Page 4 of Wooed By Daddy

“That red dress looks amazing on you,” she whispers, her eyes wide and watery as she watches me.

I glance into the mirror and do a double take as I see my reflection. It doesn’t look like me. The dress molds against my boobs—they’ve grown so much with this pregnancy—and it flows out over my bump and down to the floor. My bump isn’t noticeable with this dress, unless I hold it, something that I do regularly as my growing baby is heavy as hell and holding it sometimes relieves the pressure.

“Now,” Rina whispers. “Heels or flats?”

I giggle. “I can’t wear heels on the best of days, what makes you think that I’ll wear them while eight months pregnant?”

Her eyes are alight with humor. “That’s true, you’re not the most gracious of people.”

I glare at her. “I’m a klutz.”

She nods. “You really are. I remember when Mrs. Trawley thought your mom was hurting you because of the bruises you had. It was only when you tripped over your own feet that she realized just how bad you are.”

I flip her off. “Talking about dates, what’s going on with you and Calvin?”

Just as I do, Sabrina has a thing for older guys. The one that she’s into happens to be her father’s best friend. Calvin Pauls is a forty-three-year old mechanic who kissed Rina last month, and she’s been hiding from him ever since. My best friend is scared of what the fallout is going to be if she moves forward with the relationship with him, no matter how much she wants him, she’s scared of losing her father.

“Nothing,” she says as she glances away from me. She’s lying, and I’m wondering what she’s hiding from me, but right now it’s not the time to ask her. “Now, let’s finish getting you ready, you’ve got to leave soon.”

Forty minutes later, I’m standing outside of the restaurant, pacing. I’m so damn nervous. It’s been so long since I’ve actually been on a date, that I’m beginning to feel sick. What if I mess it up?

My cell buzzes, and I fish it out of my purse and smile when I see Rina’s name on the screen. Unlocking my cell, I read the message and chuckle to myself.

Rina: Have fun, Kelly, and don’t forget to use a condom.

She’s crazy. Absolutely certifiable.

Taking a deep breath, I move toward the restaurant door. My stomach flips with nerves. God, I can’t believe that I agreed to this, what the hell was I thinking?

“Ms Olson?” The server questions as I enter the building.

I smile and nod. “Yes, hello.”

He returns my smile with a warm one of his own. “Excellent, your date, Mr. Greenwood is here already, can I take your jacket?”

My heart beats rapidly at the name. Greenwood. There’s no way it can be him. Greenwood is a popular name. I pull in a ragged breath and take off my jacket and hand it to the man.

“Right this way, Ma’am,” he says and leads me toward the other side of the restaurant, there’s a lot of dates happening right now. Valentine’s day is the biggest night of the year for restaurants and this one is no different.

“Mr. Greenwood, your date has arrived, may I get you both some drinks?”

I turn to smile at my date, and my heart stutters. “Grant?” I whisper, horrified.

ChapterTwo

Grant

Ifix my cufflink as I sit at the table. Fucking Cassie. I should never have agreed to this. What the hell was I thinking?

In the past eight months, my mind has constantly been on Kelly. The woman stars in my every fantasy, she’s my every waking thought. I scrub a hand down my face, I shouldn’t be thinking about her. She’s my step-daughter, or was. The night of Helen’s funeral, I never intended for things to go the way they did with Kelly. I was angry, I was ashamed, and I was drunk. Then Kelly told me everything that her mother did to her, and I fucking hated Helen for the pain she put her daughter through. One minute I was consoling Kelly, the next, I was thrusting inside of her. It was, without a doubt, the best sex I’d ever had in my life and yet it’s something that can’t happen again.

The call that we had at Christmas was painful, as much as I wanted Kelly—and still do—I needed to make sure that it would never happen again. So anytime she’d bring it up while we were talking on the phone, I’d shut it down and move onto something else. In the end, she hung up on me, not before calling me a bastard and to never contact her again.

Fuck.

I’ve made so many mistakes that I doubt I’ll ever be able to repent for them.

This date is a good thing, it’ll take my mind off the forbidden fruit and set me on the right track. I’m not naive enough to think that one date will make me forget about her, or even have the thoughts that plague my mind and dreams disappear, but it could help me forget her.

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