Page 66 of RomeAntically Challenged
Emmitt silently stared at his daughter and, as the seconds ticked by, he looked more and more overwhelmed by exhaustion. Finally he shook his head and said, “Then try harder, kiddo.”
Annie gave Paisley a soft smile to let her know that while she had screwed up, she wasn’t alone. Then she rested a hand on Emmitt’s leg. “Or you could say, ‘Loving someone means trusting them. And pushing boundaries is what kids are supposed to do. So starting now, I’ll trust you enough to sit down and have an open and honest conversation about anything, as long as you promise to be honest back with me.”
“Holy shit,” Paisley said.
“Language,” Emmitt scolded.
“You guys are totally dating,” Paisley scolded back.
Annie jerked her hand off his leg as if it were on fire, her head rapidly shaking back and forth. “God, no. We’re just roommates.”
“Good.” Paisley grabbed her backpack. “Because you deserve way better than my dad.”
* * *
The slamming of the car door was like a gunshot right through Emmitt’s chest. It did a pretty good job of rattling his skull too.
“I blew that.” He closed his eyes to keep the overhead light from piercing his retina. “On a scale ofShe’ll get over ittoImminent emancipation, how bad was it?”
“It was like you were walking through a minefield and decided to wear clown shoes,” she said, and he laughed.
Even though he heard her shift closer and smelled the cool evening air on her skin, he was still surprised when her soft hands settled against his forehead, moving in slow circular sweeps.
“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said anything.” Her voice was as gentle as her hands. “I’m not a parent and challenging you in front of Paisley didn’t help.”
“So you’d wait to challenge my parenting skills until after she got out of the car?”
She gasped. “Somewhere between this afternoon and tonight I became my mother. I won’t ever challenge you again. That is a promise.”
“Ever?”
She hesitated. “Well, about parenting stuff. As long as we’re roommates, the rest of it’s fair game.”
Instead of being annoying, her insistence on calling him on his shit was a complete turn-on.
“I know your comments came from a good place. They just touched on a sore spot. I’ve never been the enforcer and it sucks. I suck at it, just like the guys said I would.” He could already hear Gray’s lecture coming. “I tried to be the fun dad, but that’s Levi’s job. Gray’s had a lock on the live-in dad since before I was even in the picture. No matter what role I try to fill, someone else has been doing it longer or is better at it than me.”
And then, because he couldn’t keep his mouth shut, he added, “I catch grief from all sides now. But hearing it from you? Man, that rubbed me a little rawer than hearing it from them.”
“You’re a great dad, Emmitt. Even I can see that.”
“I used to be the world’s best dad. Even have the mug to prove it.” He carried it with him everywhere he went. Even when he was limited to a single rucksack, that mug was never far from reach.
“You don’t need a mug. The way she looked at you, even when she was mad, spoke loud and clear. You are her everything.” The naked honesty in Annie’s tone had him shifting in his seat. “Paisley is lucky to have as many people looking out for her and loving her as she does. My intention was to get her talking, not make you mad.”
“You accomplished both. At first, it felt like you were taking her side, that it was me against the world again, and I was mad as hell. But it’s hard to be mad at you when your hands are on me.”
She paused, her tone light when she said, “I can take them off you.”
“Tease,” he whispered, meeting her dark, dreamy gaze. She was leaning so far over the console, it wouldn’t take much to pull her into his lap. Which was exactly where he wanted her— in his lap with her hands all over him. Because—Lord help him—he wanted his hands all over her.
And the wants didn’t stop there. He could fill a book with all the things he wanted when it came to Annie.
“Concerned,” she said, her fingers going back to his head.
He groaned because,Christ, his head was pounding. He wasn’t so sure he’d make it to the couch if Paisley had left all the lights on inside the cabin.
“Here.” She pressed a couple aspirin into his palm.
