Page 97 of The Daddy’s Girl

“Good girl,” he hums, and I melt into the couch.

Biting back my grin, my cheeks flush with excitement. It’s not just that I’m doing this amazing project or that I could actually get into this program, making me a real designer. It’s the fact that I am doing any of this at all.

His praise is nice but so is crossing things off my list. Hell, I added the chat with the girls at the club to the list just so I could cross it off.

Normally, to-do lists overwhelm me and often set me up for disappointment, but there’s something about Matis’s quiet confidence in me that settles my nerves and makes everything easier to accomplish.

I mean…don’t get me wrong. It doesn’t replace Adderall or techniques learned over the years, but something about him makes being alone in my mind a little easier.

“What if they don’t pick me?” I ask, my shoulders sliding away from my ears as I stare despondently at the computer screen.

Matis’s hands stop as he stares at me from the other side of the couch. “Then you try something else. You make your own designs. Make your own clothes. Open your own shop. But one hit isn’t going to knock you down, Amelia. Understand?”

His words bring big fat tears to my eyes, and I lift my gaze to his. For some reason, I feel so pathetic, already catastrophizing something that hasn’t happened yet, but I am scared of failure. I’m scared that all this passion and hard work I’m putting into this is just a laughable attempt and all a waste.

“I don’t want to be a failure,” I whisper, quickly wiping away one of my stray tears.

He squeezes my foot to get my attention.

“The only failure would be not getting back up after you’ve been knocked down. Amelia, I have known you your whole life. You are the most tenacious, spirited, passionate person I’ve ever met. You are not a failure, and if you don’t win this one thing, then it doesn’t mean you lost. It means you were meant to win something far greater.”

For a moment, we hold each other’s eye contact. Love pounds in my chest, thrumming through my veins like my heart pumps only for him.

Slamming my laptop closed, I set it to the side as I crawl over the couch and straddle his lap. Clutching the back of his neck, I bring my forehead to his as his hands slide up my spine, gripping me just as tight.

“I don’t like to think about what my life would be like without you in it,” I whisper. “Even if none of this had happened.”

He strokes a hand across my jaw, holding my head delicately as he kisses me. It’s not a rough or passionate kiss. It’s gentle and filled to the brim with love.

“I feel the same way, Trouble,” he replies against my mouth.

Pulling away from his lips, I bury my face in his neck so my body is molded to his. His arms swarm me, and I never want to leave this spot. It’s cruel to think anyone would find this wrong.

Just then, there’s a door opening somewhere in the house. Lifting my head, I stare into his eyes, both as wide as saucers. Panic snaps us both into motion.

“We’re home!” my mom calls from the side door.

I leap from Matis’s arms, returning to my spot on the other side of the couch. He quickly adjusts himself farther from me, trying to look casual as he drapes an arm along the back and stares at the TV. From here I can see his chest heaving and his fists clenching.

I grab my laptop and open it on my legs, returning to the work I was doing a moment ago.

“Amelia,” my father calls. “You home?”

“I’m in here!” I chirp back to him. My voice sounds tight and shaky, but that could just be my paranoid imagination.

My mom’s shoes scuff across the floor as she enters the living room.

“Oh, Matis,” she says sweetly. “I didn’t know you’d be here.”

There’s not an ounce of concern or suspicion in her tone. I wouldn’t have asked him to stay if I thought they’d be alarmed by his presence, but that’s just what his relationship with our family is like.

That’s just how much my parents trust him.

“I didn’t like being home alone, so I asked him to come hang out,” I say, answering for him.

“Well, that was nice of you,” my dad says with a chuckle as he enters the room.

Matis stands and greets my dad with a casual grin. Anyone else might think he’s behaving naturally. But I know him. I spot the hint of shame in his expression.