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“Babe.”
He lowered his head, and I went up on my toes. I wasn’t fighting this anymore.
Ally was right. It was time I took a chance. Champion wasn’t the only one who had been alone and hadn’t liked it.
Champion
I FELT FULL for the first time in my life, not because of possessions or accomplishments, but because of who was with me.
In a large semicircular booth at the Pancake Hut, Electra was on one side of me, and Ally was on the other. My arms on the seatbacks around them, I marveled at the turn my life had taken.
“You look pretty, El.” Ally leaned forward and studied Electra across me. “Very bohemian chic with your scarf tied around your head that way.”
“El?” I asked, wondering about the nickname. Lowering my arm, I played with the silky ends of Electra’s dark hair.
“El for Electra,” Ally said and forked another huge bite of her fluffy pancakes.
“Or Elizabeth. My real name,” Electra said, and my jaw dropped.
“Explain that,” I demanded, because of course I had to know everything about the woman I was completely enamored with.
“After the accident, I felt like the girl I was before died when they did.” Electra’s brows drew together beneath the scarf that covered the top of her head and tied at the back. “So I changed my name. It’s not that I’ll ever forget the Elizabeth Miller who was a daughter and a sister, but I’m not that same person anymore.”
I doubted that much had fundamentally changed, only that it hurt for her to remember.
“You’re a strong, caring, and beautiful woman.” My woman. In my mind, it was decided. I just had to work out the details, so she thought it was her choice. “No matter what name you choose.”
“Thanks,” Electra murmured, lifting her glass of orange juice to her sexy lips.
After finishing what remained, she set the glass down and leaned her head back on my shoulder. She tipped her chin up, and our gazes connected and held. Mine burned with emotion, and my cock predictably throbbed.
I was out of my element. I had no experience keeping a woman as my own, but I knew that I was going to do everything in my power to keep her and to make her feel as full with me in her life as I felt with her in mine.
“You guys are hot together,” my daughter said.
“Thanks, I think.” Electra scrunched her cute nose at her friend. “But that’s probably awkward for your dad to hear.”
“If Ally’s okay with me having it bad in a good way for her best friend.” I tipped my gaze to my daughter. She looked cute in a beige cropped top with big brown buttons, and a skirt that was comprised of scarves that she’d stitched together and hand painted. “Then I’m okay.”
“I’m better than okay with it.” Ally grinned.
I returned her grin. My daughter had an infectious smile and manner. She was going to have me wrapped around her little finger in no time. In fact, she already did.
“Your check, sir.” The waitress appeared.
Setting the paper receipt on the table, she made a face as she placed the bottle of sticky syrup on top of it. She didn’t seem to approve of our entourage, and I got it, the way we looked, a man my age with two very young and beautiful women. But I didn’t care about how it looked. I cared about how things were.
Electra frowned at the waitress as she moved away.
“Be-itchy woman.” Ally pursed her lips. “She always acts like we stink whenever we come in.”
Ah, so I wasn’t the cause.
“Why?” I asked, frowning. I wouldn’t tolerate anyone treating them bad.
“She knows what we do,” Electra said. “Or she suspects, given the time of night we usually come in wearing leftover body glitter.”
“It’s the only restaurant open at three in the morning,” Ally said.
