Page 49 of German

My heart began to race.“Even the Mediterranean Cruise?”I’d been begging for him to take a cruise of the Mediterranean for years.He’d always been too busy with work.Now it seemed he was actually open to the idea.

“Even that,” he agreed with an indulgent smile in his voice.

That made me pause.“Daddy,” I began, “is everything okay?”Something about the offer felt off.Like he was doing it to placate me.

“Can’t a father want to take his daughter on a cruise without suspicion?”he replied with a question all his own.

“He can,” I returned slowly, “but I’ve been begging for years and you always say no.What’s changed now?”

I heard the man draw in a tired breath on the other end of the line.“I’ve been working for so long I’m afraid I’ve neglected what means the most to me, kid.My daughter.It’s time I rectified that.Don’t you think?”

His words made my eyes brim with tears.“I’d love that, Daddy.Whenever you want to go, I’m in.”

In the background, I heard someone call my father’s name.“My ride's here, Maddy.But I’ll talk to you soon.In the meantime, I want you to start looking into that cruise.I’m going to expect a full report when I get back home.”

I giggled, knowing full well I’d done all the research I needed to book my dream trip already.“I won’t let you down.”

“I know you won’t.I love you, Maddy,” he said, before I repeated the same and we both hung up.

After using the bathroom and discretely brushing my teeth, I walked back into the bedroom.German was already sitting up in bed reading something on his phone.When he looked up, I could see he was waiting for both my reaction to what had happened last night, and to what my father had to say.

Wanting to assure him everything was good on both ends, I tiptoed over to his side of the bed and sat in his lap.

“Good morning,” I said, leaning in for a kiss.

German didn’t disappoint.Wrapping his arms around me, he pulled me in for a long, deep kiss that caused the whole of my body to spontaneously combust upon first contact.Beneath me, the proof I’d affected him in the exact same way prodded my backside.

When we separated, German searched my face before asking, “How did you sleep last night?”

“Like a baby,” I told him, straddling his lap.“You?”

“Same,” he said, a small smile lifting the corner of his sensual mouth.“How’s your dad doing?”

I thought that question over.“He’s well, but I don’t think he’s telling me the whole truth about what’s going on at the conference.”

“Why do you say that?”German asked, concern creasing his brow.

“He offered to take me on a cruise,” I said, tossing my long hair over my shoulder.

German’s brow hiked.“And that’s concerning?”

“I’ve had to pull teeth to get my father to go anywhere in the last ten years.Now he’s willingly offering to take a month off to visit the Mediterranean?Something’s not right.”

“Are you worried his sudden generosity has something to do with Ken Mitchem’s death?”German asked, accurately following my train of thought.

“I’m afraid my father isn’t telling me the whole truth about his business,” I confessed, worried there was more to this story than any of us knew.

German’s fingers danced on the edges of my T-shirt, his rough fingertips rasping against the bare skin of my ass.“That’s a given, Maddy.”

I frowned.“Why do you say that?”

“Do you tell your father everything about your business?”he asked, his hand slipping beneath my T-shirt and tracing the curve of my hip meaningfully.

I shuddered and my skin pebbled wherever he touched it.“That’s different!”

“Is it?”he pressed, his knuckle grazing the heat of my sex.

He had a point.A damn good one, in fact.“German,” I began, my mind starting to grow fuzzy with lust as he stroked me, “do you know more about my father’s business than I do?”

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