Page 36 of The Daddy’s Girl

She’s no longer just my goddaughter.

Our relationship has changed. Now we are two adults, still staggeringly off-limits but two adults just the same.

“Stop avoiding me,” she commands.

Against my better judgment, I crack a smile. I can’t help it. She’s just so cute when she tries to boss me around. With that adorable blond bob and pouty lips.

“Don’t you dare laugh at me!”

“I’m not laughing,” I reply with my hands up in surrender.

“You are avoiding me, and I can’t take it anymore,” she says before brushing past me and marching into my apartment.

The idea of being alone with her makes my body warm with desire, which is all the more reason I don’t want her here. I quickly stifle the arousal and follow her into my place, shutting the door behind me.

Standing in my apartment in her short plaid skirt, button-up blouse, and ankle boots, she looks so good it grates on my nerves. She won’t make this easy on me. That much is for certain.

“Let’s just talk about it and get it out of the way so we can go back to being us, please,” she begs.

With a groan, I go to the kitchen and pour us each a glass of wine. Alcohol probably isn’t the best idea at the moment, but one glass shouldn’t hurt. I need something to take the edge off.

Taking the wine back toward her, I gesture for her to sit. Then I take the farthest possible spot away from her.

“Amelia, I need to apologize.”

“You?” She gives me an astonished glance.

“Yes, me. Saying your name that night was a slip. It meant nothing. You and I had been spending a lot of time together, and when I should have said her name, yours was at the forefront of my mind.”

For some reason, she almost looks disappointed by this.

“It’s okay,” she mumbles sadly before taking a long sip of the wine. “Well, I’m sorry for being in that room.”

“It was a mistake, Trouble.”

Then it’s just sort of silent between us because neither of us know where to go from here. Can we just go back to the way things were before? Or is that version of us truly gone forever?

“So…I guess the date went well with Laura?” she asks. Kicking off her shoes, she pulls her legs up on my couch.

I roll my eyes at her question. “I wouldn’t say it was going well.”

“Do you think you would have seen her again? Even if you hadn’t…you know, said the wrong name?”

“No,” I answer with confidence. “The moment I decided to take her into the room, I knew I wouldn’t see her again after that night.”

She reclines her head back and stares at me as if I’m a science project she’s trying to understand. “Why do you sabotage yourself?”

A huff escapes my lips. “I wish I knew, Trouble.”

“You won’t let yourself be happy.”

“I used to be happy,” I say, running a hand over the stubble on my jaw.

“I wish you could be happy now,” she mumbles sweetly as she rests her head on her bent knees.

A smile curls on one side of my mouth.

It’s impossible to be unhappy around Amelia.