If there was anything that was worse than your dad being overprotective of the ever-innocent you, was that he wouldn't trust you to be in your home alone when he's going in a business trip.

That's how you ended up in your dad's friend's house for the umpteenth time, except this time, you had enough.

"Say that again, princess."

Ari dares you in a low voice, looking unamused as his hands braced against the kitchen countertop to lean against it. He waited for you to repeat what you just said—that he wasn't your father anyway, and he didn't have the right to keep you in his house.