Page 14 of Daddy’s Little Duckling (Ivory Mountain Daddies #1)
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
RAELYN
S everal days have passed since Rae laid eyes on or spoke to Emmett and she was starting to believe that everything that he said during their date was just a story.
Trying to focus on the rest of her residents, she drifted into a room before realizing where she was going.
“Hey, Little girl”
Raelyn heard from the growly voice that she knew well. Whipping her head toward the noise, she couldn’t believe that Emmett was sitting in front of her. Not caring to hear what he had to say to her, Rae turned to walk back out.
“Don’t move,” Emmett growled at her.
Raelyn grumbled that her feet decided to listen to his command even though she wanted nothing more than to keep walking away.
Feeling his presence behind her before his hands on her shoulders, Emmett turned her towards him. Rae kept her eyes down, not wanting him to see the hurt in her eyes.
“What’s going on, darling? Why did you try to walk away? ”
Refusing to answer she shook her head and tried to walk away again.
“It isn’t nice to ignore Daddy when he is trying to talk with you.”
Snapping her eyes to his, Rae raised her eyebrow at what he had to say.
“You aren’t my Daddy because any Daddy of mine wouldn’t avoid me for days.”
Rae fought the smile coming to her face at the look of shock that graced Emmett’s face at the brazen attitude she had given him.
“First, while Daddy is okay with sass from his Little girl, a disrespectful attitude will not be tolerated.” Barely refraining from rolling her eyes, she continued to hear out what he had to say.
“Second, I wasn’t avoiding you, my Duckling. I have been swamped with work. We let go several people in the finance office, so everyone left behind had to help pick up the slack. I am not one for leaving my team while they are struggling.”
Feeling the attitude drain from her body, Rae realized that she was wrong about Emmett. She felt bad about what she said and thought about him.
“Oh. I didn’t know. I just assumed that you didn’t want me. That everything you had spoken to me about on Sunday was just a joke. I was scared of getting hurt again after I let you in.”
Raelyn accepted the hug that Emmett pulled her into, relaxing and finally feeling a sense of peace for the first time in days. She didn’t realize how worked up she had gotten over this whole thing.
Feeling the tension draining from her body was a welcomed feeling. She knew that in the future she was going to have to talk to Emmett about what she was feeling and words were always something that she struggled with, but that was a problem for a later date.
Right now she just wanted to enjoy the few minutes she had wrapped in his arms.
“I’m sorry that I upset you, babygirl. That was never my intent.”
Rae didn’t want to move away from his embrace, so she nodded to his statement.
Emmett pulled away and looked down at her.
“Can I pick you up tonight after work? I think it’s time we had that discussion I told you we would be having.”
Rae nodded yes before remembering that she had to work another twelve-hour shift tomorrow.
“I can’t, I’m sorry. I work tomorrow, too.”
She wanted nothing more than to spend time with Emmett, but she couldn’t neglect her duties and the assigned shifts that she had. She would feel terrible to leave all her coworkers without help by not being there.
“When is your next day off?”
Pausing to think about her schedule, “I have Friday off. I don’t work again until Sunday morning.”
“I will be here Thursday to visit Nannie Jean. I’ll stay till you get off work and then you can follow me to my home. Pack a bag for my house and we can plan to spend the following days together.”
Excitement bubbled out of her!
“Yes! I would love to spend the weekend with you.”
Emmett chuckled at her antics. Rae needed to get back to her duties, but before she could slip away she felt the softest kiss on her forehead before slipping out the door.
She couldn’t wait for Thursday to get here. For once she had something to look forward to.