ALYSSA

Three days had passed since I discovered what Andrew's ego had driven him to do and, while I had calmed down and was ready to see him again, the more stubborn and childish side of had prevented me from picking up the phone and actually speaking to him. I had wanted to see him, and I had wanted to speak to him, but there was still something which was stopping me from doing both of those.

He had phoned me several times in the last three days and, rather than answering the phone like any normal person would have done, I let it go to voicemail and each message he left sounded more painful than the last, each of them telling me how sorry he was and begging me to listen to what he had to say. I didn't even answer the door when Diana was on the other side of it, asking whether there was anything she could do for me, or if there was anything I needed her to get for me.

I don't think she got the message that I wanted her to leave me alone. It wasn't that I didn't want to see her, and it wasn't even that I hated her either, I just didn't want to see her because she would want to know how I was feeling, and I didn't even know myself how I was feeling—all I knew is that I missed Andrew and I wanted him with me, but I was being a bitch by ignoring him and not giving in to what I want.

I smiled as I watched Ella sitting in the middle of the living room, her eyes never leaving the screen as she watched Tangled for the thousandth time, but she still remained in silence and watched as the story unfolded before her. She had changed a lot since the last time I had seen her, but I didn't care about that, I was just happy to see her again and I was glad that she was here for the night rather than just the afternoon since that wasn't enough time to get to know my niece all over again.

It's a shame her mother hadn't been as excited to see me, not that I was over the moon to see her either, not now I knew the truth about her and Ben. And, when she dropped Ella off and her daughter was safely out of earshot, she couldn't fight the urge to mention Andrew and I just wanted her to leave as quickly as she had arrived because I didn't want to explain anything to her—as far as I was concerned, she wasn't my sister, and I didn't want anything to do with her.

"Here's her bag. There's pyjamas in there for tonight, and clothes for the morning. There is also her favourite teddy, which she will refuse to sleep without, and there are plenty of toys in there so she shouldn't become too bored," Rebecca grinned when Ella threw her arms around my legs and hugged me tightly. I smiled down at her, much to the disapproval of my sister who didn't seem impressed by how much love Ella still had for me, and so she threw her daughter's bag into my chest, forcing me to look back at her.

"Aunty Aly," Ella giggled happily and I felt the lump in my throat. That was the name which Andrew had used for me, the name which he had used when we were in the bedroom and he wanted me to look at him, and it was a name which had so much more to it now besides a nickname which my niece had come up with because she couldn't say my full name.

"Hello, baby," I looked away from my sister and bent down to put a kiss on the top of Ella's head, putting her bag on the floor behind the door, watching as she ran towards the living room once she was out of my grip. And, if I knew Ella, she was probably going to see if there was anything which she could play with and, even there wasn't anything around, she would still something to play with and it made you wish that you could be a child all over again—an imagination without any worries in the world.

"Remember what I said about Andrew," Rebecca demanded as, for the third time since turning up at my door, she pulled her dress down to an appropriate length and I couldn't help but roll my eyes. I didn't have anything against my sister having fun, everyone was allowed a little fun and time for themselves, but she didn't have to act this way around her daughter and she also didn't have to be a bitch whenever she saw me.

"I don't know if he's coming anymore," I had hoped that she would dismiss the remark, even be happy that Andrew wasn't going to be coming, but that was never going to happen with my sister and she was going to keep prying until she got to the truth, something which wasn't going to happen in a hurry.

I wasn't going to tell her that I was having relationship problems with her ex-fiancé, I wasn't even going to tell her that I had slept with him, because she would only make some big deal out of it and go on about how I had betrayed her trust by sleeping with the man she had once loved. I also didn't want her to mock me, or even question me on how good her sloppy seconds were, not when she was the one who had broken him and I was the one who had put him back together again.

"That is a little strange. Especially after you fought so hard for him to be allowed to meet her in the first place," Rebecca probably smirked. She probably already knew that there was something going on between Andrew and I, she was fucking his brother after all, but I wasn't going to give her the satisfaction of knowing that she had got to me and I also wasn't going to confirm anything to her face.

