Page 82 of The Daddy’s Girl

“You’re going to say it was all a mistake and that we can’t ever do anything like that again, right?”

“That’s what I should say.”

Her head turns toward me. “So are you?”

When we reach an intersection, we stop and look at each other.

“Amelia…”

“You know,” she says, holding her head up proudly. “My parents have a bigger age gap than we do.”

I bark out a laugh. “As far as I know, he wasn’t your mother’s godfather.”

“What does that word even mean anyway? Godfather?” she asks with a shrug. “That it was your job to take care of me when my parents couldn’t. So isn’t that basically what you’re doing?”

Her cheeks blush with her smile, and I find it so fucking endearing it’s taking everything in me not to scoop her up into my arms and kiss her right here.

When the light changes, we cross and neither of us speaks for a moment. We are at an impasse. It feels as if we are frozen in indecision.

Finally, I realize I have to be the one to draw the line and stick to it. As we pull up to a small park, I tug Amelia off the sidewalk and stand with her under a shady tree.

“Amelia, I’m not the man to get into a relationship with. You know this.”

“I don’t know this,” she argues. “I think you’re perfect.”

“I have never been with one person.”

“There’s a first time for everything,” she volleys.

I wish I could smile down at her, but I know my next words are going to deliver a punch I can’t avoid. “I want you. I do. But…”

“But?” she whispers, lifting onto her toes until our faces are only inches apart.

Fuck me, why must she make this so difficult?

“But…I can’t.”

Her feet slowly lower, and it breaks my heart in two.

“I won’t risk hurting you. I won’t put you in that position because I promise you, Trouble. If we did this…I would break your heart.”

“You could never hurt me,” she whispers, leaning her forehead against my chest.

My fingers slide into her hair, caressing her scalp. “I would, though. Because I care about you and I want you, but…I can’t be in a relationship.”

“You mean you won’t,” she says.

I hate this feeling of disappointing her. Touching her chin, I lift her face toward me. “I don’t see any possibility of us, mon trésor. You are too young. I am too old. There’s no way for us to be together, and if somehow, we were, I couldn’t do that to your father. He is my closest friend. He’s done so much for me. What kind of man does it make me if I take his little girl?”

“I’m not a little girl, Matis.”

My lips find her forehead, and I hate myself for how good it feels to kiss her like this. I want it so fucking bad.

“I know you’re not. But I’m still going to protect you.”

I expect her to be upset, and I expect it to hurt. To my surprise, she pulls away and stands up straight. “Fine.”

My brows shoot upward. “Fine?”