Page 74 of Unprepared Daddy

“No,” I said. “That hurts us, too. We depend on that asshole to get our stash. We can’t take the hit by shooting ourselves in the foot.”

Silvio nodded. “You’re right,” he said slowly. “You’ve got a good head on your shoulders, boss.”

I waved my hand dismissively through the air. The compliment was nice, but I wasn’t going to feel any better about this fucking situation until I had an answer ready to go.

“Well,” Silvio said. “There is one more idea.”

“I’ve got it,” I said suddenly. “He’s got a kid, don’t he?”

Silvio smiled unpleasantly. “A boy,” he said. “Some kid named Michael.”

I grinned. “How old is he?”

Silvio shrugged. “Like I know? Maybe twenty-five, thirty. He ain’t that old.”

My grin grew so wide that my cheeks ached.

“Perfect,” I said.

Chapter Two

Beth

“What about this?” Heather held up a mint-green silk chemise. “I think this would be pretty with your skin.” She held it against my pale arm.

I wrinkled my nose. “I don’t know,” I said. “Green always makes me look kind of jaundiced, don’t you think? It’s these damn yellow undertones,” I added quickly. “I hate how I look right now!”

Heather snickered. “It’s this damn lighting,” she said, pointing towards the ceiling. “You’d think a store like Bloomingdales would be able to afford something that doesn’t make us look like old hags. Why the hell am I even spending my money here, anyway?” Her voice grew loud with the last few words, and a sales associate glared daggers in our direction.

I laughed too, blushing as the sales person glared even harder. “I don’t know,” I confessed. “Sometimes I think I’m just not cut out for shopping.”

“Beth,” Heather whined, putting her hand on my shoulder. “You’re getting married in like, two months! You don’t have any lingerie! You’ve got to come up with something.”

I frowned, walking over to a rack of red and black things made of lace. I held something up, staring skeptically at the scrap of fabric. It barely looked big enough to cover one breast, let alone my whole body.

“I don’t know,” I said again, tucking the fabric back on the rack before Heather could swoop in and demand that I try it on. “I’m just not really feeling this today.”

“We have to keep trying,” Heather said. “Come on, Beth. This isn’t that bad – just a little more, okay?”

I nodded mechanically. “Whatever,” I mumbled. “I know I should be excited. I think I just have cold feet, or something like that.”

Heather smiled encouragingly. “I’m sure that’s it,” she said slowly. “Come on, let’s go over here. They might have cuter stuff in the junior’s section.”

I rolled my eyes but eventually, I turned on my heel and followed Heather through the bright fluorescent lighting of the mall. Shopping in a mall felt so dated – almost like I was back in high school. The faux-marble tile hadn’t been changed, and the silvery metal clothing racks looked as foreign and austere as they had before, when I’d been younger. Maybe shopping had been more fun then. But now, it just seemed like a chore that I couldn’t wait to get out of the way.

“This is the way to live,” Heather declared. I wrinkled my nose – it was almost like she was reading my mind, and then choosing to ignore how I felt.

“I disagree,” I said, shaking my head. “I hate this, it always makes me feel so uncomfortable! Besides, isn’t lingerie one of those things that’s really more for the bride than for the groom?”

Heather grinned wickedly. “Andy doesn’t think that way,” she said snootily. She flipped through the racks, squealing and pulling out a matching purple silk bra-and-panty set. “He’d love this on me,” she said, holding the material against her shirt. “Don’t you think this would be hot?”

I shrugged. “Lingerie is one of those things that always makes me feel more naked than actually being naked,” I said. “I always feel so awkward.”

“You are so boring,” Heather said, rolling her eyes. “I swear, I bet you and Michael only do it in the dark!”

Inwardly, I groaned. Heather was right – exactly, one-hundred-percent right – but I didn’t want to give her the satisfaction of knowing that. Michael and I had only been together four years, but we already acted like an elderly couple in the bedroom…a sterile elderly couple.

When Michael and I had first had sex, it had been exciting. Not because it had been good – I wasn’t sure that I’d ever had anything I could label as “good sex.” But rather because I was finally doing it, I was finally doing the thing that seemed to drive both men and women of every age group. It had felt naughty to take my clothes off and lie beneath a man who was also naked, rubbing his body against mine. It had hurt, too, but that was beside the point – when I lost my virginity, I finally felt like a woman.

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