Page 64 of Puppy Christmas

The pink suffusion didn’t abate any. “I never said that’s what I’m wearing.”

“I know, but a man can dream, can’t he?”

Emily appeared in the doorway, Jeeves obediently at her heels. Already, the puppy had almost doubled in size, the soft swell of his baby belly slimming down to a more manageable pudge. There was some sort of lesson in there about how fast children and puppies grew up, how fleeting was youth and how wasted on the young, but Ford ignored it. There was time enough to regret the yoke of responsibility. Today, he just wanted to enjoy some time with Lila and Emily.

And he’d do it, too, dammit.Sorry, Giles.

“Well, moppet?” he asked as soon as Emily’s gaze caught his. “What do you say to going to the mall and helping Princess Lila pick out her costume for Helen’s party? We can get a few more things for yours while we’re at it.”

“Can we?” Emily clasped her hands and gazed up at Lila with wide, adoring eyes. He could have kissed his daughter for bestowing that particular look, all innocence and entreaty. He doubted Lila would be able to resist it.Hecertainly couldn’t. “Dress-up will be so much more fun with a friend. I never did it with a friend a’fore.”

Lila’s expression melted. “Of course we can, Emily. In fact, we can start right now with Jeeves. Do you still have that special vest he’s supposed to wear when you go out together?”

Emily nodded and dashed off to acquire the service animal harness, leaving the two of them alone in the kitchen once again. Ford lost no time in leaping to his feet and drawing close to Lila. The rules might state that they couldn’t touch, but he could still lean in, basking in the heat and scent of her.

“You know they teach spelling in kindergarten, right?” Lila asked. She didn’t move closer, but she didn’t pull away, either. And was it his imagination, or was there a strangled quality to her voice? “I looked it up. One of these days, she’s going to figure out what you’re actually saying.”

“You smell like strawberries today,” he said, inhaling deeply. “Yesterday, it was pineapples, and before that, it was peaches. Do you shower with a fruit basket?”

“Either that, or she’s going to ask Principal Brown what the words mean. Is that what you want? A parent-teacher conference about why Emily’s spelling test is covered with obscenities?”

“You don’t taste like fruit, though, which is weird,” was his response. He brought his face closer to the slope of her shoulder, which was visible above the slightly offset neckline of her white, fluffy sweater. Strands of her hair tickled his nose. “At least, your mouth doesn’t. I have the wildest hope that your skin tells a different story. Does it?”

Lila held herself perfectly immobile, but the whisper of his breath over her neck caused a line of goose bumps to form. That, combined with the sudden hitch in her breath, almost had him tossing all his promises and resolve out the nearest window.

“I don’t make it a habit to lick myself,” she said.

“I intend to,” he murmured, dropping his mouth so close to her shoulder that he could feel the soft, downy hairs of her skin tickling his lips. “And I plan to leave no part of you untouched or untasted.”

A low, soft moan escaped from Lila, but it was interrupted by the skitter of puppy claws on linoleum. Ford glanced down to find that Jeeves was wearing his vest inside out and upside down, which was as good a segue as any. It was impossible to continue thoughts of seduction with a half-dressed puppy and an excited child underfoot, so Ford pushed those wayward sentiments down as far as they could go.

Which, considering he caught sight of Lila sneaking a lick on her wrist when she thought he wasn’t looking, wasn’t very far.

* * *

“You know, Helendidsay I could just wear my usual princess gear.” Lila crossed her arms over her chest—partially because the gesture suited her current mood, and partially because she feared her boobs were going to pop out the top of the corset otherwise. A ruffled white blouse ostensibly provided a modest touch to the pirate costume, but as it left her shoulders bare and only just skimmed the upper swell of her cleavage, she wasn’t sure this was the sort of thing one was supposed to wear around children. “I could always roll out the sparkling pink ball gown again.”

It said a lot about her current state of discomfort that she’d willingly consider the bubble-gum monstrosity, but neither Ford nor Emily picked up on the subtext. Either that, or they didn’t care. With Ford, she was only willing to wager a fifty-fifty chance.

“Come on, Princess Lila.” A small hand popped through the side of the curtain. “I want to see.”

“Yeah, Princess Lila,” Ford echoed. “I thought we were playing dress-up together.”

The laughing underscore to Ford’s voice was her undoing. He knew very well that Emily’s idea of dress-up and his idea of dress-up were two different things. As was almost always the case where this man was concerned, however, his words were laced with entendre.

Entendre and a challenge.He didn’t think she’d actually go through with it.

Fine. She might not be the phone-sex champion of the year, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t without her strengths. She’d show him that she wasn’t so easily subdued. Hoisting her ankle-length maroon skirt, she pushed aside the curtain and stepped carefully out. Carefully was the only way shecouldstep. The time of year meant that there weren’t any Halloween stores open, so they’d had to settle for a store that specialized in cosplay and pop-culture gear. The result was a pirate costume that was both deplorably anachronistic and highly inefficient. There was no way she’d be hoisting any sails or loading any cannons in a faux-leather corset and boots with three-inch heels.

“I wouldn’t last five minutes onboard a pirate ship in this,” she complained as she examined herself in the panel of mirrors. “I’d fall overboard with the first strong gale and then sink slowly to my doom.”

She glanced over her shoulder to see if her companions shared her opinion. Although Jeeves tilted his head in judgmental inquiry, neither of the Fords seemed the least bothered by her lack of historical accuracy. Ford, because he was staring at her with openmouthed hunger that sent her heart racing, and Emily, because her eyes grew wide with delight.

“Daddy,” Emily breathed. “It’s ’xactly like your pictures.”

Lila was so caught up in Ford’s glinting blue gaze—which seemed to have zeroed in on all the parts where her corset pinched and pushed—that she didn’t catch Emily’s meaning right away.

“She just needs her big, long rope,” Emily added. “The one that kills all the bad guys.”