Chapter Six
Reed
One of my closest friends is pounding on the door and demanding I open it like he knows I’m inside with his daughter pinned up against the cabin wall, cock hard, her creamy juices all over my face.
I don’t want to answer it. I want to bury myself between her thighs until I’ve made her come forty times over and she’s too tired to resist what happens next.
Then, I want to toss her on the dining room table and fill her tight, little, virgin pussy to the fucking brim, all while she screams out for Daddy.
My cock thumps against my zipper as I lean down and drag my tongue over the top of her hard nipples. “Go take a shower. Daddy’ll be back in a second.”
There’s a twinkle in her eye when I refer to myself as Daddy, and it’s then that I realize how deep I’m in. I don’t want her for the night. I want her for good. I want her every fucking day for the rest of eternity.
How the hell do I tell her that? How do I tell Pete that? How do I not feel like a fucking pervert for the rest of my life? She’s over twenty years younger than me. I’ve seen her through dozens of life events. I’ve been her rock, and I’m pretty sure I’m the only person she’s ever really trusted.
I should know better.
“I need to talk to him. He’s here for me. We both know it.”
“He can’t have you right now, kitten.” I nod toward the bathroom down the hall. “Daddy hasn’t had a chance to finish cleaning you yet. Do as I ask.”
Naked and perfect, she stares up at me, her nipples still beaded, the scent of her ripe, little pussy tangled in my beard.
She pauses as though she’s deciding how defiant she wants to be. “Okay,” she nods, “I’ll shower, but if I’m done before he leaves, I’m coming back out here.”
That’s not a problem because I’m not letting him in.
“There’re T-shirts in my top drawer. Help yourself to anything.”
“Hurry up, though.” She bites her bottom lip and bends forward to pick up her dress, panties, and bra off the floor before scurrying down the hall toward the bathroom I’ve recently finished.
For the longest time, that room was stripped bare, with only essentials plumbed in.
Now, it’s a four-piece suite with a massive walk-in shower, water closet, and two bowl shaped sinks with custom faucets I repurposed from my grandpa’s old place, every choice with Nikki in mind.
What the hell have I done?
Dragging in a deep breath, I step out onto the front porch and force a grin. Pete doesn’t seem amused. He stands in front of me, all six foot four inches of him, suit buttoned to his neck, belt a hole too tight.
“I’ve been knocking for five minutes. I can hear you inside,” he rasps, his hand tucked into the pocket of his expensive slacks. I don’t know when Pete got so fucking fancy. He wasn’t like this growing up. In fact, he came from one of the poorest families on the mountain.
All that’s a distraction from reality. The one where I don’t know what he heard. Eventually, I’ll need to tell him everything.
“Why are you here?” I groan, fists tightening.
“I know Nikki is here. We have a tracking app together.”
“She’s in the shower. She needs space, man. You’re coming down too hard.”
“Too hard?” he groans. “We’ve got a deal to make. That sale is worth more than she’s ever made. Hell, it’s the biggest sale of the year, and you two are acting like a bunch of fucking hooligans. Do you know it took me two hours to talk Mulligan down?”
“So, you didn’t lose the sale?”
He scoffs and lifts his hat off his head, brushing back what little hair he has left.
“I told Mulligan you were crazy, that everyone in town knew it, and my daughter barely knew you. He’s very interested in my daughter, and he’s willing to give her another chance at his cabin, granted you’re nowhere to be seen. ”
“Is that right?” I laugh. “That’s not fuckin’ happening.”
“Look,” Pete snaps, “this little protector thing that you do with her was cute when she was in college, but she’s a grown woman, and I need her to do her job.”
“It’s not her fucking job to date men to make sales. Plus, Mulligan is a fuckin’ creep. He couldn’t keep his hands off her. Doesn’t that bother you? You’re her father. It should piss you the hell off.”
“Don’t tell me what should fucking bother me. What bothers me is that I have a twenty-two-year-old daughter who doesn’t take anything seriously. She’s flighty, impulsive, and far too soft-hearted. I need her head in the game.”
I laugh under my breath and drag my hand down over my beard. “Didn’t realize soft-hearted was a downfall.”
“It is in business, and she’s a little fucking crybaby who’s got you wrapped right around her finger.”
Jesus Christ, Pete. What happened to you?
“Look,” he continues as crickets sing loudly and a breeze passes by, “for whatever reason, she looks up to you. I need your help here, buddy. She’s got a job to do, and that job is to sell those lake houses.
Mulligan offered breakfast tomorrow morning at his rental.
If she shows up, alone, he says he’ll sign the pap—”
“Over my dead fucking—”
“Hey.” Nikki swings the door open, my old gray T-shirt with a trout on it hanging to her knees. Her gaze meets mine first, then her father’s.
“Why are you wearing his clothes?”
“I spilled something on my dress. It’s in the wash.”
“Okay,” Pete drawls as though he’s confused. “Why the hell are you here? You have a home.”
Nikki staggers in a shaky breath and I know her panic is coming back again. “I don’t know. I’m just—”
“She was fucked up after the thing with Mulligan. We’re making a pizza and talking it out.”
“I just pulled it out of the oven,” she says, blinking up at me as though she wants to bury herself against my chest.
Fuck, I want that more than anything. I want her whole fucking soul against me all night long for the rest of my days.
How the hell do I make that happen? Maybe I shouldn’t have built the cabin in Rugged Mountain.
