Page 47 of I Would Beg For You

“Naomi? Darling?” my father calls out.

I jump to my feet. Thank goodness I’m home. How would I have explained it if I’d been next door, probably naked and in Valentino’s arms, with his cock inside me since all we seemed to do was fuck?

I blink as I recall his words. He knew…and he protected me in his own way, by sending me back so I wouldn’t get compromised next door with him.

“Naomi?”

“Coming,” I call back, except my voice is grainy and throaty.

There’s a knock on my bedroom door, and I retrieve the phone from where it’s landed on the floor and go open the door.

My father is grinning from ear to ear, and he wraps me in a bear hug.

He suddenly pulls away as he sniffs the air. “Why do you smell like sandalwood?”

Crap. Valentino’s scent is all over me.

“You look terrible,” he continues as he pushes me at arm’s length to give me a once-over.

I roll with the opening. “You know I haven’t been feeling well. It’s something to help with my sinuses.”

He scrutinizes me for a long moment, then releases me. There’s a spring in his step as he moves back into the hallway, and he seems to be vibrating with glee.

“You’re back early,” I say.

“Something’s come up.”

He’s rubbing his hands as he says this, and I can’t for the life of me stop myself thinking he looks like a villain from a cartoon as his thick eyebrows draw together.

What’s wrong with me? I can’t let doubt slither into me. Valentino said his piece, but I now have to find out my father’s side. Only then will I be able to find a thread of the real truth in this whole matter.

“Come downstairs,” he says. “We have to talk.”

My steps are almost reluctant as I drag myself down. Something in the way he said that has me unsettled. I falter on the last step when I see who’s standing in the vestibule.

My dad chortles a laugh. “No need to be shy. It’s just Thad. You two will be seeing a lot more of each other very soon.”

What does that mean? And why does his laughter sound like the cackle of a mad scientist? Here I go again, letting the cartoon villain idea get to me. I wince when Thad’s lifeless gaze lands on me. Except, it’s not so lifeless now. I don’t see fire or hunger, or God forbid lust, in them—I am dressed in a Hello Kitty T-shirt and my pants have goofy hearts on them, though I don’t think that’d be a turn-off for Valentino—but there’s something unsettling in those pale eyes. Like he’s assessing me, finding me lacking, yet putting the pieces back together to collate a satisfactory whole.

I shiver and shake the unsettling feeling away as I follow my dad into the kitchen. Thad falls into step behind me. My spine starts to crawl with unease at his proximity.

My father turns and grabs me by the shoulders, guiding me to a chair at the breakfast nook. He plops me down then takes a seat in the booth to the side. Our knees are touching, and he reaches for my hands which he clasps.

“I have wonderful news,” he starts.

I frown in question.

“They didn’t announce me in the running for Mayor yesterday.”

I don’t know why, but a sigh of relief courses out of me. So, this whole political nonsense is over. We can all go back to our regular lives. I can get away from here, go back to Salt Lake where Carson Felix will hand me the job he’s already promised me should I need one someday. Without the weight of a campaign and the lens of the media and political observers on us, Valentino and I can attempt something long distance or I could get my own place—

“They’re going to make me Governor!” my father says with a flourish of jazz hands.

Chapter 17 Naomi

It takes me afew seconds to pull out of my thoughts and focus on what he just said.

“What?” I blink.

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