Saxon's Savior (Protect and Serve #3) - Pandora Pine Page 0,50
had the option of walking away. “I did everything I could to help my sister. She didn’t want anything from me. I’d offered to adopt the girls before and she said no. The best I could do was hire her an attorney to plan for what happened yesterday.”
“My parents didn’t do anything like that for me.”
“I wanted to make sure Sophie and Lola stayed in the family if the worst should happen.” The worst had happened, and now I was a father. “Here’s the deal, Dallas. I like you, I really do, but I love these girls. They have to be my first priority. If you want to dive in and see where this relationship goes, it has to be with your eyes wide open.”
“I absolutely want to dive in with you. Does that mean you forgive my assholery from last night?” Dallas walked around to my side of the island. He picked up my hand, brushing a kiss across the back of it.
“I understand why you left the way you did. There’s nothing to forgive. Just remember everything you do from here forward doesn’t only affect us.” As if on cue, bright laughter filled the firehouse. I could hear the girls and Ozzy stomping up the stairs.
“I’m hungwy!” Lola declared.
“Me too!” Sophie agreed as she reached the top of the stairs and ran to me.
“Me three!” Ozzy agreed. “Who’s ready for a cooking lesson?”
“I am!” I raised my hands in the air and wiggled my fingers.
“Me too!” Dallas agreed.
Just knowing why Dallas felt the need to run last night made me feel better. Both of us had come from less than ideal home lives. I felt stronger knowing he was going to be by my side for whatever was to come next.
23
Dallas
What surprised me the most about my conversation with Saxon was the way my heart slowed, and my panic calmed, when I agreed to be in this relationship with him and the girls. Running had been the thing making me so damned upset, not staying.
“Okay,” Ozzy was saying. “Who has ever had a pasta-pus before?”
“An octopus? Ew, I am not eating octopus!” Sophie shot Ozzy a scandalized look. “They’re so cute, with all those arms for hugging.” She hugged her sister. Both girls started to laugh.
“Me too!” Lola agreed.
Ozzy barked out a quick laugh, but quickly got himself back under control. “Hold on a minute. I didn’t say I was making octopus. I said pasta-pus.”
“What’s that?” Sophie giggled as I helped her onto the stool I’d been sitting on. She barely weighed anything. My heart pinched in my chest. No child deserved to be treated like these girls had. Somehow, they were still smiling. I could take a lesson from them.
“That!” Lola laughed when I lifted her into the air before sitting her next to her sister. Two years younger than Sophie, Lola should weigh less, but she was skin and bones. Fuck drugs. Fuck them so hard.
“My two assistants and I are going to show you.” Ozzy walked to the fridge and pulled out a pack of hot dogs. “Okay, step one is to peel the skin off the dogs.” He set two knives on the counter, keeping them away from the kids.
This was going to be interesting. I grabbed an apron and tossed a second one to Saxon. We worked quickly under Ozzy’s guidance. Once the dogs were skinned, he instructed us to cut them in half. Piece of cake.
“Now comes the fun part. Tentacles!” Ozzy wiggled his fingers toward the girls, who screeched in laughter. He grabbed a box of spaghetti, dumping several strands onto the counter. “Can I get a couple of little helpers to break the spaghetti?”
“Me!” Both girls said at once.
“Awesome!” Ozzy held up a piece of pasta and broke it in half. “Now you!”
Sophie and Lola picked up their pasta and followed along with Ozzy as he broke the halves again.
“Okay, helpers, now give each pasta-pus tentacles.” Ozzy winked at me. “How many tentacles does an octopus have?”
“Eight!” Sophie shouted. Her smile lit up the room.
“What?” Lola started to giggle again.
I could see what Ozzy was getting at. I stuck pieces of dry pasta into the cut end of the hotdog. He had set a pan of water on the stove to boil. While we were working, Ozzy made several more of the hotdog creatures himself.
“Okay, everyone in the pool!” Ozzy laughed as he started dropping the hotdogs into the boiling water. “What do you think, Saxon? Simple, right?”