She looked down at her glass of wine, then picked it up and downed the contents in one swallow.
“I can’t be with someone who thinks that I am worthless.”
That’s when I moved.
I pushed the dining room chair that she was in until only the back legs were holding it up. Her eyes were wide, and her face was frozen in surprise.
“I do not think you are worthless,” I growled.
“You said that I couldn’t do what you did in boot camp.”
I stared into her eyes. “Maybe not right now, no. But give it six weeks and you’d be able to, under the right training.”
She bit her lip.
“I also know for a fact that you’re smarter than me.”
She bit her lip.
“You’re beautiful, and smart,” I continued, my words hopefully penetrating whatever she was thinking. “I couldn’t ever do what you do. Couldn’t listen to what your patients have to tell you about every day.”
Her lip trembled.
“There’s nothing that you couldn’t do if you put your mind to it.”
“How do you know?” she challenged.
“Because you’re you,” I whispered. “Nobody that couldn’t handle it all could manage to get through eighteen years with your father.”
She closed her eyes. “I have a sister, and I didn’t even know it?”
And we were back to the important words that she’d conveniently not gone into much detail about.
“Yeah,” I said. “But at this point, I’m not sure that it would be best for her to meet you as her sister. I’m sure you could introduce yourself, say hi.”
She shook her head. “I think that Ariya might need me to stay away. Maybe if she were healthy, I’d pursue it, but from what I’ve heard, the little girl isn’t doing well.”
I shook my head. “They don’t expect her to make it much more than the next week.”
The words hurt to say.
I didn’t even know the girl and it hurt. Children were so fucking innocent. Their view on life wasn’t jaded like an adult’s view was.
“I’ll talk to Ariya,” I cleared my throat.
“She’ll be mad at you for telling me,” she countered.
I shrugged and let her chair thunk down onto all four legs.
Her face came to a stop next to my crotch.
Before I could step away, though, her arms threaded around my waist, and she buried her face into my belly.
“We’ll figure it out, baby.”
She breathed out. “I know.”
Her words were said into my belly, and I had to bite my lip to keep from bursting out laughing.
We stayed like that for long moments, her with her face buried in my stomach, and me sifting my hands through her hair.
In fact, that’d been all I intended to do was hold her, but she had different ideas.
“I think we need to forget,” she murmured. “Tomorrow we’ll pretend that this didn’t happen. That I don’t know what I know, and that my dad’s not an even bigger douche bag than I always knew he was. Today? Today, we’ll forget.”
I liked the way she thought, but one thing wasn’t going to happen.
“We’re not forgetting that this all would’ve been solved if your father wasn’t a douchebag,” I told her. “He’s ruined a lot of lives, and continues to try to ruin yours. We’re not forgetting that he’d do anything to make your life miserable.”
She breathed out, then stood up, her body so close to mine that we touched from chest to thighs.
“I know,” she admitted. “But it’s hard to think about. I mean, who the hell has relations with a woman the same age as their daughter, and then doesn’t follow up with that, even when they’re supposed to be a man of God?”
I had no answer to that, so I brought my mouth down on hers.
The kiss was short and sweet, but enough to convey what I was feeling for her.
“Get naked,” I ordered.
She laughed.
“I’m still mad at you,” she pushed herself away and walked around the chair, and then even further until she was on the other side of the table.
“Why?” I asked.
“Because yesterday at Bord’s you ignored me,” she said. “You saw me, I know you did.”
I snorted.
“It was either wave at you, or send Ariya into another round of questions that only has to do with you, or not piss her off.” I explained. “She thinks I’ve always had the hots for you.”
She didn’t need to know that Ariya was right.
“Have you?”
I paused, contemplating how much to tell her.
“I’ve always found you intriguing,” I finally settled on.
Her brows went up. “You’ve always ‘intrigued’ me, too.”
I chuckled and started to round the table.
She shuffled to keep the table in between her and me.
I paused, my head tilting to the side. “You don’t want me to touch you?”
She pursed her cute little lips. “I want to have my head about me. It seems when you get too close, I can’t remember what I should and shouldn’t be doing. Plus, your answer of ‘I’ve always found you intriguing’ isn’t good enough. I want the hard, dirty details.”
I snorted.
And before she could do much more than squeak, I vaulted over the table and snatched her up in my arms.
She gasped and froze as I pressed my hard length against her hip.
“You want to know that I’m a dirty boy and had the hots for a girl that was way too fucking young for me?” I questioned.
She bit her lip and nodded.
“Fine,” I said. “I wanted to fuck you from the time you grew those breasts. I made myself join the military so I’d forget about you.”
“Did it work?” she whispered.
I nodded. “It did. Without you under my nose around every turn, I was able to focus on other things. The minute I got back, all bets were off.”
Her brows rose as she tried to squirm out of my hold.
“Let me go, you big galoot.” She squirmed harder.
I held her so tightly against me that all that she was doing was moving against the length of my cock, making me want to rip the jeans straight off her legs and throw them out the fucking window.
I grunted when one particular wiggle had her breaking free of my hold.
Though, she wouldn’t have done it if I wasn’t afraid that she was going to hurt herself by twisting so hard that I had no choice but to let her go or hurt her by holding on.
She took the newfound freedom and dashed out of the room.
I followed her much slower, coming to a stop outside of her room and pausing to lean up against the doorframe.
She was folding laundry of all things.
“You’re telling me you’d rather do chores?” I asked incredulously.
“You really did piss me off today,” she added as she tucked a towel underneath her chin, pinched it between her chin and her chest, and then proceeded to fold it.
“I know,” I said. “If it makes you feel better, I pissed myself off, too.”
She shook her head. “No, not really.”
My eyes watched her every movement. The way she easily folded clothes into perfectly pressed presentation. Something that would’ve literally taken me five minutes and a freakin’ headache to accomplish.