He smiled at me crookedly, and it warmed my heart. Why did it take me so long to realize that he was rather attractive? Nicola may be stunning, but Mathew has a beauty of his own.

You have my permission to be a diva about this. Although endearing, I'm not going to respond positively to this. To make me pleased, you'll comply with my requests. And you want to bring joy to Daddy, don't you?

In my mind, it was an interesting question. This was really unprecedented in my experience.

But naturally I wished for Mathew's joy. I needed him to be happy and grin at me.

'Yes,' I said,...