.” He nodded. “Now, what do you think of your outfit?” He led her to the large antique mirror with a gilded gold frame. It was meant to be free-standing, but Alexei had said that it would be safer if it was mounted to the wall. Something about not wanting it to fall on her.

He was such a worrywart.

All that worrying was definitely giving him frown lines.

She peered into the mirror, then smiled and clapped her hands. “It’s so pretty, Dada!”

“Good.”

“I haven’t seen this one before.” The material was a soft, pale green and there were daffodil buttons up the front and at the cuffs. “I love it!”

“Good. I bought it for you.”

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