"Me too" I said into his chest holding him tighter.

"Aw! Y'all are too cute! Now stop flirting in front of a six year old"

"So just today?" Derick asked still holding me.

"Just today and Derick if I hear about any of your... rendezvous from my daughter, know that you'll have hell to pay"

She walked to the door leaving both me and Derick shocked, she looked back smiling at the two of us.

"Have fun and thanks for today" with that she left, closing the doors behind her.

"She's scary" I said looking at him.

"She can be scarier, I don't know how Zack has kept up with her"

"How long have they been married for?"

He looked at the ceiling, thinking.

"Come on, you remember the time and date of a meeting you had three years ago but you can't remember when your own sister got married?"

"I think if it's been seven years?"

I was about to say something but a yelp came out instead, I looked down to see Cassie kick my legs.

Really hard.

I got out of Derick's arms and crouched down to her level.

"What's wrong sweety? Do you need something?"

"You're ugly, you shouldn't be uncle Rick's girlfriend! uncle Rick should marry a princess!"

I looked at her shocked.

Did I just get called ugly by a six year old?

Oh no one is going let me live that down.

I turned to Derick for help but apparently uncle Rick is still trying to breath without laughing.

He coughed and went ahead and picked Cassie up.

"Cassie, that's not a very nice thing to say, Julie is a great person once you get to know her"

I'll take that as a compliment and not like he had a double meaning to his words.

"I'm happy you want me to marry a princess but Julie is a princess to me, I don't need her to wear a crown or pretty dresses, even when she's tired she looks pretty to me, can you try to get to know her a bit? For me?"

My cold heart has melted into pudding and I'm about to die a happy death, someone play All Star by Smash mouth at my funeral, specifically when they lower my casket.

If Cassie wasn't here and in his arms, I would have jumped him and ate him whole.

But instead of all the scenarios above I just smiled at him but let's be honest a smile is not enough to describe the butterflies I feel in my stomach.

"You're so cheesy"

"I know you like it"

You have no idea how much I like it.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Hey Derick can I be honest with you?"

"Go ahead, I'm all ears"

We were currently at Cassie's favorite ice cream parlor and she was very immersed in her chocolate cookie ice cream.

I had mint with a chocolate cone and Derick had plain vanilla in a cup.

So accurate to his character.

In his words 'Vanilla is a very underrated flavor, it's really good, vanilla doesn't get enough love' and even Cassie thought his reasoning was stupid.

"I'm not really good with kids"

He stared at me for a second.

"Oh, you're serious, I mean that's fine but funnily I actually like kids"

"Never pegged you as the type that wanted kids"

He smiled and stared at Cassie.

"They're an adventure, I love how they just leave the consequences to the adults,"

He grabbed a napkin and started wiping Cassie's hands and mouth.

"Don't spill anything'll your dress, your mommy would kill me"

"Don't worry uncle Rick, I won't let mommy kill you, Julie can you take me shopping for some clothes?" She said smiling at me.

I gulped and stared at Derick, silently asking for help.

"Honey, I'm sure Julie would love to, but she just doesn't know your size"

"She can look at my dress" She perked, pulling her dress up making both me and Derick rush to pull it down.

"Cassie, don't pull your dress up in public"

"Why?"

Because you're super cute and men will try to get a peek?

"Because someone might call the police" Derick really is good at handling kids.

"Why?"

"Because it's not very lady like to pull your dress up, how are you going to be a proper princess then?"

That did it, she nodded her head and went back to her ice cream.

Cassie really doesn't like me, when Derick told he to give me a chance I don't think she fully understood that phrase.

She started asking me questions, I couldn't answer or ordering me to do things that were almost humanly impossible.

And worst of all she wants to get me as far away from Derick as possible.

Which really it would be alright but Derick is the clingy one in this relationship so I'm gonna brag and say he'll follow me to the ends of the earth.

Worst of all, she ends up doing things that result in me getting in hurt.

For instance we were going to the lobby and while we were waiting for the elevator, her and Derick got in first so when I was going in she quickly pushed me out of the way resulting in me falling and the doors closing.

Derick came back and helped me up, telling me how clumsy I am.

I didn't say anything but I only saw an evil little girl smirking at me from behind and then scowling when Derick put his arm around my waist and ushered me in the elevator before I could fall from my supposed 'clumsiness' again.

This is just making me dislike kids more than the usual and that makes me seem like an asshole! Which I can be, but in this situation it's just like 'they're just kids! You need patience to deal with them!' And me being the asshole that I am, have no patience to deal with kids.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

When we were done with our ice cream, Derick took us to the park and told me how Cassie is barely taken out of the house without a bodyguard.

