Page 3 of Guardian Daddy's Girl
Yet, no matter what I say around this man, I get nervous. Something as simple asyou look good in suits, makes me feel like I’ve crossed a line, while a swarm of butterflies engulf my belly.
“Well, if you like ‘em, maybe I’ll wear them more often,” he plays it off cool, shooting a charming smile my way. “But you know that means you’ll be seeing a lot more of me, right? Ain’t no way in hell I’m wearing these monkey suits without acaptiveaudience.”
He leans back in his chair and his smile turns delightfully sinister.
“Oh, God, you don’t know how happy that makes me to hear.” Another sentence that makes my cheeks feel like they’re about toburn to crisps. Maybe it’s the booze talking, or the massive blow I suffered with my dad’s passing, but I can’t seem to keep my mouth shut. Anything that pops into my head, slips out of my lips without a second thought.
“Really?” He raises a brow. “And why’s that?”
Shit … he called me out on it.
And that puts me in a bit of a strange predicament. The floor is open now, speak honestly and tell him everything that’s been running through my mind for years, or cover it up with some sweet, heartfelt message of not wanting to be alone.
“Because I don’t like to think about a world without you in it,” I say. The best of both worlds. Not wearing my heart on my sleeve and divulging every naughty little secret I’ve got about him, but telling him just enough to gauge his reaction.
The way his lip coils up in a smile makes my heart melt straight between my thighs.
God, he’s handsome. Rugged, manly, with a strong jaw and a permanent five o’clock shadow which covers a scar running from his lower lip all the way down his chin. His eyes are like pure gold, and they have a strange glow about them when I answer. Almost like they’re sparkling in delight, as if he never had any intention of disappearing on me to begin with.
“Y’know, I was just thinking about something similar,” he says. “My world wouldn’t be as bright without that smile in it.”
It takes Rex saying it for me to notice. I’m smiling from ear to ear and it’s all because of him. Partly out of embarrassment, I suppose, but mostly because this is going so much better than I expected.
“I missed seeing you smile, Kitten,” he says nonchalantly when I don’t respond. Filling the blank space with a compliment that knocks the wind out of my lungs and leaves me wanting to jump over this table and kiss him right here.
Hearing him call meKittenmakes it harder to stay put. At some point in my life, his nickname for me changed from a cute title to a lustful call that tickles the darkest recesses of my dirty mind.
Must be the way he says it, low and husky. As if it’s meant for the bedroom.
“You’re gonna make me blush, Rex.”
“You already are,” he calls me out on my lie. “Haven’t stopped since we sat down.”
“Well, can you blame me?” I flutter my eyes at him. “Not every day I sit across the table from a handsome, suited man, who makes me feel like the only girl in the world.”
Rex’s jaw flexes and his eyes harden at my comment.
Fuck, I said something wrong.Pushed too hard. But things were going so well … weren’t they?
As quickly as the sternness came to his face, it vanishes behind a smoldering gaze that could melt my panties off.
“Gotta be careful talking like that, Kitten.” He’s trying to keep things light and playful, but there’s deep severity in the undertones. “You might wake up a lion.”
Wait a second. My mind must be playing tricks on me. Is he saying what I think he is?
“Maybe not a lion,” Rex continues before I get a chance. “I’m more like a junkyard dog. But once we latch on, we don’t let go.”
I suspect that’s as close to confirmation as I’m going to get. Now, the real question is what am I going to do with this information?
I’ve waited for a moment like this for years. Something different, of course, where we were both happy and brought together under more favorable circumstances. I’ve played it out in my mind a thousand times over, too. Thinking of what to say, how to act, what I’d be wearing … hell, I even practiced a sultry voice in the mirror so I’d look more accustomed to this whole thing.
But I’m not accustomed to it. Not at all. My only experience with a man before right now, was in high school, and the furthest we got was a peck on the lips. This is out of my element and I’m out of my depth, but I can’t miss taking this opportunity. Seeing where it leads.
It might just be the beginning of something spectacular.
“Rex is a mighty fitting name for a junkyard dog, don’t you think?” I grab my drink and slot its short straw straight into my mouth.
Not the sexiest compliment I could give, but it kicks things in the right direction.
