Total pages in book: 184
Estimated words: 188108 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 941(@200wpm)___ 752(@250wpm)___ 627(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 188108 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 941(@200wpm)___ 752(@250wpm)___ 627(@300wpm)
“That’s much better and no.”
“N-no?” He’d said no? But Roman rarely told her no. Although Dada seemed to do it quite a bit.
Which was really no fair.
Because she didn’t like that word.
“I don’t like that word,” she huffed as he shook out the green dress and put it on her.
“I’m sure you don’t. Although you probably hear it a lot.”
“Far more than I should, that’s for sure.”
He managed to get the dress on and then the ruffly bloomers. Then he undid the belt tying her to the changing unit so he could sit her up and put her arms through.
“Dada, Atlas is lonely on the floor.”
“Well, Atlas should have thought of that before he started to play the ‘throw me in the air’ game.”
Oh.
“You saw that?” she asked.
“I did. Now, there you are. All snug as a bug in a rug.”
“Why would I want to be a bug in a rug?” she asked.
“Huh. You know, I don’t know. That’s just the saying.” He lifted her down onto the floor and she rushed over to snatch up Atlas.
“It’s okay, puppy. You’re with me now. Dada wouldn’t have left you on the floor forever,” she reassured him. Then she pretended to listen as he spoke. “Atlas, Dada does like you.” She thrust her puppy up into Roman’s face. “Tell Atlas you love him.”
“Ahh.”
“Dada!” she exclaimed, stomping her foot. “Atlas thinks that you don’t like him because you were going to leave him on the floor. Kiss him and make up.”
“Ahh, how about I just call him a good boy and pat his head?”
“Hmm. Let me see.” She listened to Atlas. “He said that’s acceptable if you don’t leave him on the floor again.”
“Perhaps Atlas should talk to you since you’re the one that threw him up in the air and failed to catch him.”
She hugged her toy tight. “I tried to catch him, but he’s really bad at that game.”
“Ahh, I see.” He nodded. “Now, what do you think of your outfit?” He led her to the large antique mirror with a gilded gold frame. It was meant to be free-standing, but Alexei had said that it would be safer if it was mounted to the wall. Something about not wanting it to fall on her.
He was such a worrywart.
All that worrying was definitely giving him frown lines.
She peered into the mirror, then smiled and clapped her hands. “It’s so pretty, Dada!”
“Good.”
“I haven’t seen this one before.” The material was a soft, pale green and there were daffodil buttons up the front and at the cuffs. “I love it!”
“Good. I bought it for you.”
“You did, Dada? You never told me that! Thank you!” She threw her arms around him. When she pulled back to look up at him, he was blushing slightly.
Aww. He was the cutest.
“Let’s play!”
“This is the greatest Lego Christmas village ever!” she cried.
“It’s definitely looking good, Kitten,” he agreed. “Although it’s a bit early for Christmas.”
“Dada! It’s never too early for Christmas.” She sat back and looked at everything they had built.
When she’d asked Papa to build it, he’d claimed that his fingers were too big for Lego. And Salem had told her that it was too early to create it.
But maybe they’d known that Roman would want to build it for her.
“Agreed,” he said with a smile. “What Lego shall I get us next?”
“You bought this for me?”
“I did.”
“Thank you, Dada!” She went to throw herself into his arms, then hesitated “Can I hug you?”
“You may.”
She threw her arms around him and he held her tight for a few moments.
“Can we play something different, Dada?”
“What would you like to play, darling girl?”
“Hide and seek!”
44
Salem walked up the footpath as the front door opened.
“I’ve lost her!” Roman said frantically, pulling at his hair.
Alarm filled Salem.
How could she be lost? She wasn’t supposed to leave the house without telling them where she was going.
If she had left she was in big trouble.
“She left the house? Why would she do that without letting us know? Did something happen?”
“What? No. I mean, I don’t think she did. I told her that the hide and seek parameters were to stay inside the house.”
“Hide and seek?” he asked.
“Yeah, hide and seek.”
Relief filled him. “So she’s still in the house, she’s just hiding from you.”
“It’s been thirty minutes and I haven’t found her.”
Bloody hell.
That was alarming. He set down his things and started moving through the house. “I’ll check downstairs. You check upstairs.”
“I already have. I cannot believe I lost our Little.”
“Our Little?” He turned back to the other man.
“Um, yeah. Our Little. Is that . . . that’s okay, right?”
Salem could tell that Roman was trying not to sound unsure, but there was definite uncertainty in his face.
“Yeah, man. I’m glad for you.”
It took him another fifteen minutes to find her. He opened the cupboard door beneath the window seat and crouched down to stare at her.