Page 64 of Daddy, Sir

“Of course.” Agreeing didn’t mean I wasn’t just as confused as I’d been when the question was first asked. It only meant that a woman half my size could pin me to my chair without so much as lifting a single finger.

“Not that we’re actually going to eat it,” she said as she picked up her fork and spoon again. “But, after dinner, we’re definitely going to have to discuss its presence in the room so we’ll both stop stumbling over it. Deal?”

I didn’t even bother asking if this was an actual deal or some false Flanagan idea of a deal. I simply picked up my own utensils and nodded. “Deal. Can you pass the chili sauce, please?”

Once I’d added a generous amount of the spicy condiment to my plate, we managed to devour our dinners, right down to the last grain of rice.

Chapter Seven

Fiona

At my resigned sigh, Landon settled on the ottoman before me.

“I’m gathering the elephant we’re about to discuss isn’t one with big ears and the ability to fly?”

Though I appreciated Landon’s attempt to lighten the moment, I hadn’t actually been talking about a particular cute baby elephant who, through no fault of his own, had been slapped with an unkind moniker.

“What gave me away?” I asked, stalling for time.

“Other than that sigh? Perhaps it is the fact you’ve literally wrapped yourself up in a ball.” Landon leaned forward and plucked at the knitted throw I’d picked up off the back of a chair on my way to settle into the corner of his couch. “I’m afraid yarn isn’t going to offer much protection, and I’d really feel better if I thought you weren’t acting as if you expect to actually need to be wearing armor.”

He might have a point, but so did I. “You’re right, not about the need for armor, but your shirt isn’t exactly made of flannel and I’m just a little cold. But I’m not talking about Dumbo. I’mtalking about the herd of elephants that have been stampeding toward us since the fates had me walking into your office. As much as I’d love to pretend the past doesn’t matter, I’m afraid I’m actually just waiting for the leader of that herd to impale me with a wickedly sharp tusk and toss me aside…”

Though I didn’t actually voice the wordagain, I knew Landon heard it. To my surprise, he didn’t instantly rush to defend himself or scoff or even try to deny my feelings. Instead, he stood and then bent, scooping me up and then settling into my place, this time with me on his lap.

“Fiona, this might not make much sense, and I know it isn’t what you’ve been wanting to hear me say, but I need you to listen, to try to understand. Can you do that?”

Perhaps he was afraid I’d tell him there was no way in hell anything he could say would have me understanding, but he didn’t wait for me to answer before he continued.

“I know how much I hurt you, but I wouldn’t have changed what I did—” The tightening of his arm around me and the fingers he pressed to my mouth did little to keep me silent… or still.

Not bothering to touch the hand at my mouth, I wrapped the fingers of both my hands around his forearm and twisted in opposite directions. The fact he’d changed out of his suit and was wearing a t-shirt, baring his skin, served to increase the effect of the burn enough to have him grunt and momentarily lose his focus. That gave me enough time to catapult myself off his lap.

From my new position, I could look down at him and snarl, “Then for fuck’s sake, why, instead of tossing me out of your office, did you fucking lie about my having stolen your heart, practically suck my tonsils from my throat, buy me dinner, and on top of all that shit, promise me everything was going to be all right?” Blame my slight stature or my red hair, or even my Irishtemper, but if I hadn’t stomped my foot as the exclamation point of that tirade, well, I wouldn’t have done my clan proud.

I was reaching down to reclaim my afghan when I suddenly found myself jerked off my feet and tossed over a pair of hard-as-rock thighs.

“You forgot the part about being generous enough to not only share my shampoo and shower, but to literally give you the shirt off my back.”

Feeling said shirt being pushed up toward my back, I tried to squirm away and kick him at the same time. Unfortunately, Landon had his own tricks up his sleeve despite their short length. A leg over both of mine eliminated the kicking, a huge hand pressed against the small of my back stilled the squirming, and a moment later as the tail of his shirt clearedmytail, his strangled groan soothed the affront of his earlier sentence just the tiniest bit.

“I swear, you’re going to be the death of me, but even if it takes my last breath, I’m going to finish what I was attempting to say. While I wouldn’t have changed what I did, I have spent the last twelve years wishing I’d changed the way I did it. I told myself a clean break would be easier for you, that even though you’d be hurt, you had the infamous Flanagan clan to support you while cursing me. But the truth was, it just about killed me.”

I didn’t even consider attempting to sit up or slide off his lap. His words held me captive far more than his hold did. Closing my eyes, I could see the light in the room morph into the glow of the moon illuminating the hill where I sat atop the concrete picnic table attempting to block out the words being spoken by the love of my life as he stood in front of me.

Twelve Years Earlier

“Don’t be ridiculous. You have to take it.”

“You don’t be ridiculous. It’s my choice. Why would I accept it?”

“First of all, your parents would kill us both if you don’t?—”

“Not if we get married?—”

“Married? Are you nuts? I’m not interested in getting married or, god forbid, having a litter of rug rats under my feet by the time you’re what, twenty-five. I want?—”

I didn’t wait to see what he wanted. “Landon, please…” I reached out to take his hand, only to feel him pull it away the moment our fingers connected. Fingers he’d entwined with mine a thousand times. Fingers that had combed through my curls and swiped tears off my cheek after they’d turned my ass as red as my hair. “I love you.”

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