Page 12 of Navy Daddy

“I … u-understand,” she mutters.

I wait for her to come. Teasing the sensation out with short, sharp strokes and circles over her nub. I watch pleasure and torment roll through her eyes, and as her body jerks and a choked scream roars out her mouth, I release her.

“Good. Then my cards are on the table,” I say while she pants at my side. “You don’t have to make a decision. Not now, not ever. But you needed to know.”

I hate how pathetic this makes me sound.

“But I’m leaving so soon.” The pain behind her words makes my heart shatter. “How can I be yours if I’m not at your side?”

“Leave that to me,” I say. We kiss and break away moments before her father’s car pulls up to the gate. “Now go on, have your night out. Enjoy yourself, and you’ll see me tomorrow.”

A careful choice of words. It’s true, Eva will see me tomorrow, but I won’t be waiting that long. After what we just went through, I’ll never let her out of my sight again.

“And baby girl, I’m going to make you regret making me wait,” I finish before getting in my car and driving off.

10

EVA

“Ithought this was a girls’ night,” I say to Clarissa, my oldest friend at the table, but I can’t take my eyes off Toby Anderson on the other side of it. He’s been gawking at me since I sat down, and his unnerving stare is starting to grind away my resolve.

“It was, but the boys heard about it and wanted to tag along,” Clarissa replies. “Trent gave me the puppy dog eyes, and how could anyone say no to those?”

“Yeah, but did you have to invite—” I don’t say his name, hoping my subtle head gesture in Toby’s direction gets the point across.

I’m sure he’s a good guy somewhere inside, but I’ve been dealing with his non-stop, intense persistence to take me on a date since our first year of college. I thought it was finally over when he heard I was leaving the country, but here he is again. Probably with one more big blowout attempt at winning my heart before I go.

Clarissa pours another round of shots for the table of eight, leaning in close to my ear as she does it. “No one invited him.He just showed up. As much as I hate to say it, doll, who could blame him? Who wouldn’t want a chance at that great ass of yours?” She giggles with the last part before handing the shots out.

My head sinks, and I try to hide the wide smile beaming across my face at the irony of it all. Toby’s been chasing after me like a lost puppy for years, and I never batted an eyelash in his direction. But the hulking, more-muscle-than-man behemoth barely says a word, and I’m ready to drop my panties and let him claim me.

“You’re leaving soon anyway. Don’t entertain his bullshit, and enjoy yourself. It’s why we’re all here, right?” Clarissa adds, flicking her long black hair over one shoulder.

It’s easier since we’re in a public bar, too. It’s packed with some mean-looking people who’d jump at the opportunity to come to a scared girl's rescue.

“Yeah, you’re right. Shouldn’t let him bring me down,” I sigh. It’s hard to follow through with the thought when his green snake eyes are constantly glued to me. He isn’t even talking to anyone, just sipping his soda with a straw and occasionally flicking the mess of greasy hair out of his eyes.

“So, we were thinking…” Trent leans over Clarissa to speak to me. They’ve been going steady for a little over a year, and I’ve enjoyed his company thoroughly. “Tonight’s been great, but I think we should do one more. Get the whole gang together for one hell of a pub crawl, and make sure the hangover keeps you sleeping for your flight. Have a proper goodbye.”

“I thought this was the goodbye.” I crook a brow at him.

“This is theauf wiedersehen, or for you American lot, the ‘until we meet again.’” He knocks back his shot. “What do you say?”

And there they are, the big puppy dog eyes Clarissa was talking about. She’s not wrong; you really can’t say no to them.

My turn to swallow the tequila. I wince and pull a funny face that gets a chuckle from Trent. “Do I have a choice?”

“Not really, no. It’s just the illusion of choice. We’ll organize the whole thing; you just need to show up. Okay? Okay.” And with that, he slides back to his side of the table and continues whatever conversation he was having before.

Our night continues with laughter and stories that have no reason to feel like they happened so long ago. War stories of frat house parties, the naughty shit we got up to on drunken nights, much like this one, and of course, reminiscing on the good times we shared.

“I need to wee,” I say, getting up from the table. My legs are a little wobbly, and I giggle while I stumble around Clarissa.

“Sure you wanna do that?” Trent asks. “Breaking the seal this early is going to be a nightmare.”

“Early? It’s bedtime, pal.” I’m slurring my words. Definitely time to call it.

“I’ll order you an Uber,” he says while I shuffle off through the bar room floor to the restrooms.

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