Page 60 of Daddy's Heart

It was good this way.

It was damn near perfect.

Chapter 23

“So, you and Ryder…” George bagged up the shredded remains of old bills Samantha had set aside as trash.

“Yeah?” She sat on the couch in his office flipping through another stack. “You really are a pack rat,” she muttered, looking at paper delivery invoices from three years ago.

“And how’s that going?”

“You being a pack rat?” She paused to make a dramatic sweep of her hand around the room where several piles were in line for filing and shredding. “Not great.”

George dropped the garbage bag near the door and turned a frown on her. “You know what I mean, smartass.”

She laughed.

“It’s going fine.” She turned back to the papers. “Causal.” She hoped her insides were listening, because the more time that ticked by, the less casual her feelings became.

“Like, you’re casually sleeping in his bed? Following his rules? Coloring in your pigtails and getting tucked in at night with a bedtime story?” George’s voice hardened. She looked back up at him, confused.

“What’s eating you?” she asked, her own irritation building. George never commented on her kink before. He knew about it, but they didn’t openly discuss such intimate topics.

“I’ve never seen Ryder do casual like you’re talking about. I haven’t seen him in a steady relationship in a long time, but he’s not the fuck buddy type either.” He lifted a shoulder. “And as far as I know, you aren’t either.”

“I mean, we aren’t tied to each other. Like, it’s not serious.” She went back to the pile. Heading to George’s office to help him had been an attempt not to think about her and Ryder’s situation. She knew it was temporary, knew as soon as she got a job and found an apartment, things would change. She didn’t need to obsess over it all day, though.

“Ah,” he picked up the next stack of papers for shredding, “you’re lying to yourself. Got it.”

“What the hell does that mean?” she asked, slapping her hand down on the papers.

“It means you want it to be casual, you want no ties, because you don’t think he’d want anything other than that, but what you really want, little girl…” he gave her a pointed look, “is him.”

“One, you can’t call me little girl anymore.” An endearment when she was younger held a much different meaning to the adult she’d become. “And two, you’re wrong.”

“I’m wrong?” He laughed. “So, you don’t want to be with him long-term? You don’t want to keep seeing him once you find an apartment? Have you even started looking for one?”

Damn. Him.

“I need a job first.”

“And you told me you got an email asking for a second interview at the Harold Washington. So, you could have a job within a week if that goes well, right?” He settled himself back into his chair at the shredder.

“Once I have a job, I’ll start looking for apartments.” She picked up another invoice to inspect.

“Okay,” George said, though his tone suggested he didn’t quite believe her.

The shredder fired up, and the grinding of paper being torn to pieces filled the room, letting her escape any more questions or theories from him. But it didn’t stop her own mind from going over the facts as he stated them. Did she want more than this temporary fling? Ryder made everything feel so natural, so easy, but how long could that really last? Maybe it was easy with him because they weren’t meant for longevity. It’s easy to be on good behavior for short-term, but how would they make things work down the road?

“You two are good together. I mean, it’s been a while since I’ve seen that look in Ryder’s eyes. And you haven’t had a good man in your life, other than your brother and me, in years,” George said after the last bit of his pile fell into the shredded bag.

“Oh my god.” A thought popped into her head, which sent her heart into a quick patter. “You set us up.”

George’s face contorted into one of mixed defiance and guilt. “What? No. I don’t do shit like that. You know that.”

She pushed the papers from her lap and made her way toward him.

“You did. Is your mom even staying at your place?” She put her hands on her hips.

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