"You know what it can be like. Running a company can really take its toll on a man," I shrugged.

"Well, that is such a shame, I bet you were rather looking forward to spending some time with him. But, should he decide that he is going to show up, just remember what I said," Rebecca reiterated and there is was, just as she always does when she thinks I don't understand something, treating me like a total fucking idiot who had forgotten a simple instruction overnight—it was just one of the many things which I had come to hate about her.

"Yeah, I don't think it is possible for me to forget. He is just my friend, not her father," I attempted to keep my voice neutral while hiding my clenched my fists behind my back and my blood boiled at the thought of lying to my own niece. She was deliberately lying to her own daughter and, here I was, agreeing to be part of her games to ensure that she never knew who her real father was. I know what I had said yesterday, but I could never actually do that to Andrew, not when it was wrong for me to keep him from his daughter and to not at least give him the chance to be a father to her.

"So it is possible for you to get something right. I would never have guesses," Rebecca clapped her hands together and I didn't miss the sheer sarcasm in her tone when she spoke, which did nothing to quell my growing anger towards her, which was only made worse as I remembered what Andrea had told me on Sunday about her and Ben.

"Well, if that is everything, Rebecca, I have a child to look after," I muttered and closed the door in her face. I heard her shouting that she would pick Ella up at about midday tomorrow and that I was to make sure she was ready to love, but I knew that was never going to happen, and Rebecca would be late for the collection of her own child. But, as always happened when she was going to be late, she would send someone else to pick Ella up and then she would make some excuse about why she couldn't be there—namely spending time with Ben and keeping their relationship out of the public eye was more important than being there for her daughter.

It was amazing how innocent Ella was, and just how oblivious she was to the cruelty which the world around her offered. I think that was the best way to be and I didn't ever want her to have to grow up, not when it meant she would have to face the real world and that she would no longer be as innocent as she is right now, and that really did suck.

You worked, just to get nothing in return, because you were disposable to those who you worked for. You loved, only to have your heart broken, because there was only ever going to be one person who could really put your heart back together again, as was the case for me where Andrew was concerned. You grow up, simply to be treated like a child by the people who are supposed to be there for me, and who are supposed to protect you no matter what.

"Why are you crying Aunty Aly?" Ella's voice made me jump a little, because I didn't realise that she had moved from her spot on the floor, but she pulled herself onto the sofa and sat upon my lap, wrapping her arms tightly around my neck and embracing me in a hug which I didn't even realise I had needed until now. I didn't even know that I was crying until she told me that I was, and I couldn't believe I had allowed my feelings to get the better of me.

"They're happy tears, because I finally get to see you again after all this time," I lied to her, but she too young to know the truth, and I wasn't going to taint her with my own pain when she had her own things to deal with.

"Mummy said that I wasn't allowed to see you. I always asked her if I could stay here, but she never let me," Ella muttered with her head resting on my shoulders as her fingers ran aimlessly through my hair.

"Why did mummy tell you that?" I asked quietly.

"She says that you are a bad person. She says that you stole daddy from her and that you made her sad," Ella replied and I hadn't been angrier than I was right now, I wasn't even this angry when I found out what Andrew had done to me, but I was proper pissed with my sister for what she had told her daughter about me.

I knew that there was a reason she had been keeping Ella away from me and that she only allowed me to see my niece now that it suited her, now that she didn't have anyone else to watch over her child and she wanted to have her fun rather than spending time with her daughter, and that's the only reason she had allowed me to see someone who was my family.

If I was going to steal Andrew, I would have done it three years ago, when I first had the chance to take him away from her and I wouldn't have waited all this time. I was never one to wait for what I wanted, and getting a male was no exception to that rule, if I wanted him then I would have taken him from under her nose, but I had never even met him when he was with Rebecca—I only ever heard the things which she had to say about him and I only saw the pictures she wanted to show me.

"Does she ever talk about daddy to you?" I asked curiously.

"Yeah. Mummy doesn't like daddy either," she almost whispered in my ear and I could hear the pure emotion in her tone, "but she told me that I was never allowed to repeat what she had to say about him."

