Page 5 of My Fantasy Daddies

That I’d hacked Eloise’s email and found the code word to get us easily into Inferno for that night had been a just-in-case.My bestie needed a night out to forget her shitty family.

After yet again treating Amelia like she didn’t exist, her dad, stepmother, and stepsister had flown to Paris for the weekend.To cheer up Elsa because her stupid ass hadn’t gotten accepted into any of the colleges she applied to.Considering she was at the bottom of our class, I wasn’t exactly surprised that she had failed to get into even the most mediocre of higher-education establishments.

As rich as her dad was, he still couldn’t buy her a brain.Pathetic.

Double-checking with Astro and Otto that they knew the rules and then assuring them I would press my smartwatch if we needed anything, I turned to face my bestie once we were inside the club.“What do you know about Ignite?”

Okay, maybe I wanted to influence my bestie’s choice.

Just a little bit.

But I really, really needed to get those three out of my head before I lost my fucking mind.And Amelia deserved a night with someone who could and would give her the affection she craved.

Parker

Tipping my glass back, I swallowed my scotch in one gulp.As soon as I dropped the glass onto the bar top, a fresh drink was placed in front of me.“Keep them coming,” I grumbled.

“Rough day?”Trevor asked casually, his gaze landing on me for a moment before going back to glancing at someone over my shoulder.

My day had been mediocre at best.Boring, for fucking sure.Work no longer held my attention like it once had when I’d first retired from the army.My career as a Delta Force specialist had been memorable, full of blood and war, but that shit got old fast.I’d thought building my own financial empire would replace that adrenaline high that came from dodging bullets, something I’d craved right after I’d lost my sister.But now my accounts were cushioned with billions that I dedicated to her name, and I was faced with the reality that not a single penny had eased the pressure that seemed as if it was constantly building inside me.

Something always felt like it was missing.It was why I’d chosen to go into the military fresh out of high school.Maybe if I’d found whatever was missing, I could have saved Alora.Regret sat like a stone in my belly, some days harder than others.I tried not to linger on the past, but feeling like I’d let my sister down was something that ate at me.

Back then, I’d thought it was just wanderlust.I’d been hopeful I’d find that missing puzzle piece traveling the world and serving my country at the same time.

Instead, all I found was a talent for spilling the blood of our enemies and two crazy-as-fuck best friends.Benson and Malcolm had the same talent as me, which had been exploited by our superiors straight out of basic training.Selection had been intense.Torture.But it had quieted the part that was pacing impatiently inside me.Searching.Always searching, desperate to find what was missing.Like a part of my goddamn soul had been stolen.

My first billion should have calmed me down.It only made the frenzy worse, made the regret more of a sickness that rotted inside me.What was money when I felt empty?

There had been only one moment in my life when that restlessness had calmed.But it was there and gone so soon, I hadn’t been able to explore what that quiet inside me truly had come from.Since then, however, that emptiness felt even hollower.That echo of loneliness had grown louder until I was close to clawing at the inside of my mind.

Malcolm picked up his own replenished drink and took a gulp, his jaw clenched hard as usual.How he hadn’t already broken off a few teeth, I’d never know.From the moment I’d met him, I’d wondered if he was made of titanium.With all the bullets and shrapnel he’d taken during our time as Delta Force specialists, it made me think the bastard was immortal.

As I tossed back my second glass and replaced it on the bar top, Benson joined our group.“Sorry I’m late.Had to shake the clinger.Trevor, man, you gotta make management vet clients better.That woman has been basically stalking me for months now.”

I rolled my eyes at my friend’s overdramatics.When we were discharged, he’d used his new skills to advance his family’s tech company into a personal security empire.He handled the security for all of Trevor’s businesses and personal safety.Even though we’d left the blood and war behind, he still chased the vermin of the world.Only now, he got to choose who he protected, served, and saved with a bigger paycheck at the end of each day.

But he didn’t know how to handle the unwanted attention of a young woman who had decided she wanted him, Malcolm, and me.Benson wasn’t wrong that she’d crossed so many lines in her mission to capture our attention that she was mere inches from a felony.She’d stalked us to and from Inferno for weeks, and she continued to annoy the fuck out of us.Only Malcolm and I had told her to fuck off already, while Benson had tried to remain diplomatic.Why, I didn’t have a clue, and he hadn’t offered an explanation.

Two decades into our friendship, and I still didn’t know how Benson’s brain worked.What I did know was that he repeatedly got in his own way when it came to his personal life.

Trevor didn’t answer, and I realized his attention was yet again pulled to something over my shoulder.Turning slowly, I scanned the room behind me.It took a few moments, but then I saw them.Two young women, probably college-aged, standing at the bar.One was a tiny thing in a sexy black dress that offered a nice view of her cleavage and a hint of her ass.Her choice of shoes stood out to me above anything else, though.Simple Converses had a smile trying to tip my lips.

But then movement beside her pulled my gaze, and suddenly, everything in the room dimmed, fading from existence, except forher.

I knew it was her as soon as I set eyes on her.The girl from Ignite a few weeks back.Even from across a crowded club, she’d stood out.Those long, richly dark waves of hair that fell halfway down her back.That face that had haunted my every waking thought.I couldn’t remember what she’d been wearing because she’d been sitting down and all I could focus on was that gorgeous face.

No one could look at this woman and call her an angel.Even if I were religious, there was no way an angelic being could ever compete with such beauty.

A heartbeat passed as I took her all in now.A husky laugh reached my ears as she giggled with her friend, her pouty lips lifted into a smile that stole the air from my chest.

And suddenly, that restless, unsettled sensation that had always been right beneath the surface, slowly driving me toward the brink of insanity, stopped.There had been no pause button like when I’d gone into the military at eighteen.Or again when I’d started my business.Every fiber of my being locked on her like a beacon.

Finally.

Forty years of searching the world, of warring with that part of myself that had known something was out there waiting for me.I’d nearly given up hope of ever finding that missing piece within, thinking that was something I would just have to deal with.Find a way of living without that vital part that kept calling to me like a siren’s song.

Another heartbeat pounded in my chest, vibrating through my entire body as she slowly shifted and tossed her hair out of her eyes.Those giggles were sending a quake of response all the way down to my knees, causing them to shake for a moment as she turned her head and let her gaze drift over her surroundings.

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