When I was comfortable, I closed my eyes and tried to go to sleep, only to have my eyes flash open the moment I heard him return.
He came in from outside, his hair wet, obviously having showered in his shop where Trista had insisted he shower when he was ‘really greasy’ instead of inside getting her grout dirty.
I felt a pang of disappointment hit me until I realized that by taking a shower outside, he’d limited himself in what he could wrap around himself to come back inside with.
The only thing covering him was a towel, much like mine had earlier, covering only the basic necessities.
My eyes gazed down the length of his body, and boy, what I wouldn’t give for better lighting.
Why the hell had I turned all the lights off?
I watched as he shoved the door closed, then locked it. He walked to the panel by the stairs and armed the alarm, then walked to the garage and checked to make sure that was locked as well.
His eyes narrowed on the lock, as if he was contemplating his life choices, then returned to the windows.
He was studiously ignoring looking in my direction.
He was also tiptoeing around as if he was trying not to wake me.
I could’ve told him I was awake, but it served my purposes that he thought I was asleep. Or at least he pretended I was.
Once every single window, door, and way outside was checked, he finally came back to me.
I had my eyes closed, so there was no awkward talking, but there was a touch on the tip of my cheekbone that had me tingling.
After I heard his footsteps leave, I squeezed my eyes shut tighter and wondered why the hell life was so hard.
Why it was so taboo for me to find my best friend’s father so attractive?
And why the hell I couldn’t find a boy my age attractive.
No.
Instead, I had to want the daddy of all daddies.
Jesus Christ.
CHAPTER 6
Why did the nurse need a red pen at work? In case she needed to draw blood.
-Text from Taos to Haggard
HAGGARD
I heard her cry out an hour later.
I tried to ignore it, but I couldn’t.
The sound was heartbreaking.
Even worse, I wanted her in here with me.
I told myself it was because she was scared, when in all honesty, I’d failed her.
I should’ve never unhooked the wire that would sound the alarm from the house to the garage. Being a lazy bastard, I’d wanted to access my garage without having to go out of my way to turn off the alarm. Instead, I’d nearly gotten one of my girls killed.
It was the whimpering, however, that had me gritting my teeth and getting up.
I walked out to the living room where she was curled up in a fetal position in my recliner, her pretty little head resting on the arm with her arms wrapped around herself.
I brought my hand up to her face and drug a finger down the line of her cheek, wondering if I should wake her up to pull her out of the nightmare she was having.
In the end, though, I went against my every single instinct and pulled her into my arms and carried her back to my bed.
She felt right in my arms. She felt like she was exactly where she was supposed to be.
But contrary to what my dick and body felt like when near her, it wasn’t right.
I couldn’t have her.
I couldn’t continue to think about her in the way I’d been thinking about her lately.
It was going to get me killed.
And it fucking should.
If Madden had the hots for Clem like I had the hots for his daughter, I’d lose my fucking mind.
I’d…
She moaned and curled into me, her face pressing against the bare heat of my chest.
I felt things inside of me clench and unclench in reaction.
Things got hard that most definitely shouldn’t be hard.
I nearly groaned as I sat her on my bed, as far away from me as I could possibly get her.
She unfurled her legs for a half a second, rolled, and then curled back into a ball.
I swallowed hard as I watched her for a few too many seconds and then walked over to my side.
I kept it cold as fuck in my room, so I took the blanket I’d kicked off onto the floor, then walked back around the bed to lay it nicely over her before returning to my side of the bed and my lone sheet.
After I was covered, and thought maybe I should pull some pants on, I closed my eyes and told myself it wasn’t needed.
There was no way in hell I’d need pants. Plus, I’d die of heat exhaustion.
Except, an hour later when she was all but on top of me, and I woke up from the heatwave, I realized my mistake.