Page 34 of Enemy Daddy Next Door

“Privately?” I add, sending a nervous look over to Kira.

Kira stops on her trajectory toward the door and glances at Amy.

“Um. Sure.” She gets up off the lounge, her long summer dress sliding down her legs like water. I swallow, thinking about my own hands trailing up her tanned calves and thighs. “Inside?”

Amy starts to go before I can answer. I tuck my hands into my pockets and say, to no one in particular, “Sounds good.”

I follow Amy into the house, shuffling past Kira who is eyeing me with curiosity. I smile awkwardly. My heart throbs in my chest, beating with every step like a drum, drowning out every other sound.

My eyes are trained on Amy as we walk further into the house, through the kitchen and into the front room, the kind no one ever uses except for when they have company they aren’t sure what to do with. Is that what I am to her? Just someone she needs to entertain for a moment?

If that’s how she feels now, I’m determined to change her mind in the next few minutes.

Amy, however, doesn’t sit on one of the white settees. She simply crosses her arms and turns to me. She looks smaller than small, the way she’s caving in on herself. “What do you want, Hunter?”

I lick my lower lip and consider her expression. Eyes stuck on the floor between us. Pretty pink lips downturned. My eyes fall slightly lower and I see her nipples poking out through the fabric of her dress. Fuck, that’s so… I have to snap out of it. This isn’t about sex. Well, it’s not not about sex. But it’s not about that exclusively.

My feelings are so much more. My heart feels connected to her.

I need to tell her.

“I owe you an apology for…” I begin but fail to find the right words to encapsulate what exactly I’m apologizing for.

Amy lifts her head and smiles sadly, “It’s fine, Hunter. Seriously. It was a mistake. I’m over it.”

I blink. “It wasn’t a mistake,” I say, though my voice tremors.

Amy stares back at me. “What?”

“It wasn’t –” I clear my throat. “It wasn’t a mistake. At least to me.”

Amy shakes her head, soft brown curls swaying. “Hunter –”

“It wasn’t a mistake to me because I’ve never felt like this before.”

She takes a small step back from me, frowning. “Hunter, are you feeling alright?”

“No, I’m not, but it’s not because I’m not in my right mind or, or –” Fuck, why isn’t this coming out right. “I can’t stop thinking about you, Amy.”

Amy’s brown eyes widen. “Um…”

“Just hear me out. Five minutes. Please.”

She doesn’t speak. Doesn’t react. Just waits.

Okay. This is it, Hunter. This is all you get. Make it count. “That kiss…my intention wasn’t to rope you into some one-night stand with me. Or use you. Nothing like that. It was – it was impulsive.”

She frowns.

“But that doesn’t mean it was thoughtless!” I add quickly and then realize my voice is growing too loud. Deep breath. Stay calm. “It was…I was expressing exactly what I felt for you in that moment. What I feel for you.” A wave of emotion runs through me, so intense I can almost feel my body undulate with it. “I couldn’t have planned for it to happen that way. And I understand how awful it must have felt to know that another woman showed up just moments after.”

Amy winces.

“I didn’t mean to betray you. I didn’t. But I know I did, and for that, I’m sorry.”

“I don’t want to talk about this, Hunter.”

A knife to the heart. But it doesn’t kill me. “I don’t mean to make it worse, but –”

---