Page 62 of Daddy, Sir

I’d loved him and lost him. What was to keep me from losing him again? Words were so easy to say, but what I felt now wasn’t the infatuation of a girl on the cusp of womanhood. It wasn’t one whose entire life experiences had revolved around herself, her needs, her desires. For the first time, I understood Landon would never have left me without a good reason even if I didn’t know what that reason could be. I just knew it was one that had nothing to do with not loving me. Which meant he’d left mebecausehe loved me.

I finally understood love wasn’t made of words in a fairy tale promising a happy ever after. It was a connection that could bend but would never truly break. Love was made of the flesh and bone of his arms around me. It was sinew and muscles as he held me so tightly against him that we were not two people, but one. It was the breaths we each took and then shared as his mouth descended to cover mine.

Chapter Six

Landon

Oxygen might be what kept us alive, but I damned the need to breathe because it meant pulling away from bliss. Her face was flushed, her eyes the softest green, the smattering of freckles across the bridge of her nose the sexiest thing I’d ever seen. God, she was stunning. I was going back in for another taste when Fiona started laughing.

It wasn’t the type of nervous laughter one might expect after the frantic dance our tangled tongues had just performed either. Nor was it the shy little giggle of a woman who was surprised to find herself in the arms of the man she hadn’t kissed in a dozen years either. Nope, this was the sort of laughter that grew louder and louder and had me worried about hysteria. However, when a full-fledged snort was thrown in, I sat back on the seat.

“As badly as I think I might regret this, are you laughing because you think my kissing skills have so seriously deteriorated to the point of being repulsive?”

She shook her head, thick red curls framing her oval face. “Of c-course no-not,” she stammered. “I-I liked it… a-a lot.”

She could have fooled me, especially when I reached for her again and her hands came up to plant against my chest.

I don’t think anyone could question why I felt slightly affronted. “Your actions are saying otherwise, Fee.”

“I-I know.” She opened her mouth to speak again, but instead chose to take a couple of deep breaths which not only had her laughter erupting again, but had her cute little nose crinkle.

“Okay, I give.” I threw up my hands. “What is so damn funny?”

“You. Me. We. Stink.”

“What?”

It’s not like I hadn’t heard her. She’d made a point of speaking each word firmly and with a definite pause between them. That didn’t mean I understood what she was trying to say.

She gestured toward me, then herself. “Take a deep breath and tell me what you smell.”

“Is this a trick?”

Her eyes widened and she gave a single little snort. “What? You think I farted and am trying to pin it on you or something?”

Good grief. How had I forgotten how blunt this woman could be. Then again, it wouldn’t be the first time that sort of prank had been played. She and Finn might have been natural-born twins, but within a few short days of my family moving into a house only a few streets over, our folks were teasing that we might as well have been triplets. Even our birthdays were only a couple of months apart. The three of us played and fought. We pulled pranks and while her eldest brothers gradually stopped tormenting Fiona, Finn and I made up for their lack, teasing her constantly. Evidently, those memories were playing through Fiona’s mind as well.

“Seriously, Landon, just do it, please?”

I dutifully inhaled deeply, almost instantly exhaling. “Shit, you’re right. We smell like a brewery.”

Fiona reached out and slapped my arm. “Have a little respect, you heathen, or you’ll have Pappy rolling over in his grave. Our aroma is the perfect blend of corn, barley, yeast and pure spring water, aged in oak barrels?—”

“In other words, we smell like a distillery,” I offered, the reek of bourbon definitely having me changing our dinner plans. “Seatbelt on.” I buckled mine and started the truck.

“What about dinner?” she asked as she looked out the windshield at the lights of the Thai restaurant I’d driven to.

“That’s why they invented Grub Hub.” I restarted the ignition and pulled out of the driveway I’d just pulled into. “We’ll order in. By the time we shower and change, dinner will be ready.”

An hour later, I opened the door and accepted the bags from the delivery guy with a heartfelt thanks. By the time I had the table set and the pot of green tea I’d brewed steeping, I heard the sound of her footsteps coming down the hall.

“Find everything okay?” I asked, looking up from the place setting I’d been arranging.

And just like that, the hunger I felt switched from food to the woman who was crossing the room wearing nothing but one of my white button-down dress shirts. Barefooted and hair turbaned in a towel did absolutely nothing to distract from how incredibly sexy she looked.

“Thanks for the shirt,” she said as she reached the table. Plucking the napkin I’d been about to tuck beside her plate frommy hand, she slid into a chair. “If this tastes as delicious as it smells, I just might swoon.”

Hell, didn’t she know one didn’t need food to swoon?

---