Page 66 of Daddy, Sir

“Then why would you leave me?”

“Because you deserved so much better than I could offer you. If I hadn’t, you wouldn’t be who you are today. Instead of accepting that scholarship, you would have stayed in town and, I don’t know, maybe tried to convince yourself the local community college was challenging while you squirreled away tips at the IHOP. Meanwhile, instead of being able to give you the life you deserved, I’d be changing oil and fixing flats at Big Bob’s garage.”

I rolled my eyes, making sure he saw me do so. “You are so far off the mark, it’s not even funny.”

“Really? So if I’d told you the money my folks had put into a trust to pay for my college had been ‘borrowed’ by my uncle whojust happened to be the executor of their estate? That he drained all of their accounts to fund his next great business plan, which flopped so badly he literally sold our house right out from under me, you’d have been good? If you knew that if it hadn’t been for your parents’ generosity, most days I would have gone hungry? Fiona, when my parents died, it would have completely broken me if it hadn’t been for you, for your family. The least I could do was make damn sure I returned the favor and made sure their only daughter wasn’t stuck with some loser.”

If I’d thought my heart broken before, I realized now it had simply cracked. Learning the truth didn’t have me needing to forgive Landon, it had me so ashamed of myself for not being there when he’d needed me the most. Sure, I’d been there when his parents had died in a car accident when we were six months away from graduating high school. I’d held him when he’d cried and I’d stupidly reassured him everything would be all right. I’d never wondered why he was at our house so often as he’d been my parents’ bonus son for years. I’d been so wrapped up in me, myself and I that I’d failed to see he was barely holding it together.

Words I wanted to say wouldn’t come as none came close to reflecting the emotion that was flooding through me. Instead, I leaned forward, snaked my arms around him, laid my forehead on his chest and just held on for dear life.

Chapter Eight

Landon

You know what it takes to slay a man who was going to be officially over the age of thirty in just a few weeks, stood three inches over six feet, tipped the scales at 185 pounds, and could bench press time-and-a-half that weight? Forget a herd of elephants. All it took was the sight of the woman I’d loved since I was a snot-nosed kid looking as she had that night when we were eighteen. The tightness of her arms around me wasn’t that of a hug of a friend or even a lover. It was the grip of someone hanging on for dear life.

Fuck!

So much for my vow to keep her safe, my promise that no one was going to hurt her again. Hell, I might as well have been the stalker we were supposed to keep away from her. At this point I wasn’t any better for her than some stranger.

Then do something about it, dipshit!

Reaching down, I slid my hands under her and pulled her up. At least I attempted to. Instead of releasing me to allow herself to slide up my body, she dug her nails into my back.

“Let go, Fee.”

“No.”

“Come on, baby, I’ve got you.”

“No!”

Was I physically stronger, definitely. But when she tightened her grip, the bite of pain had me imagining how deep those nail tips would have gone if she hadn’t chewed them to little nubs.

“Fee, we can play tug-of-war or you can let me hold you like I want to… like I really, reallyneedto.”

Her hold didn’t loosen much, but her head bobbing against my chest told me she was less resistant to the idea. Slowly, but steadily, I gave an experimental tug and when her hands dropped away, managed to pull her up, but when I attempted to arrange her to sit curled in my lap, she shook her head again and straddled it instead.

“Are you sure you don’t want to get closer?” I teased.

Turned out she did because she scooched up until there was absolutely no space between us and once again wrapped her arms around me. When she continued to squirm, I knew she still didn’t feel close enough. I dropped my arms around her and enfolded her in them. I bent to press first my lips against the top of her head and then to lay my cheek against her damp hair and said what I’d so badly wanted to say so long ago.

“I love you, Fee.”

When her shoulders began to shake, her entire body trembling, I prayed that I’d finally be able to merge the different paths we’d taken into one we’d travel side by side for the rest of our lives.

I opened my eyes when I felt Fiona stirring. I had no clue how long we’d sat there, not speaking, simply being close. She’d soaked my shirt with her tears as I ran my hand up and down her back. Eventually, she’d given a soft sigh and fallen asleep and I’d evidently followed her into dreamland.

“Owww,” she moaned softly, pulling one of her arms free and shaking it out before placing her hand on the back of her neck.

“Let me.” I gently pushed her hand away in order to wrap my fingers around the nape of her neck. I massaged gently, then increased the pressure as she groaned in pleasure. When she rolled her head from side to side, I let my hand slip down her back, digging into each vertebra of her spine loosening muscles and joints that had been tense for hours. Her groans turned into little mewls that made me smile.

“Better?”

“Much, but what about you? You’ve got to be stiff as a board.”

I chuckled. “Let’s just say if you keep squirming, I’m sure I’ll get there sooner rather than later.” I instantly regretted the teasing as she stiffened. “Don’t. I’m teasing and I’m fine. It’s my job to make sure you are good.”

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