Page 36 of Daddy's Girl

His gaze drops to my bare legs again, and I feel Jack's body tense. Before I can blink, Jack's hands are on my waist, pulling me into a kiss that’s as much performance as it is passion. Deep, thorough and claiming.

When he breaks the kiss, he doesn't release me, just shifts me slightly so I'm nestled against his side, his hand possessively high on my bare thigh.

"Yup. Occupied." Beau grins, hands raised in mock surrender.

"You need something, or you just here to waste my morning?" Jack's voice rumbles through me, the vibration settling between my legs.

Beau leans against the porch railing. "Can't a man check on his brother? You disappeared without a word."

"Been busy," Jack says simply, fingers tracing circles on my thigh.

Beau's gaze shifts to me, assessing but not unkind. "So you're Hart's girl?"

I nod, leaning into Jack's warmth. "Delaney."

"Well, well," Beau says, his eyes darting between us before settling on me. "Hart's daughter, huh? Heard a lot about your dad."

"You knew my father?" I ask, leaning slightly into Jack's warmth.

Beau nods, a shadow of something unreadable crossing his face. "Good man. Best Jack ever served with." His gaze shifts to his brother, a silent communication passing between them before his trademark smirk returns. "Never thought I'd see the day this one let anyone up his mountain. Let alone move in."

Jack's hand tightens possessively on my thigh. "You drove all the way up here just to state the obvious?"

"Nah," Beau chuckles, leaning against the porch railing. "Came to remind you about Sunday. Mom's memorial, remember? Five years this weekend. Dinner at Colt’s place after the cemetery."

I feel Jack tense beside me, his fingers stilling on my skin. "I remember."

"Bring her," Beau says, nodding toward me. "Been a long time since we had anyone new at the table. Might keep us from the same old fights."

Jack's chest rumbles with something between a growl and a laugh. "You done?"

"For now." Beau nods at me again. "Nice to meet you, Delaney. Welcome to the family."

As he walks back to his truck, Jack's arm wraps around me, his chin resting on top of my head. I feel the steady thump of his heart against my back, solid and sure.

"He's right, you know," Jack murmurs, his breath warm against my ear. "You broke me. Put me back together different."

I turn in his arms, looking up at the man who's claimed me so completely. Forty-two and scarred and everything I never knew I needed. "Good different?"

His eyes darken as he lifts me against him. My legs wrap around his waist instinctively, my core pressed against the hardness already returning beneath his jeans.

"The only kind there is when it comes to you, baby girl."

As he carries me inside, back toward the bed that smells like us, I realize I've found something I never knew existed.

Not just safety from David. Not just mind-bending sex.

Home. In the arms of a man twice my age who looks at me like I'm the answer to every question he never knew to ask.

"Jack," I whisper against his throat as he lays me on the bed. "There's something I need to tell you. About my ex. About the laptop."

His body stills above mine, muscles coiled with tension. "Tell me, baby girl."

"He... he said no one would believe you over him. That he's talked to the hospital board about my 'mental state' since Dad died."

A growl rises from deep in Jack's chest, vibrating against my skin where he's pressed against me. "Baby, nobody is taking you away from me. Not ever."

"He's dangerous," I whisper, fear clawing its way back up my throat. "Not like you. He's... calculated. He plans."

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