Page 20 of Daddy’s Protecting

“Of course.” Dirk stepped out of the car door and reached a hand to help Cynthia step out. “Let’s go get your stuffie first.”

“Please.” Cynthia wanted to run inside to greet her stuffie, but it was rude to burst into someone else’s house.

As if he could read her mind, Dirk suggested, “Go on, sweetheart. Go get Bullyboo.”

Cynthia didn’t need to be told twice. She ran inside and headed straight for Dirk’s bedroom. Bullyboo lay on his dresser, slumped over on his side. He looked like he’d heard the garage door open and tried to race to her side. She lifted him carefully into her arms and rocked him, covering his head with kisses.

“I missed you, Bullyboo. Did you try to run to me and forgot you didn’t know how to walk?” she questioned as she moved without thinking to sit on the foot of the enormous bed.

“He definitely missed you,” Dirk observed from the doorway.

Looking up to see him lounging against the doorframe, Cynthia realized where she was. She jumped to her feet. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have sat on your bed.”

“You’re fine. Sit and talk to Bullyboo. He wants to make sure you’re okay,” Dirk instructed, walking inside and shrugging out of his coat. “I’ll get changed and make us some dinner. And I’ll make sure not to put on red.”

“Red?” She looked at him, confused.

“Bulls and red supposedly don’t mix well.”

An image of Bullyboo chasing Dirk around the house flashed through her mind, and Cynthia couldn’t hold back her giggles. She held her stuffie up and moved his front hooves to make him stomp on the floor. She laughed even harder when Dirk held his elegant suit jacket out to the side and shook it like a red cape in front of her.

In a flash, she and Bullyboo leapt from the bed to charge the waving material. When they cleared the fabric, Dirk whirled it around his head and taunted them with the pretend cape again. With a mighty roar, Cynthia lunged forward again. This time, Dirk wrapped the jacket around her, whisking her off her feet to whirl around in a circle while hugging her tight to his body.

“Whee!” she squealed, enjoying the playtime.

“Little girl,” he said as he set her feet on the floor.

Cynthia met Dirk’s gaze and her laughter died away as another emotion gathered inside her. Swallowing hard, she gathered her courage and lifted her chin to offer him her lips. Without a second’s hesitation, Dirk’s mouth captured hers.

His lips wooed hers with sweet kisses that welcomed her home. Cynthia wrapped her arms around his neck and clung to him for strength. Still holding her stuffie carefully in her hand, she pressed herself as close to him as possible. The fabric wrapped around her dropped to the floor as he stroked his hands up and down her spine.

When he finally lifted his mouth, Dirk said softly, “Damn, I missed you, Cindy girl.”

“I missed you, too. Thank you for getting me out of there.”

“A Daddy does all he can to protect his Little girl.”

“I don’t know why you’d want me for a Little girl. I seem to draw bad luck to me,” she confessed sadly.

“Maybe it’s time to change that,” he suggested.

“How?” Cynthia tilted her head to the right to look at him quizzically. “I don’t know what I do to attract it.”

“First off, we need to keep your former family members far, far away from you. Then perhaps you need someone to talk to when things get scary—someone who cares about you and will help you think through your options. Sometimes, a different view on troubling events can pinpoint a way out of troubled situations,” he shared.

“Why would you even want to get close to this train wreck?” Cynthia asked, waving Bullyboo up and down her body to indicate herself.

“Maybe I see something inside you that makes everything else look inconsequential.”

“The Little girl? I try really hard to hide her and be strong.”

“Little girls are the bravest people I know. They allow themselves to live their truth and dare to trust someone to take care of them,” Dirk stated firmly.

“You believe that?”

“Of course. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t be a Daddy, would I?” he questioned.

Impulsively, Cynthia rose to her tiptoes and pressed her mouth against his. She loved that he allowed her to control the kiss for a few sweet moments before deepening her peck into an exchange that made her curl her fingers into his broad shoulders to hold on. When she finally dropped her heels back to the carpet, Cynthia breathed heavily as she looked at him in wonder.

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