Page 17 of Melody’s Little Secret

She was silent for a moment. “Ask for help?” she guessed, and I rewarded her with a smile.

“Yes,dulcita. You need to learn when things are hard, you can and should ask for help.”

“It’s hard.”

Those two words held so much meaning and I knew that she felt that, deep down, she couldn’t do it.

“It’s five words, dulcita. ‘Can you help me, please?’”

She nodded.

“Now, it’s your turn,” I coaxed.

“Can you help me, please?” she all but whispered as she stared at her bandaged knees.

“Good girl. I’d be happy to.”

Carefully I helped her out of her shirt and into the light blue sweatshirt that read “Bubbles” across the front.

“She’s my favorite Powerpuff Girl,” Melody informed me with an adorably sweet blush tinting her cheeks.

I remembered the cartoon from when we were kids and laughed.

“She was always my favorite too.”

Melody giggled and I quickly helped her out of her skirt and into the black sweatpants.

“Thank you, Daddy,” she murmured and then gasped.

It caught me by surprise too, but I didn’t want to show her that. She was in such a vulnerable state, and I was taking care of her. The way it felt so natural and easy squeezed my heart.

I needed to slow us both down a bit though.

“As much as I like hearing that from your pretty mouth, we have some things to discuss before we need to start using titles.”

“I apologize, you sort of just pulled it out of me. You keep being so kind and gentle and taking care of me and—” She cut herself off by slapping a hand across her mouth.

Tears filled her eyes just before she squeezed them closed tightly, and I felt like a complete dick. I didn’t want her to think I was dismissing her in any way. I wanted this too, but we needed to be responsible about it.

I dropped to my knees and leaned my hands on her thighs.

“Look at me, Melody.”

“I don’t want to.”

“Am I that ugly,dulcita?”

A tiny laugh bubbled out. “No.” She cracked one eye open and peeked through at me.

“Please don’t feel like I don’t want this in any way, okay? I’ve been thinking about you nonstop since we met in the restaurant and my feelings have grown in spades, but we need to take this slow and make sure we are both on the same page so that no one gets hurt.Capisci?”

“I don’t really want to agree with you.” She dropped her hands and finally opened her eyes.

“I have a feeling you do.” I took both hands in mind and kissed the palm of each. “What do you say?”

“You’re going to turn me into a melty pile of goo if you keep saying and doing sweet things.”

I smiled mischievously, my mind going a lot faster to activities I wanted to engage in with this beautiful woman.

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