Page 25 of Their Forever Daddy

Jesse nodded, blinking back the tears burning her eyes. “I do.”

“Glad to hear we’re both on the same page. Now, tell me what’s going on before I decide you don’t need to be sitting to eat your pancakes.”

“Daddy,” she whined, shifting uncomfortably in her chair.

The idea of being spanked in front of Edie was… not as embarrassing as she’d expected it to be. Of course, it helped that Edie had seen her bare ass in every shade of pink and red known to man. But the thought of her Daddy punishing her while Edie watched had her pussy throbbing with a completely unanticipated desire.

Great. Another complication she didn’t need.

“One,” Daddy said, mimicking the countdown Edie had given him on the porch.

“Better do as the man says. He sounds serious.” Edie’s tone was completely casual, as if it weren’t at all unusual for her to be listening to a Daddy counting down his babygirl’s fate right in front of her.

“I’m trying!” Closing her eyes, Jesse dragged in a deep breath, using the meditation techniques she’d learned over the years to center herself and calm the wild beating of her heart. “Okay.” Feeling somewhat steadier, Jesse forced her eyes open to meet the hard gaze of the man across from her. “Well. You’ve met Edie.”

Daddy’s gaze slid over to the stove where Edie was busy mixing ingredients in a large metal bowl. “We’re acquainted, yes.”

“Right. Well. Edie’s my…” Ex-girlfriend? Ex-lover? Ex… everything?

Somehow, none of those terms seemed to fit Edie, or what she’d been to Jesse once upon a time. “We dated for a summer, before I left for Hollywood.”

Across the table, Daddy tapped his fingers on the table. The breath in Jesse’s lungs seemed to stick there, unwilling or unable to move in or out as she waited for his response.

Finally, after what felt like forever, he nodded. “She’s the one who got away.”

The sound of ceramic clattering against granite distracted Jesse from her own shock as she whipped around to find Edie glaring at the pile of dishes she’d dropped on the counter.

Jumping up from her seat, Jesse hurried across the kitchen and placed a hand on Edie’s arm. And got yet another shock when she felt it tremble beneath her. “Edie? Are you okay?”

Edie jerked away, turning on her heel and marching from the room without another word or so much as a glance back. The tears Jesse had been wrestling with all day slipped down her cheeks as she watched her go.

A moment later, she was wrapped up in a familiar embrace. Closing her eyes, she pressed her face into her Daddy’s shirt and let the tears come, her body shaking with deep, soul-wrenching sobs. Everything she’d felt over the past few days seemed to pour out of her as he cradled her to his chest. But even as his strength enveloped her, a part of her ached to be held by a completely different set of arms.

And she had no fucking clue what to do about that.

Chapter 10

Grant

* * *

His poor babygirl. In all the time they’d been together, he couldn’t remember her ever crying like this, like her heart was breaking and nothing could make it stop.

Bending down, he scooped her into his arms and carried her back toward the front door, sending up a little prayer of thanks that Edie was nowhere to be found. He wasn’t sure what he would have done if she’d gotten in his way. Whoever she was, whatever she’d done, she’d obviously broken his Little girl’s heart and he wasn’t entirely sure he could handle being civil toward her just then.

He had to juggle Jesse a bit to open the front door, but he made it outside and to his rental car without dropping her. By then, her sobs had quieted a bit, though she was still whimpering pitifully through the occasional sniffle.

“Daddy has to put you down for a second, baby.” He kept his voice as gentle as he could with the storm of emotions raging inside him. As pissed as he was, she didn’t need his anger just then, so he did his best to keep it locked inside as he lowered her to her feet beside the car.

Scrubbing her hand across her eyes, she sniffled again, then blinked owlishly when he opened the car door. “Wh-what are you doing?”

“Taking you home.”

But when he tried to move her into the car, she planted her feet and glared at him. “I’m not going home. Not yet.”

The temper he was so desperately trying to keep in check flared at her words. “You really think it’s a good idea to be arguing with me right now, Jesse Lynne?”

Her chin jerked up, defiance flashing in her eyes. “Yes. I didn’t come all this way just to go running when things got hard.”

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