"It will be our little secret. Mummy never needs to know that you told me," I laughed and, when she moved forward, all I could see in her was Andrew. She was the female version of her father and he was suddenly all that I could think about again, and how he had the right to be here, just as Ella had the right to meet her father and know that he wasn't the bad person her mother was making him out to be.

I didn't even know that she was telling Ella things about her father which reflected him in a bad light. Rebecca had assured me that she was telling Ella about her father and that she was painting a picture of Andrew which would entice to want to meet her father, I didn't know that she was lying to her own child about the man he was, even though there may have been some truth in her words, she didn't have the right to tell that to a three year old.

"She told me that daddy doesn't love me and that daddy doesn't want to see me. Mummy told me that daddy hates me," I could see the tears in her eyes, and I could have murdered Rebecca for manipulating her child as she had been doing, it was cold and it was cruel.

"Do you want to know a secret?" I asked with a smile and she nodded her head eagerly with her hair falling slightly over her face, "I know that daddy does love you, he loves you very much, and I also know that he does want to meet you. I can promise you both of those things now."

"Is mummy telling the truth? Do you know my daddy?" her eyes were boring into my own and I knew where this was going to end, which also meant that I wasn't going to be able to avoid Andrew for any longer, and I was going to have to finally face him for the sake of both the three year old in front of me and my own sanity.

"Yes. I know your daddy," I sighed.

"Can you tell me about him? I want to know everything you know," she smiled and her head fell into the crook of my neck with her arms wound around my neck. She was so demanding, much like her own father, but she did it in a way which was endearing and you couldn't refuse anything she wanted you to do. I thought for a moment about what I could tell her, but there were too many things to tell her about the man who she would soon call daddy, and so I decided it was for the best if I let the two of them get to know each other for themselves.

I pulled my phone from my pocket, unlocking it and scrolling down to his name, quickly putting the phone to my ear and waiting for him to answer. I didn't know if he was going to answer, since I had been ignoring him on purpose, but I just hoped that he answered so that I could put Ella's mind at rest and assure her that her father did love her and, more than anything, he wanted to meet her and have the chance to bond with her.

"Aly?" he appeared shocked that I had called him.

"You have two hours," I could tell from his voice that he hadn't slept since our confrontation, and I felt some guilt, because I could have put his mind at rest sooner had I not been so damn stubborn.

"Y—You're letting me see her?" I couldn't help but chuckle at the tone of voice, and at the shock which he expressed as well. I didn't ever want him to think that I was like my sister, certainly not after everything I had learnt about her from Ella, and it was only fair that he was given a chance to spend time with his little girl. Ella needed to hear from Andrew that he loved her and that he didn't hate her, as her mother had kindly informed her that he did.

"I was wrong for what I said, Andrew, I was just angry with you. Ella needs you in her life," I wanted to add that I also needed him in my life, but I refrained from making that comment. I looked down to see that Ella was now looking at me with a renewed happiness as she figured out that I was speaking with the man who was her father.

"Is that daddy? Is daddy coming to see me?" she asked with an excited smile.

"Would you like daddy to come I see you? I know that daddy would love to meet you," I chuckled and, strangely, there was something right about this situation and there was something which told me that it had been too long before this was allowed to happen, "mummy never needs to know that it happened."

"Our secret, Aunty Aly, I promise," she pretty much shouted as she jumped off my lap and ran around the living room, shouting about how she was going to get to meet her daddy and she was going to be normal like her friends were. I smiled to myself, knowing that I had done something good, and that I was going to be the reason for two people's happiness today.

"Explains why you didn't want me to call you Aly now," Andrew's smooth voice came from the other end of the line.

"Ella only calls me that because she can't pronounce my name. You are the only other person to have ever called me that," I replied.

"I guess that I shall have to think of something else. What about Al?" his laughed sent tingles across my body and it was enough to remind me of just how much I did miss him. Just hearing his voice after all this time was enough to drive me to the edge of tears, and I realised what an idiot I had been by not speaking to him before this evening, and by pushing him out of my life for my own selfish reasons.

"We'll talk when you get here, and only once you've spent time with your daughter," I found myself saying before I could even stop it from coming out, but I did want to talk to him, and I wanted to move on from what had happened because I wanted him in my life.

