Chapter 6

Ford

My grease‐stained hands sink into her silky locks, pulling her closer. I hold her right where I want her as I take this kiss. She moans in the back of her throat, her fingers flexing in my shirt, either trying to yank me closer, or push me further away. My tongue coaxes her mouth open, sneaking in, stealing a taste.

It's just as sweet as I thought it would be.

I have to bring us down before this gets even more out of control than it already is. It's the middle of the evening, we're in the driveway of her trailer, and anyone walking by can see us. This doesn't bother me, but it might bother her. Slowly, I try to end the kiss, but we keep going back for small pecks, until my eyes are closed, and our foreheads are pressed together.

We breathe heavily, and I adjust in the seat to take the pressure off the tight crotch of my jeans. I lick my lips, collecting the flavor of her. "Strawberry, huh?"

"I love the ChapStick," she says, on a sigh. "My lips get dry in the store."

"It's because Gina refuses to turn the air on when it's hot and the heater on when it's cold. Tight-fisted as fuck." She smiles. I can feel her nose wrinkle against mine. Opening my eyes, I lean back slightly.

Ashley clears her throat as we start to realize where we are, and what just happened. "Sorry." She releases my shirt from her grip.

"Don't be sorry. I want a woman to tell me without words how I make her feel. Maybe one day I'll feel those fingers on my bare skin. The nails against my back." Fuck me and this mouth. It gets me in trouble every time.

"If you play your cards right, Ford. You'll feel it quicker than you thought you would. I don't know if you realize this or not, but a single dad? One of the hottest things ever, and I'm reading an ebook about one right now. Let's just say you're making some of these fantasies come to life."

Fuck me. "Fantasies, huh? I am a dad. I don't remember the last time I had a conversation with a woman like this. Why don't you tell me a little bit about them?"

Ashley plays coy, gives me a smirk as her hand goes to the handle on the door of my SUV. "What would the fun be in that, Chevy? Like I said, play your cards right, and you'll figure it out."

Sighing heavily, I shove my head back against the edge of the seat. "Fine. I'll have your car ready for you tomorrow. I'll give you a ride to work in the morning though, I'll be damned if you walk that early. Mabel's going to get Felicity on the bus again. So what time are we leaving?"

Those eyes of hers see right through me as she looks over. "You don't have to do this."

"I don't do anything I don't want to, Ashley. You can bet on that. I want to take you." I flinch at the words, and she smirks, because of the innuendo. "What time are we leaving?" I put the type of bass in my voice I use with Felicity when I need her to listen.

"Is four‐thirty too early? I need to clock in at five."

"I'll be here at four‐thirty."

She pulls her bottom lip in between her teeth. "Thank you."

"No need to thank me. Like I told you, those of us that are straight here look out for each other. I can promise you, nobody will fuck with you." God, why can't I just shut my mouth? The more I talk, the deeper I get with this woman. It's her eyes though, they remind me of Felicity. This could be her in twenty years if I don't get our lives under control and it scares the shit out of me. Not because of Ashley, but because of what her dad has put her through. I want to be better than Doogie.

"You're a good guy, Ford. I'm lucky I moved in next to you."

I don't say anything as she leaves, because I don't trust myself. As I move the SUV over to my driveway, the bus comes to a stop. My little ball of energy comes running out, full speed. "Dad! You're home. I didn't get to see you this morning, I missed you."

"Missed you too." I reach out, picking her up as she hurtles toward me like a ball rolling down a hill. "Sorry, I had to work. Looks like I'm going to have to go into work early tomorrow too, but we'll spend time together tonight and tomorrow night, okay? I promise it won't be like this forever."

"It's okay, Dad. I love you."

The way she accepts everything is beyond humbling. The way she spent the first few years of her life, she shouldn't want to spend time with anyone, much less me, but she's so forgiving. I don't deserve her, and neither did Tonya. "Love you too."

"Spaghetti's ready," I yell to Felicity a couple of hours later. We've done her homework, and each taken our showers. We've changed into our comfortable clothes, and now I'm ready to eat and relax for the rest of the night.

"Did you make the good bread too?" She questions as she takes a seat.

"The garlic bread? Sure did, it's my favorite too. Did you wash your hands and put away your playdough?"

"Yup." She holds her hands up to me to show that her palms are clean. "Do we get to watch TV after we eat?"

"We do, is there anything in particular you wanna watch?"

I'm very strict when it comes to devices. I don't want her to have her face stuck in an electronic device all the time. Right now, I make it a point to only let her watch TV after we've accomplished everything we need to do and have had dinner. I figured she'd put up a fight as she got to school and saw that other kids in her class were able to do things differently than her. Thankfully, it's not been much of an issue.

We don't have cable, and we barely have internet. What we do have are a bunch of DVD's and an old‐as‐shit DVD player. Right now, it gets the job done, and I'm grateful for it, but I can't wait for the day when we can just turn the TV on and watch something without having to look through our collection. Maybe this weekend I'll see if Ashley wants to come on a thrift‐store run with us. It's where we find most of the stuff we watch.

"The Strawberry Shortcake one."

Strawberry puts me right back into the seat of my SUV kissing Ashley. "Of course you want that one. It's been your favorite for going on a month now."

She nods, taking a bite of the spaghetti, sauce smearing across her chin. "Can we get some more soon?"

I shake my head, taking a bite of my own food. "I was just thinking we need to do that. What do you think about asking Ashley if she wants to go with us?"

Her face lights up. "Do you think she'll say yes?"

"I think we have a great chance that she might." I try not to get both our hopes up, because I want her to say yes too. "If she says no, we have to respect it, but I think she'll say yes." I give her a wink.

"Good." She finishes up her bowl.

"Are you full?" It's always my fear that she won't be, and I won't be able to provide that for her.

She nods. "Can I go ahead and sit on the couch?"

"Was your hands and face first. I'll be in there in just a second. Let me put the leftovers in the fridge." It only takes me a few minutes, and when I'm done, I head into the living room. Taking the seat next to Felicity, I stretch my arm out around her, holding her close. She puts her head on my chest, and pulls her small legs up, getting comfortable. Pointing the remote at the TV, I start the DVD. "Let's party."

She giggles, and silently I admit I wouldn't change any of this for the world.