Page 36 of Daddy's Little Liar
“And looking back, I can see that,” she assured him. “But it doesn’t change the fact that one day he did that, and I lost it myself. He turned and walked away from me. I was standing at the kitchen counter, and there was this little plastic drinking glass by my hand. The next thing I knew, I grabbed it, threw it, and it made the most...” She hesitated, her eyes unfocused as she looked back on that far away time and searched for a way to describe it. “Light-hearted tocking sound as it bounced off the back of his head. I’d hit him. I’d never hit anyone before, but I was just so mad at that moment, I… well, I’m sure I could have stopped myself, but I didn’t even try.”
He nodded. “Kind of changes the way you look at getting into arguments, doesn’t it? Makes you a little more watchful, so there won’t be a next time.”
She nodded. “I’d like to say I’ve been very careful not to let there be a next time, but the plain fact is, I haven’t dated much since he and I broke up. Not that I didn’t want to, or I couldn’t find someone. But because there were so many other things going on. I was graduating, couldn’t find the right job, being a waitress, I work weird hours...”
“Life got in the way,” he said.
She almost snorted. “To put it mildly.”
“I won’t let myself be put on anyone’s back burner,” Kace said bluntly, softening the harshness of that with another smile.
Georgia met his stare without fidgeting or looking away. “Me, either. I’ve never done the long-distance thing, though.”
“It’s not really long distance. It’s sixty miles, an hour trip at most.”
“I could probably shorten that by getting a place outside of Santa Fe,” she suggested.
Holding up a staying hand, he cautioned, “You don’t want to do anything that’s going to make getting to your new job harder than it has to be.”
“I’ll be working remotely,” she said, her face brightening. “I’ll only have to go into the office once a week or so. Frankly, I could live here, and it wouldn’t affect me, apart from the hour-long commute on office days. That’s still what, four hours in the car every month. I’d spend on average less time driving than if I lived within five miles of work and commuted every day.”
She was thinking of the future already, figuring out how to make it work if the next few weeks turned into something they wanted to pursue until it actually became something heart-defying.
“Good to know,” he said, making her smile. “Still, we don’t know where this is going to go, so let’s start with what’s good for you first. If what we have turns into something phenomenal, then we’ve got time and options to bring you closer. Okay?”
She played with her glass and nodded. She looked at him from out beneath her lashes again, and this time it was utterly coy as she softly said, “Yes, Daddy.”
Just the sound of that word on her pretty lips sent an electric jolt zipping through his veins, straight to his cock.
“What else?” she asked.
He had to shake himself to stop looking at her mouth and, even more importantly, stop thinking about how much lovelier it would look wrapped around his thrusting cock. “What about what else?”
“I have to go home,” she reminded. “Pack my things in Oregon, find a new place to live in or around Santa Fe, move.”
“When am I going to see you?” he finished for her.
Her lips tried to smile, but it fell a little flat. “Yeah.”
“Every morning, I’ll accept a good morning from my little girl. Every evening, I’ll expect a goodnight. We’ll have video chat, and when you get ready to move, I’m going to bus up and help you load the moving truck and drive back.”
She started. “You are? I don’t have a lot of stuff. That’s a long way for you to come for nothing.”
He knew what she meant to say, and she probably hadn’t even meant those words to come out the way they had, but it still rankled. “I’m not coming for nothing. I’m coming to help you. Are you saying you’re nothing?”
He held her stare, careful to keep his tone even as he gave her both enough room to back out and also rope enough to hang herself if that’s the direction she chose.
“N-no,” she stammered, noting his look. She might not be Little, but she responded to his Daddy look as if she were. “No, I just meant, it’s a very long way to come to help me.”
She wasn’t helping herself.
“Are you saying you’re not worth my time or of being helped?”
“No. I mean, but it’s a long way—”
“Stand up,” he cut in.
She stayed where she was, her mouth open, her eyes flickering as she tried to think what to do.
