Page 2 of Daddy's Little Bunny (Ivory Mountain Daddies #2)

CHAPTER ONE

OLIVIA

S he bolted awake, heart beating out of her chest. It’s just a nightmare, he’s not here. Olivia tried to calm her breathing as she looked at her surroundings.

She pulled Nibbles, her stuffed bunny in close, rubbing her ear against her nose. There wasn’t a night that passed where she didn’t have a nightmare.

Most nights she slept for a few hours before one took over. Going back to sleep was next to impossible, so Olivia has learned how to function on just a few hours of rest.

She looked over at the clock on the bedside table and sighed. It was five forty-five in the morning and she knew it was pointless for her to try and go back to sleep.

Opting to take advantage of the extra hour she had, Olivia decided to take a bubble bath and relax. She hoped that maybe it would ease the thoughts racing in her mind.

Turning on the tap and watching the bath fill as she poured in her favorite bubble bath. She let it run for a few minutes, before turning it off and heading into the kitchen to grab her first cup of coffee.

She would drink several cups before she even left for the party that her best friend, Rae, invited her to. It was the only way that she knew she would be able to function.

Undressing, Olivia glanced at the scar running along the left side of her abdomen. It has been nine months since that night, but the scar would never fade.

The emergency surgery that she underwent made sure of that. Following her escape, Olivia managed to contract an infection in the original incision causing her to become septic.

The ER doctors in the tiny town where she had stopped, had to reopen the wound and clean out the infection. The scar that remained would just be a permanent reminder of that night.

Shivering from the cold and the memories that haunted her mind, she climbed into the warm bath waiting for her and let her mind continue to drift. Olivia had taken every step she could to erase who she once was.

Cassidy Taylor would never exist again and that was for the best. Even though it still didn’t feel like enough, Olivia would always feel unsafe.

Knowing that David was still out there looking for her would always rattle her nerves. She could only hope that he wouldn’t be able to reach her here in the tiny Arizona town where she took up residence.

Sipping on her coffee, she stayed in the bath until the water ran cold and her body became wrinkly. Finally getting out, Olivia wrapped up in a towel before heading into the kitchen for a refill.

Sitting at her vanity, she decided to put effort into what she looked like for today's party. The only place she ever went was to Ivory Mountain Nursing Home, where she worked on the dementia unit with Raelyn.

Taking the time to curl her hair and apply the smallest amount of makeup, Olivia slipped into the light pink sundress as the alarm she had set earlier went off.

Gathering her phone, wallet, and keys she put everything into the pink crossbody purse she planned on carrying today. Almost everything she wore was some shade of her favorite color, pink.

She drained the last of her coffee, kissed Nibbles goodbye, and headed out the door.

Gripping her purse tighter to her body, she made her way to the car as quickly as she could. That didn’t stop her from hearing the catcalls as she slid into the driver's seat.

Olivia didn’t live in a good area. There wasn’t a day that went by that something wasn’t getting broken into or she couldn’t hear the gunshots from down the road.

Taking a deep breath, she turned the car on and headed towards the park where this party was happening.

Olivia tried to find the excitement she knew she should feel, but it was nowhere to be found. She was excited to see her best friend Rae and her Daddy, Emmett, but Olivia didn’t like big crowds.

She also knew that Rae would be in Littlespace or close to it. Olivia didn’t get the opportunity often to play with her own Little side, but she loved getting to see Rae be happy there.

If anyone deserved it, it was her. That was actually how they met and bonded. Seeing a Little in her, Olivia allowed herself to break the one rule she had and formed a friendship with Raelyn.

She knew she would never grow to regret that decision though. Rae was the sunshine she needed on a rainy day.

After the hiccup in her morning, with her car choosing to be difficult. She finally made it to the party, but all Olivia wanted to do now was go home.

Especially seeing the man she had thought about for several weeks now, was the best friend of Emmett. Now she had a name to obsess over in her dreams, but she knew that nothing could come of it.

Pushing away the thoughts of David again, because he wasn’t welcome here, she put a smile on her face and accepted the hug that Emmett pulled her into.

“It’s good to see you again, Olivia. All went well with your car?”

Before she could speak up there was a grumble from behind her.

“It will be once I have a chance to look it over. I didn’t like the condition of her tires and there was a funny noise when she cranked the engine.”

Raising her eyebrows, Olivia turned towards the voice. Who did he think he was? Her car was just fine and she didn’t need him to look at it.

There was nothing wrong with the tires on her car. Okay, so maybe they were a little bald. They had plenty of miles still left on them.

The noise he mentioned was just a belt or something. As long as the car continued to run, Olivia would just turn the radio up a little louder and pretend she didn’t hear it.

What she did know was that she was fully capable of handling it all on her own. She had been doing it for the past nine months and she wasn’t fixing to let this man come in and take over, no matter how hot she thought he was.

“Actually, that’s alright. I’ve got it.”

She heard Miles growl at her words before she turned and ignored him. She wasn’t some weak woman who needed a man .

Look at what happened last time she depended on a man. It almost cost her everything and she refuses to be that woman again.

“Emmett, I’m going to steal your girlfriend for a bit. I need to talk to her.”

