Page 9 of Thanksgiving Daddy's Girl
“Because it can’t happen again,” I tell her. “We can’t happen.”
“Why?”
“Because your father would never forgive me.”
“It’s my choice.”
“But it’s his choice whether to be my friend or not. And if he knows we slept together, he’s going to choose to not be anymore.”
She levels her hazel eyes on me. “You didn’t deny feeling something for me.”
I throw my hands in the air and let out a breath of frustration. But I can’t say anything because I’m not going to lie to her. Yes, when we were together in the pool, I felt something for her. I still feel something for her. And that’s the most bloody confounding part of this whole thing. Despite what I feel, I can never act on it simply because of the situation it would put me in with Howie. He would never forgive me.
“What I feel or don’t feel is irrelevant, Maeve,” I say. “This can’t happen again.”
She opens her mouth but before she can say anything more, I turn and walk out of the kitchen. The sound of her crying chases me up the stairs and not even closing my bedroom door can shut the sound of it out of my mind completely. I’ve never felt like such an asshole before in all my life as I do right now.
“Fuck,” I mutter. “Bloody fucking hell.”
7
MAEVE
“How’d things go down at the office today?” Myles asks.
My dad nods. “A thousand little fires that needed to be put out. The usual.”
“That’s why I got out when I did,” Myles says. “I’m not much of a fireman.”
“Yeah, well, I’m starting to think you were the smart one.”
“You should take your foot off the gas, mate. Live a little.”
My dad smirks. “And how’d things go around here today?”
Myles clears his throat. “Uneventful.”
“Maeve? How was your day, honey?”
Myles’ eyes widen slightly and his cheeks flush. When my father looks down at his plate to take a bite of his food, I flash a sultry little smile at him. He hides his face behind his glass and nearly chokes as he takes a drink.
“Yeah. Pretty uneventful,” I say.
Myles was adamant about us not being able to be together. He was forceful. His mouth is telling me one thing, but his eyes are telling me something completely different. I know he felt exactly what I felt in the pool earlier today. I felt it in his kiss. In the way he looked at me I felt it in the way he moved inside of me. He didn’t just have sex with me. It wasn’t just fucking. I know it because I felt it.
I also know it because I know Myles well enough to know he’s not the kind of guy who fucks just to fuck. He’s not a one-night stand sort of man. He treats women with respect. He values them. He doesn’t just use them and move on. I know it’s been years since I last saw him, but I’ve always known the kind of man he is. I know his heart. And I know he wouldn’t have slept with me if he didn’t feel something for me.
“What did you guys do today?” my dad asks.
“Nothing much. We both spent some time in the pool,” I say.
Myles almost chokes on his water, coughing and sputtering. My dad pounds him on the back and laughs. He glances at me, and I give him a slow, sultry smile.
“You all right?” my dad asks.
“Fine,” Myles replies. “Just swallowed the wrong way.”
“Well, be careful, man.”
