Chapter 2

Two

BEN

W hy does the computer never cooperate when you’re in a hurry?

A drumming sound on the office door diverts my attention from the frustrations on the screen. “I think we have the early racquetball court reserved tomorrow.”

Some light brown locks fall across my forehead when I shake my head at Carson. With a dramatic press of the button, I shut the machine down. There. You deserve that, bitch. “I can't make it. Picking up my goddaughter in about…” Glancing at my watch, my heart races thinking about seeing her again. “Twenty minutes.”

“Oh, that’s right. You’ve been talking about this for a month.” He waltzes in and unbuttons his suit jacket, then flops into a club chair and sets his loafers on the desk. Like I’m not in a hurry. “She’s what? Sixteen now? Seventeen?”

“She’s eighteen. In college. Visiting just for December. I haven’t seen her in?—”

“Six years. I know, you said.” Grabbing my tennis ball off the desk, he tosses it in the air as I grab my briefcase and start packing it up for the long weekend. “Why not? Why didn’t you see her?”

As if the ceiling holds the answers, my eyes glance up as I pause my nervous shuffling. “I always asked her to visit or if I could meet her there, but she was a teenage girl, you know? And me and her mom only caught up briefly at conferences, so there was never a good time. Winter wanted to hang with friends or her mom instead of some old man. She was away at boarding school, too.” But I never gave up. Sent her flowers for every birthday and texted her messages every couple of weeks to let her know I care for her.

I just wish she felt the same.

“I’m not her real dad. Just her godfather. Her mother, Sherry, was my best friend. She moved away and left the company when Winter was eleven. You know me… I was away most of the time and didn’t have time to keep up with my relationships.”

Carson stops his annoying tosses and sets the ball back on the surface. “Yeah, I know . Where are you off to next month?”

“Japan, I think.” Snatching the leather handle of my bag, I nod goodbye to my business partner. “And I don’t want to waste a minute of this month I get with her.”

“See ya later, Dad !” Carson laughs at his joke. He knows I’m not the paternal type.

But lately… I’ve been hoping that could change.

I’m not getting any younger. Now that I’m in my forties, I fear I may have passed the time I could have children of my own. So, I’m grateful Winter wanted to spend December with me. It’s been too long since I had someone for the holidays. And I hope we can make it a tradition.

Pulling up in my Land Rover outside the train station, I check the time on the wall and my watch and my phone and the car’s clock a few times. Yes, I’m always early, but you never know if something could happen. I don’t want her standing here lost or hurt if I’m not here when she arrives.

The plastic around the flower bouquet I picked up on the way shakes in my hand. There was a time about a year ago I thought I saw her in Verona, working at an architectural firm. But she looked so grown up and had black hair; it couldn’t have been her. Plus, the placard said a different name. And I was glad, too, because the woman that greeted me was insanely beautiful. Someone I would have asked on a date if I weren’t so old and she hadn’t been gone when I returned from the meeting.

In a few minutes, her train pulls up, and I brush some wayward petals off my coat and scan every person entering the terminal. My pulse skyrockets every time someone new enters, but none could be my goddaughter. There’s a pause in the crowd coming through the door and panic threatens to take me over. Did she get lost? Is she hurt?

Just then, a gorgeous, tall blonde woman strolls through the doors that two of the stewards open. Under a white fuzzy coat, the hem of a short, pink plaid skirt sticks out with thick thigh-high stockings covering her long legs. Behind her trails an enormous steamer trunk. Her blue eyes immediately find me as her plush lips part in a wide smile. Not only does it light up my entire soul…

My cock jumps in my trousers at the sight of her.

No, no, no! She’s Sherry’s eighteen-year-old daughter!

And she’s utterly breathtaking.

As she approaches, heat trails up and down my spine. “Winter, I’ve missed you so much.”

My girl doesn’t hesitate and slides her arms around my torso. I squeeze her tightly to me with one arm. The other holds out the bouquet to the side so it doesn’t get crushed. She fits . Her strawberry-scented hair tickles my nose and makes the thickening in my dick get even more firm. I hope she can’t feel it between our layers of clothing.

When she gazes up at me with her chin planted on my chest, gazing up into my eyes with something like admiration, I know I’m in trouble. Her lips are so very close to mine that I can smell her fruity-scented breath. If she were anyone else, I don’t think I’d be able to resist planting my mouth against hers. Maybe even taking her to the bathroom here and having my way with her.

I’m a sick freak.

“I’ve missed you, too, Daddy. ”

Oh, fuck … My breath catches in my throat at her words, and I ease my waist away from hers so I don’t embarrass myself. She’s not called me that before, but I’m not going to stop her now.

“You got my favorites!” She smiles bigger as she spots the flowers. “Thank you!” I hand them to her as she raises up on her tiptoes to place her soft lips on the corner of mine. If my head turns slightly, we’d kiss. The nearness of her makes the blood rush to my cock.

“Yeah. Do you still like those?”

Biting her bottom lip, she flutters her lashes at me, then slides her hand into mine. “Yes, I do. You know me so well.”

“I’ll get that.” We walk hand in hand out of the station while I tug her trunk behind me. “You brought a lot. Planning on moving in?” With a little laugh at my delusion, I stash the secret hope that she says yes.

“I guess if you say it’s okay…”

Unlocking the vehicle, I help her inside and reach across her lap to buckle her seatbelt. A little giggled breath hits my cheek in waves. “What?” I ask.

“I’m not a little girl anymore. I can do this myself.”

Glancing at her body, I can’t help the erection threatening to tent up my pants. My thumb trails across her cold cheek. “Sorry. Just a flashback to when you were a little girl. But you’re definitely grown up now.”

