Page 71 of For The Weekend
I poke my head out in time to see my six-year-old daughter literally dragging her into our house.
“You’re awfully strong for someone so small,” Eloise laughs, careful to shut the door behind her.
“That’s ’cause I work out with Daddy.” Mazie raises her arms to flex her so-called muscles.
“And I’m not gonna take you trick-or-treating if you’re gonna act like this.” I cross my arms over my chest, leaning against the doorframe. “Hulking out on the doors and our guests.”
“Yousaid I’m strong,” she argues, but I don’t have time to have a conversation about it because she races off toward her room. “I hafta put my costume on!”
I turn my attention to Eloise in a big, fluffy pink Care Bear costume and push off the wall. “How’d you find that in two days?”
She lifts her arms out at her sides, rocking back on her heels. “You think I don’t have multiple Halloween costumes in the back of my closet?”
Of course she does.
“And you must be Fantasy Ken,” she says, gesturing at me, but I don’t get it.
“What?”
She sighs, shaking her head like she’s disappointed in me for not understanding. “You have on a white V-neck T-shirt, so I can see your tattoos and your piercings. Plus, you have a dish towel over your shoulder, meaning you’ve cooked and/or cleaned, and to top it all off, you’re wearing gray sweatpants, which makes me feel like youknowwhat you’re doing. It’s gray sweatpants season, and you’ve got a boa constrictor in them, so…” She huffs an annoyed sound and pops her hands on her hips. “Don’t play innocent with me, Roman Alan Stone.”
“That’s not my middle name.”
“Just go put some underwear on!”
For a moment, I’m stunned. She yelled at me. About my dick. And my underwear.
I don’t know what to do.
Besides laugh.
Earning what I think is a stern warning with her index finger, but I can’t be totally sure because her hands are covered by the Care Bear mitts.
“It’s all fun and games until it’s time to send me home, but you’re gonna have a real hard goddamn time because you’vedecided to be Fantasy Ken, whose job is to make me fall in love with you.”
That sobers me, and I grab the towel from my shoulder, whacking the side of her thigh with it, though I doubt she feels anything through the fur. “Fine. I’ll go change if it’ll make you happy.”
“Well, I’m sure the rest of the straight female population will hate it, but it would make me feel better, since we’re keeping this PG.”
If that’s what she wants.
But I’d be okay fucking a furry.
Didn’t see that kink coming.
Then again, never saw Eloise coming either.
I never could have expected that ball of sunshine to lodge so deeply in my chest I don’t feel like I can properly breathe unless I’m around her.
“Be right back,” I say before heading down to my room. I showered after work and didn’t bother putting on “real clothes,” but I do now, including slipping on a pair of Hanes before stepping into jeans. Down the hall, I hear Mazie giving Eloise a tour of the house, including the bathroom, Steve’s bunny condo, the kitchen, and finally, my room.
I finish pulling my hoodie down as Mazie tosses my door open with a flourish. “And this is Daddy’s bedroom.”
“Nowhere on the job description of being my daughter does it say to give house tours, especially not to my room.”
Mazie angles her head. “What are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about this habit you’ve picked up of throwing doors open, and about how you can’t open my bedroom door whenever you want. I knock on your door. You need to knock on mine.”
