Can You Keep A Secret?

Chapter 6

Holly sat at the kitchen breakfast bar, anxiously waiting for Marcus to come home. 8pm was late even for him and she felt like he was probably putting off seeing her. She had cooked them both dinner and was hoping they could discuss last night’s events calmly, like two adults. Her mind began to wander back to her conversation with Belle earlier that day and she felt her cheeks flush crimson. The crunch of gravel from the front path alerted her to Marcus’ arrival, launching a breeze of butterflies in her stomach.

Marcus walked into the kitchen and Holly could swear she saw his face drop as soon as he laid eyes on her. She felt a sting in her heart at the thought that he wasn’t happy to see her.

“I cooked dinner for us,” Holly said hopefully, “I wanted to apologise for my behaviour last night.”

Marcus walked towards her, sighing heavily, “Babygirl its me who should be apologising to you. I have been dreading seeing you all day because I don’t know how to tell you how sorry I am. I took things way too far last night and was out of control. I shouldn’t have treated you like that. I really am so sorry. Please forgive me” By the end of his speech he was right in front of her, with his hands on her shoulders, staring into her eyes beseechingly.

What felt like a zap of lightning struck Holly’s heart and the breeze of butterflies turned into a whirlwind. This man was beautiful and what’s more, he clearly loved her deeply. She didn’t know how she hadn’t seen it before but in that moment she realised she was looking at the man of her dreams.

“I….I…Daddy…” stuttered Holly, suddenly unsure of herself and reeling from her revelation.

“ I totally understand if you can’t forgive me baby. I know I need to earn back your trust. I just want you to know how sorry I am.” Said Marcus, looking close to tears.

“Daddy stop, please. You did nothing wrong. I was completely out of line, inviting a boy round without your permission. You were right to punish me the way you did. I am sorry. It's me who should be asking you to forgive me.” She pulled Marcus into a hug, the contact setting off sparks across her skin. 

“Are you sure? I made you cry!” queried Marcus, pulling away and gazing anxiously into her eyes, “You can tell me Holls, I won’t be angry.”

Holly looked back with a puzzled expression on her face, “You didn’t make me cry. Why would you think that?”

“Never mind. Can we both just agree that we are sorry and get back to how things used to be?”

This time Holly jumped to hug him “Of course Daddy. Nothing could change the way I feel about you. Now sit down at the table and let me serve up dinner.”

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Marcus loosened his tie as he waited for Holly to bring the food over. Well that had gone better than expected he thought. She was the one apologising to him and said that he was right to punish her. Thankfully there was no awkwardness between them. Now all he had to do was keep his temper in check and try not to think about what Holly was doing with boys. Most importantly he had to remember that she was his daughter and stop fantasising about a repeat occurrence of last night’s events; no matter how much it turned him on.