"I shall be there in thirty seconds," he chuckled.

"Huh? What?"

"Don't worry, Aly. I am at my mum's place with Andrea and Scarlett, I'm not turning out without your permission," he finished as there was a knock at the door, and I swallowed the lump which had formed in my throat and took a deep breath, pulling the door open to reveal Andrew there in all of his former glory.

His appearance merely confirmed my suspicions that he hadn't slept properly for a couple of days. His five o'clock shadow, although somewhat attractive, added a couple of years onto his actual age and made him look older than he actually was. His hair hadn't been combed and looked as though he had only just climbed out of bed, his shirt was creased and his jeans had day old stains on them. It all made me feel a hundred times worse on the inside, because I was the one who did this to him, and I was the one who could have put a stop to this before it even began.

"You told me not to come, so I wasn't going to turn up without you asking me to. I might be an arrogant ass who thinks he can get anything he wants, but I would never do that to you, not when I have already hurt you as I have done."

"Ella. There is someone here to see you," I called through the apartment and, other than the sound of her feet against the wooden floors, all I could hear was her small voice shouting 'daddy' as she ran to where we were stood. "Remember what you promised me?"

"Sh. Mummy will never know," Ella giggled. She didn't even have to think as she ran into Andrew's outstretched arms with a huge smile on her face. I don't think I have ever seen a child hang onto their father as Ella was hanging onto Andrew right now, and I thought with the strength of the hold which she had around Andrew's neck, she was going to kill him. "Daddy."

"Hello, princess. You don't know how long I have waited to be able to do this," Andrew breathed out with tears unashamedly rolling down his cheeks as he pressed a kiss to the top of her head, a huge grin now covering his face as he held onto his daughter for dear life.

"I've missed you, daddy," I heard Ella whisper to Andrew and my heart melted at her words. They were right when they said that every child had the right to know their father, and I was glad that I hadn't taken this opportunity away from Andrew, as I had so cruelly promised that I was going to do.

"You need to tell me everything about you. I have missed out on so much of your life," Andrew's smile was irreplaceable and I stepped to the side so that he could come into my apartment, and he walked straight into the living room with Ella on his hip, muttering how much he loved her and how much he had missed her.

I closed the front door and felt myself falling against it, releasing a breath I didn't even know I had been holding, and decided that I was going to leave the two of them to get to know each other in the privacy of the living room, while I retreated to my bedroom. I knew that, as much as I wanted to be around Andrew and I wanted him to hold me, that he needed time with his daughter and I wasn't going to deny him that much.

I fell onto the bed, and I thought about the kind of father which Andrew was going to be. I am sure that he would love Ella, and that he would love any future children he had as well, and I even got the feeling that he would put his life on the line to protect all of his children. He was going to be the type of father who spoilt his daughter's rotten and who trained his sons in anything they wanted to be trained in, and he would always give them anything they wanted, even if they had already been told no by their mother.

He would always be there for them and he wouldn't let anyone near them, unless they had a damn good reason to be somewhere near them. He was going to be an amazing and Ella was one lucky little girl that she was going to be the one to experience his parental skills before any other children he may come to have in the future.

It was with those thoughts in mind that I moved to the top of my bed and allowed the tiredness, which had been consuming me for most of the afternoon, to finally take over and I feel into a dreamless slumber knowing that Andrew would be able to cope with Ella while I caught up with some of my sleep.

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I don't know how long I was asleep for but, judging by the little light which now remained outside, I would assume that it was early evening and I had been asleep for the majority of the afternoon. When I awoke, I tensed when I realised that there was someone sitting on my bed beside me, their hand moving up and down my bare arms. I then felt their warm lips against my exposed shoulder, leaving a gentle kiss, before they finally spoke and I realised who the person was.

"I am so damn sorry, Aly, more sorry than I will ever be able to explain. I was an idiot and I hurt you, just like I hurt all the best things in my life, and now I have lost you," it broke me to hear him so defeated and vulnerable in that moment, and that's how I knew that he was truly sorry for what he had done to me, his tone did more than any spoken apology ever could do because I knew that he meant every word he spoke.

