Not My Brute (Angels of War Series #2)

Chapter Three

I clean up the dinner plates while Emilia dances around the room, pretending to fight someone with her toy Light Saber. Cameron is sitting in the lounge, typing up an email to another car dealership who has a car he desperately needs in his showroom. I, on the other hand, am worrying that by the time Emilia falls to sleep, there won't be enough time for me to get on with my paperwork too.

Emilia charges into the living room, clipping her Light Saber on the double doors leading to the room from the kitchen. "Daddy, will you play?"

Cameron doesn't look up from the computer when he says, "Not right now, Emilia."

Emilia squats down, moving her arms from side to side. "Please, please, please, Daddy."

Cameron frowns at the computer screen. "I said no, Emilia."

I can see the tears before they happen, her bottom lip wobbling as she drops her Light Saber on the floor. I swoop in, picking her up in my arms and into the kitchen, sitting her bottom first on the countertop.

I grab hold of her knees. "How do you fancy making chocolate brownies?"

"It's bath time, Diana," comes Cameron's reply, his tone not to be messed with tonight.

Arsehole.

I put my hands under Emilia's armpits and lift her up, hugging her petite body close to me. "How about you chose a bath bomb instead?"

Emilia glances back into the living room, her fingers gripping onto my shoulders. "Will you wash my hair daddy?"

"Daddy has to work, baby," Cameron replies, and even though I love him, I also hate him at times.

Emilia buries her face in my neck, her little soul crushed once more by his rejection. It isn't as if she asks for a lot. No tantrums or screaming matches. Cameron has no clue how good he has it with his kids.

I make my way towards the bathroom, telling Emilia to choose what fluffy socks she wants to wear while I run the bath. It doesn't take her long to pick out her princess Leia fluffy socks with pompoms for the character's iconic two bun hairstyle.

"What bath bomb do you want to choose?" I say, lowering the basket down to her level.

Emilia points at the moon shaped one, letting me put it in her hand to drop in the water. She hangs over the lip of the bath. "Wowwee," she shrieks on a giggle when it fizzes, turning the water dark blue.

"Do you think it'll turn your skin blue?" I say, kneeling down to her level, helping her out of her clothes.

"No." She tilts her head to the side almost shyly. "Maybe my hair?"

I run my fingers through her blonde locks, thinking that I should take her for a hair trim tomorrow as her bob seems to have lost its shape. "I don't think your mummy would forgive me if I let that happen."

Emilia climbs into the bath, needing my help to get her over the edge. "I hate having baths," she says, sitting down with a hard thump, her legs swishing to the sides.

Emilia is a real tomboy at heart, rather be rolling around in the mud with her brother than wearing pretty dresses... much to her mother's dismay.

I laugh, splashing the water at her belly. "You don't?"

She shakes her head. "No, it's boring."

"Boring?" I reply, lifting her leg up in the air. "Baths are supposed to be relaxing. I love to take a bath."

Even if it is only once in a blue moon.

"Can we play, I spy?" Emilia says, giving me her best grin.