Page 63 of Cowboy Daddies

“I really am, yes.” There was a gravity to the words, and they seemed to pull at her until she looked up to meet his eyes. “I’m serious about giving you what you need, Allegra. And if you need a Daddy, then I’m all in. Besides … I think it suits me.”

She thought so too. “You ordered General Tso’s and Egg Foo Young, so that makes you the best Daddy as far as I’m concerned.” That got a laugh out of him, and a smile from her as she settled back against the pillows with a steaming carton.

Dinner was mostly quiet. Both were too busy stuffing their faces to say much aside from, “Can I have the wontons?” and “Pass me an eggroll, please?” but as their bellies grew full and the bites came slower, they made time for talk.

“How was work today? Edward give you any trouble?” Carter asked.

She froze, and the sauce-covered chicken between her chopsticks escaped. Grumbling about the mess as she tried to wipe the sticky sauce off the comforter, gave her time to think about what she was going to say. The best-case scenario was him forgetting he’d asked at all, but that didn’t happen.

She was afraid if she told him what she’d overheard, he’d handle it his way. And she was half tempted to let him, but a bigger part needed to handle it on her own. She had decisions to make, and she wanted to be the one who made them … without help.

Carter vanished into the bathroom and came back with a wet facecloth, holding it out to her. “Here, this will work better.”

“Thank you.” It did the job, though there was going to be a wet spot on the bed—it wouldn’t be the first time they’d had to deal with that problem though, just the first time food had caused it.

When she didn’t get around to answering the question he tried again. “So, work? Edward?”

She lied.

She knew she shouldn’t have. This was a new start and being open and honest was supposed to be part of that, but the lie popped out anyway. “It was fine. No problems.” She cringed a little inside, and then continued on with the truth. “Honestly, he’s been avoiding me. I’ve barely seen him. The work keeps showing up on my desk, but I haven’t been staying late to handle it.”

“Good girl.” He leaned over and patted her thigh. “I know it’s hard, but I’m proud of you. Do what you can during your work hours and let him handle the rest. That’s why he gets paid the big bucks.”

Her insides curdled a little more. You could tell him the truth right now. He probably wouldn’t even be mad, she told herself. But she didn’t. “I’m just hoping it stays quiet until vacation … speaking of… when are you going to tell me where we’re going?”

The subject change worked, but she didn’t get her answer. “You’ll find out when we get there. You won’t be able to guess either, so don’t even try.”

She pushed her bottom lip out and narrowed her eyes as she stared at him. “Why so much secrecy?”

Carter just smiled. “Finish your dinner, sweetheart.” It was a suggestion, not an order, but he went back to his own meal and that was it for the conversation.

At least that meant there were no more questions about work, so that was a success at least.

The curiosity was starting to drive her crazy. There had to be a reason he wasn’t telling her, but she couldn’t come up with the slightest clue what that might be.

Chapter Seven

A few days later they touched down at Denver International. The flight had been long, but since they’d arrived at the airport before the crack of dawn, they’d spent most of it napping. It left them a little disoriented, and in Allegra’s case, a little hangry.

The many restaurants they were passing lured her like a siren’s call and she kept asking to stop and get some breakfast, but Carter just shook his head. “No time to sit and eat. We need to grab our luggage and meet the shuttle outside.”

“But I’m starving and this place is huge,” she grumbled, trotting to keep up with him.

“There’s going to be a welcome brunch when we get there.” The four-hour flight had involved going back two time zones, and it was still early in the morning here.

“Welcome for what! You still haven’t told me what we’re here for. What’s in Colorado anyway?”

“There’s lots of things in Colorado. It’s a very popular place,” he pointed out in a mild tone. By now she had to know he wasn’t going to tell her anything.

“For skiing maybe, but there’s no snow this time of year.” She huffed. “And I don’t ski anyway.”

“You’re probably going to do a lot of new things on this trip, sweetheart. Best set your mind to it now.” He stepped onto the next moving walkway and turned back to flash her a grin. “I know how much you love new experiences.”

Her scowl was adorable. “Ha ha. I take it back, you’re not the best Daddy at all.” Her voice dropped when she got to the end, but a quick look around showed no one was paying attention to them anyway.

“Really? That’s a shame because I was going to say we could stop and grab a pretzel up there.” He pointed to the end of the walkway, where the bright lights of the popular pretzel chain shone like a beacon. “I thought you might like a quick snack to tide you over, but⁠—”

She loved the cinnamon-sugar pretzels they were known for and immediately lit up. “Yes, let’s stop.”