Page 51 of Under Daddy's Spell

“You did not!” she exclaimed although she wasn’t entirely wrong. Whenever she was with him, whether making out by the dumpsters, going toe-to-toe with him in the book aisles, or while flat on her back with his mouth working its magic between her legs, she thought she was going to spontaneously combust.

He’d said to think about what having a daddy meant. Though he hadn’t put a name to it until last night, it was all she’d thought about since they’d first met.

She glanced at the timer on the oven. Her peace offering had twelve minutes left to bake, which was how long she had to get up the nerve to tell him she’d thought long and hard about it and wanted what he was offering. Everything from his gorgeous face to his striking blue eyes to his perfectly sculpted muscular body. She wanted the steamy kisses, the beyond-intense multi-orgasmic oral sex, and yes, the on-the-bare naughty-girl spankings.

More than anything, she wanted what she’d been missing for so long, someone who cared about her and wanted the best for her and would call her a brat when she acted like one. Even if it came in a bossy, overprotective, rule-making, disciplinarian package, she wanted a daddy, and the only one she’d accept was Jordan.

***

FRESH FROM THE OVEN, without sufficient time to cool, the muffins were burning her hand through the bottom of the bakery box, and droplets of condensation had collected on the little plastic window. But she couldn’t wait to tell him her answer. She’d happily put off the part where she’d been wrong, and he’d been right all along, but he’d said no lies, no fibs, and half-truths, and she planned to spill all of it.

There was no receptionist behind the desk when she walked in. She moved to the wide archway leading into the gym and scanned the crowd for Jordan’s blond head. It was nowhere to be found, but she spied Seth.

He was spotting for someone who, by her calculations, was bench-pressing close to four hundred pounds. She waited quietly off to the side. Heaven forbid she’d interrupt and cause either of them to herniate something. Or, mercy sake’s, drop the dang thing and crush the man’s windpipe.

Once the barbell clanged into place on the rack, Seth glanced up. Caught off guard by her presence, he couldn’t hide his pained expression.

Like Jordan, he probably thought of her as a whiny pain-in-the-ass brat, too.

“I’m not here to make a fuss,” she said preemptively. “Is Jordan in?”?

“You just missed him,” he told her as he used a tool to loosen a bolt on the barbell and then, to her disbelief, added more weight.

“Okay, I’ll come back later.”

“It will have to be a lot later. The boss man was on his way to Tallahassee again with a stopover in North Carolina.”

“Lucky fucker,” the twenty-something bodybuilder exclaimed as he hopped off the bench to help add weights to the other side of the barbell. “I envy him.”

“Who doesn’t?” Seth asked. “A new city every weekend, different sights, different sounds—”

“Different women! Did you see him in the paper cozying up with Allie LaForce at the game last week? Or the week before with Rebecca Harlowe? It appears the big guy has a type—smoking hot and brunette.”

Seth reached over and smacked the younger, much bigger guy on the head.

“Hey!” the kid exclaimed while rubbing it.

Seth glared at him and ordered, “No talking. Concentrate on what you’re doing.”

Tessa’s heart sank. What the heck was going on? He’d returned yesterday and was off to North Carolina less than twenty-four hours later? Why would a fitness center owner fly all over the country on weekends??

As for the women. Someone as hot as Jordan wouldn’t jet-set around the country alone. He’d take a gym bunny with him or pick one up when he got there. With his looks, he could get any woman he wanted. Which posed the question, what was his interest in a bookish, frizzy-haired introvert who needed to lose twenty pounds?

“Don’t pay attention to Junior,” Seth urged her. “He doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”

“It’s Owen Nelson,the third, not Junior, and I absolutely know what I’m talking about. I saw the Instagram clip of Rebecca and Coop in a hot tub with my own eyes.”

Seth smacked him again. “Do you ever shut up?”

She thrust the bakery box into Jordan’s manager’s hands. “These are for—” Her voice broke, and with good timing, before she admitted who they were for and embarrassed herself. “These were baked fresh this morning,” she tossed over her shoulder as she rushed toward the door.

“Tessa, wait. You should call him.”

“Unnecessary. I’ve got to go,” she replied, dodging equipment and bodies, but not fast enough.

“I’ll let him know you dropped these by.”

At that, she put on the brakes and turned. “Oh no, they’re not for him. They’re just, um, samples. For anyone who hasn’t tried it yet.”

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