Exposed Exposed (Dom Nation #1) - E. Davies Page 0,109

me with the real me, and it felt… like stepping out the front door into a huge, wild world.

“You’re opening normal hours tonight, aren’t you? I’ll stay with you today,” I offered. “If I won’t be in the way.” I wanted Rex’s dreams to come true, starting with Daddy Cakes. No doubt I could find some sneaky ways to help out later.

Rex gave me a fond smile. “You won’t be,” he promised. “And you have to stay for supper with me anyway. My rules. More tea, my boy?”

“More tea,” I agreed and settled in to keep my Daddy company. I didn’t even need his hands on me to have a good time—not yet, anyway. The promise of later was worth waiting for, because I knew Rex would always follow through.

And I couldn’t wait to find out what he had planned.

17

Slate

The clouds stretched along the horizon in shades of cotton-candy pink and ’80s carpet orange. Behind them, the sun sank, disappearing behind darkened skyscrapers. Soon, the streets below would be dark, leaving only the tops of the buildings aglow.

From out here on the balcony of Rex’s apartment—well, soon to be mine, too—I could see it all. And I couldn’t stop looking.

“Okay, here’s the wine…”

I smiled and turned back-on to the railing, leaning against it. Rex and I had showered and changed. I hadn’t questioned why he had some clothes for me in his wardrobe, but he’d explained anyway. He’d ordered new clothes in my size to make sure I could stay as long as I needed without going back to my house.

It sounded like a little white lie to cover up his worry that Isaac wasn’t done with me yet. And he was right to be worried, because crawling away with his tail between his legs wasn’t Isaac’s style. Public confrontation was.

I’d worked out that Isaac must be a regular at Dom Nation on both Friday and Saturday nights, because he’d so often shown up at my house at 2:00 a.m. afterward. It was Saturday now. Could he stay away? I doubted it.

But my Daddy didn’t know the most important thing of all: I didn’t give a shit if he tried. Because my heart and soul were finally in agreement.

I trusted Rex with everything, and he’d never let me down. In his hands, I couldn’t fall. I could only fly.

“Thank you,” I murmured and took the wineglass. It was hard to breathe or stand still or look at him without growing distracted by the joy thudding against my rib cage, trying to burst out.

Rex came to lean next to me. “What a gorgeous view. The sunset’s not bad, either. Supper’s all ready, my boy,” he murmured with a fond smile.

“What? Now?” I blinked at him.

It had smelled pretty good when we got into the penthouse, and I’d asked Rex why. Instead of answering, my Daddy had ushered me straight outside to the balcony.

It had taken me by surprise to find it all set up. The table was draped in a white cloth, silverware set out, a vase of flowers… the whole nine yards. We must be too high up for the pigeons to wreck everything.

Rex had been with me the whole time—unless he’d been very stealthy last night and figured out a way to keep dinner fresh all this time. Had he hired a caterer for this one romantic dinner?

My jaw dropped as I finally worked it out. “Are you spoiling me?”

“Okay, so maybe I had Jens let in a few people,” Rex murmured, gazing at me the same way he’d just looked at the sunset—like he couldn’t quite believe the beauty he’d been treated to. “You’re worth spoiling.”

I didn’t know what to do with that. So I blushed—well, I was going to whether I liked it or not—and stared up. It was as much a shock to the system to see open sky above as it was to look down and realize how many floors up we were.

Rex shifted to face me and held up his glass. “A toast.”

“What to, Daddy?” I straightened up and moved my glass until they almost touched.

“To… us.” Rex tilted his head and caught my gaze with those pretty, deep green eyes that had ensnared me from the first moment we met. And then he smiled.

God, he was gorgeous. Fading orange rays brought out every streak of blond in his hair, and his cheekbones were razor-sharp.

“To us,” I murmured and clinked my glass against his before taking a sip of the wine. Smooth, delicious, and