15. Extended Epilogue Chapter One
EXTENDED EPILOGUE: CHAPTER ONE
N uala hadn’t been this nervous at Hive since the first time she and Daddy came to the club. Then it had been because she was terrified that someone would find them out and her face would end up splashed all over the news and then Lowell Foster-Webb or some hitman her ex-mother-in-law hired would make her disappear.
The bad news was that she had indeed been found out—by none other than the Foster-Webb twins and Huxley’s new wife. The good news was that it had actually turned out fine. Better than fine.
A year after that gut-churning night, she’d go so far as to call Hux and Tamsyn close friends. And she was fairly certain Lo wouldn’t do anything to ruin her life even if she put a toe wrong, which was about as good as anyone could hope from the fixer.
She and her Daddy had become regulars at Hive since then and Nuala felt as comfortable here as she did anywhere except her home or Remy’s—which was mostly used as his studio now. No, she wasn’t worried about anyone blackmailing her (Lowell would take care of that), or exposing her “secret life” (Lowell would take care of that too—he was actually quite handy to have in one’s corner), or anyone from Hive betraying her (Hudson, Ian, and especially Ryker were ruthless about protecting their members, especially the Littles). Tonight she was nervous for a very different reason.
Which would explain why she startled when someone slid their arm behind her back and gave her a squeeze at her waist. But it was Remy, of course, and her Daddy’s presence steadied her right away.
“Nono, you doing okay?” he asked, searching her face with his warm, toffee-colored eyes.
“Um, not really,” she confessed, feeling like her voice came out like a squeak. Daddy sometimes said she chirped like a bird but the squeezed-out words felt like they were less charming than “chirp” would indicate.
“What’re you worried about, hummingbird?”
Nuala felt her face scrunch up like she’d bitten into a lemon. “Everything?”
Remy used the arm he had around her to pull her closer until they were standing with their bodies pressed together face-to-face, and then he used a finger to tip up her chin.
“Well, I can’t fix everything . At least not at this very second. But if you give me one or two of the most immediate issues, we could go from there.”
She sighed.
“What if they don’t like it?”
“They will.”
“How do you know?” she wailed, and covered her eyes.
The thing about having a Daddy who accepted and encouraged her feelings was that she felt like she had a lot more feelings now and a lot of times they were very big. Maybe she was making up for lost time? Or maybe Little girls were just more likely to have big feelings. Either way, she felt the fear well up in her like a river flooding. She wasn’t crying yet, but she might.
“Look at me, Duchess,” he told her in that tone. The one that said “no” was an answer but one she should think about carefully before committing to it. Once she took her hands from her eyes and set them on her Daddy’s warm, muscular chest, he continued. “How many romance novels have I narrated?”
“I don’t know. A lot?” she offered.
“Over two hundred.”
“Yeah, that’s a lot,” she agreed, trying to imagine how much time that had taken him. And how many she still had to enjoy.
Of course it was more fun to have Daddy read to her in real life, but sometimes he was away or working and she would listen to his audiobooks while she was doing chores or taking a walk. So many to look forward to!
“My point is that I’ve narrated a lot of them, and I’ve read even more so I’m kind of an expert. And my professional opinion is that your book is very good. So while not everyone on the entire planet is going to like your book, they don’t need to. These are your readers. And your friends. And Littles fucking love storytime so everyone is going to have fun tonight. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see people re-enacting scenes from your book tonight and for some time to come.”
Nuala could feel her cheeks get hot. Hopefully it was a rosy, charming blush, and not Rudolph’s nose glowing red territory. It felt really good when her Daddy said nice things like that—he was so sweet to her, and compliments were still fairly new after a decade of constant criticism. They made her flustered, but in a nice way.
“I mean, we have,” she said, giving him a mischievous smile.
“Damn right,” he told her, and then pressed a quick but intense kiss to her lips. “Can’t wait for your next book. It’s gonna be a scorcher like this one, I just know it.”
Nuala flushed because she’d already started the next one and he was right. It was hot, and she still had some scenes she needed his help to, um, choreograph. Her Daddy always wanted to help with her author-ly pursuits, but especially when it came to kink and sex scenes.
Remy got her attention by tapping the tip of her nose.
“In the meantime, we’re going to have so much fun tonight. There’s already a ton of people waiting out there for the reading to start, and Ian’s going to do introductions. And no matter what happens, you should be really proud of yourself. I know I am. You wrote a book, and you overcame a lot of fear and doubt to share it with the world.”
It helped, of course, that Cosima had convinced Hudson and Ian and Ryker to start a publishing house, and hers was the first title they were publishing. Another layer of protection between her and anyone who wanted to do her harm. For however nondescript this building looked from the outside, it sure felt like a warm blanket on the inside.
“Yes, Daddy,” she agreed with a smile. “Thank you, Daddy.”