5. Ford

five

ford

What the hell are you doing? the somewhat sane part of me that hadn't been overcome by the lunatic stalker that was now in charge asked. I had no idea how to answer.

She'd hugged me.

I'd felt her wrap her arms around me, pressing those perfect tits against my side.

And I fucking froze.

The angel and devil on my shoulder fought about what to do, and when the devil won, she had moved away. Apologizing for crossing boundaries. If she only knew.

I glanced at the girl next to me, and when she smiled, I felt like a damn king. A conqueror willing to do everything and anything just to see one more bright smile. The water of the beach reflected in the distance, casting her in the prettiest light. And for a moment, I wished I had the liberty to snap a picture of her without letting her think I was a weirdo of some kind .

"Good idea?" I asked, and she grinned so brightly it rivaled the sun that was still shining up above.

"Very. Thank you. You have no idea how you've made my day," she answered so sincerely it made my heart skip a beat. I wanted to make all her days.

"All I did was drive us to the beach. Thank you for coming with me."

"I like it here." She glanced over at the family next to us. "My family loved this beach."

"Are they?—"

"Oh no, they're all alive. Sorry! I didn't mean to make it sound like…" She shook her head and criss-crossed her legs. "We're just all over the place now. My parents travel. Back and forth from El Salvador to here, and when they're here, they live about two hours away."

"They moved from here."

"Oh yeah, it's too expensive in LA."

"California real estate," I noted, and she nodded.

"Exactly. They sold their house and bought one in the Central Valley, in cash, for a lot less."

"I can understand that."

"They like to visit my siblings, and like I said, we're all spread out."

"How many brothers and sisters do you have?"

"I have two sisters and two brothers.

"Wow," I mumbled, "big family."

Would she want a big family? Part of me, a primal side, wanted to breed her over and over, keeping her barefoot and pregnant and tied to me for the rest of our lives. While another part of me that was equally feral wanted to be selfish and keep her just for me. Have her attention be soley on me.

"Right?" She smirked. "I'm the second to youngest," she started to share things I already knew. But I loved hearing it from her. "My youngest sister just moved to Oregon, my other one is in Florida right now, but she's a traveling nurse, so that changes constantly, and my brothers are both out in Montana."

"Really?"

"Yup." She laughed. "They were obsessed with old westerns growing up, and my parents thought it was cute and something they would grow out of. Well, Angel, he's the oldest, went into the military after graduation, and Jose went to business school." Her features changed. I could understand that change. My time in the military had changed me, too.

Without overthinking it, my hand covered hers, and when I glanced at it, I had to ignore the way my body reacted to the size difference. Those beautiful dark eyes changed, and I hated the sadness in them.

"My brother came back different. He needed a change. Space. And Jose was a little burnt out in New York. He'd made a crap ton of money and was successful in his own right, but he needed a change, and they came up with the idea of starting a ranch."

"In Montana? "

"Yup. They love it there. They're happy and make pretty good money and employ a bunch of ranch hands who help them."

"That's cool."

"Yeah." She blinked and glanced toward the shore.

My eyes followed her line of sight, and we sat there for a moment watching the waves rush up and wash away. Lita squeezed my hand and kept sharing. "Anyhow, my point was I miss those times. When you were younger. Not all the time, just sometimes, you know? Maybe it's silly. But I miss how we were all close and together and things felt… simpler. Easier."

"I get that." I swallowed hard as memories hit. "Mine used to go up to Big Bear. My dad's sister had a cabin there, and she would let us use it two weeks a year. One during summer and the other during winter break. They were tight, but after Mom…" I cleared my throat. "My dad just… he couldn't go back. He didn't really know how to function without her for a long time."

"I'm sorry." She squeezed again. But this time, she leaned in closer and rested her head on my shoulder. "That must have sucked."

"It did," I admitted. I hadn't thought about that in a long time.

"Do you know I've never been up there?" she shared, thankfully changing the subject and steering it off the melancholic road we'd tripped onto.

