Page 17 of Temptress

Heat built in my belly and trailed down, down, down, centering in my core at the sight of him.God, he was attractive. I kept waiting to become desensitized to his... utter manliness, but it wasn’t happening.

“Hey, Daddy,” Darcy called, waving her hand high above her.

“Hey, baby girl.” He stopped where the rose bushes used to be, staring at the fresh sod I had laid down. It wasn’t the first time I caught him staring at that spot since I’d removed the flowers that were harmful to his daughter, and every time I caught him looking at it, my tummy fluttered like the wings of a hummingbird.

“Sloane taught me to garden,” she announced proudly. “And she said she’ll teach me how to keep flowers alive.”

A single corner of his mouth curved upward in a smirk that had me squeezing my thighs together against the pressure building between them. “That’s great.” His gaze landed on me and there was something in it, something different from how he usually looked at me, that elicited a delicious shiver up my spine. “Sassy,” he said in greeting, using that nickname he’d made up for me seemingly out of nowhere.

I nodded in return, my tongue suddenly feeling thick and heavy.

As much as I wanted to stare, I forced myself to drag my eyes away, gazing down at the plants in front of me.

“I called in for Chinese takeout on the way home. It should be here any minute now if you want to head in and wash up.”

Darcy pushed to standing and dusted off her gloves. She pulled them off and tried to hand them back to me, but I waved her off. “Those are yours for next time. Come back whenever, honey.”

She moved quickly catching me off guard as she darted in and wrapped her arms around my neck, giving me the world’s fastest hug before releasing me and skipping off toward her father. “By, Sloane! See you soon.”

“Soon, honey. I can’t wait.”

She gave me a wave over her shoulder and stopped just long enough to pop up on her toes to press a kiss to her father’s cheek before heading into the house.

I watched her the whole way before finally twisting to find Silas looking at me, his attention laser focused.

“She’s incredible,” I said softly, speaking of his daughter. “You really do have an amazing daughter.”

He nodded, then started backing away. “Be seeing you, Sass,” he said before turning on his heel and following his daughter into their house. I was left standing there, a tremble working its way through me, because somehow, he made those last four words sound like a promiseanda warning.

9

SILAS

Iguided my SUV into the horseshoe driveway in front of the high school, following a long trail of cars all doing the same, prepared to drop our kids off for the first day of school. It was Darcy’s freshman year, and I would have been lying if I said I wasn’t nervous for my girl. High school could be fucking brutal, especially for girls. Kids this age could be vicious. I wanted nothing more than to protect her from every single thing that could possibly cause her pain, but I knew that was impossible. Unless I kept her locked in her room for the rest of her life where nothing could hurt her, and Kim had already threatened to call the cops on my ass if I tried that.

The line moved slowly but efficiently, cars pausing at the front of the school just long enough for a door to be thrown open and kids to spill out.

“You sure you have everything?” I asked as we got closer, trying to distract myself from the way my heart was currently trying to escape my chest. “Binders, notebooks, textbooks, pencils, all that stuff?”

Darcy rolled her eyes and let out a dramatic “Ugh! Yes, Dad. Like I’ve already told you amilliontimes, I have everything.”

“Okay, I was just checking.”

“Yeah, well, just stop.” I didn’t miss the way she was fidgeting in her seat as we got closer to the front of the high school. Christ, was it only me, or did the building look like it was getting bigger? “You’re making me more nervous than I already am.”

“Hey,” I said, waiting for her to look in my direction. When she finally did, there was no missing the trepidation in her eyes and the way she was chewing on her bottom lip to the point it was a wonder she wasn’t bleeding. “You got this, baby girl. It’s just like any other day. Go in there and be yourself; you’ll be fine.”

That got me another eyeroll, but this one was far less exaggerated, and I couldn’t miss the way her lips were trembling in an effort to suppress a smile. “God, Dad. You’re so weird,” she grumbled, but there was no heat behind those words.

Finally, and before I was ready for it, we pulled up at the front of the school. Darcy’s hand shot out, gripping the handle, but before she could yank the door open, I acted on instinct, engaging the locks.

“Dad!” she cried, whipping around to gape at me with wide eyes.

“I want to tell you to have a good day, baby girl, and I love you very much.”

She let out an aggravated huff as she jerked on the door handle in silent communication for me to unlock it. “God, I love you too, weirdo,” she muttered.

“And if anything happens, if anyone’s mean to you—” My words were cut off by the blast of the car horn from the impatient asshole behind me. If Darcy hadn’t been sitting right beside me—and we weren’t surrounded by impressionable youths—I would have thrown my middle finger out the window and yelled at whoever was in the car behind me to fuck right the hell off.

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