Page 21 of Warming Up Coco (Santa Daddy)

“I didn’t grow up in a warm home with a caring family. Shit, my parents didn’t care if my brothers and I ate. Emotionally I thought… I thought I wouldn’t be good for you, so I tried to make you, force your hand to quit because I couldn’t be the one to let you go.”

“I tried to quit,” I reminded him. “More than once.” He nodded.

“Yeah, I couldn’t let you do that either.”

“Why now?”

“I’m done waiting. This last year has been torture, driving myself insane with needing to be around you, doing things that might…” His voice drifted off, and his green orbs dropped from mine.

“You’ve done things that, what?” I asked. His eyes rose and locked with mine. Smoldering and intense. I had a feeling I knew what he was hiding. “What have you done?” I asked as my chest rose and fell. My head tilted as I watched him stare at me.

“Driving myself insane with needing to be around you. Making sure you were okay, safe and sound at all times.”

“Lucas? Have you been watching me?” My body felt like I was trembling from the inside out. No. Trembling wasn’t the right word.Vibrating. Maybe I was as sick and crazy as he was if the idea of Lucas Star, my daddy, watching me turned me on. My chest pressed tightly against his, my hands on his chest between us. Lucas’ hands wrapped around me tightly, almost like he was scared I’d run away.

Little did he know it would be the opposite. Maybe we were more alike and perfectly matched than I’d thought?

Chapter9

Lucas

“Coco,” I strained her name through my teeth.

“Were you watching me?” she repeated slowly, so damn softly I couldn’t breathe.

She knew. She knew, and she was going to push me away. I couldn’t have that.

“Coco—"

“It’s a yes or no question, Lucas.”

“Daddy,” I corrected a little too brusquely. “I don’t want you to be scared. Not of me. Never of me, baby girl.”

“What makes you think I’d be scared of you?” My eyes dropped to the pulse point at her neck. It thumped away erratically.

If she wasn’t scared… did that mean?

“You were made for me,” I answered. “I knew that the moment I met you face to face. when I watched you through the security camera during your interview, I was interested. I couldn’t deny the pull I felt. A spark of interest that came to life. But fuck me, Coco, that little spark turned into an ember that caught my soul on fire for you when we met. You made me want and ache for more.”

“Lucas—

“Yes,” I hissed. My hands gripped her hips tighter before I slid them up her back. “Yes, I watched you. At first, I followed you home. I hated you taking the bus those first couple of weeks. Do you have any idea how freaking beautiful you are? How many men stared at and coveted you without you knowing it? Clueless about the way they watched you?”

“The company car,” she whispered, and I nodded.

“Yeah. You wouldn’t take the freaking driver I offered you or the rides I pleaded you take—"

“You tried to boss me around.”

“I know.” I swallowed. “I’m not good at this. I don’t know how to share my feelings and be more than who I am.”

“All I want is you. I don’t need you to be anyone else.”

“What if I’m a jerk and you hate me?”

“You are a jerk,” she confirmed, but there was something, a softness in her dark gaze that caused me to breathe easier. “You’re a jerk, but like you told me, I should tell you, too… I never hated you. No matter how much I wanted to… I didn’t have it in me. Not when—" Her chest rose and fell, and I felt the air around us change. It turned warmer, thicker. And it had nothing to do with the heater kicking in.

“Not when what, Coco?”

---