The Daddy Box Set

“I should probably get going soon, then.” His muscles flexed as if he was preparing to move.

“Or you could stay,” Please say yes.

I suddenly wanted nothing more than to fall asleep with his heart beating in my ear and his strong arms wrapped around me. I wanted to wake up to him with sleepy eyes and tousled hair.

“Yeah? I’d like that.” His hand snaked to my bedside lamp, and he flicked it off. Moonlight filtered in through the open window. I studied his profile as his chest rose and fell. He looked down at me, a small smile playing on his lips. Not his usual confident smirk.

“Goodnight, Gabrielle,” he said against my hair, his voice low and growing sleepy.

I lay there studying his profile for another long moment, memorizing every plane of his face. Then, it hit me. I knew what had changed.

I was falling for James. Hard. And I had absolutely no idea if he was going to catch me.

Chapter Nineteen

James

“No way!” Gabrielle exclaimed from the other end of the line. “We are not doing that.”

I was trying to convince her to go tandem skydiving with me later on that week. “Come on, Gabbi,” I said into the phone. “It’s been a long time since I’ve gone. No one ever wants to come

with me, and it's only half as fun when there’s no one with me to experience the epic adrenaline rush. I’ll make it worth your while. I can think of at least a dozen places there where we can—”

“James Skye. Do not finish that sentence. First of all, I come with you plenty.” I couldn’t even believe that she was teasing about that. “Secondly, you can go jump out of a perfectly functioning plane by yourself and share the epic adrenaline rush with me after.”

“Don’t give that ‘perfectly functioning plane’ bullshit,” I argued, grabbing my gym bag and heading in to meet Ryder for our daily workout. “The only people who think about it that way are people who have never experienced it.”

“I haven’t, and I absolutely do not want to.” She wasn’t giving an inch on this one. She turned me down without a second’s hesitation, no matter how much I asked.

I shouldered my way through the swinging doors and turned to the locker room. “Jamie!” Ryder called from the weights section.

“Do me a favor and just think about it,” I said. “Read some blogs or something.” I made my way across the floor to Ryder.

“I have thought about it. There are so many things that I’m willing to try, as you well know. But I will not do that.”

“What if I promise to hold you tight and keep you safe?” Ryder’s eyes grew wide as he overheard the offer. Fuck.

“Oh God,” she groaned. “Do you honestly think that a cheesy line is going to get me to jump out of a plane? You have much to learn, young Padawan.”

“Nope, didn’t think it would work, but I had to give it a try. And I know plenty, I’ll have you know. I’m just desperate.” Ryder eyed me curiously. I had to get off the phone. He was never going to let it go as things were. I didn’t need to give him more ammunition.

She laughed. “Please, you’ve never been desperate for a day in your life.”

“That might have been true, until today. Look, I gotta go. We still on for tonight? We can talk about it then.” I avoided Ryder’s piercing gaze.

“Yes, we’re on for hanging out tonight. I’ll meet you at the beach at 9? But only if we don’t keep talking about it then.” A teammate had told me about a little Spanish place that I knew Gabrielle was going to love.

“We’ll see about that. Have fun studying.” I ended the call and threw my phone into my bag.

“What’s up, man?” I slapped Ryder’s palm.

He tilted his head as he studied me. “Who was that?”

“Just some chick.” I gave him my best ‘you know how it is’ shrug.

He shook his head and swapped out his weights, wiping his brow with his towel. “Didn’t fucking sound like just some chick.”

“What is this, the fucking inquisition? I gotta go change. I’ll meet you back here in two.” I stripped off in the locker room, changed into my gear, and racked my brain for a way out of the conversation that I was about to have.