Filed to story: The Alpha and His Nanny Luna (Tiffany & Asher) Book PDF Free
“Hey,” I said finally, spotting an ice cream stand. “How about some ice cream first?”
Ella stopped in her tracks suddenly and squealed excitedly before running off toward the ice cream stand, pulling me along behind her with surprising strength for a little girl. We stopped at the ice cream stand and the man in a striped red and white uniform and a straw boater hat smiled down at her.
“What would you like, little girl?” he asked.
“Vanilla, please!” Ella said. The man looked at me next.
“I’ll have the same,” I replied.
Ella waited patiently while the man got her ice cream, sticking her grabby little hands out greedily as he handed it to her and immediately starting to lick it as it was already beginning to melt.
“That’ll be five dollars,” he said, looking at me expectantly.
I smiled and patted my pocket, my eyes widening as I realized that I had completely forgotten to bring any money with me. In fact, it had been so long since I had needed any money of my own that I didn’t even have any, and would have to ask the driver to spare me some cash until I got my first paycheck and could pay him back.
“Oh…” I murmured, “I’m so sorry… I left my wallet in the car. I’ll be right back — is that okay?”
The man narrowed his eyes and gave me an icy stare. “I’ve heard that trick a thousand times, lady,” he growled, his sunny demeanor quickly turning sour.
I stammered as I tried to explain that I really did have money, I just had to get my wallet, but was quickly interrupted by a familiar voice coming from behind me.
“I’ll pay,” the voice said.
Ella and I both turned around to see Asher standing behind us with his face covered by sunglasses and a surgical mask, holding out his credit card.
Tiffany
“I’ll pay.”
Ella and I were both shocked when we turned around to see Asher standing there, credit card in hand, his face covered by sunglasses and a surgical mask.
“Daddy!” Ella exclaimed.
Asher handed the ice cream salesman his credit card and ruffled Ella’s hair. “Eat your ice cream before it melts,” he said, guiding us away from the stand and the people behind us who were getting quickly annoyed at us for holding up the line to get ice cream.
“I thought you had to work,” Ella said.
“I decided to come home early so I could spend your birthday with you after all,” Asher replied. “But you weren’t home. Selina told me that you went on an outing…” I couldn’t see his eyes through his sunglasses, but the way his head slowly turned toward me told me everything I needed to know.
I felt my shoulders droop and looked embarrassingly down at my rapidly-melting ice cream. We approached a bench and Asher instructed Ella to sit while she finished her ice cream, then he stood next to me and lowered his voice while she happily swung her legs and got ice cream all over her face.
“Why did you take her out if you had no money?” he asked, his voice sounding cold and annoyed.
“It was an honest mistake,” I replied. “I haven’t had to take out money in a while. And besides, the driver is close; it would’ve only taken a minute for him to pass me the money.”
Asher shook his head and said nothing else. Ella, who had been listening the entire time, suddenly jumped up from her bench. “This is the best birthday ever!” she said very quickly. “Please, I want to stay.”
It seemed that Ella was afraid that her father would make her go home, and Asher’s next words made my heart sink.
“I don’t know, sweetheart,” he said. “It’s really not safe for us to be out in public.”
Ella stuck her lower lip out in a pout. “But it’s my birthday,” she whined. “You never want to go anywhere, and I’m having fun here with Tiffany!”
“She’s a little girl, Asher,” I said quietly. “Let her enjoy her birthday. And please… Join us.”
Asher was silent for a few moments before letting out a deep sigh and crouching to wipe the ice cream off of Ella’s face with a napkin. “Alright,” he said. “We’ll stay.”
Ella squealed in delight and, taking both of our hands, began to drag us around the theme park with just as much — if not more — fervor as she had when it was just the two of us. As we spent the afternoon walking around the theme park, I couldn’t help but take out my phone to secretly snap some sweet pictures of Ella and Asher together. It was so sweet watching them play games together, and seeing Ella sitting on Asher’s shoulders while we walked that I couldn’t help myself. Asher didn’t seem to mind the photos, either, although I wondered why he was so adamant on keeping his mask on; would he really want to look back at photos with his daughter and see that his face was covered for all of them?
As the sun started to get down, Asher and I began to feel tired. Ella, however, still had just as much energy, and insisted on one more ride before we went home. I suggested the ferris wheel because it was slow and relaxing, and both of them agreed.
We climbed into the basket on the ferris wheel. Asher sat across from me with Ella on his lap. As we started to go up, now that we were safe from prying eyes, Asher took off his sunglasses to reveal steely gray eyes that appeared surprisingly happy for the first time since I had met him.
Maybe the Alpha billionaire needed a fun outing just as much as his daughter did.
As we rose up above the theme park under the setting sun, an involuntary gasp came out of my mouth. The way that the last rays of sunlight refracted across the treetops as they swayed in the hot summer breeze, and the way that the string lights lit up the park below us, made the city feel even more dazzling than before. Not only that, but the breeze ruffled through my hair and cooled the sweat on my hot skin.
I looked across from me to see Ella giggling and peering out over the crowd. And behind her, her father wasn’t looking at the crowd…
He was looking at me.
His eyes darted away quickly, as though he had only glanced at me on accident. Soon, the ferris wheel began to roll us back downward, lowering us back into the crowd.
The ferris wheel went around a few times more. When it finally came to a stop at the bottom, the attendant let us out. Asher put his mask back on then got out with Ella in one of his arms. Then, he turned around and held out his other hand for me to help me out. My blush deepened as I felt his cool palm, but we both quickly pulled away when Ella looked at us.
“Alright, Princess,” Asher said as we walked away from the ferris wheel. He set her down and crouched down to her level. “I think we’ve had enough fun for one day. Are you ready to go home?”
Ella nodded, although she looked a little disappointed. I remembered being that age still; I would’ve wanted to spend my entire life running around theme parks when I was a little girl.
We started to head back to where the driver was waiting.
