Page 37 of Shortcake
“Hey wiggle butt! Look at you go!” The sound of her laugh hit me like a heavyweight punch to the gut. When she looked back at me from over shoulder, the movement sent her silky hair rippling like water across her back. “I think Gus likes me.” She smiled, two lines framing her mouth like a parenthesis.
“He’d be an idiot not to.” Fuck. The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them.
Our gazes met and the little gasp she gave made the oxygen stall in my lungs. I regretted my words for all of a second.
But then, that smile of hers… it widened even more. And I could no longer regret my words if they brought on a smile that beautiful.
She had the kind of smile that just radiated joy. This wasn’t a woman who would smile just to appease someone. No, when she smiled, she meant it. And for a split second, I felt honored that she’d bestowed one of her smiles onto me.
She looked back down at Gus. “Your daddy’s a charmer, isn’t he?”
Daddy. There was that fucking word again.
Adrenaline shot through my veins.
That word, that role play, it shouldn’t affect me like it did. I never really thought of myself as some creepy old dude who got off on Daddy Dom porn. But coming from Addy? A woman who was so clearly not a child, it caused my pulse to spike… even if she wasn’t doing it on purpose.
Hell, maybe she didn’t even remember calling me daddy that night. Or maybe she had no idea that she was unintentionally highlighting the immense age and lifestyle difference between us… but that’s just what she did. Nevertheless, I allowed myself two seconds to stare at her before I cleared my throat and tore my gaze from the profile of her face.
“Here, let me help you with that.” I took her bag for her, lifting it up. I pointed to the right. “That’s the dining room. Not that Harper and I will be in there very much. Over there’s the formal sitting area… we’ll use that even less.” My gaze caught my mother’s piano that we had carefully moved from New York and my throat tightened at the sight.
I led the way down the hallway with a quick gesture at the stairs. “Mine and Harper’s rooms are up there… or will be.” I wasn’t going to be taking her upstairs where my bedroom was.Ever. Nope. No way. Not happening. She did not need to see the room where I’d been up all night thinking of her. The room where I’d been picturing her pretty lips and glistening eyes and tight ass—
Shit. I gestured loosely around the open concept kitchen and living room. “Here’s where Harper and I will probably spend most of our time.”
The place was still covered in untouched boxes. I kicked one labeledpots and pansover to the side to make way for Addy to set Eleanor’s cage down if she wanted to.
I opened the pantry door which was basically empty except for a few boxes of mac and cheese and some cans of soup. “Um, you can have the middle shelf for your food if you want. And of course, you’ll have your own full bathroom downstairs, but there’s one on this floor, too, down th—”
“Down the hall and to the left,” she said, seemingly proud that she knew this house well enough.
The truth was, she probably could have givenmea tour of the place. She seemed to know her way around.
“So you probably don’t need me to show you how to get to the basement, either, do you?”
She shook her head. “It’s actually the one area of the house I’ve never seen. Higgins renovated that right before he started renting it on Airbnb.”
“You and this Higgins guy were close?”
She shrugged and gave me a cheeky smile. “Yes… not thathewould admit to that. He’d call me a thorn in his side. Grumpy old bastard.” Despite her harsh words, she laughed.
I crossed the kitchen and gestured to the door that split the hallway from the dining room. “Well, it’s right down here. Unfortunately, Harper slept down there last night. I’ll go kick her out so you can get settled.”
Before I could wrap my hand around the doorknob, Addy stopped me. “Aw, give her a few more minutes to rest. She had a rough night.”
“She had a rough night because of her own dumb choices.”
Addy shrugged. “I know. But come on, didn’t you ever make a dumb choice and pay for it when you were younger?”
“Yeah,” I chuckled to myself. “But in my case, that choice actually turned out pretty great.”
Addy didn’t say a word, just tilted her head thoughtfully, waiting for me to continue.
“When I was in my twenties, I had a one-night stand and nine months later became a father.”
She waited a beat, studying me. “See? It could be way worse. Nine months from now, you could be a grandfather.”
My laugh came out as more of a groan. A graveled, creaky sound and I dropped my face into my hands. “I can’t even joke about that.”
