Her Collateral Bride: A Lesbian Age Gap Romance

the rest of my life, I’m going to be indebted to her. Not on

paper, maybe, but in every other way.”

“Just like she’s had to live with her shame and heartbreak

for the past eleven years.”

“Where is this coming from?”

“Coming from?” Haley could hear the doubt in her voice,

the fear at what her dad was already figuring out. Damn her

and her inability to hide any of her feelings. She hadn’t done

any of this the smart way. Not that there was a right way to

talk about something like this, but she should have used more

common sense.

The silence between them was frosted over. Haley let her

dad search her face. She wouldn’t shrink away or hide from

him because then he’d certainly know everything she wanted

to keep hidden. She wanted to protect Claire.

She failed. Horribly.

“No.” The word was sheer horror. “No. She promised me.”

“Dad!” Haley raced around to the other side of the island.

She tried to take her dad’s hand, but he stepped back from her

like she had some disease that he could catch from close

contact. That stung more than anything, but Haley refused to

be hurt by it. “No. It wasn’t like that. She didn’t do anything.

She didn’t do anything to me that I didn’t want her to do. She

didn’t seduce me or use me. She let me go because she cares

about me, and she didn’t want to hurt me. I care about her

too.”

That storm threatening in her dad’s eyes broke wide open.

“Are you listening to yourself?” he thundered. “Are you?” His

hand slashed through the air like a punctation. This was the

fearsome chef that people cowered from. Haley knew all about