Her lips part as she inhales quickly, the skin under my hand flushing pink.

Once I place her things in the back and get situated, I try to get reacquainted with the woman sitting next to me, flooding the cabin with her intoxicating scent. “Why didn’t you say something at the architectural firm last year? That was you, right?”

With a gasp, she says, “You knew? I thought you didn’t recognize me! I was too embarrassed to say something.”

Slyly, I lift my hips off the seat, trying to create some room for my cock as we make our way down Main Street of the small downtown of Crystal Frond. “I-I wasn’t sure, but now that I see you, I know it was you. I would have taken you to dinner and got caught up.”

Maybe it’s just because I haven’t had sex in about a month now. Cindy’s been busy with her business, just like me. We’ve been helping each other’s physical needs for a while now, but I’ve never had a hard-on like this. Not since I can remember.

“How was your first semester? You said you were studying hospitality management?”

When she doesn’t speak for a long while, I sneak a peek at her gorgeous, and young , face. She glances at me and swallows. “Um, please don’t be mad, Ben.”

“Baby, I can’t be mad at you.” The word slips out, but it matches her so well. Doesn’t she know how much she has me wrapped around her finger?

“I withdrew on my way… I’m not going back to college. I-I wanted to talk about something with you.”

Grimacing, I feel some disappointment that she dropped her classes, but she’s always been bright and hardworking. “What is it?”

“I want to get a real-life education by working at the ski resort.”

Nodding, I agree it sounds like something she’d enjoy. “I’m not sure I can get you a job there for just December, though. But, of course , I’ll talk to Jake.” My best friend won’t hesitate to help her out.

She gives me a sweet smile, and I know I’m going to have to get rid of this aching throb beneath my belt before dinner. What is wrong with me? Normal people don’t get this aroused by their best friend’s daughters. But here I am.

Fortunately, my heavy winter long coat covers my erection when we reach the house and get out of the car in the garage.

“Oh, it looks the same as I remember!” Winter gallops through the mudroom and into the kitchen, then peers out at the covered pool and lake beyond.

“Yeah, it is. Not much has changed. Even the guest room you took naps in when your mom and I would work late is the exact way you left it.”

Spinning quickly, she faces me with her eyes wide. “That means Gordo is here!” She takes off at a flash up the stairs like she’s a kid again, and warmth spreads throughout my body, not just from watching her move, but also from the sunshine she’s brought with her to this dead house. I missed her. So fucking much.

Lugging her trunk and bags up after her, I pause at the noise she already brings into this place. It was like a crypt, but she’s breathing her fresh life into it.

Into me…

She hugs her stuffed elephant when I round the corner to her room, or the room I’ve always called hers . Those years she and Sherry lived here were some of the best of my life. Sherry and I never could make it happen, both of us workaholics and her needing something I couldn’t give her. But Winter became the child I never had, a daughter to me just as much as I tried to be a father to her.

When I set her things down, she drops the toy and rushes at me with her arms outstretched for another tight hug. “Thank you, Ben. I missed you.”

Squeezing my eyes shut, I revel in her affection. Those are the words I longed to hear. I press my lips to the top of her head, but my dick takes a leap at her, so I back away. “I’m going to take a shower before dinner. Meet you downstairs in a half hour?”

“Okay.” One of her eyes winks at me as she twirls some of her hair. Is she… flirting with me?

It’s probably me holding on to a crass delusion. My feet rush to my room as I strip off my clothes, tossing them on a warpath along the way. I jump in the shower, not even waiting for the water to get hot. Cold is what a piece of shit like me needs. Something to make these thoughts and urges quiet down.

Even the pelting of the shower head doesn’t stop the raging need pulsing in my palm. Pressing one forearm against the tiles, I hang my head and shamefully stroke myself. Rubbing my thumb over the tip, I try not to let the vision of my goddaughter’s tongue licking it enter my mind.

But she’s all I can think of.

Gripping myself tighter, I imagine what her pussy must feel like, how wet she gets, what it would feel like to have her underneath of me, writhing on me. Saying she wants me.

Tugging faster, I wonder if she’s a virgin. Never been touched before and needs her daddy to show her everything. How to suck my cock. What it feels like to have her pussy eaten.

What it would be like to knock her up, letting my seed spray into her empty womb.

“Oh, fuck… Winter!” Resting my head against my arm, my orgasm rips through my balls before I know it, the thumping in my balls easing as I spurt ropes of cum for a minute out of the tip. “Fuck!”

A sound to my left makes me freeze, and when I look up, I see Winter’s hands raise to her mouth as she scrambles from the doorway out of my bathroom.

“Shit!” What was she doing here?

Damn it! I probably frightened her to death. Oh, no. I may have just ruined everything.

Hurriedly, I jump out of the shower and run a towel through my wet hair before wrapping it around my waist and hurrying to her room. Stopping halfway, I glance down at myself. If I don’t want to scare her more, I should get dressed.

Rushing back into my room, I toss on some gray sweatpants and an old university T-shirt, then head down the hall again.

But when I approach her room, my breath catches in my chest.

In between the crack of the open door, my eyes behold my little girl, lying on her bed with her skirt hiked up, legs spread wide, and one hand shoved into her panties. She writhes on the comforter, thrusting her full bosom out of her thin top as her back arches.

My baby is masturbating after seeing me… I try not to groan, but a whimper escapes at the sight of her beautiful body moving and undulating with such grace and eroticism. Sharp pains shoot down my hand as my teeth dig into my knuckle to contain the sounds erupting from my throat. I should just walk away. Go, Ben… As I’m about to, her eyes snap open and find me gaping at her awkwardly.

“Daddy!”