"Where? Big Bear?"

"Yeah. I've lived in California my whole life, but I've never gone to the mountains." That surprised me. I looked at her, my eyes wide.

"For reals?"

"For reals," she laughed.

"But you've seen snow?" She shook her head, and my eyes widened. Immediately, I wanted to be the one to take her.

The picture was so clear in my head I could almost taste it. I owned a cabin up there. Waking up next to her, cuddled up in front of a fire, and then doing snow angels in the front yard that turned into a snowball fight, before heading back inside to warm up.

"You okay?" she asked.

"Perfect," I rasped and cleared my throat. "Ready for a walk?" I forced myself to stand and extended my hand toward her.

I had a shit ton of energy to burn off, and what better way to do it than to walk next to the shore barefoot, hand in hand with my sweet little angel as the sun started to set?

"Sounds good." She took it, and I felt the softness and warmth of her skin seep into my bones, unknowingly making me feel more alive and filled with a greater purpose than I had ever thought possible.

We walked together, and I managed to keep her hand in mine the entire time. She talked and told me all about her work at the clinic. But how she loved her social media work even though a lot of her siblings, because they were so much older, didn't understand how she made money from the things she posted. It had started by accident, and then became something fun. She shot some footage with her phone for her to use in future posts, and then I saw my in. I offered to shoot a video of her, and she easily, so trustingly, agreed. I videoed her running toward the waves, smiling and laughing before splashing about. Then, taking advantage of the moment, I ran in with her and asked for a selfie.

One she gifted me with.

When she leaned in closer, her soft scent drifted into my nose, and when I turned my head, all I wanted to do was kiss the side of her temple. Everything in me was yelling at me to press my lips against her to mark her with our mouth, but I didn't. I held back and instead snapped away about twenty shots. From us smiling at the screen to her looking up adoringly at me and me doing the same to her when she was looking at the screen.

When my phone dropped to my side, I was about to lean in and kiss her because she felt too good in my arms, but a big wave rushed up and pushed us forward, so we had to hurry out before we got soaked. Thankfully, I kept a couple of towels in the truck. I helped dry her off before we headed back home.

I parked in my driveway and walked her back to her house, still managing to keep her hand in mine. Now that I knew what it felt like, I didn't want to let go. Neither did the possessed creature in me that was obsessed with her.

"Thank you again for today," she said softly, thanking me for the third time. We were standing in the darkness at her front door .

"Nothing to thank, baby girl." My thumb stroked the top of her hand. I was so fucking hard, and everything in me was yelling at me to kiss her. I'd been so close to it when we were in the water. She licked her lips and left them shiny, like a glossy beacon for me to find my way to them.

"You keep calling me that," she noted gently. I could feel her nerves beat off her in waves.

"You don't like it?"

"I think I like it too much." The vulnerability dripped from her voice, and I felt my chest puff out a little. I liked that. We were on the same page.

Maybe she was meant to be mine in every single way, in more ways than I'd dared hope for?

"Hmm." My head dipped lower, so my nose could brush against hers like the ultimate tease. "I don't think that's a thing, is it? Liking something too much." Her breath hitched.

It could have been so easy to kiss her in that moment.

To press my lips against hers, finally taking a taste, sealing her fate and mine more than it already was.

But I didn't.

I pulled back and didn't miss the flash of disappointment in her gaze. It felt like lead in my gut. I didn't like making her sad. My free hand moved up and cupped the side of her face.

"I want to kiss you." I felt the pulse point at her neck pick up speed.

"I think I'd like that, too," she whispered, and everything inside of me was shouting to do it. Kiss her, you idiot!

"I'm not going to yet." The words tasted bitter on my tongue.

"Oh." Her disappointment was palpable. Kiss her, you idiot ! this thing inside me yelled, but I resisted.

"Yet," I repeated, and her eyes flashed.

"Ford…" She stepped back, and I hated the few inches that separated us. I wanted to be as close as possible. Share the same breath and body heat. "I should tell you, I'm not great at this," she shared, and I could tell it hadn't been easy for her.

