32. Luke

"You lied to me!"

Luke looked at her, stunned at first by her outburst and then confused. "What do you mean?"

"That bitch said you have a bunch of money and you never said anything about having money! Not that I would give a shit, but you lied to me! And you've been communicating with her! Why? Because I'm not enough? I'm not classy enough or sophisticated enough? How can I ever trust you?"

Ally scowled up at him, her hands on her hips, waiting for an explanation. Luke reached out to touch her arm, only to have them slapped away by her. A lump formed in his throat, feeling as though he was about to lose his whole world. He couldn't lose Ally, but he had fucked up and he knew it.

"First of all, I have not been communicating with her. She has been emailing and texting me, but I have not responded. I am happy to show you the emails and texts so you can see that. I have nothing to say to that bitch and I don't want anything to do with her. You are my everything. Only you. But you are completely right, baby. I messed up. I wasn't upfront with you about myself and I should have been, but I was… terrified."

She looked at him, confusion written across her face this time.

"Terrified of what?"

"My grandparents left me a lot of money when they passed. A lot of money. Melissa worked for my attorney's office as an assistant, so she knew how much was left for me. She started chatting with me each time I went to see my attorney to sign papers and she showed interest in me. She showed up at a BDSM club that I was a member of one night when I was there. She acted surprised that we both went to the same club, but I later found out she had hacked my banking information and found the monthly charge on my account for my membership to the club."

"Anyway, I told her about me being a Daddy and she was all for it, without hesitation, willing to be my baby at the drop of a hat. But it was only because she wanted me for my money. She played me. So, I was afraid that if you knew, the same thing could happen. So… I didn't tell you. I needed to know if you were truly interested in me and this dynamic, and that there wasn't an underlying reason for you to put up with me and what I wanted from you."

Ally's lips trembled and he wanted to pull her to him, but he was afraid she would push him away again and he wouldn't be able to handle her rejection twice. He couldn't lose her. Kneeling in front of her, Luke looked at her, pleading with his eyes. He would beg for her forgiveness. He would do whatever it took.

"Baby, I am so sorry. I should have been up front with you, but I was so scared. The first time I saw you in the diner, you took my breath away, and I didn't even know your name or even if you were single. The night I saw you walking in the snow, I wanted nothing more than to drive you here and take care of you and love you. I've been drawn to you since day one. I couldn't lose you, Ally, but I needed to know it was real."

Tears fell from her eyes, and he couldn't stop himself from reaching out for her. He tugged on her wrist, pulling her down into his chest. She sobbed loudly, sagging in his arms. Standing, he picked her up and carried her to the rocking chair and sat, setting her on his lap.

"I don't know what I can say or do so you'll forgive me, Ally."

She sobbed louder, using his shirt to wipe her nose.

"I have already forgiven you, but I didn't like that stupid lady! She ruined cookie day!" she wailed.

Luke smiled, relaxing slightly, snuggling her tighter in his arms.

"Oh, baby. I don't like that stupid lady, either. But she didn't ruin cookie day. She was just a bump in the road during cookie day. We still have the rest of the day."

Sniffling, she pulled away from his chest to look at him.

"I don't care about your stupid money. It means nothing to me. I've lived in this town all my life and I didn't grow up wealthy. We barely scraped by at times, but I still had the most wonderful life growing up. Happiness and love are what's important to me. I just wish you could have felt comfortable enough to be honest with me, but I understand your reasoning."

Luke swallowed the lump in his throat, pulling Ally to him so he could kiss her deeply.

"I know that money means nothing to you, I know how genuine you are, and I'm sorry I was so scared. I promise I will never keep anything from you again… unless it's a surprise for you."

Her eyes lit up. "I like surprises."

Luke chuckled. "Most Little girls do."

"Is she going to show up again?"

Luke's heart broke seeing the worry in her expression. He never wanted her to have to worry about a single thing and she didn't need to. He would make damn sure Melissa never stepped foot around either of them again.

