Daddy's Stepstalker (Daddy's Little Deviants)
Ari
IwaslosingDaddy Shaw, and it scared me. I hadn’t been this afraid since Mom packed my bags and drove me to the airport, basically telling me to get lost or she would tell Shaw about all my misdeeds. We slept in the same bed every night, but you could hardly tell. He spooned me when we were in bed, but every morning I woke up alone, so I wasn’t even sure how long he stayed with me. One night, I woke up and found him sleeping in the living room on the sofa.
Each day, the gap between us widened, and I was running out of ideas to get his attention back.
Stupid, stupid. I should never have told him about Rich, but I hadn’t had much of a choice with the body in the trunk and the police officer stopping us.
I missed cooking for Daddy. He was usually gone before I made breakfast, and when he came home, it was so late he didn’t bother to eat dinner.
And today it had to stop. I needed my Daddy back. I put my plans into motion by getting a used car. Since I was sticking around town, it made sense to get my own set of wheels. Then I didn’t have to call a cab every time Daddy wasn’t available.
Satisfied with the small hybrid I bought — wheedling a pretty good deal out of the salesman by batting my eyelashes and making promises that would never happen — I took my new old car grocery shopping. I tried to reach a can of coconut milk on a high shelf, but someone stretched above me and took it down.
“Thank you.” I turned to the person who helped me. The police officer from the other night who flirted with me in front of Shaw. Shaw got angry, and that intrigued me.
“Just doing my civic duty.” He grinned at me. “Have you given thought to our date and where you want to go?”
I shrugged. “You said you would hit me up without the uniform.” I eyed his fit body. “Although I would dig the uniform.”
He braced a hand on the shelf, leaning forward and caging me in. “Yeah?” He bit his bottom lip. “Want to show me how much you like it later? We can go out for dinner.”
I tapped my finger against my mouth as I pretended to think about it. “I don’t know, Mr. Police Officer. I’ve been a good boy and I don’t think I need police custody.”
“Good boy, huh?” His gaze swept over me from my head to my shoes. “You’re telling me you haven’t been naughty, just a bit?”
“Maybe.” I placed a hand in the center of his chest, the muscles hard under my palm. He would have been a good toy to play with, but that wasn’t my life anymore.
“See, I bet you can be a whole lot of naughty,” he said. “Look at you, pretty much begging for it right here.”
“Begging for what?” I opened my eyes wide.
“You know. Don’t toy with me.”
“Why? Am I going to get into trouble?” I dragged out the last word.
“You’re in so much right now, baby, and you don’t even know it.”
I pushed at his chest a little. “Tell you what. I am kind of old-fashioned. Come up to the house around eight tonight and ask Daddy if I can go out with you. If he says yes, then we’ve got a deal.”
“What?” He laughed. “Are you serious right now?”
Nodding, I shifted away from him and placed the can of coconut milk into my shopping car. I glanced over my shoulder and winked as I pushed the cart.
“If you get Daddy’s permission, you can have me.”
“You know it really sounds weird when you call him Daddy like that,” he called after me.
I shrugged. “Shaw will always be my Daddy. There’s nothing weird about that.”
Nothing at all.
Nathan was persistent; I had to give him that. He didn’t leave me alone but followed me around the grocery store, trying to persuade me to go out with him without making him face Shaw. What a waste of taxpayers’ money.
“The guy low-key hates me,” he said when I was at the cashier. “He’ll never say yes, but you’re grown.” He took his time to give me an appreciative stare. “So grown, and I just want to get to know you a little. How can that be wrong?”
I gave him the same response. “Ask my Daddy.”
He walked me to my car and helped me unload the bags. His persistence was commendable. Too bad my heart belonged to Daddy, or he might have been someone I could have fun with.