I should’ve built it in some far-off place where no one could ever find us.
Somewhere too far to drive, too high to climb.
Somewhere with seasonal roads and no formal address.
“Dad,” she kneads her fingers together as she stares at him, “I can have breakfast with Mulligan. It’s no problem.”
Something that feels like rage boils through me, poking at my ribs, taunting me to flip her up onto my shoulder, slam the door, and reinforce it with military strength locks only I can open.
“Like fucking hell you will,” I growl without thought. “Did you hear the part about the breakfast being alone in his cabin? Besides, isn’t Troy coming into town tomorrow?”
“Troy?” Pete says, his brows narrowed.
“He’s buying Reed’s houseboat.”
“Gotcha.” Her father tips his head back. “So, this is about selling your place. I can put another agent on the—”
“No! Nikki sells my place, and she gets a fair split of the profit. Not this 10 percent bullshit you’re handing out. If you don’t like it, I’ll sell the fucking place myself.”
I’m not usually this aggressive with Pete, but this is the laid-back version of what I really want to do, which is throw him off the fucking porch.
He draws a deep breath as a crow calls in the distance, then lets it out slowly. “Nikki, it’s time you leave.”
“What?”
“I was wrong letting Reed have so much influence over you the last few years. He’s not steering you right. He’s fucking with your future and putting ideas in your head. Get in the truck. We’re leaving.”
Oh, so we’re doing this!
My fists clench instinctively. “Fuckin’ with her future? You’re—"
“Okay, stop!” Nikki steps between us. “I don’t want everyone fighting.” She glances toward me. “I… I have a job to do, Reed. Tomorrow is going to be really busy, so I should go home and get some rest.”
“If you go home, I’ll follow you to Mulligan’s place. You’re not going to lock yourself into some cabin with this asshole. I mean, he’s clearly a fucking weirdo. Who comes back over and over again like this? He wants something from you, kitten.”
“It’s weird you’re still calling her kitten,” her father grunts. “She’s a grown woman, Reed. If she wants to do her job, let her.”
My jaw clicks and my biceps flex innately as I scoop my girl up from the ground, carry her into the house, and slam the door closed.
The crickets go silent with the slam, though I have a feeling Nikki is going to be louder.
“What are you doing?” She squirms against my touch as I carry her down the hall toward my bedroom where I toss her on the bed and stare down at her.
“Maybe I wasn’t clear earlier. I’m your Daddy, and when Daddy tells you to do something, you do it.”
“Ugh,” she grins disobediently, “no. That’s not what this is. You don’t own me because we played a little game earlier.”
“A game? Is that what that was to you?” I lean in, my hand on her throat, my cock hard and pressing against her thigh as her father pounds on the door. “Because that sounds like naughty girl talk.”
“Reed,” she sighs and pushes my hand away, “I love you. You know I love you, but we both know this would never work. My father would ruin you and your business. He knows everyone. Plus, I’m an independent person.
I like working. You can’t just lock me up and make me your sex slave.
That’s a ridiculous thought. It’s not real life. ”
“It could be,” I groan. “I’d let you out to do what you love, as long as it doesn’t involve whoring yourself out to old men to appease your father.”
“That’s enough.” She springs up from the bed and straightens my T-shirt before turning back toward me.
“I’m not whoring myself out, Reed. I’m doing what families do.
My father has owned this realty company for thirty years, and he needs help.
I lost my mother, but he lost his wife too.
I don’t think he ever got over it, and—”
“You’re making excuses for him. You were a kid. It was his responsibility to be there for you.”
“He should have been, but I had you.” A tear jerks onto her cheek, and I fear the worst is coming. “I can’t lose you, Reed. I mean look how complicated this whole thing is already.” She wipes away a tear with the neckline hem of my T-shirt. “This was a mistake.”
“Bullshit.” I stand from the bed and pull her close, terrified suddenly of losing her for good. Jesus, what the hell was I thinking? “What happened between us wasn’t a mistake. It was perfect.”
She stares up at the ceiling as though she’s trying to trap more tears, then glances back toward me. “I’m sorry. I have to go, Reed.” With that, she turns back and leaves the room, stalks down the hall, swings open the door, and heads out into the night with her father.
Each step she takes hits me like a flash of fire.
Hot, blinding, consuming. I feel it first in my jaw, tight and grinding, like my teeth are trying to fuse together.
Then my chest goes heavy and sharp, before my fists curl at my sides and I shove them into my pockets so I don’t do something stupid like punch Pete or chase after her.
Maybe she’s right. Maybe I crossed a line I had no business crossing.
Fuck!
My chest aches as I watch her climb up into his truck beneath the pink and orange sky, dirt kicking up as they back out into the dusky night.
I’ve never been in this spot before. The spot where she’s gone and I don’t know if she’s coming back, what she’s going to do, or what she’ll think in the morning.
Fuck! I punch into the drywall, a loud cracking sound splitting the wall near the front door.
I’m so fucking stupid!
She loved me. I loved her. It wasn’t romantic, but it was enough, and I ruined it. She trusted me and I fucking ruined it!
Trouble is… I know I’m not done.
How can I be after I was so close?
How can I be, knowing how much it hurts to have her and lose her?
How can I be, with the thought of someone else touching my little kitten?
Nikki belongs to me, and I’m done pretending otherwise.