Chapter 14
Girl dad – a father who can remove hairpins without causing baldness
Lucas
“H oly cow,” Chloe murmurs when she opens the door to the honeymoon cabin. “Hudson should not have included this in our wedding package. It’s too much.”
Hudson didn’t actually include it. I paid for it. I couldn’t help myself. When Chloe suggested we return to my house after the party, she got this sad look on her face. I don’t want her to feel sad. I want her to have everything she desires.
“What do you think?”
She throws out her arms and spins around in a circle. “I love it! This cabin is everything.”
She smiles at me and warmth fills my chest. Only for Chloe would I fork out the money for this honeymoon cabin. But it’s worth it. She’s worth it.
“Too bad it’s already dark outside. I bet there’s a gorgeous view of the ocean from the patio.” She opens the patio doors and screeches.
I rush after her. “What’s wrong?”
She points to the hot tub. “I didn’t bring my swimsuit.”
“You can wear your underwear. I don’t mind.”
“Um.” She bites her bottom lip. “I don’t have a bra with me.” She indicates the front of her dress. “I couldn’t exactly wear one with this.”
My cock twitches. I’ve wanted to peel her dress off of her since she walked down the aisle several hours ago. I’ve been fighting a hard-on for most of the reception.
“You can borrow a t-shirt from me.”
Shit. What am I thinking? Chloe in my t-shirt. Wet and see-through from the hot tub. All of her alabaster skin exposed to me. I won’t be able to keep this marriage professional in that scenario.
I clench my jaw and fist my hands to stop myself from reaching for her.
She creeps backward away from me. “Maybe we should go home.”
“Why?” I know she loves this place.
“You seem angry.”
I blow out a breath. I’m not angry. I’m sexually frustrated and fighting to stop myself from attacking her.
We agreed there would be no kissing and no sex during our marriage. I’m trying to keep up my end of the bargain, although I’m finding it difficult to remember why I insisted there would be no sex in the first place.
“Sorry. It’s been a long day.” Lamer words have never been spoken.
“Are you missing Natalia? Maybe she shouldn’t be alone tonight.”
“She’s not alone. She’s with Lily and Jack.”
“She’s in good hands. Sophia’s parents are the best.”
“What about your parents? Where are they?”
She shrugs. “I never met my dad and my mom left the island the second after I graduated high school.”
“And you don’t know where she is now?”
She glances away to stare out at the ocean. Except it’s dark and the ocean isn’t visible. But I can nearly feel the water. The waves crash against the shore and the air smells of the sea.
“Don’t know. Don’t care.”
She might say she doesn’t care but the hurt in her voice says otherwise. I wrap my arms around her waist from behind. She leans into me.
We stand there staring into the dark night for a while. It’s calm and peaceful. I don’t want to ever move. I could stand here with Chloe this way forever.
Damnit. I’m not supposed to get attached to my wife within hours of marrying her. I squeeze her middle once before dropping my arms and stepping away.
“I’m going to change,” Chloe says before fleeing.
I’m going to miss her walking around in that dress. Her wedding dress doesn’t hide anything. All of her delicate curves are on display.
But it’s better if she changes. I don’t know how much longer I can resist temptation.
I decide to change into more comfortable clothes while she’s in the bathroom. I open my overnight bag and a box of condoms falls out. Damn, Weston. I throw the condoms in the bottom of my bag and pull out a pair of pajama pants and a t-shirt.
Chloe still hasn’t emerged from the bathroom. If she’s anything like my ex, it’ll be a while. I don’t want to go to sleep before she’s finished. I’ll watch some television while I wait. Except when I plop down on the sofa in the living area, I realize there’s no television in here.
“Damnit,” Chloe mutters.
I’m on my feet and at the door to the bathroom before I realize I’ve moved. “Chloe.” I knock on the door. “What’s wrong?”
“My hair’s stuck.”
“Can I come in?”
“The door’s unlocked.”
I nearly swallow my tongue when I walk inside and see what she’s wearing now. She has on the smallest pair of pajama shorts in the history of the world. She’s paired them with a tank top.
