Page 45 of Bound By My Father's Best Friend

My lips turned into a frown, and I glanced over my shoulder at Mom, who walked into the coffee shop. She was supposed to meet up to go over the contract with me. After smiling at us, she headed to the counter.

So, I leaned forward and lowered my voice. “We’re never going to be together.”

“You don’t know that,” Sierra said.

“Come on,” I explained. “He’s my father’s best friend.”

“So?”

“So?!”

“Steven is my professor.”

“Your sex ed professor,” I said. “Plus, that’s different.”

Sierra crossed her arms on top of her textbook and leaned closer. “How?”

“Because he doesn’t know any of your family,” I said, the words slipping out of my mouth before I could stop them. A few years ago, Sierra’s entire family had died in a car accident right before Christmas. I sighed and grabbed her hand. “Sorry, I didn’t mean it like that.”

“It’s okay, Heather.” She smiled softly, though it didn’t meet her eyes. “I know.”

My frown deepened, chest tightening. I hated making Sierra reminisce about her family.

“Oh, girls,” Mom called from the counter, picking up some napkins. “I got your favorites!”

When Sierra and I had moved into the same dorm our freshman year of college and I found out what had happened to her family, my parents had immediately taken her in and treated her like their own. And while Sierra hated taking anything from anyone, I thought she’d grown fond of Mom.

Sierra giggled beside me, watching Mom waltz over after throwing some businessman a seductive smirk.

“I can’t believe you asked your mom to look over the BDSM contract.” She snickered. “My parents would have killed me if they found out that I was attending a BDSM club, never mind sleeping with an older man.”

“Shush!” I said, playfully pushing her away. “She doesn’t know about Hector.”

“Sweetheart,” Mom said, handing Sierra a cup, “here’s your tea.”

“Thank you,” Sierra said shyly. “You didn’t have to do that.”

“Nonsense.” Mom sat down. “Heather, yours should be finished soon too. Now …” After setting her purse on the empty chair beside her, she pulled out the contract and set it in front of me. “I don’t have any revisions. It is heavily in your favor. And you can terminate the contract whenever you’d like with no repercussions.”

I rummaged through my backpack for a pen and flipped to the last sheet.

Before I signed, Mom grabbed my wrist. “Do you have any questions about it?”

“Nope. Hec—heexplained pretty much all of it to me.”

When Mom released my wrist, I placed the pen on the line and signed my life away. If I could be with Hector, even for a few months, maybe a year or so, and we could do it behind Dad’s back, then I wanted it.

As much as it’d break my heart when we were finished …

“So, who’s it with?” Mom turned to Sierra. “Do you know?”

“Mom!” I exclaimed. “I already told you that I can’t tell you.”

“It is totally someone that I know, isn’t it?”

“No.”

“Someone that comes to the Christmas parties?”

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