"No, baby. She should be in jail soon anyway. My friend, Kane, he's a very good friend of mine, he was a damn good detective in the same precinct I used to be in, that's how we met. Anyway, he left the police force a while ago and started his own private surveillance company. He specializes in private investigations and provides specialized surveillance and security services. He contracts with government agencies and military branches. The police department had hired him to investigate some incidents that had been happening internally and he found that she has been accessing documents about politicians and wealthy men illegally in order to get information about them. She has been using the information to trap these men somehow and then blackmail them for money. The guy she's been dating, Mike, was a cop in our precinct, who turned out to be a dirty cop. He was helping her get access to these documents and used his badge to find different ways to set these innocent people up. They had a whole get rich scheme going on."

"When Kane was doing the internal investigation on him, he found that both of them were up to some pretty shady stuff. I just found all of this out when I talked to him yesterday while you were napping. He called because he is moving here and bought a house just a couple miles down the road. He also wanted to fill me in on everything that had been found out and to let me know that she had been trying to access my files from the department. Before I left, I set it up so that if anyone tried to access my file, it would flag Kane because after I found out that she'd gotten into my banking information somehow, I did what I could to make sure I was protected. I also had a bad feeling about Mike. Anyway, they couldn't find her to arrest her. I'm guessing she was on her way here."

"She doesn't truly want me, baby. You don't have to worry about that. She wants my money… anyone's money for that matter… but she doesn't actually want me, and I sure as hell want nothing to do with her."

Ally looked at him wide eyed as though he had just told her about a plot from a soap opera.

"Whoa. That is a lot of crazy, Daddy. I'm glad you have your friend to help you, though. He sounds nice."

Luke smiled and nodded. "I am very lucky to have such a good friend and yes, he is very nice. He's also a Daddy."

Nodding her head, Ally snuggled into his chest.

"I love you, my little bunny."

"I love you too, Daddy."

Luke held her for a long time, gently massaging the bruise forming on her arm as he rocked her until she fell asleep in his arms. Seeing Melissa again had shaken him to the core, but only because when he saw her, all he wanted to do was get away from her and protect Ally. He knew he had never truly loved Melissa; it had been a surface relationship between them. But with Ally, it was as real and raw as it could be. Their connection was so deep that the pain he felt when he couldn't get to her made him sick. Ally didn't have a greedy bone in her body and when she looked at him, she looked with only pure love and admiration. She had never tried to change him, despite how incredibly hardheaded he could be about things sometimes.

Lifting her from his lap, Luke laid her in her crib to finish her nap, making sure to tuck the blankets around her and tuck a stuffed animal under her arm. He left her to sleep, turning on the baby monitor that sat on the nightstand, and headed down the hall to his office, opening his laptop. He needed to finish his Christmas shopping. Nothing like waiting for the last minute.

A while later, Luke heard movement through the monitor. He shut down his laptop and went to check on his precious baby girl. He could hardly wait to hold her again.

"Hi, sleepy girl."

Ally whined quietly, her face buried under the covers.

Luke grinned, tickling her tummy gently, making her giggle and squirm away from him.

"Daddyyyyy!"

"Okay, okay. Let's go get you changed, baby."

Luke lifted her from the crib, setting her on her feet to follow him. Lifting her onto the changing table, he worked quickly to get her into a fresh diaper.

After he was done, he carried her to the rocking chair to hold her. Offering her a pacifier, Ally laid in his arms, staring up at him as she sucked on the soft nipple.

"I'm so proud of you, baby. You have been such a good girl for Daddy, and I just want you to know how happy and proud you make me."

Ally grinned, reaching up to touch his beard gently, stroking his chin.

Pulling her pacifier out, she smiled. "Thank you, Daddy. This has been something I never thought I would love as much as I do. Some things I love more than others, but all of it makes me feel so Little and so loved and it makes me happy. I've never been this happy before."

"You are so loved, more than you know, baby."