Treat Me (One Night with Sole Regret #8)(29)

"Wait! I almost forgot. I brought you something," she said.

"A present?"

"Well . . ." She cocked her head at him, a tiny fist on each hip. Sometimes she did remind her of her mother. "You can just borrow it. Okay?"

She dashed to his side and pulled open the zipper of her overnight bag and yanked out two pairs of sparkly fairy wings made of some gauzy material. They had elastic loops where child-sized arms could go through. He knew she would talk him into wearing them before she'd even slipped the pair of pink ones onto her narrow back.

"I brung you the blue ones 'cause you're a boy."

He chuckled. "Are you sure these are for boys?"

Wide-eyed and irresistibly adorable, she nodded up at him. "I'm sure, 'cause they're blue. And I'm the fairy princess, so you must be the fairy king. Little girls are princesses and their daddies are kings."

"Do fairies have kings?" he asked, slipping one arm through the elastic band and stretching it to its limit over his man-sized shoulder.

"Yes. I saw it on the TV."

"It must be true then," he said, struggling to get his arm through the second loop. "I don't think these will fit me, sweetheart."

"Come down here. I'll help you."

He squatted, deciding kids were hard on the knees, and Julie pulled and wrestled with the wings until she finally managed to get them onto his back.

"Well?" he asked, glancing over his shoulder at the lopsided and crumpled set of glitter-covered wings between his shoulder blades. He wondered what his bandmates and the fans would think if they could see him like this. Not that he cared, because Julie broke into a fit of giggles. She had the cutest laugh. He couldn't help but smile at her.

"You look silly, Daddy!"

"Are you sure?" He wiggled his shoulders to try to make the wings move. He only managed to set them further askew.

She nodded and covered her mouth with one tiny hand. "I don't think you can fly with those puny things."

"I can if I'm magic."

Her blue eyes widened with wonder. "Are you magic, Daddy?" 

He chuckled and tapped her nose with a fingertip. "I just like to pretend. Maybe I should take them off so I can cook your breakfast." He'd probably need to cut the strings or dislocate his shoulders to remove them.

"No! You're the fairy king. Fairy kings cook the best breakfast in the land." She spread her arms wide.

Well, Jacob was sure he looked like a fairy. Wasn't so sure about the king part.

"You just need to get some big wings for growed-up people," she said as she assessed his attire with her head cocked to one side.

"I'll keep that in mind the next time I go shopping at the growed-up fairy store."

Her belly growled loudly, and she covered it with both hands. "Excuse me."

"I think we'd better get you fed first."

In the kitchen, she sat on a stool at the breakfast bar and ate bites of bananas he'd cut into circles for her while he prepared pancakes. He attempted to delight her by making her pancakes shaped like butterflies, but getting them to look like anything but blobs was a losing battle.

"It's supposed to be a butterfly," he told her as he set a plate of his best attempt in front of her. The first few were even less impressive than this one.

"Cool, Daddy! She needs eyes." She used a few of her remaining banana slices to make eyes for the hopeless creature and drew a smiling mouth with the syrup. "Now she's perfect."

Jacob was glad his child had a vivid imagination and a kind heart.

"Are we going to the zoo after we eat?" she asked.

"We have to wait for your surprise to get here first," he said. Assuming Amanda wasn't hiding from him after what he'd said earlier. She'd sure been in a hurry to leave.

"Ooh, what is it?"

Jacob used a butter knife to cut his butterfly masterpiece into bite-sized pieces for her.

"I'm not telling. If I did, it wouldn't be a surprise. Eat your pancake."

"I think my surprise is a lephalant," Julie said and then stuffed a bite into her mouth. "Yummy!"

Jacob touched her hair and smiled, his heart light. There was only one other person on the planet who gave him a similar feeling of joy and she'd soon be there to share the day with them. He couldn't remember the last time he'd felt so damned happy.





Chapter Six


It didn't take Amanda long to reach her house. The small bungalow was only a couple of miles from Jacob's place, in an older subdivision populated by working stiffs like herself.

After her shower, she stared into her small closet wondering what to wear. She wanted to look sexy for Jacob-because, holy shit, the guy actually had feelings for her that she still wasn't ready to face-but not too sexy since young and impressionable Julie would be with them all weekend. She decided on a pair of black shorts that accentuated her long legs while still managing to cover her ass, and a cute white top made of eyelet material with cup sleeves and tiny buttons down the front. The shirt hugged her figure and gave a hint of cleavage, but didn't make her look like she was trying too hard. She hoped.