Page 67 of Don't Call Me Daddy
“I know you think I’m too young, but I’m a big girl. I know what I’m getting myself into, and I’m not afraid of you.”
She traces her thumb lightly over my nipple, and I grip her wrist to stop her.
“You have no idea what you’re asking. I’m … I’m all wrong for you, and the sooner you realize it, the better.”
A mischievous smile stretches across her face. “I think you’ll find that I can be pretty stubborn when it comes to getting what I want. I don’t like to be told no.”
This makes me laugh because it’s not exactly a secret. Ivy wears it proudly all over her face, the way she moves through the world with her golden eyes and confidence, so charismatic and playful. I feel likenoisn’t a word she hears very often. It would take someone made of steel to tell this woman no.
“I … I can’t …” I force the words out of my mouth, and they feel unnatural, like lies that have my insides twisted into knots. I take a step back, putting some much-needed space between us.
Ivy just pouts and shrugs. “Well, it was worth a shot.” She spins around, giving me a wink over her shoulder. “It’s your loss, Leo.” Then, she takes off into a run, cannonballing off the side of the waterfall, squealing the whole way down.
My heart races in my chest as I rush to look over the edge just as her head pops above the water.
“Come on. Take the leap and join me. Unless you’re too chicken,” she calls from the clear blue pool of water.
Call it a momentary lapse of judgment or self-sabotage to the millionth degree, but for one split second, I want to feel that rush again. I want to shed this heavy armor and free fall, trusting that everything will be okay when I land in the deep, cool water beneath.
I shake my head as a million thoughts bombard me, but before I realize what I’m doing, I’m stripping off my clothes.
Here goes nothing.
I jump from the cliff and plummet toward the bottom, my body twisted and thrown from the force. I land with a cold splash, and it’s as if I were being recalibrated, baptized in the freedom of the moment. When I push to the surface, I find Ivy staring at me in misbelief, her blonde hair slicked back from her face, wearing a smile that could bring anyone to their knees.
Fuck, she’s pretty, and the sight of her nearly knocks the air from my lungs.
But my attraction to her is so much more than surface level; it’s her essence that draws me to her like a moth to a flame. She’s magnetic in every sense of the word and embodies all the qualities that I don’t.
She’s warm, excited about the future, optimistic, and she lives every day in the moment. She’s not afraid to be herself even if it means she’ll be judged for it. She’s pure sunshine in human form, warming everyone lucky enough to cross her path. And I’m the rainstorm that ruins the last day of your beach vacation.
I’ve come to accept my role; we can’t all be the life of the party. Some of us have to create safety nets and boundaries. Some of us are here to provide the structure so others can enjoy their sunny days to the fullest. But I’d be lying if I said I didn’t wish I could be both, have both. I know it’s selfish, but right now, I don’t care. Right now, I want to pretend that I could actually be worthy of this incredible woman.
Ivy doggy-paddles toward me and splashes me in the face. “What the hell was that?”
I wipe the water from my eyes and brush my thick strands back, feeling a smile cover my own face. “What was what?” I ask, splashing her back.
“You just jumped … like you’ve done it a thousand times.”
She moves toward me, and I grab her waist, unable to keep myself from touching her, as if it doesn’t count if we’re underwater.
“Maybe I have. You don’t know everything about me.” I run my fingers along her hips, the rush of adrenaline fogging my brain.
She bites her lip. “I knew you had a fun side deep down in there. I just needed to keep poking you until it came out.”
She wraps her legs around my waist, cinching herself flush with my core, and my hands trail lower, cupping her ass as I kick my legs, keeping us both a float.
It feels so natural, holding her like this, and every cell in my body feels alive, charged with false hope and delusion. Our mouths are dangerously close, and I flick my eyes down as she wets her lips. There’s a heat growing between us, an electric current that sizzles when two unlikely souls meet their match. I’m a clown fish, and Ivy is my anemone—or maybe it’s the other way around. It shouldn’t work, but somehow, I can’t imagine anything fitting together more perfectly. All I know is that when I look into her eyes, it terrifies me.
“We could do anything out here, and no one would know,” she whispers as my hands caress her soft hips, savoring each stolen moment.
I would know, and that’s all that matters.
“Can I ask you a question?” I ask, mimicking her from earlier.
“Ask away. I’m an open book.”
She opens her arms wide and leans back, trusting that I’ll keep her head above water. I love that about her—that she trusts me so completely. And yet I don’t think either of us realizes the lengths I’d go to prove it.
