Chapter 128

#Chapter 128: A Child’s Laughter Moana That night, I fell asleep next to Edrick with a full heart. I couldn’t help but wonder if all of this meant that our relationship might go further than simply being a fake relationship, but I didn’t want to spend too much time getting my hopes up in case things didn’t work out as planned. All I knew was that my wolf was happy to be near him, and I was also happy to be near him. Edrick seemed happier than usual as well, and it made me think that maybe things would at least be just a little different after our mini vacation at the mountain estate.

The next morning, I awoke to the feeling of Edrick’s warm arms around me. I was turned toward him with my face buried comfortingly in his chest, so close I could feel his heartbeat. We had fallen asleep the night before with a respectable distance between us as we didn’t want to get too close, but it seemed that we simply couldn’t avoid getting close to one another in our sleep. However, I couldn’t deny that feeling him this close to me gave me a sense of safety and comfort.

Edrick’s eyes opened shortly after mine did; he rarely ever slept any longer after I woke up, as though he needed me to be asleep beside him in order for him to sleep as well. I felt my heart begin to race as his gray eyes looked down at me, expecting him to pull away.

But he didn’t. For several long, quiet minutes we just looked at each other as the sun shined on us and the cool, fragrant mountain air wafted in through the open window. His arms stayed firmly wrapped around me, holding me close to his body and keeping me warm in the chilly morning air. He was so much bigger than me, but our bodies fit perfectly together like two puzzle pieces.

Neither of us pulled away, in fact, until we suddenly heard a knock on the door. I gasped and quickly moved away with the intention of jumping out of bed and hiding in the closet so as not to be seen, but Edrick’s hand shot out and wrapped around my wrist, stopping me before I could.

“Daddy?” Ella’s tiny voice called through the door. “Are you awake?”

My eyes widened, but Edrick stayed surprisingly calm.

“Come in, Princess,” he said, releasing his grip on my wrist as my heart pounded even harder. How was he not panicking? We weren’t together romantically — or at least, we weren’t supposed to be —

and therefore we shouldn’t have been sleeping in the same bed. It would have been difficult enough already to admit our sleeping arrangement to the maids, let alone Ella. And yet, Edrick didn’t seem concerned in the slightest. What changed?

The door cracked open then, and Ella shuffled in with her stuffed duck under her arm and her hair a mess from sleeping all night. Her tired eyes didn’t catch me at first as she walked up to her father’s side of the bed, but when they finally did, her jaw dropped.

“Moana?” Ella said, rubbing her eyes with one hand. “What are you doing in here?”

I opened my mouth to respond, but nothing would come out. However, Edrick seemed to have it handled already, and what he said next took me by complete surprise.

“Moana and I sleep in the same room now,” Edrick said matter-of-factly, as though it was only natural for the two of us to sleep together. I was completely taken aback by the fact that he so casually admitted our sleeping arrangement to his daughter, and my heart pounded even harder as I wondered how Ella would react. Would she get the wrong idea and wonder again why we weren’t married? Would she resent me and feel as though I was stealing her daddy away from her? Maybe they had a morning ritual of playing together sometimes and she thought that my presence would only get in the way of her bonding time with her father.

Ella was silent for a few moments. Her blue eyes flickered back and forth between Edrick and I as she looked at us both, processing what Edrick said. I feared the worst.

But, much to my surprise, Ella merely shrugged and clambered up onto the bed with her stuffed duck in tow. “Okay,” she said with a grunt as she hauled her tiny body up onto the tall bed without any help.

She seemed just as nonchalant about the situation as her father; I couldn’t quite tell if Edrick’s own nonchalance made her feel at ease, or if she was simply expecting things like this to happen between Edrick and I at this point.

“I want to go on a walk today,” Ella said, nestling herself down between the two of us with her stuffed duck in her arms. “Can we go?”

Edrick chuckled. “Sure,” he said, “but you’ll have to pay the toll first.”

“The toll?” Ella asked, sitting up again and c*****g her head to the side.

I watched as Edrick grinned. In the morning sunlight, he looked even more handsome with a smile on his face. “Yep,” he said, “you have to pay a fee to the tickle monster!”

“No!” Ella shrieked, but it was already too late. Edrick grabbed her and began tickling her furiously, causing her to scream with laughter as she kicked her little legs and threw her stuffed duck in an attempt to get away. “Not the tickle monster!”

Edrick let out a comical, cartoonish laugh that sounded like an evil villain as he kept playfully terrorizing Ella. I couldn’t help but grin and laugh along with them. A rush of emotion for both of them came over me at that moment, and I swore for the briefest of moments that I really did feel like Edrick’s wife and Ella’s mother as I watched them play together. Seeing Edrick act so openly and candidly with his daughter made my heart fill with warmth, and as he began tossing Ella in the air and causing her giggles to grow even louder, I couldn’t stop smiling.

Seeing them like this together made me so happy, and I was glad that we had decided to get out of the city after all. It seemed that a bit of fresh air and a slower pace away from the hustle and bustle and noise of the city was something that we all needed, and I felt my own stress beginning to melt away, too.

And yet, at the same time, I couldn’t deny the fact that there was a tiny pang of confusion deep within me still.

As I watched Ella and Edrick play together, I was smiling. I loved seeing them like this, and it warmed me to see the once-cold and indifferent Alpha billionaire acting in such a silly way with his daughter in front of me. But that feeling of confusion was relentless, and it put a bit of a damper on the moment.

I just wished that my relationship with Edrick didn’t have to be so complicated. If only it could be simple, as simple and pure and natural as the love he had for his daughter.