Page 11 of Daddy By Design

Finally, the last of the dust settled and he looked down at me. Fear and anger lit his storm-blue eyes. “Are you okay?”

“I think so.”

The cinnamon scent of his gum made my mouth water—sure, it was the gum.

He glanced down at me, then to my cleavage, which was currently crammed against his very broad, very muscled chest. This close, I could see every bit of his scar and the tantalizing edge that disappeared into his now torn tank top.

He released the back of my head and braced himself on his elbows on either side of me, but his hips still pinned me to the grass.

Very strong hips with a very strong…appendage.

Another chunk of stone fascia broke off and he rolled me out of the way, this time, on top of him. His hand cradled my ass as our legs tangled, thanks to my stupid pencil skirt.

I tried to lever myself off him and my knee landed between his legs.

“Fuck!”

“Sorry!”

“Get the hell off me!”

“You’re the one who tackled me like you were trying out for a rugby team.” I tried to get up, but this time, my elbow landed in his side.

“Are you trying to kill me?”

Deliberately, I leaned into him, making sure my knee just grazed his appendage. “You’d know it if I was.”

He rolled away and onto his knees as he sucked in air.

Getting myself up off the ground was a little trickier with my tight skirt. Then I heard my skirt rip. Just great.

He stood up and walked it off, leaving me on the grass.

“Where the hell is my shoe?”

His hands were braced on his waist as he walked toward the water. “I don’t care.”

“Dammit,” I muttered as I realized another of my heels was in two pieces. That made two pairs in two days. It had to be a new record.

Gingerly, I rolled onto my hip and awkwardly got to my feet. I glanced down to the water’s edge where he was pacing, then returned my gaze to the mansion. The entire back half of the porch was now gone, exactly where I’d been standing.

And he’d saved me.

FOUR

Fuck.

I had to believe it was her at this point. There was no reason for all of this bad luck to be following me around. And lo and behold, there she was.

Hellcat.

Crazy on every level and here I was with no porch, aching balls, and that woman back in my life. I stared up at the breathtakingly blue sky. “Why?”

Of course there was no answer. And if there had been, I’d probably have ignored it, anyway.

The silt and stones of the rocky shore sifted under my boots as I stalked back and forth. The anger burned on low even on a good day, but the minute I’d glimpsed her again, it had ratcheted up to fifty, making me reckless.

I should have taken a minute to put up supports before I’d started hitting, but the energy was like a live wire inside of me. I had no outlet, no purpose, no grounding. I’d thought taking it out on the demolition would be safe.

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