As it turns out, Cassie sometimes does volunteer modeling so her face is on billboards and magazines, her parents also being very known by the media puts her at many disadvantages for the family.

And while she was on the swings and slides Derick told me about how her parents met.

Sienna was raised as the posh and spoiled girl of the family so she was in a private girl's high school and one day when she was going home with her chauffeur, she was stuck in traffic and she saw a guy climb off his motorcycle and walk away.

Even Sienna herself was unsure what attracted her to him but after endless observation he finally saw her and they were together.

I asked him about the Wyatt situation and he sighed and said that Wyatt was the husband his dad had chosen for Sienna and looks like he was still the sleazy guy he is today.

We were cut off by a small voice calling my name.

"Juliana come give me a push!"

"Okay..." I said hesitantly.

Come on Julie, what could go wrong with giving a little girl a push on the swings, if I'm careful I could just avoid what she's really planning on doing.

I'm not as dumb as you put me out to be Cassie, I'm somewhere up there with your precious uncle Rick.

So as I was pushing her for awhile Derick gestured he'll take over for awhile and I can rest, which I was thankful for, because I had to be madly on guard and push at the same time.

But the second I turn around I hear a loud grunt come behind me and turning around u see Derick in the ground holding his stomach.

I think we should've told Cassie about the switch.

She shrieked and got out of the swing and to Derick's side with tears in her eyes.

"Uncle Rick! I'm so sorry! That kick wasn't meant for you! It was meant for Julie! Why didn't you tell me you were behind me!"

He looked at her with a red face, oh he's angry.

"Cassie Adelaide Corrigan! I'm so disappointed!" He yelled but quickly composed himself and got off the ground.

He grabbed my hand and looked at her sternly, a way he usually never stared at her with.

"Cassie wether you like it or not I'm with this person, it's up to me if I want to leave them or let them leave me, I know what you were trying to do was right to you but to me it was very wrong, how do you think Julie sees you now? Do you think she looks at you like a princess now? Of like a troll?"

I gasped and hit Derick when I saw the never ending stream of tears coming out of her eyes.

"I'm sorry! I don't want to be a troll! I just didn't want her to do what Gabby's mommy did to her daddy! I don't want her to hurt uncle Rick! Because uncle Rick is my best friend!"

I smiled and went up to her.

"Hey it's okay, no need to cry, I understand what you're afraid of and I don't want you to worry, I'm not gonna do what Gabby's mommy did but I don't think hurting me would've solved anything, you should've told uncle Rick your worries from the beginning and let me tell you; uncle Rick loves you so much and will always be your best friend so don't worry"

"He wouldn't have listened to me because he's in love with you"

"What?"

"Uncle Rick said he loves you"

I looked over at Derick and he didn't look me in the eye.

"Hey, how about we ignore uncle Rick for the rest of the day and go to the cinema, let's watch a good movie and order uncle Rick to do things for us as punishment, what do you say?"

She nodded her head and looked at Derick before turning her head quickly away from him.

And that's what we did, we spent the rest of the ordering Derick around and making him pay for everything.

I bought her a pair of cute cat hair pins and I bought two cat ear headbands for the both of us.

I took her to a photo booth and we put them on taking pictures together.

She told me about a boy in her class who gave her a flower saying she was pretty.

And for the first time in awhile Derick spoke up asking for the kid's full name and address.

Both me and Cassie turned around flipping our hair in his face, ignoring him.

When Derick checked his watch it was almost six and said that Sienna will be there to pick her up in a bit.

When we reached the office after getting many glances from colleagues, we made it to Derick's office and the second the door shut Derick was on his knees begging for Cassie's forgiveness.

The power this girl has is enough to make a grown man come down to his knees, literally.

And she out of the kindnesses her heart forgave him and sat on his lap until her mom came.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

We were finishing up some work quickly and I thought it's the perfect time to bring up the subject.

I cleared my throat to grab his attention but he didn't look at me.

I did it again and he just stared before going back to his work.

"If you want to say something, just say it"

You want straight to the point, I'll give you straight to the point you bipolar jerk!

"You love me?"

He started coughing in spasms, you asked for it.

"I..."

"If you want to say something, just say it" I mimicked.

He hit his fist on the table, startling me and looked me dead in the eyes.

"Damn it Julie! I wanted that to be special! I wanted to do something!"

I walked over to him and sat on his lap, straddling him.

"Maybe you don't need to do all that"

"Are you seducing me Ms. Downs?"

"I am Mr. Reid, is it working?"

I got my answer when he crashed his lips hungrily on mine, devouring me with his addictive lips.

I responded with the same hunger and I couldn't tell you how much I was carving those lips.

"Do you love me?" I breathed out, feeling breathless from that kiss.

"You can bet on it baby"

⭐️💬

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