I wanted to tell him that he hadn't lost me and that I had no intention of going anywhere because, just as he needed me, I also needed him as well. I was nothing without him, and that scared me, but I wasn't ready to admit that right now and so I pretended not to have heard what he said, instead making him believe that I had only just woken up.

"Where's Ella?"

"End of the bed," I looked over to where he was pointing and she was already fast asleep, in her Frozen pyjamas with her rabbit, which she had named Flopsy when it was given to her on her second birthday, cuddled into her side and she had her thumb in her mouth. Her hair was slightly damp, so I assumed that Andrew must have bathed her as well before he put her to bed, "I told her that we could wake you, but she told me that I had to let you sleep and, if I was to wake you anyway, I would be in deep trouble."

"I wonder where she gets that from," I rolled over and was met with the piercing gaze from his blue eyes.

"Must be her mother. I would never dream of acting in such a manner," Andrew shrugged. His eyes never left my own and I could see the sadness, the pain, and I wanted to take that all away from him so he never had to feel that way again. My mother often told me that the eyes told a thousand stories and, if you wanted to know what a person was thinking, you only needed to look in their eyes and you would discover everything—if that's true, all I am seeing in Andrew is hurt, pain and sadness, and I know why he was feeling every single one of those emotions.

"I honestly didn't mean what I said about Ella at the weekend, I was just angry and hurt, and I guess I wanted to hurt you as well. I should never have used your daughter against you like that, it makes me just as bad as Rebecca, if not worse," I sighed as I raised my hand to his cheek and ran my thumb over his cheekbone with a slight smile on my face.

"You are nothing like her, Alyssa. Ella told me the things she has done, and the things she has said, not just about me, but about you as well. I know you could never be as bitter as your sister," Andrew replied. His hand coming to rest on top of mine as he lay down on the bed beside me, his face just inches away from my own, and there was nothing stopping me from kissing him senseless and telling him just how much I had missed him, "I mean, you hate me, but you still let me see my daughter when you didn't have to."

"I don't hate you, Andrew, but I wish that I did because this would all seem so much easier. In the last three days I have tried to hate you, but the feeling never came, and I just ended up missing you instead," I sighed with my eyes closed and his hand gently squeezed my own, "I am still hurt that you did what you did, but hating you has never come into it."

I never planned on falling for Andrew, I had never even planned on sleeping with the man, but love doesn't have a schedule and it doesn't give you warning about when it's going to happen either. Love just happens and, sometimes, you will spend an entire lifetime wondering why, of all the people you could end up with, you ended up with the one that you did. And, other times, you take what you can get and you never complain, simply happy that you have someone who feels the same way about you as you do about them.

I am always going to be one of those people who constantly tries to find a sane reason for falling in love with the person that they did, but there was never going to be a reason though, I was always going to have simply fallen in love with Andrew Collins and I was never going to be able to get over the man who had caused me so much pain in the past, and was still causing me pain even now.

"When I first made the bet—"

"Please, don't, Robert has already told me," I didn't want to listen to this story again because I didn't want to hear about how he didn't give a damn about me and I was indispensable to him, just so he could prove some point to Ben, and I definitely didn't want to know that I was some conquest which he needed to win.

"I know what he has told you. I phoned him to pick me up, after my sister and mother had finished shouting at me, and when he dropped me home, he followed me into my place. He was shouting all manner of insults in my direction, and I took them all because I knew that it was all true, and then he told me that he had spoken to you and told you everything," Andrew paused as he moved our hands from his cheek and interlocked our fingers in the middle of the both of us, his eyes still never leaving mine, "but I want to tell you myself because, if I don't tell you in my own words, you are never going to be able to forgive me and I shall never be able to forgive myself either."

I thought for a moment and the only sound which filled the room was the slight snoring which was coming from Ella at the end of the bed, other than that, there was nothing other than the silence around the two of us, and I assumed that deserved his chance to explain it to me in his words and to make me understand why he did what he did to me.

"Fine. But the moment I think you are bullshitting me, I will kick your ass out of here."

