8. Dayton
Dayton
“I’m ready!” Cassie skipped out of her bedroom and stopped just short of falling into my arms. “Where to?”
I held out my right hand and reached for her left one. “The Frozen Cow is open. We can walk there, if you’d like.”
“Oohh, my favorite.” She clasped my hand instead of intertwining our fingers. It was sweet. “I like their waffle cones but you have to get three scoops to fill it all up.”
“Three scoops?” I blew out a dramatic breath. “Is that a good choice?”
“I think it is.” She leaned against my arm. “Do you think it is?”
“Depends on what you ate for dinner.” I couldn’t resist leaning down and smelling her hair as we walked to the sidewalk.
“Din-ner?” She said it slowly as if it were a foreign word to her. “Um, I had a chicken wrap earlier. It was very healthy.”
Something about that answer sounded…off. “How much earlier?”
“A lot earlier.” She was now focused on the path ahead, not looking at me at all.
I came over after eight and assumed she’d already eaten. Maybe I was wrong. “Cassie, did you eat dinner tonight?”
“Well, it was basically an early dinner.” She tugged at the front of her dress, fidgeting.
Okay. She liked to be evasive. Good to know. “Cassie, what time was your last meal?”
“Technically, it was at noon, but in other countries, they called that dinner. It’s true. You can ask my friend Willa. She knows stuff like that.”
I huffed out an annoyed sigh. “So you didn’t eat dinner at all?”
“Well, not in the American sense of the word. But I’m super full from that wrap and only have room for dessert now.” She patted her tummy and looked up at me.
That’s not gonna fly with me, sweetheart. “How do you feel about Chinese food?”
“I love it. Do you love it too?”
“I do. The noodle house up the street is pretty good. How about we go grab dinner, and if we still have room for ice cream after, we can get it. And if not, I'll take you for a treat tomorrow.”
Her eyes got big, and her smile matched it. “You’re staying till tomorrow?”
I chuckled, even though I liked the idea. But she needed a little more wooing than panties and Chinese food. She deserved so much more, and I promised to give her everything she deserved. “Not tonight, Little girl. But I will come back. I promise you that.”
She huffed but then relented. “Can I get lo mein with asparagus?”
“Absolutely. That sounds delicious. Maybe I’ll get that too.”
“Or!” She held up her finger and stopped to share her great idea. “How about we get one order of that and share it so we both have room for ice cream after?”
I scoffed at the suggestion, but their portions were huge and way more than either one of us could finish on our own. And I did promise her a reward for keeping her wound so clean, so I gave in to her adorable logic. “Fine, you earned a treat, so I think we can make that work.”
“Thank you, Daddy.” She pressed her head against my shoulder as we continued walking toward the restaurants. Under her breath, she whispered, “This is amazing.”
I waited for her to expand on that, but when she didn’t, I squeezed her hand to get her attention. “What’s amazing, sweetheart?”
“I knew having a Daddy would be great, but I didn’t know how much. Ice cream. Noodles. All my favorite things.”
I pulled her hand up to my mouth and kissed the back of it, just like I did in the hospital that first night we met. “You’re already becoming my favorite thing, Little girl.”
She giggled and then bit her lip. “Walk faster, Daddy. Now that we’re talking about it, I just remembered I’m so, so hungry.”
When we got there, the noodle place was just closing so we ordered one bowl with two sets of chopsticks and sat on their patio to eat it out of a shared container.
Cassie was excellent with chopsticks, but as soon as I offered her a bite from mine, she suddenly forgot how to use hers and allowed me to feed her until the container was empty.
She took the last bite and then peeked inside. “I still have room for ice cream. Do you?”
I didn’t, but I certainly wasn’t about to deny her. “I think I could fit in a little bit more. I suddenly have an unexplainable hankering for apples.”
She peeked at me from under her eyelashes. “That’s on account of my candles. As soon as you smell them, you just wanna eat them.”
I definitely wanted to eat something. “All right then, sweet girl. Let’s go get some ice cream.”
Cassie ordered her waffle cone with chocolate on the bottom, mint in the middle, and pistachio on top. According to her, that was the only way to get the flavors melted together properly.
As excited as she was for her giant cone, she only got through half of her top scoop before she was too full to finish. Luckily, I’d anticipated that and didn’t get my own cone, so I finished off hers on the walk back to her place.
When we got to her door, she stopped and looked up at me. “You’re coming back in, right?”
“I’m going to make sure you get inside safely, and then I’m going to say good night, Cassie. I have to work in the morning, and I’m sure you do too.”
She pouted and nodded her head. “Yeah. I’m opening up the store tomorrow. I hate opening.”
“Why is that?”
“It’s so boring. Nobody comes in that early, but I still have to be there just in case.” She said it in a voice that was probably meant to mock her manager.
I chuckled and hugged her, squeezing her to my chest. “I have to be in early too, but maybe we can meet earlier tomorrow and have a proper dinner? Inside a restaurant and everything.”
She tucked her chin as she nodded. “Yes, I’d like that. I get off work at four and will just be packing candles after that, so text whenever you’re ready to come over.”
“I’ll do that.” We stood at her front door, and I wrapped my hands around her neck as I stared down into her eyes. “May I kiss you, Cassie?”
“Yes, Daddy.” She tilted her head even farther back, giving me access to those full, pink lips I’d been staring at all night.
I leaned down and brushed my lips across hers, softly once and then back again before I pressed and held there.
Cassie parted her lips and her tongue poked out and slid across mine.
My goal was to keep things relatively chaise this first night, but she smelled so good and tasted even better that my mouth opened up and my tongue sought out hers like it knew exactly where it needed to be.
Within seconds, Cassie’s fingers were tangled in the back of my hair, pulling me closer to her, even though there was no space between us.
We were connected in the only way possible without my dick being hooked inside her, but I only allowed that indulgence for a few moments before pulling off and resting my forehead on hers.
“Good night, sweet girl. Will you promise me not to do any more candles tonight? It’s late, and you need to rest before work tomorrow.”
She nodded without any hesitation, which was more surprising than anything else. “I’m just gonna take a quick shower, and then I’m going to bed. I promise.”
“If you’d like to text me when you get in bed, I would like that too.”
She grinned. “A naughty text or a nice text?”
Fuck me. “Whatever strikes you, Little girl. Now, you get inside and have a good night.” I kissed her forehead and then waited for her to get in and lock the door behind her before I headed back to my car.
I wasn’t entirely sure what I was getting myself into with that one, but it felt right. Like she was the one I’d been waiting for. And at thirty-eight years old, I’d been waiting a long damn time for her.