Page 16 of Made for Us

Penelope walks up to her, and she talks quietly to her as I watch. She has always been good to Penelope. Even before I knew she was my daughter, it was Abigail sitting beside her bed, making sure she was never alone, out of the pureness of her heart. I walk over to them, getting beside Abigail as I watch her. My hands now mimic hers as we build the foundation of the castle. Our hands touch each other as we pat down the sand. My whole body fills with feeling from her little touch. I’m trying not to overthink it when I hear her say, “Now, how about we add some steps?” Penelope just nods as she shows her how to do a step. “Now your turn,” she tells Penelope, who does her own step. “Now it’s Dad’s turn.” She smiles at me.

I move over, making the longest step for the bottom. “Well, we have steps.” She claps her hands. “Now, let’s make a couple of towers.” She gets up, and Penelope follows her as they make four corner towers.

I can’t help but watch how effortlessly she is doing this. Not caring that her bathing suit is getting dirty. Not caring she is spending all her time with my girl and me. Not caring about anything else, only focusing on making sure she finishes this castle. She gets up and grabs a pail of sand, and then turns it upside down on the foundation. We work side by side the whole time as we put in more towers. I lean down to grab the pail at the same time she does, and our hands touch again. “I’ve got it,” I tell her, and she moves her hand away. “So are we on step five?”

She laughs at me. “That is the fun of this. We have already worked into step five,” she tells me. “We just have to shape things.”

“It’s hot,” Penelope complains, getting up and looking at the water. She walks over and I think she will rinse off her hands. After a minute, I look over and see Penelope is in the water with the other girls.

“Penelope!” I call her name. “Stay where I can see you.”

“I’ve got her,” Xavier assures, walking past me toward the water with Vivienne behind him. “You two can continue to play in the sand.”

“Just watch my daughter while I build her a sandcastle,” I huff, turning back and looking at Abigail. “It’s okay. You can go and grab a drink or whatever, and I’ll finish the rest.”

“Um, not on my watch.” She shakes her head. “Although, I will go and get us something to drink, but I’m invested now.” She puts down her pail. “What do you want to drink?”

“Get me what you are having,” I tell her, “and a bottle of water.”

“Got it.” She brushes the sand off her hands as she turns and walks over to the tiki bar. Her ass is on fucking point, and my cock starts to rise. I look around to make sure no one is looking at me before I walk back into the water and beg my dick to go down. When I see her coming back holding two white drinks in her hands with umbrellas, I almost groan. Not only is her ass on point, but I’m pretty sure her tits can fit perfectly in my hands.

I think about walking out of the water, but my cock is still awake, and I can’t do anything to shield him. “Tomorrow, I’m wearing bigger shorts,” I mumble as Abigail stops by the sand castle. Opening her arm, I see a water bottle fall from her arm to the sand. She walks into the water toward me with the drink in her hand.

“Here you go.” She hands me one of the drinks, and I look down at the slush inside the glass.

“What’s this?” I ask before I take a sip from the straw.

“It’s a double pina colada,” she states, squatting down in the water in front of me as she takes her own sip. “Nothing says vacation quite like a coconut drink.”

“I guess so,” I agree, taking another sip.

“You don’t like it?” she asks, and I just shrug. “It’s an acquired taste. I can take it off your hands if you want.”

“No way.” I shake my head. “Not after you slaved away over a sandcastle and then went to get me something to drink.” I hold up the glass to salute her. “To the best sandcastle forewoman I know.”

She can’t help but throw her head back and laugh, and if that doesn’t make my cock even harder. What the fuck is wrong with me? my head screams as I take another sip of the drink, trying to finish it fast so I don’t have to drink it anymore.

“This is so peaceful,” she observes as she turns around in the water, “almost like the calm before the storm.”

I walk a bit farther out into the water, hoping she follows me. “What are your plans after this?” I ask her, and she slowly moves toward me, drinking another sip of her drink.

“I start work one day after we get back,” she informs me, and I just stare at her.

“Where?” I ask her, shocked that I had no idea where she will be working. I knew she had just graduated from nursing school, but no one mentioned where she would be working.

“I got a job in the pediatric unit at Mercy Hospital,” she says, and I just look at her with my mouth hanging open.

“Holy shit, that’s amazing. I knew you had moved to Dallas, but I had no idea where you would be going.”

“There were a couple of places interested in me, but my heart was set on Mercy,” she says, standing up and holding out her drink to me. “Can you hold this?” I reach out for her drink. “Don’t drink any of it.” She smirks at me as she takes the black elastic on her wrist and pins up her hair. I hand her back her drink when she reaches for it. “Thank you.” She takes another sip. “What about you? What are your plans after this?”

“Go home,” I say, looking over to make sure I see Penelope. She is with Xavier as he carries her on his shoulders into the deep water.

“So you are staying in Dallas?” she asks, and I shake my head.

“No, I meant go back home to Canada. I have a house in Muskoka, right on the lake. My parents don’t live far from there so…” I tell her of the little lake cabin I have, and by little, it’s a ten-bedroom house right on the lake. I love it so much. It’s just so peaceful there.

“That sounds like so much fun.” She smiles at me, and the need to kiss her is so much stronger than it’s ever been before. The need to touch her and just be next to her is growing so much, it’s only going to be a matter of time before I ruin it all by admitting to her how I feel. I could never take advantage of her like that. I could never cross that line with her because she means so much to me, and the thought of losing her is just unbearable.

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