Page 113 of The Billionaire Bodyguard Next Door
Instead, Beck reached over and began tickling his daughter. “What am I, chopped liver?”
Alice giggled. “You're fine, Daddy.”
Beck gave an exaggerated gasp. “Just fine?”
She squirmed out of Beck’s grasp and ran around the table. “Daddy no tickling at the dinner table. Someone could get hurt.”
He held up his hands in capitulation. “You're right, no more tickles….for now.”
Alice side-eyed her dad, as I worked through some shit methodically chewing each bite of pizza I was putting in my mouth not because I was hungry but because I wanted to keep busy.
Beck continued to eat, asking Alice questions about her day, effectively moving us onto the next topic of conversation. The way his gaze kept drifting back to mine, I knew he would ask about it later.
I just hoped I'd have an answer for him.
* * *
“She's finally asleep,” Beck said, as he plopped down on the couch next to me.
I turned to face him, lifting my legs to put them in his lap. He began absently rubbing my calves which were hurting from my most recent run. I groaned as his strong hands worked the muscles. “Please don't stop doing what you're doing.”
His deep chuckle settled over me, so I closed my eyes and leaned back against the edge of the couch, adjusting the pillow behind me for maximum comfort. “Does Alice usually require two dozen books before bed?”
I’d gone upstairs to help with the bedtime routine at Alice’s insistence. It had been the kind of domestic activity I’d never taken part of, and I found myself enjoying every minute of it. But I hadn’t been prepared for it, that was for sure. Parents deserved gold medals for surviving the bedtime routine on a nightly basis. It certainly wasn’t for the faint of heart.
“It goes in waves but yes, lately it's about squeezing as many books out of me as possible. Until her lids are so heavy that she passes out mid story.”
“That's my kind of girl. I need to work on my reading stamina. I was on the verge of losing my voice after thirty minutes of reading aloud. Besides, my bladder was screaming at me.” I’d gone to the bathroom and peeked back into the room to find Beck cuddled up with Alice, struggling to keep her eyes open as her dad read the same book for the third time in a row.
I’d been very tempted to crawl into bed with them, but I thought better of it. It was their bubble, and I didn’t want to break it. Besides, I wanted a minute to myself to think about Beck’s offer to go to Disneyland. To travel with them and make future plans with them. I just needed a minute to consider all of it.
He continued to massage my calves. “In the future, you should use the bathroombeforewe start story time...”
In the future. Did he know how that statement squeezed my heart?
Beck shook his head. “Pitiful. How do I know you even needed to use the restroom? You could have been faking it.”
I playfully pushed him. “Oh, please. You're just jealous you didn't think of it sooner.”
His hands stopped. “That's probably it.”
“Aha, I knew it,” I said smugly. “It's hard to have both beauty and brains, you know.”
“Now you're just pushing it,” he said as his hands wandered higher.
I swallowed. “I'll have to buy her someLittle House on the Prairiebooks. I loved those when I was her age. Well, maybe a little older. I wonder where my copies are.”
Beck hummed. “Chapter books are a good idea.”
His strong hands kneaded my thighs, working their way up from my knee to the juncture between my thighs. They grazed, teasing and taunting. I tossed my head back, closing my eyes to feel the sensations. To have them overwhelm my good senses.
All thought of books poofed from my brain like some fairy had come and waved them away with a wand.
All that mattered was Beck and his fingers which were occasionally grazing my clit, igniting my nerve endings.
“Definitely keep doing that.” My knees draped open. The more access I could give him, the better. Not that he needed any help on that front. The man knew how to play my body like it was his own personal instrument.
I only had to let him. And Iwasgoing to let him.
