Keeping Kenzie - Pepper North Page 0,31
with a smile.
“When can we go?” she asked.
“Tomorrow morning. Now, dinner.”
“Oh, yeah! I’m starving!”
“Let’s go, Baby girl.” Osiris lifted Kenzie to stand on her feet and took her hand. “Want to take Cupcake?”
“Cupcake!” she cried, pulling her hand from his to run into the main area of the hotel room. Spying him on the bed, she lifted him gently into her arms and hugged the stuffie, rocking back and forth. “I missed you so much.”
Kenzie turned to her Daddy and asked, “Will it be too embarrassing if I take him with us to dinner?”
“Embarrassing to me? Baby girl, Cupcake and I have been hanging out together all over town. Everyone thinks he’s my stuffie now. And I’m just fine with that.”
She couldn’t help giggling at the mental image of the enormous man carrying the rainbow-colored chameleon around. Dashing over to his side, she put her hand in his. “Let’s go!” Kenzie urged between bouts of infectious laughter.
“Come on, Baby girl. Let’s get some food inside you.”
As they drove through the smallish town, Kenzie looked around curiously. “There’s a candy shop!” She pointed at one adorable storefront.
“That’s Samantha’s. You’ll meet her at the party. She’s Sheriff Underwood’s Little girl.”
“Do you think they’ll like me? I don’t really know what a Little is supposed to be like. What if I do something wrong?” she whispered, hugging Cupcake tighter.
Osiris pulled into the packed parking lot of the town’s diner. The sheriff had suggested this place, and Osiris had been there several times. It was always full of locals and visitors driving through. Once he’d stopped the car, Osiris turned to run a tender hand over the side of her hair. “They’re going to love you, just like I do.”
“You love me?” Kenzie stared at him in wonder.
“You are the very best thing I ever rescued from a burning building. You pushed the two-hundred-pound St. Bernard that I carried down a fire ladder out of contention with one smile,” he assured her. “I’m changing rule number one. Know that Daddy loves you deeply.”
“You love me?” she repeated.
“I love you, Baby girl.”
“Can we love each other this fast?”
“Love doesn’t follow any rules. We can move as fast or slow as you want, Kenzie. My feelings won’t change. You are the one I’ve been searching for.”
She lunged forward, only to be tethered in place by her seat belt. As she fumbled for the latch, one large hand covered hers. “Hold on.” She watched Osiris slide from the driver’s seat and jog around the hood of the car. He opened her door and leaned in, capturing her lips first in a sizzling kiss before unfastening her seat belt.
Scooping her into his arms, Osiris carefully lifted her from the car as if she were the most precious of all cargo. “I love you, Baby girl,” he repeated, holding her gaze with his.
“I love you, too, Osiris!” she answered before pressing her lips to his.
Before they could get too carried away, the bleep bleep of a police siren sounded next to them. Jerking apart, Osiris and Kenzie turned to stare at the squad car containing Sheriff Underwood and a smiling, curvy woman. Osiris set Kenzie gently down on the pavement.
The sheriff rolled down his window to say, “You’re going to miss the meatloaf special if you dally about out here. The diner runs out of the special early.” He parked his car. As soon as he opened the passenger door, the woman burst from it to run to Kenzie’s side and across the lane of traffic to wrap her arms around the slender young woman.
“I felt so sorry for you! I was planning a jail break, but someone wouldn’t tell me where you were so I could yank the window out by the bars,” she informed Kenzie, looking over her shoulder to glower at the sheriff.
“I’ve been in trouble since the deputy brought you in on the arrest warrant,” he confessed to Kenzie.
Turning to look at Samantha, he asked, “Did you look both ways before darting over to talk to Kenzie?”
Instantly, the woman’s expression changed from indignation to concern as she admitted, “No.” Looking down at the ground, she whispered, “Sorry, Daddy.”
“We’ll discuss how sorry you’d have been if a car had struck you when we get home. For now, Samantha, let me introduce Kenzie, her stuffie, Cupcake, and her Daddy, Osiris. If you apologize to them for plotting to get Kenzie in more trouble, we’ll ask if they’d like to join us for dinner. I think I owe