Page 26 of Falling for My Dad's Best Friend

And with a flounce of my brown curls, I turned and scampered away. Why was Mr. Parker being so serious? This was a time for fun and games, why was he acting like an adult for crying out loud? There was no need, I was happy and ecstatic, in Seventh Heaven all around.

But when the big man came down, fully dressed, that black hair slightly ruffled but still absolutely delectable, I could tell he wasn’t in the mood to play. There was a serious air about him, a gravity. He wanted to talk and I wiggled uncomfortably.

“Drink Daddy?” I offered, holding up my own glass of OJ. “There’s OJ or water, I can get you some.”

The big man paused for a moment before setting foot in the living room.

“Shit, I forgot,” he barked with a harsh laugh. “You’re not even legal to drink, you’re still downing juice.”

I nodded, nonplussed. Of course, I was eighteen, not twenty-one, there were three years to go before I could consume alcohol. So I shrugged again.

“I can get you something else,” I offered again. “Dad, I mean my real dad,” I stuttered. Oh god, this was awkward. “Ray’s liquor cabinet is right there,” I said hastily, nodding to the headboard in a corner of the room. “He won’t mind if you help yourself.”

Shit this was so awkward because there was Dad and there was Daddy now. There was my real father, Ray, the man who raised me, and there was Daddy, my lover Rob. The only problem was that Ray and Rob were best friend’s, my dad was my daddy’s old buddy from college.

And sensing the opening, Mr. Parker helped himself to a grey goose before lowering that massive form onto the sofa across from me. Immediately I scrambled to his side, trying to get into his lap, but he held me away at arm’s length.

“No honey,” he growled, eyes blazing. “This isn’t the time. Go sit on the other side of the room for a moment, okay? Do Daddy a favor.”

And pouting, I did as told, flouncing back to the couch and plopping down unceremoniously. This sucked, I wanted to be with the huge male, to have him inside me, not drinking juice on opposite sides of the room like we were strangers.

“What is it?” I asked, my lip turned down in a frown. “What’s wrong Mr. Parker?”

And the big man heaved a sigh, looking out the window for a long moment.

“Baby, you have to understand,” he began slowly. “I’m your dad’s best friend. What we have goes way back,” he said.

I let out a huff again.

“So what? So you’re Ray’s best friend, what does that have to do with us?” I gestured, my hand moving between our bodies. “Why does it matter?”

And Rob let out another deep sigh, face set like stone.

“It makes all the difference,” he ground out. “Your dad and I, he trusts me. We’re like brothers, meeting more than twenty years ago,” he said with a wry smile. “How do you think he’d feel if he knew I was boning his one and only child? A little girl I’ve known since birth, that I’ve watched grow up year by year?”

But I shook my head furiously.

“He’d be fine with it,” I said. “Dad’s more open-minded than you think, in fact, I think he’d be more than fine. He’d be excited for us, his best friend and his daughter, two people that he knows so well getting together. It’s like if your two closest friends decided to date, wouldn’t you think it was a good match?”

Rob snorted then.

“Absolutely not, honey,” he ground out. “Just because two people are both friends of yours doesn’t mean that they should date at all. Especially if one is your daughter,” he said meaningfully.

But I wasn’t giving up.

“I don’t agree,” I said petulantly, crossing my arms across my chest. “I think Ray would be all for it, he’d want me to be with someone he knows and trusts.”

And Rob sighed again.

“That’s the key word, honey. Trust. Ray trusts me to be a gentleman with you, to treat you like the daughter I never had. He trusts me to be a good man around you, to handle you with kid gloves, to be a strong oak, a pillar of strength. And look at me,” he said disgustedly, gesturing at his pants. “I’m a fucking dog around you, I can’t control myself at all.”

My cheeks flared because sure enough, there was a growing bulge at his crotch again, the fabric lifting, almost tenting like magic. I was on my feet in an instant and across the room.

“Daddy, let me touch it,” I panted, eyes fixed on that hard length, small hand already reaching out. “Can I touch it?”

But Rob grabbed my wrist and held it away from his body.

“No, absolutely not,” he ground out. “This isn’t the right time, this isn’t the right place,” he said. “Baby, we need to talk for real and you’re not acting like an adult right now. So let’s sit down and focus okay? Focus, honey, focus.”

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