"It's true, when I first made the bet, I really didn't give a damn about you. You walked into my office with your sarcasm and smart mouth and, you may have intrigued me somewhat, but I didn't see you as anything other than my next quick fuck. I was even more pissed with you when I found out that The Board had only hired you because you were my ex-fiancée's older sister and so I thought it was appropriate to take my foul mood out on you. I assumed that you were just like her, and I thought you were only after the same thing which she wanted from me, and I did what I could to make sure that never happened," Andrew paused for breath and, when he was about to begin speaking again, Ella decided that she was going to wake up and make herself known to the both of us.

"Aunty Aly?"

"Come here, Els. Go back to sleep, I am right here," I soothed her as she cuddled into my side and I wrapped my arm around her.

"I love you, Aunty," she mumbled.

"I love you too, baby," I smiled. I looked away from Andrew quickly so that I could put a kiss on the top of her head and, once her breathing had evened out, I knew that she had fallen asleep and, when that had happened, I turned my attention back to Andrew. "You were saying?"

"You are going to be an amazing mother someday," Andrew whispered, and I didn't miss the smile which now graced his lips as he thought about me being a mother, but I had never seen myself as a mother because I didn't know how I was supposed to love a child, but I did know that Rebecca wasn't a mother. "You know, your sister has been telling Ella some pretty cruel things about you."

"I didn't give a damn. My sister is a selfish, nasty, manipulative bitch who doesn't deserve to be a mother and she sure as hell doesn't deserve someone as innocent as Ella to be her daughter. But, I am sure she will her get her comeuppance one day, so I personally give a damn what she thinks about me, not when I know that I am always going to be a better person than she is," I would be sure to have words with Rebecca when she turned up here tomorrow. She didn't have the right to tell Ella crap about me, no matter what she thought of me as her sister, she didn't have the right to turn my own niece against me for her own selfish reasons.

"I like this side of you. The feisty red-head who knows how to fight and always has an answer for everything," Andrew chuckled.

"The feisty red-head who, don't forget, has tamed you and you put you on a leash. I have never really known when I should back down," I felt Ella move closer to me in her sleep, her hands wrapping around my shirt and preventing me from being able to move, and I was curious about what had brought this change in persona on. The last time she had spent the night here, she told me that she liked her personal space and I wasn't to invade it, hence she ended up in my bed and I spent the night on the sofa—which turned into three nights because Rebecca was too drunk to remember that she was supposed to collect her daughter from me.

"She thinks that you are going to leave her. Her mother has told her that you hate you and, that the only reason she was able to spend the night here, is because she begged you to allow her to stay. Ella believes her, which is hardly surprising given how many times Rebecca says these things to her, and she's now convinced that you're going to dump her somewhere in the middle of the night," Andrew spoke when he noticed the worry which lined my face.

"That. Fucking. Bitch," I was going to kill her when I saw her and I was going to give her a lesson or two in how to be a good mother, if I had managed to make Tracey and Diana see sense in their parenting skills without being a mother myself, I would sure as hell be able to make Rebecca see that what she was doing was wrong and she didn't have the right to continue in the way which she was.

The first lesson I was going to give her was that she didn't slag other people off in front of her child, especially people who happened to be said child's family, and you should save any hatful words for when the child is out of earshot. And the second lesson would be not to fill your child's head with vicious and hurtful lies.

"Aly, baby, calm down," Andrew urged with his thumb lazily drawing circles on the back of my hand.

"At what point did you realise you love me then, Andrew Collins?" I quickly changed the subject back to the reason we had been talking in the first place.

"Around the time you set my mother straight and told her the truth about who I really was. It was when you told me that you didn't want to speak to me and that you wanted nothing to do with me, other than to speak business, that was a real kick in the gut and I never realised why until I spoke to Robert. That was also the same moment where I realised just how stupid I was to make the bet, especially since you were going to get hurt when it came out, which was something I never wanted because then I knew that I would be alone," Andrew sighed and I smiled to myself when I caught him sneaking glances at Ella, "the moment that I knew I had no control over the way I felt around you, that was also the moment that I realised that I had made the biggest mistake of my life. I just sat back, and waited for you to get hurt, simply because I didn't know how to tell you what I had done."

