Chapter 16

CHAPTER 16

LUKAS

K ayla sits across the dining room table from me. I can hardly look at her. She's supposed to know about Maci and me and Finn . Right now, she's supposed to be processing it, crying, screaming, throwing stuff at me. Instead, she's checking her phone every two minutes as if wondering why her so-called perfect boyfriend isn't messaging her.

She doesn't know it, but I've got security following her. At a distance, in plainclothes, but they're there. I don't want to make her suspicious, but if Finn or anybody else tries any crap, they'll bring me their goddamn heads on a platter.

Is everything okay? I almost ask, but there's no point. I know what the issue is. She wants to hear from Ethan .

I'm keeping something from Maci, too. It's about her mom. I tried to do the right thing, but I'm not sure what I was thinking. I can't think clearly since that connection Maci and I shared. All I can think about is her .

I fork steak into my mouth, swiping on my phone. We don't usually eat like this. The VR stuff has given me an excuse to have my phone at the table since I need to be ready to answer any work emails.

"Maci's acting weird," Kayla says a moment later.

My toes curl in my shoes. I bite down so hard on my steak that my teeth hit the fork. Goddamn it. I can't talk about Maci. Even after she puked, I wanted to kiss her. I wanted to be with her, and then there was the date talk. I want it even now when everything in me should focus on my daughter. I want to be alone with my lady, not just intimately, to let her know she means more to me than that.

"Oh?" I say after a pause. Kayla's looking at me expectantly.

"I think she's found a boy," Kayla mutters.

I swallow… nerves and steak. "What makes you say that?"

"She's acting weird, and I normally know all her shades of weird. This is something different. I've ruled out all the possibilities. I think it has to be a boy."

I say nothing. Lying to her makes me feel like such a scumbag and lowlife, even worse than Finn . At least he has a messed-up justification for his lies. He's poor, needs cash, and wants to pursue his poetry career. He's a prick, but can I say I'm any better?

"It's a good thing if she does," Kayla says. "I want her to be happy. She deserves it, but I'm worried about her. She's always saying she doesn't want me to get hurt. Well, the same goes for her. At least if I get hurt, it'll be something I've experienced before. This will be her first heartbreak."

I stare at my food, feeling like the world's worst dad. It's not exactly difficult to make that leap. I've got too much knowledge about what my daughter's talking about. I try to think how this conversation would've gone before what happened in the pool and before I learned that Ethan is a manipulating blackmailer called Finn.

"Hopefully, that doesn't happen," Kayla goes on with a sigh. "Hopefully, she's found somebody who respects her, cares about her, and appreciates her unique appearance."

"Unique appearance?" I say.

Kayla looks at me oddly. I think I've let my voice come out much too sharp, too urgent. She's looking at me as if wondering why I care so much. That's dangerous. I need to get myself under control.

"She's always been self-conscious about her body," Kayla says. "She's been on the more plus-size side since we were kids. She once told me it's lucky she's never wanted a boyfriend because nobody would ever want her."

I grind my teeth together, thinking of my woman naked, her thickness, her curves, so much of her to indulge in. Hot desire pumps through me when I remember how I sunk my hands into the globes of her juicy ass, grabbed her hips, owned her, claimed her, sucked her nipples, and palmed her big, juicy tits.

"But that's crap," I say, struggling to keep my voice under control.

" I know that," Kayla replies. "I just wish she did."

Kayla frowns, looking at her phone again. I turn back to my food. The need to tell my daughter the truth pulses inside of me. The only thing that stops me is having to face Maci and inform her I told Kayla without warning her first. She wants a few days, she says, but what difference will it make?

Everything's going to come crashing down either way.

My knowledge—my certainty—of the impending family apocalypse is made even worse because the following day, I pick up Maci outside college and drive toward the outskirts of the city. We arranged the date last night via text. My manhood immediately got hard when she sent me, Yes . It made me think of her moaning the word as she writhes on top of me, trembling with pleasure, her body primed and ready to give me her lust.

She sits beside me, wearing tight-fitting black jeans and a long-sleeved, feminine shirt. It makes me want to tear away all the excess fabric and reveal the curves beneath.

"Has he contacted you again?" she mutters as we drive away from the city.

I sigh. "A message through my assistant… He's given me two days. Nothing from my PI yet either."

Nothing about Sebastian or Finn.

Maci glances at me. She's got subtle makeup around her eyes, highlighting her natural beauty. Her lips are shaded red. When we finally leave the city, I take off my hat and sunglasses, then pull up at the side of a quiet road.

"What are you doing?" she asks.

"What I need to do," I growl, leaning over.

She makes that cute, almost shocked noise when I press my lips against hers. I've been waiting to kiss her since I sneaked away the last morning at the house. From how she breathily moans, muffled through the kiss, I know she's been waiting, too. She grabs onto my chest, her fingernails scraping through my shirt.

I grab her leg, feeling her thickness, that curviness she had the silliness to doubt—her perfection. Sliding my hand higher and higher, I'm sure I can feel the heat and the wetness of her sex beckoning to me. It's the sound of a passing car that stops me.

She looks up at me, eyes filled with passion, lips slightly parted.

"I'm addicted to you," I say passionately.

She shakes her head, almost like she thinks I'm lying and the idea is ridiculous.

"I am," I tell her, keeping my hand on her knee but fighting the urge to go any higher. "I'm addicted to your curves. I'm addicted to how thick and gorgeous you are."

"Is thick a good thing?"

"Yes," I tell her confidently. "You've got the perfect body, Maci. Never doubt that with me. You hear?"

I stroke my finger across her face, brushing her wavy, beautiful hair. A smile lights up her features. "Okay," she whispers, but then the smile falters. "It's so bad, but I want to forget everything else. Just for the afternoon."

"Me too," I admit. "There's so much going on. So much is getting in our way. Obviously, these things should get in our way." I pause, slowly moving my hand higher on her leg. I can't stop myself. "But I wish we could forget, too."

She lays her hand on mine before I can get too high. "Then let's do that, just for a little while. The guilt will be there when we get back. Who knows? Maybe after a date, you'll realize you're not interested in me."

I kiss her again, this time cradling her face with both of my hands, tasting her warmth and her desire and something else, something deeper and more primal. I keep my hands on her face to stop myself from exploring the rest of her.

"Never going to happen," I say, driving back onto the road, leaving the city behind us, leaving responsibility behind us, too.