“Can you help?”
I force my gaze away from her breasts and imagining what color her nipples are.
“What happened?”
Chloe’s hair is a complete mess. The front tumbles down her face but the back is twisted.
“I can’t get the hairpins out.”
“Sit down.” I motion to the chair in front of the vanity.
“Please be careful. I’m not one of those women who look good without hair.”
I disagree. Chloe is gorgeous, with or without hair. She’s a classic beauty with her alabaster skin and auburn hair. She could wear a garbage sack and still be gorgeous.
“You’re beautiful with or without hair.”
She scowls. “I don’t want to be beautiful.”
“What’s wrong with being beautiful?”
“The only thing my mom cared about was being beautiful. The lengths she went to…”
I frown. “What did she do?”
“I don’t want to discuss it.” She motions to her hair. “Can you help or do I need to phone someone else?”
I growl. No one else is seeing her in her tiny sleep shorts and tank top. “I got this.”
I tilt her head forward and begin my search for bobby pins. I remove them one by one until Chloe’s hair tumbles down her back and she sighs in relief.
I comb my fingers through her hair to get out the tangles.
Chloe moans. “You’re good at this.”
I ignore how my cock enjoys the sound of her moan. “I’m a girl dad.”
“Natalia is lucky to have you.”
I finish untangling her hair and squeeze her shoulders. “I’m sorry you didn’t have a dad growing up.”
She shrugs. “I had Sophia’s dad.” She grins. “Jack is the best. He’s probably spoiling Natalia rotten now.”
“She should be in bed but considering she ate two pieces of cake and drank a crate of coke, she’s probably running around the house driving Weston’s parents crazy.”
She giggles. “You shouldn’t have let her drink so much coke.”
I offer her my hand to help her stand. I lead her to the living room where we sit on the sofa next to each other, facing each other.
“I didn’t let my daughter do anything. Your friends and Weston kept on giving her coke.”
She rolls her eyes. “They were trying to ruin our wedding night by making Natalia hyper.”
“Weston wasn’t trying to ruin our wedding night. He stuffed an extra-large package of condoms in my bag.”
Her eyes flare. “He did?”
I feel her pulse spike in her wrist and I realize I’m still holding her hand. I need to pull away. We agreed no sex. Sex will complicate our situation.
My focus should be on Natalia. I won’t let her suffer because her mom is a bitch.
With a growl, I manage to pull my hand away and stand. “You can have the bed. I’ll sleep on the couch.”
Hurt flashes in her eyes but she blinks and it’s gone. I have a feeling Chloe doesn’t allow anyone to see when she’s hurting. And now I’m the cause of her hurt.
I don’t want to be an asshole. But this relationship isn’t real. Chloe knew it wasn’t real going into this marriage.
“The bed is huge. We can be adults and sleep in it together without having sex.”
Wrong. I can barely stop myself from ripping her clothes off of her as it is. If we sleep in the same bed, what little resistance I have left will crumble.
She lifts her eyebrows. “Or are you scared?”
I glare at her. “I’m not scared.”
“Good. Then, we can share this big bed and you don’t have to sleep on the sofa.”
“The sofa’s fine.”
She fists her hands on her hips. “Call me old fashioned but I’m not letting my husband sleep on the sofa the night of our wedding.”
Her husband? Those words slam into my heart and fill me with warmth. And fuck it all. I can’t deny Chloe what she wants. This does not bode well for me but I’m done fighting for this evening.
“Fine,” I grumble before marching to the opposite side of the bed.
Chloe climbs into bed next to me. “FYI. Being grumpy is not a turnoff.” She rolls to her side away from me. “Good night, hubby.”
I lay with my muscles locked until her breathing evens out and I know she’s asleep. She mumbles in her sleep. “Go away, bootlegger. The mermaid is mine.”
I bite my tongue to stop myself from laughing out loud and waking her. Even asleep Chloe is cute as hell. Good thing we aren’t sleeping in the same bed at home.
Resisting beautiful Chloe is hard enough. Knowing she’s cute as hell while she sleeps does not help the situation.