Page 46 of Falling for the Single Daddy

Callie touches my chest again, curls her hand into a fist, her fingernails scraping against me. “Maybe… but there’s something, isn’t there?”

“You don’t need to go, Callie.”

“Andyoudon’t need to change the subject,” she quips back.

I let out a long, drawn-out breath. “Apparently, Sloane feels threatened by you. Wes thinks she’s going to start talking about custody, lawyers, court battles, all that, if…” But I can’t bring myself to say it.

Callie does it for me. “If you don’t fire me. If I don’t leave.”

I nod, misery gripping me, flaring bleak in my gut. “But she has no right to do that.”

I grab Callie again, sinking my hands into her hips and pulling her close. She makes that attractive moaning noise, part surprise, part desire, partly just Callie pleasure. This time, she throws her arms around me with that same air of desperation, feeling as though she can’t get enough. I greedily and hungrily claim her lips.

Our kiss takes us back down to the couch again, her body grinding against mine. I can feel the heat of her lust, her sex warm through her clothes. I push my groin against her, my rod stiffening, my tip pulsing with pure need. She pants and shifts her hips against mine.

“We can’t,” she whispers urgently. “This is wrong.”

“It feels so right,” I groan.

“You can’t lose your daughter for me,” she says coldly, pushing me again.

I roll away, feeling a mixture of rejection and desire. She sits up and brushes down her clothes. Her pert nipples peak through her T-shirt.

“What if we listened to Emery?” I groan.

Callie looks at me sharply. Her cheeks are flushed. Her breath comes fast.

“What if we accepted that there’s something real here, Callie? Sloane will get jealous, sure, but she can’t resent me for having a girlfriend and inviting my girlfriend to move in with us. She can’t resent me for finding a stepmom for Emery. She has no right. It wouldn’t hold up in court. What if—”

Callie is suddenly on her feet, her fists balled up at her sides. “What are you saying?” she hisses.

“You know what I’m saying.” I leap to my feet and loom over her. “If we’re going to make this work, we’ll have to move fast.”

“And we’ll just have to cross our fingers and hope, pray, that it all works out. That we’re the ten perfect, five percent, whatever it is of relationships thatjust work? And if it ends, we’re right back where we started—breaking a little girl’s heart. And how can you be so sure Sloane won’t use this as fuel to fight a custody battle? And—and—”

My heart shrivels when she coughs back a sob.

“What?” I whisper.

“What if you’re like him?” she whimpers.

“Like who?”

“Like the man who controlled me my entire life. Like the man who still controls my mom. I’ve spent nearly ten years trying to escape that control.”

Her words hit me like a punch in the gut. “You’re asking me if I’m a controlling lunatic like that goddamn cult leader? You know me better than that, Callie.”

“But wedon’tknow each other,” she hisses. “Emery can say she loves me because she’s a kid who hasn’t seen the world. But we have to be smarter than that. We both know that these feelings, whatever the heck they are, could vanish. And then we’d be left with a bunch of commitments we can’t keep. Or maybe I’d just be your pet.”

I take her hand and stare straight into her fearful gaze. “Look me in the eye and tell me you think I’m some controlling freak.”

She pulls her hand away and averts her gaze, but I hold tight to her hand, refusing to let go. “I’m not sure I can take that chance.”

“And maybe you’re just saying this because you think it makes going our separate ways easier. But do you really think this will stop me from missing you?”

“We could break your daughter’s heart—we could ruin your custody of her—and I’mscrewedin theheadfrom the way I was raised. I can’t trust. I can’t let myself trust. How many more reasons do you need?” She bites her lip, shaking her head, trembling all over. “I’m an idiot for forfeiting this job. But we both know it’s the right thing to do.”

“Callie—”

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