Page 27 of Only a Kiss

“Wyatt.Get your ass over here and help me with this,” I yelled at him.I needed him to get the fuck away from Sadie so I could tamp down this jealous rage brewing inside me and get my shit together.If I lost it now, there was no way I’d survive the next three days.

He came sauntering over with a smile on his face and said something that made Jenna laugh as she passed him on her way to help Sadie finish setting up their tent.

“Are you pleased with yourself?”I murmured low so no one else would overhear.

“Oh definitely.It’s my job in life to rile you up, brother.”He patted me on the back.“And just think,” he said with a mischievous grin, “the weekend’s only just begun.”

I was so fucking screwed.

She brought a bikini with her to the lake.And not just any bikini, but a tiny red string bikini that showed off her toned, tan legs and her tight body.Her blonde hair cascaded down her back, and her blue eyes were hidden behind sunglasses that made her look like a 1950s vixen.I hadn’t missed the way other men looked at her.

While I knew it was completely irrational, I wanted to rip all their eyes out.For her part, she barely acknowledged the attention, apart from a glance around here and there.But what was bothering me even more than the lecherous stares she was getting was how easy it seemed for her to not even acknowledgeme.

I’d never been so conflicted in my entire life.

It was especially stupid since I knew exactlywhyshe wasn’t acknowledging me—because my daughter was sitting right next to her.

But would it be so bad if she gave me a flirty grin or something to let me know I wasn’t in this torment alone and put me out of my fucking misery?

She slid her sunglasses up to sit on top of her head as she nodded to something Jenna was saying to her.As if she could feel my stare on her body, she glanced over at me while Jenna pulled a book out of her bag and immediately became immersed.Sadie’s grin fell slowly and morphed into a somber expression.My relief that she was finally acknowledging me was nearly eclipsed by the defeat in her gaze.I couldn’t stand it, and I ached to take away the stormy heartbreak that was brewing.I was a go-getter, a helper, a Mr.Fix-It by trade.If something needed to be done on a job, I was the one who made it happen.The same had been true since the moment I held Jenna in my arms for the first time.So, it was becoming endlessly frustrating that when it came to Sadie, I felt completely helpless about what to do.

I could confess to Jenna that I wanted to be with Sadie.She’d be mad at first, but I could probably get her to understand, right?If anyone knew how incredible Sadie was, it was her best friend.

Just then, my daughter chuckled at something she was reading and talked to Sadie, barely pulling her gaze from the page.Jenna had always been a bookworm.She was the last in her class to learn how to read and had been green with envy that the other kids could all read but she couldn’t.Then once she finally figured it out, we couldn’t get her to put books down.If there wasn’t a book in her hand, then there was one in her purse, or on several different apps on her phone.I didn’t even know how she kept track of them all, or where she found the time between her classes, her internship, and her time with friends and family.

My daughter was amazing, but she was also the only child of two people who were far too young and immature to have a child when we did.Not that we didn’t do our best, and I could safely say I did everything in my power to put Jenna’s needs first, but her mom didn’t.Vanessa was too selfish to have a child when she did—although considering how selfish she still was, maybe her age never mattered.I’d spent Jenna’s entire life trying to be the parent she could count on.The stable one who would never rip the rug out from under her like her mom always did.

My stomach soured knowing I’d turned into the very thing I had worked so hard not to be.Nothing would rip the rug out from under her more than her dad sleeping with her best friend.I’d become everything I swore I wouldn’t.I always knew loving Sadie was selfish; it was easily the most selfish thing I’d ever done.But over the last week, I’d wondered if there was a way I could keep her.If there was some way to maintain my daughter’s happiness as well as my own.Maybe a way I’d been too close-minded to see.

It had been a long time since I’d considered myself naive, but it suddenly seemed foolish to think I could have my own happiness without sacrificing my daughter’s.

I glanced back at Sadie, and she must have seen the war going on inside me because her melancholy look mirrored my own.

She looked at Jenna and then back at me, nibbling on her gorgeous pink lip that had been in my mouth, on my cock, hell, kissed every goddamn inch of my body.I may have been ready to truly accept that we could never last, but I was nowhere near ready to be done with her.

She leaned over and murmured something to Jenna who barely glanced up from her book and nodded before diving back into it.Sadie stood gracefully from the lounge chair and pulled on her white bikini cover, slipped on her flip-flops, and then walked back toward camp.When she didn’t return after five minutes, I made an excuse to go back to camp myself.No one seemed to care, but Wyatt had a smirk on his face that told me he knew exactly what I was planning to do.

Fuck him.

When I got back to camp, Sadie was sitting on the tailgate of my truck, swinging her legs back and forth like she knew I’d come for her.When she saw me, she hopped down and walked straight toward me.Each step closer made my heart beat faster with a fierce mix of lust, excitement, foreboding, and something far deeper I was still afraid to admit to myself.

“Take a walk with me,” she said, and then she moved toward a trailhead nearby.She didn’t wait for me to follow but she didn’t have to.

I’d follow her for as long as I could.

We walked in silence for several minutes, just taking in the scenery.Our hands brushed against each other a couple of times before I gave in and clasped hers in mine, our fingers entwined together.She smiled softly toward the ground, a subtle blush staining her cheeks, and I felt my own cheeks tighten in a smile.There was something so satisfying about making her happy it almost made my chest puff up with pride.

A few more minutes passed in comfortable silence when she pulled me off the trail until we were tucked away behind some trees.In a blink, our hands were pawing at each other, and our lips clashed together like we hadn’t touched in days.

“I hate this,” she whispered against my mouth at the same time that she tugged at the button on my shorts.

My hands gripped her cheeks, holding her just how I wanted her so I could plunder her mouth.“I know,” I said when I pulled up for breath.“I do too.”Those words seemed too simple, too weak, for how torn up I was.

“I need you to make it better,” she practically whimpered, and fuck if it didn’t call to everything in me that was used to fixing any problem I was presented with.I knew exactly what she was asking for, andthiswas something I could give her.

Heat zinged up my spine, and my cock thickened rapidly.“Get on your knees.”

She eagerly dropped to her knees, her hands already pulling down the zipper of my shorts.There was no one nearby, but even if there were, we were tucked away enough that no one would see us.

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