Page 53 of The Billionaire Bodyguard Next Door

CHAPTER19

Beck

The restof the evening was pure torture. We didn't have any alone time. Not when Faith insisted on having us all cook dinner together and then called Sebastian so she could show him that she was just fine.

Alice kept giving me a strange look, probably because both me and Luna were unusually quiet.

Luckily, Faith used her socialite sparkle to smooth over any weirdness.

Still, I sat there dumbfounded as I took a bite of bruschetta. I’d fucked up the numbers. Luna had wanted me to call her. I’d been holding onto this ridiculous grudge for years wondering how things might have been different had we…

“We’re going to have dessert after this, right?” Alice asked.

Alice.

I wouldn't have Alice if I had gotten the phone number right all those years ago. As much as I had envisioned a future with Luna after less than twenty-four hours of knowing her, if she had answered I wouldn't have my precious girl.

I wouldn't have been stupid enough to go out and drink, seeking solace in someone else. Not when I'd just met who I thought wasmyperson. My end game.

Now I just had to sit here eating dinner like I hadn't just had the biggest revelation of my life. I couldn't even taste anything, my mind and body were too busy thinking and replaying the interaction from earlier.

I glanced at the clock across the room. Alice would go to bed in a few short hours and then I'd corner Luna and make her tell me her side of the story.

I'd been such an asshole to her. Egging her on because I thought she’d tossed me away like yesterday’s trash.

When all this time she’d been thinking the exact same thing about me.

How had we fucked this up so bad?

Probably pride. At least on my end.

Then Jasmine got pregnant with Alice, and I had no time to pine over what could have been with a woman I thought didn't want me.

Hypotheticals andwhat ifsswirled around in my brain.

“What do you think, Daddy?”

Alice had asked me a question, and I had no idea what it was.

“Sorry, sweetheart. What was that?” I narrowed my focus on her, tuning out everything else around me. The exact opposite of the rigorous training from my time in the Marines and frankly the antithesis of what I should be doing as someone actively on guard watch despite there being little to no threats to Faith and her safety.

Alice had her hands on her thighs as she bounced in her chair, the food half eaten on her plate. “Can I have a slumber party with Faith and Sebastian's mom?”

Constance had joined us for dinner. Sebastian's mom lived in a cottage located southwest of the main house. I had an unobstructed view of the front door which was painted a bright barn red. Because it was on Sebastian's property, the house came fully equipped with the latest and greatest Steele Cyber Security had to offer.

I shook my head. “You want to do what?”

Constance wiped the corner of her mouth with a linen napkin. “I made a chocolate silk pie earlier today, and I thought the girls might like some. Then I figured we would turn it into a girls' night...”

Faith nodded along, picking up where Constance left off. “We want to set up in the living room, play some board games, maybe decorate cookies, and braid hair. You know, girly things.”

“I'm all for a girl's night but I'd rather sleep in a real bed,” Luna said.

“Oh, you're not invited,” Faith said with a smile.

Luna reared her head back. “What do you mean I'm not invited?”

Faith held her ground. “You need your beauty rest, and you can't manage that if you're sleeping on an air mattress. Nope, I won't hear of it. You need to spend time in the main house where it's quiet and you can be near a bed.”

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