My Best Friend's Dad - Flora Ferrari Page 0,45

to me and I cough back a ball of emotion, almost striding across the room and taking her crimson cheeks in my hands.

“When I’m with you,” she goes on, clearing her throat of her own emotion, “I don’t just feel seen. I feel like I’m the only person in the world. I feel like I can do anything. I feel sexy and brave and intelligent and just—oh, just acknowledged. It’s like you see all the things I wished I was.”

“I see you for who you really are,” I growl passionately. “I see how amazing you are. And I’m glad, Sadie, because if somebody had seen it earlier maybe I wouldn’t be the lucky bastard who gets to call you mine.”

We hold our gazes, Sadie’s eyes beginning to sparkle with budding tears.

“Okay,” Fiona yells, giggling, as she leaps to her feet. “You’ve convinced me. You two are the biggest lovebirds in the history of lovebirds.”

She walks over to the table and picks up her cocoa, taking a long sip.

“Yep, thought so,” she says.

“What?” I laugh.

“Even this isn’t as sweet as what you two have got going on.”

“You really don’t mind, Fi?” Sadie murmurs. “You can be honest with us.”

“I am being honest with you, I swear,” she says. “I think it’s awesome, really.”

She carries Sadie’s hot cocoa to her and they sit together, side by side, my daughter and the woman of my dreams.

I feel like hammering my fists against my chest in a sign of animal victory, the sense of relief is so powerful.

“Alright, then, as long as you two aren’t going to tear chunks out of each other, I’ve got some business to handle,” I say, standing up.

“Work, now?” Fiona murmurs, glancing at the clock.

“Yeah, what’s going on?” Sadie asks, eyeing me perceptively.

“No goddamn way. Just because you two are best friends again—”

“We never stopped being best friends,” Fiona corrects.

“Okay, but it doesn’t mean you get to gang up on me. I’m just a defenseless old man.”

“Number one,” Sadie says, “you’re not even remotely old. You’re distinguished. You’re handsome. You’re a freaking silver fox. And number two, I think everybody here knows you’re anything but defenseless, Flame.”

“Flame?” Fiona leaps in. “Now what does that mean?”

“I’ll leave you to explain,” I grin, waving at Sadie as I stride from the room, Jasper walking at my heels.

“What business could you possibly have to handle at midnight?” Fiona calls after me.

It’s not midnight everywhere.

Jasper and I walk through the house, Jasper’s tail wagging when he senses the happiness flurrying through me, the happiness I didn’t dare let myself anticipate after the fight in the parking lot.

She knows.

And she’s happy for us.

“Life’s looking up, eh, boy?” I say, stroking him under the chin as his tail goes into overdrive.

I walk into my office and sit behind my desk, and I guess I shouldn’t be surprised when the big hulk climbs into my lap and attempts to curl up despite his size.

I laugh and work around him, turning on my laptop and going to Skype.

Aaron answers in half a minute. He’s got the same blonde hair as Sadie, worn long with a green bandana tied across his forehead. Stocky and strong looking, he looks every inch the traveling photographer as he sits in a Hanoi café, the image pixelating briefly before settling.

“Mr. Sykes,” he says. “What can I do for you?”

“I’ve got a question to ask you,” I say, my heart suddenly thudding.

What if he says no?

Chapter Twenty-One

Sadie

I feel like I’m in a bubble of warmth and optimism as I sit in the car across from Saul, my manhandling the vehicle with skill despite the ever-present snowfall. The off-roader – bulky and safe – makes a steady passage through the pine forest, the sunlight lancing through the spiky leaves.

When we hit a rut, I squeal and end up with my hand on his thigh.

Saul smirks over at me, devastatingly handsome in his steel-gray suit, his hair swept to the side, his eyes missing nothing.

“You so planned that,” I giggle, keeping my hand there, squeezing him a little when I see the lust exploding in his expression.

“Can you blame me?” he snarls. “What man wouldn’t want your perfect-for-wanking hand on his leg?”

My chest gives a flutter and my sex gives an even deeper one.

We move over the rut and keep driving, the trees starting to grow thinner now, dotted further and further apart.

“Where are you taking us?” I say, delight in my voice.

“You wouldn’t want to ruin the surprise, would you?”

I smile and rest my