Free Nobody's Perfect by Kallypso Masters Page A

for so long.
    His look of hurt made her feel guilty, after all he'd done for them, but she wasn't ready to have any man touching her. She'd never give her body to another man, especially not as payment for services offered. Never again.
    "You were a million miles away."
    She blinked and wondered where that flashback had come from. She hadn't thought of those Christmas memories in…forever. Even now, Savi felt as if she were watching a scene from a Christmas classic movie, not remembering a part of her own life. No, not her life. Savannah's . All emotional ties to that tragic little girl had been severed for a very long time.
    "You okay, Savi?"
    She nodded, but needed to put some distance between them. "What can I fix you for breakfast? Pancakes? Mari's probably hungry."
    "She won't be thinking about food for a while." He studied Savi's face with concern in his eyes and she had the feeling he was seeing more than he should. "You sure you're okay? You look like you've seen a ghost."
    Savannah's Maman disappeared when she was eight. The little girl's spirit died soon after, right after her father molested her and began more than a decade of abuse and torture on the innocent little girl's body and mind.
    The only person in the flashback scene who had survived unscathed was Savannah's father—and she wished she could send him and all monsters like him to the pits of hell so she could watch them burn.
     
    * * *
     
    Well, at least he'd brought a smile to the face of one of his girls this Christmas morning. Damián tried to hide his disappointment. Last week, when he'd heard Marisol chatter to Santa at the mall about the things she wanted to receive, he'd gone to work trying to make his daughter's Christmas dreams come true. That Josefina doll had taken a chunk out of his dwindling checking account.
    He'd hoped Marisol's happiness also would bring a little joy to her mama, too, but no such luck.
    Clearly, Savi wasn't interested in anything he had to offer. The look on her face made it obvious the holiday wasn't as special for her as it was for him. Maybe sad memories from her past clouded the joy of the season for her. The holidays weren't happy for lots of people. Adam…Dad had gone into a funk every year until he got through the holidays. Damián hoped he and Karla were making new memories this Christmas morning to replace the sad ones.
    While he didn't think he could do anything to change Savi's state of mind, Damián was determined for Marisol to have nothing but pleasant memories and he was ready to start celebrating. He'd never managed to go to sleep last night. He'd been assembling toys and then helped Luke Denton, a new Dom at the club and Marc's SAR partner, carry the log-cabin dollhouse upstairs. Luke, a carpenter and an artist, had worked on the house night and day all week. He seemed like a man on a mission and Damián was just grateful to him for helping make this a special Christmas for Marisol.
    Damián had a lot planned for today, including playing Legos again with Marisol. He also hoped he'd connect with Savi on common ground at some point.
    First, he needed to answer the call of nature and take care of his stump. "I'll be right back."
    When he returned to the living room, Savi was smiling, sitting on the floor and watching Marisol unwrap another gift. Ah, the set of American Girl books. He remembered how much Teresa had enjoyed the Josefina stories at that age and hoped Marisol didn't already have them, or the doll, for that matter.
    "Josefina!"
    Damn. She probably already had them.
    "How did Santa know I wanted these?"
    Score . Pride swelled his chest. Savi glanced over at him and mouthed the words "thank you," but he didn't miss the pang of regret in her eyes. He hoped she didn't see him as competition for their daughter's affections. Hell, he had some asinine notion about sharing the responsibility of raising her now. Far-fetched, given how Savi hadn't wanted to have much to do with him since she'd shown up