"And did you sleep with me because of that bet?" I needed to know the truth, I needed to know that he would tell me the truth, and then we could really move on from here.

"Look at me, Aly," I didn't even need to think as I moved my eyes from the figure of the sleeping child to meet the eyes of the man I was in love with, "I slept with you because I wanted to sleep with you. I didn't do it because of some ridiculous bet with Ben, I didn't do it to prove I could still get any girl I wanted, and I didn't do it because I felt as though I had no other choice. I did it, because it's what I wanted to do, and I don't regret it for a moment."

"Ella really does need you in her life, and I should never had told you that I wasn't going to let you see her," I found myself subconsciously moving closer to Andrew, part of me knowing that he was going to be there and that he wasn't going anywhere, my head coming to rest on his shoulders with our hands still intertwined. I could smell the faint odour of cigarette smoke mixed with the cologne had had picked out with each breath I took, and knowing that he was here meant I could sleep easier tonight.

"I deserve everything you gave, and I was proud of you for standing up to me like that. But I think there are some adjectives which you missed off the list," he joked.

"Arrogant? Egotistical? Obnoxious? I've got a whole bank of them if you wish to hear some more," I laughed.

"Personally, I was thinking more along the lines of sexy as sin god who is absolutely fucking incredible in bed, but I guess that yours work as well," he shrugged.

"Well, if someone is going to love you, then it may as well be yourself."

"Who the hell wouldn't love me? I mean, look at me, I am fucking gorgeous and I have a body to die for," Andrew said with a straight face as he gestured to the entire length of his body and, while he was telling the truth, I wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of actually agreeing with what he had to say about himself.

"I don't think there is enough room in this bed for Ella, me, you, and that enormous ego of yours," I tried to laugh quietly, given that Ella was asleep on top of me, but I couldn't stop myself and I ended up waking Ella, who woke up and climbed in the middle of both Andrew and myself.

"What is so funny Aunty Aly?" Ella yawned as she cuddled into the warmth of her father's chest.

"Daddy. He seems to think that he us good looking," I told her while gently running my hand through her hair.

"Flynn Rider is better. Sorry, daddy," Ella spoke softly. I laughed at Andrew's clueless expression, I only knew who Flynn Rider was because of the amount of times I had seen Tangled, but he had not had the fortune of watching that with his daughter so he didn't know who the hell she was talking about.

"Ella's favourite Disney film is Tangled. Flynn Rider is the unlikely Prince whom Rapunzel falls in love with," I explained before Andrew had the chance to make himself look like an idiot by asking the question about who Flynn Rider was. "Now, Aunty Aly thinks it's time for sleep, because I've got some things to do tomorrow."

"Is daddy staying as well?"

"Only if he sleeps on the floor, because that's where all the rubbish goes," Ella giggled at my response but it was cut short when she yawned once again.

"Don't be mean, Aunty Aly. Daddy is warm, and he is also very cuddly," I didn't need her to tell me either of those things though, I knew just how warm and cuddly Andrew could be, especially when we fell asleep with each other after amazing sex. Even naked he was warm, and he was all the more cuddly.

"I guess that means daddy is staying then. Right, Aunty Aly?" Andrew smirked and I actually found that I had missed that smirk, the one which told me that he knew he had won and that there was nothing else to be said on the matter, because he knew that I wasn't going to kick him out while Ella was here. But, even if she hadn't have been here, I wouldn't have kicked him out because, knowing that I was going to wake up in the morning to him holding me, that was all the convincing I needed to allow him to stay for the night.

I looked down to see that Ella had, once again, fallen asleep in Andrew's arms and one of her much smaller arms were thrown carelessly behind her head while the other had been thrown lazily against his chest. I found myself smiling at the sight of them together, and I was glad that I hadn't been a stubborn bitch, and that I had allowed the two of them this moment together.

"Goodnight, Andrew," I muttered. My hand found its way to his and I closed my eyes knowing that he was going to here when I woke up.

"Goodnight to you too, Aly."

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