Part 5 (1/2)

11.

WILLIAM.

The rest of the week pa.s.ses by without incident, and we spend lazy days lounging in the sun, and making love. It's absolutely perfect, and I don't want it to end.

”Do we have to go home, Daddy?”

Haley echoes my thoughts, and I close my eyes, loving this moment too. She lies across my chest as we cuddle in the breeze on our bungalow porch.

”I wish we could, little one, but the world awaits our return. Besides, don't you want to see your new cake pop store?”

I feel her tense, and then she sits up, her hair is a mane of curls from swimming in the ocean. The sun streams in behind her, framing her with a halo of sunlight. She has a huge smile on her face, and she looks like an angel.

”My store?”

”Yes, your store. I had them start on it the day we left. It's in the same building as my office, so you'll be close. And you'll have lots of customers what with all the people working there and the traffic going in and out.”

Suddenly she looks a little unsure and bites her lip. ”Do you think I'm good enough? What if people don't like it?”

I tug one of her curls, smiling at her. ”I think you are talented and wonderful and so sweet to everyone. They will love you and your cake pops. But there's one problem. They'll all have to wait in line behind me.”

Her face beams, and she falls onto my chest, hugging me close with her whole body. I wrap my arms around her, loving this moment, loving that I'm able to make her dreams come true.

”Are you happy, little Haley?”

She pulls back and looks down at me, smiling from ear to ear. ”I'm so happy, Daddy.”

”Do you want to make Daddy as happy as you are right now?”

Haley giggles and nods her head. I reach under the towel beside us and pull out the small box. Her eyes grow to the size of saucers when she sees it, and I sit up, taking her hand in mine.

I open the box, revealing the heart-shaped pink diamond. I had it designed the day she turned eighteen, and I've been waiting for the perfect time to give it to her.

”I'll never love anyone but you for the rest of my life. Will you marry me, Haley?”

Small tears start to stream down her cheeks, and I use my thumb to wipe them away. After just a second she nods and throws her arms around my neck, nearly choking me.

I laugh a little at her excitement, and when she pulls back, I take her hand and slip on the ring. It fits perfectly.

She looks down at the ring and moves her fingers, watching it glitter in the sun.

”It sparkles almost as prettily as you do.”

”Daddy!” She blushes at my words, but wraps her arms around my neck again, this time pus.h.i.+ng me back on the bed and kissing me all over. After a few minutes, of showering me with kisses, she pulls back and looks down at me. ”I want a Christmas wedding.” She's so excited, I can already see the wheels turning in her head.

”Whatever you want, little one. Anything.”

She cuddles in beside me, and I squeeze her close, thinking how lucky I am to have found the one. I've waited my whole life for her, and I'd do it all over again as long as I ended up with her. I kiss her forehead and close my eyes.

”I love you.”

”I love you too, William.”

She doesn't call me by my name often anymore, so when she does it, I know it's a big deal. Having her call me 'Daddy' is a privilege I don't take lightly, and I absolutely love it. But when she calls me 'William', I'm reminded in those brief moments that this is forever. That no matter what happens, she'll always be mine, and I'll always be hers. That, while we enjoy our relations.h.i.+p the way it is now, as long as we are in each other's arms, nothing else matters.

THE END.

Also by Alexa Riley

Taking the Fall Series Taking the Fall Vol 1-4 Forced Submission Series Taking What's MINE Taking What's OURS Taking What's HERS And so many more...

Alexa Riley on Amazon

Chapter 1.

BRUCE.

”What am I supposed to do with a seventeen-year-old girl?” I asked, leaning forward, placing my elbows on the desk. ”I've never even met the girl.” It's been a long f.u.c.king week and now this. I can feel the tension snaking up my spine, which I'm sure will lead to a ma.s.sive headache that will f.u.c.k up my whole day.

”You're now her legal guardian, so you better figure out what you're going to do with her,” Jim, a junior a.s.sociate at the firm informs me. I have the urge to throw him out of my office or just fire his a.s.s, but this isn't his fault. This was my own doing. I knew Debra, my ex-wife, had a daughter, but I'd never met her in the two years that we were married. h.e.l.l, I barely knew Debra outside of a working environment. Sure, we were married, but it wasn't your typical marriage.

I was racking my brain, trying to remember everyone who attended. The funeral actually looked like a work meeting more than anything. The small group in attendance was made up of people she worked with and a few clients. I don't know why I didn't notice that before. No friends or family showed up, only other lawyers from the firm, but it made sense, neither she nor I had lives outside of this office.

Debra's father, Steven, had pa.s.sed last year, and he was the only family member I'd ever met of hers. Steven used to be a senior partner at the firm before I took his place. The thought of Debra's daughter not being at her mother's funeral never crossed my mind. Debra only talked about her daughter a handful of times in the five years I knew her. I can't even recall a time when she went to visit her, and I know her daughter never came to our penthouse.

”When will she be arriving?” I ask while pulling up today's itinerary on my computer. My schedule, as usual, is a mess and completely full.

Ever since making senior partner and taking over Steven's caseload, I work fifteen-hour days. He's the reason I'm in this situation now and having to become a guardian. It should've been him taking in a seventeen-year-old girl. She's was his granddaughter, after all. But now that he's gone, I'm the only one who's left.

It hasn't helped that we haven't picked a new lawyer to take Debra's place at the firm since she died. She's only been gone six weeks, but someone needs to be hired fast. She carried a giant workload on her own, and even distributing it amongst the staff, it's more than we can handle on top of our own cases.

I met Debra when I joined the firm fresh out of graduate school. She had already been with them for years. Her father was a senior partner, so it was a no brainer what law firm she wanted to make partner at. I always knew there was no other firm I wanted to work for. I'd only heard great things about the place, it was known to be the best and my own father really pushed me into joining them. He and Steven had gone to college together, but my father went politics, something I had no desire to do.

After I walked in the door, we both made strides to get to the top. She'd already been trying for years but wasn't making much progress. Case after case, we always got paired together. We were both dedicated and worked hard for years, earning our chops and making a name for ourselves. But Debra was constantly pa.s.sed over for promotions because of her s.e.x and because of her name.

If she was given a promotion it always looked like it was favoritism, so instead the b.u.mp would go to me. This frustrated both of us, as we were both friends and colleagues and each giving more than one hundred percent. It's never fair being a woman in this line of work, and after a few years, we hit a roadblock.

The firm decided to create a new opening for a partner and I was being groomed to take it. I knew that Debra deserved it as much as I did, but I wasn't sure what to do. Then one day Steven took Debra and me aside and we came up with a plan.