Page 49 of Swiped By My Dad's Best Friend
I bit down on my bottom lip. “Sorry, Daddy.”
Trace—no,Daddy—smoothed his thumb over my abused mouth. Then he leaned over and kissed me, a warm kiss of affection that could so easily ignite into passion. I parted my lips, but he didn’t take the bait, pulling back.
“You don’t need to apologize. But don’t you want something to change? A spanking won’t resolve anything for you if you continue to fall into the same patterns.”
I swallowed around the lump trying to form in my throat. “I know.” I hesitated. “But this isn’t your problem.”
“The hell it isn’t. Didn’t we just go over this? I’m your Daddy. I’m here to help and support you. Unless that’s not what you really want out of this? Were you happier with a screen and only sexy times between us?”
“No!” I said quickly. “No, but you didn’t even want to tell me you were coming up here. My dad is still your friend, and being with me is messy, and you said that you didn’t do messy.”
His eyes softened. “Apparently, I do now.”
My heart thumped. “Really?”
“Change is scary, and it isn’t easy, but the payoff will be worth it. For both of us, don’t you think?”
I was done playing it cool. I threw my arms around him and squeezed tight. “Yes, thank you. Thank you for deciding I’m worth it.”
He held me tight, whispering in my ear, “I always knew you were worth it. The question is, do you know that?”
“Do I know I’m worth the risk?” I asked, drawing back.
He nodded.
“I hope so.”
He smiled a little sadly. “Well, that’s a start.” He gestured toward the computer. “Now, then. Let’s come up with a plan.”
“I do want a change,” I told him, not wanting him to misunderstand my reluctance. “But I only have four days to do a major paper in Philosophy and prepare for a Micro Economics mid-term that’s worth a big piece of my grade. That’s hardly any time.”
He turned back to the spreadsheet, tapping away. “Then we better get busy. Tell me about your other classes.”
* * *
TRACE
Cooper rattled off his subjects. In addition to Philosophy and Micro Economics, he was enrolled in Political Science, Digital Marketing, and Psychology of Videogames.
I shot him a look at that last once.
“It sounded interesting,” he said defensively. “Fuck knows Micro Economics is not.”
“How about we focus on how we can get that GPA up? How are these other classes going?”
Cooper sighed and ran his hands through his hair while he filled me in on his grades. I could tell he hated talking about it. Most of his courses were somewhere in the C range, which meant this wasn’t hopeless. Philosophy and Micro Economics were the real challenges, way down in D territory.
“None of these other classes matter if I can’t pull up these two grades,” Cooper said. “That’s why I flipped out today when I saw the F on my quiz and realized I couldn’t possibly turn this all around. It’s hopeless.”
“It’s not hopeless,” I said firmly. “You’ve got four days, and we’re going to make them count.”
He scoffed. “It’s too much material to cover in four days.”
I raised an eyebrow at him. “That sounds defeatist.”
“Sorry, it’s overwhelming.”
“I know.” I shifted my hand to his shoulder, rubbing it soothingly. “But you can do this. We just have to focus. I’ll run you by your frat, and you can collect your laptop, textbooks, and anything else you need. Grab some clothes too. You’ll be staying with me all weekend.”
