Page 18 of Temptress

“Dad, seriously? This is so embarrassing!”

All right, so I had to admit that maybe I was being a little ridiculous. But in my defense, this was a first for me. Until that moment, Kim was the one who’d always handled first days of school.

I lifted my hands off the steering wheel, holding them up in surrender before disengaging the locks. “Okay, okay. Sorry. I love you,” I called, my voice rising slightly so she could hear as she threw the door open and jumped out. The only response I got was an irritated wave over her shoulder, then she was gone.

The car behind me honked again, only that time, I didn’t hold back from flipping the fucker off through the back window.

On a heavy sigh, I pressed on the gas pedal and started forward. I’d barely pulled out of the school driveway when my cell rang through the speakers in the cab. I looked at the radio screen where Kim’s name flashed and hit the button on my steering wheel to engage the call.

“How’d you know?”

My ex-wife’s voice filled the cab of my SUV. “I’m brilliant in most every way, Si, but I’m not omniscient. How did I know what?”

A rough chuckle scraped its way up my throat. “How’d you know I’d need you to call and talk me down right now?”

She laughed openly though the line. “I’ve been in your shoes, so I know first-hand how much it sucks to let them go. I’ve gotten a bit desensitized to it over the years, but I figured you’d need a shoulder to lean on.”

“Bullshit,” I said good naturedly.

I could hear the humor in her voice as she amended her statement. “All right, fine. When I was FaceTiming with Darcy this morning, she may have mentioned that you were freaking out.”

I let out a scoff of offense. “I wouldn’t sayfreaking out. You know better than anybody that I’m far too manly for some shit like that.”

She guffawed, and I had to sit there until she got the hilarity out of her system. “Oh, please! This coming from the man who asked me two days ago if I thought the law would frown upon you nailing her windows shut and installing a lock on her bedroom door.”

“You realize what we’re sending her off to, don’t you?” I barked as anxiety clutched at my chest, squeezing my heart until it was difficult to breathe. For fuck’s sake, I was only in my early forties, and I was going to die of a goddamn heart attack! “This ishigh school, Kim. Full of high schoolboys. Have you forgotten how those little perverts think? Because I sure as fuck haven’t. Each and every one of those little sons of bitches is walking around in a constant state of horny, eager to stick it in anything! I might as well have covered her in chum and dropped her in the middle of the shark infested ocean.”

“Okay, first of all, you’re being absolutely ridiculous,” she said, using the same tone I’d heard her use countless times on our daughter. It was a tone that said I was being dramatic and crazy and she wasn’t going to humor me much longer. “Second of all, we didn’t sign our daughter up for the freakingHunger Games. It’s high school. Every kid does it. It’s a shitty rite of passage, but a rite of passage, nonetheless. You need to relax before you send yourself into cardiac arrest. Have a little faith in our girl, yeah? She’ll make stupid decisions because she’s a teenager and it’s scientifically proven that teenagers are stupid, but we raised her to have a good head on her shoulders.”

My stomach sank. I appreciated that she’d include me in raising our girl like it had been an equal partnership all this time, but the truth was, I hadn’t had much to do with how Darcy had turned out so far. Despite what she said, that was all Kim.

“I know you want to hold her hand every step of the way to make sure everything goes smoothly, but as hard as it is, we have to let her go. She has to do these things on her own, and until she gives us reason not to, we have to trust her.”

I kept my eyes trained on the road, refusing to look back at the school in my rearview mirror, trying my damnedest to do as Kim said and let her go.

“Yeah. I know you’re right, butfuck, dollface. This is harder than I expected.”

The humor was gone, as was the scolding, and in its place, her voice held understanding and sympathy. “I know, Si. And I know I’m across the pond and all that, but we’re still a team.”

I let out a groan. “Christ, Kim. Did you really just sayacross the pond? They’re getting to you already, aren’t they?”

She laughed, her happiness helping to untwist the knots in my chest. “I’ll admit, I love it here. This is an experience of a lifetime, and I’m really glad I get this year.”

“I’m glad too, sweetheart, and thank you for talking me through that downward spiral.”

“Any time. That’s what co-parents do, right? Now, there’s actually something I’ve been meaning to talk to you about.”

“Yeah?”

There was no missing the smile in her voice as she asked in a teasing, chiding tone of voice, “Who’s this Sloane woman Darcy can’t seem to stop talking about?”

I barely managed to bite back the sting of curses on my tongue as my body reacted at the mere mention of her name. It was getting worse the more time that passed. It was easy enough to avoid her at work. We both had a job to do, and managed to be professional when we happened to be at the club at the same time. But since I got home and discovered she’d taken it upon herself to remove those rose bushes in a way that they weren’t at risk ofevercoming back, all because she seemed to care about my girl, I was struggling to keep the line between us firmly in place. It was becoming glaringly obvious that she wasn’t anything like I’d initially thought, and the fact I’d misjudged her—or, hell, judged herat all—left a sour feeling in the pit of my stomach.

“She’s nobody. Just the neighbor, that’s all.”

She hummed knowingly. “To hear our daughter tell it, she sure doesn’t sound like she’sjust a neighbor. What’s this I hear about you calling her Sassy? I know you, Si, you aren’t one for endearments. If you’re using a nickname for her, she’s gotten under your skin. What I want to know is why you’re so set on denying it.”

That was a good question. One I couldn’t speak the answer out loud to anyone else, because it made me look like a raging asshole.

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