Olivia watched Rae’s eyes widen at her statement and Olivia knew that she knew exactly what they needed to talk about.

The little brat is going to explain everything about the man who is currently warming her back with his presence.

“Of course. Stay where I can see you, Little girl.” Emmett said to Rae.

“I will, Daddy. I promise!”

Grabbing Raelyn by the hand, Olivia pulled her towards the oak tree that wasn’t too far away from where the guys were standing. It was just far enough that she didn’t have to worry about someone overhearing this conversation but was still close enough that they would still have eyes on them.

She wouldn’t put it past Emmett to decide to sit in on the conversation if they were out of his line of sight.

He was protective of her best friend and that meant by default that he was protective of Olivia, too. It felt nice knowing that someone cared about her wellbeing sometimes.

“You, ma’am, have a bunch of explaining to do. Starting with how long you knew that Miles was the man I had been dreaming about the past few weeks.”

“I didn’t know it was him, at first. Then you made a comment about his eyes. It wasn’t hard to put it all together at that point. Miles is the only man I know who has two different colored eyes. It’s pretty rare, you know.”

Olivia did know. She had researched it for days after she learned that it was a condition that only affected a small amount of the human population. Miles was an anomaly and she found it so fascinating to learn about.

“That was weeks ago, Raelyn. You didn’t think that it would have been important for you to mention him long before now?”

“Well, at first I was going to. Then I thought about how you needed a Daddy and I know that Miles would be the perfect one for you. That’s when I decided to bring y'all together myself. Too bad the universe wanted to play instead. I’m just glad that the cat is out of the bag.

It was getting really hard to pretend like I didn’t know who he was. ”

“Shhhh!! Don’t say that out loud. No one needs to know I’m a Little.”

Olivia knows that she should explain to Raelyn a little bit more about her past, but there never seemed to be a good time. She also knew that the less that they knew about her previous life the better.

It was safer for them all that way. She refused to let the people who have been there for her since she moved to Arizona get hurt by her past.

Before Rae could respond to Olivia’s outburst, a shadow fell over them. Glancing up into the eyes that had haunted her dreams she shivered.

“Little Bunny, I would like a chance to talk to you. As long as that’s okay with you.”

Raelyn popped up from where she was sitting beside Olivia, blew them both a kiss, and dashed off to where her Daddy was standing, before Olivia could even answer Miles.

Guess she didn’t have much of a choice now. She felt Miles sit down on the grass beside her and she fought every instinct in her body to move out of his reach. She didn’t believe that Miles would ever hurt her, but old habits can be hard to break .

“I’m so glad that you’re here today. I’ve been hoping that I would get the opportunity to see you again.”

Olivia didn’t speak. She didn’t know what to say to him. It’s not like she would ever be able to build something with him, so there was no reason for her to entertain a conversation. It would only cause heartache later down the road.

“I can’t lie and say that I haven’t frequented the Target we met while looking for you. I knew that I wouldn’t make the mistake twice by not getting your name and number.”

She blushed at his words. She would never admit to him that she had been doing the same thing.

He didn’t need to know that she had been looking for him. That would just give him hope that there could be something between them.

“Let me formally introduce myself. My name is Miles Montgomery. I’m so glad to have finally met you, Little Bunny.”

“My name isn’t Little Bunny, it’s Olivia.”

She watched Miles smile at her statement. Maybe she was just slightly hoping that if she was mean enough, he would decide that she wasn’t worth it. Better to accept the loss now rather than later.

“I know it’s not, but I think you like that name just as much as you do your actual name.”

Olivia wouldn’t answer that statement. He didn’t need to know that her panties were wet because he kept calling her that.

“So Olivia, now that I have a name to go with the gorgeous face that I have been dreaming of, can I get your number, too? I would love to take you out on a date one night.”

“Oh, I don’t think that is a good idea. I don’t go out much and I’m not that much fun to be around.”

“I should be the judge of that, don’t you think? ”

She could tell he wasn’t going to give up without getting her number. Deep down she wanted to give it to him, anyway. What harm could really come of it?

“Okay, sure. I’ll give it to you, but I don’t promise anything.”

“I don’t expect anything from you, Little one. Just a chance to get to know the woman who I will one day call mine.”

Rattling off her number to him, she couldn’t help but focus on his previous statement. He seemed really sure of himself that they were going to become something one day.

Sadly, he was going to be heartbroken when that didn’t happen. The pinging of her phone pulled her from the thoughts going on in her head.

“There, now you have my number, too. I sure hope that you will use it, Darling.”

Immediately, Olivia’s heart raced and she was back to that night. Her breathing became shallow and she couldn’t hear any of what Miles was saying to her.

Olivia bolted from where she was sitting and took off towards her car. She couldn’t let them see her break down here. She had to be alone and it needed to be right now.

Olivia could feel the pain in her skull and the scar on her side pulsed with the reminder of what happens when she lets a guy in too close.

Racing off from the party, Olivia worked on calming her breathing and tried to make sense of what had just happened.

She had never experienced a reaction like that before. She thought that she was past all the triggering thoughts and actions, but guess not.

Deciding to not focus on that, she continued to make her way back to her house. The sooner she was able to curl up with Nibbles and her favorite blanket, the better off she would be.