But daddy wasn't going to make things easy for her.

"What's this?" I found myself asking while feeling severely protective of the woman in front of me in a way I'd never felt. Not once. Not even close.

I should have walked away.

I shouldn't have been following her around town and sure as shit shouldn't have moved across the street. Fuck me, the list of things I shouldn't have done was a mile long, but it wasn't going to stop.

I wasn't going to stop.

Not now, not ever.

For better or for worse, she was stuck with me. Even if she didn't know it. Jesus. I didn't even recognize myself. All these feelings for a woman I hadn't taken to bed, or better yet, even kissed. But I knew they were real. As real as knowing the sun was going rise tomorrow.

"The whole dating games stuff. I mean,"—she started to blush—"not that that's what I'm assuming we're doing. I don't know." She winced and shook her head. For a moment, I lost her dark gaze, and I didn't like it. "I mean, you could totally be talking about hooking up and?—"

"Breathe, angel," I quickly cut her off. Silently begging her to look back up at me. When she did, I continued speaking, "Let's clear up a couple of things here, okay? First off, you and me? This is not a hookup or a quick thing. You're not some kind of notch on my bedpost."

"Oh?" I could see the war waging inside her, the questions in her eyes of whether I meant we were or weren't going to be something.

"I want you, Lita. I like you. A lot. More than I should. If I were a good man, I'd walk away and let someone younger and fucking better for you sweep you off your feet."

"You're a good guy," she defended me. Jesus, it was sexy. "And you're not that much older." I liked the stubborn fierceness in her eyes. I liked how she wasn't afraid to show me our age difference wasn't an issue for her.

"Fifteen years, baby."

"Age is just a number," she whispered and started to move in closer. It felt like we were two magnets too attracted and drawn in to stop.

"I'm not playing games, baby girl. I promise you, I'm not," I rasped.

"Then…" I loved how I could read her. I could see her striking up the courage to ask what she really wanted to know. And I had a feeling if she asked, walking away without a taste was going to be near impossible. "Why won't you kiss me? "

"Not yet." I breathed in deeply, and her scent filled my lungs. "When I kiss you, I want you to know me. Really know me."

Because I wasn't going to be able to stop kissing her. After my lips finally got a taste of hers, there was no way I would let her go. There would be no possible way I could walk away.

"Oh." Her pretty lips were a perfect O, one I knew I'd be imagining later while I jerked my cock. It changed into a smile so sweet it made my teeth ache and my lips tingle for a taste. "So,"—her pink tongue slipped out and left her lips shiny under the soft porch light we stood under—"you want to go out? Again, I mean."

"Today wasn't a date." A pretty brow on her face rose, and my lips twitched. Jesus, I liked that, too. That hint of attitude that lay under her shyness. I wanted to see it, all of it. "Today was us hanging out. Tomorrow, though…"

"Tomorrow?" Her eyes lit up brightly, and the apples of her cheeks turned a pretty shade of pink even below the soft lighting and the darkness of the night. The way she looked up at me made me feel like a superhero in her eyes. And I never wanted to let her down.

"Tomorrow. I'll pick you up at six," I told her. I didn't ask. I wouldn't either. Not when I knew she was it for me. I'd been waiting forty years to find her, and now, right or wrong, she was mine.

"You will, huh?"

"Yep."

"Pretty sure of yourself," she teased lightheartedly. I chuckled. She was too adorable .

"I'm sure I like you, Lita. A whole fucking lot," I admitted. I was putting a lot on the line. I had been so fucking determined not to cross any lines. Just to watch my baby girl from afar to make sure she was safe. "I want you to get to know me, so when"—my hand moved to hold her chin, my thumb sliding against her pouty bottom lip— when I do kiss you, you know who you're kissing, and you know that this isn't a game or a night or a moment."

"That sounds pretty serious."

"I'm a grown man, Lita. One who knows what he wants."

"And you want?—"

"You," I cut her off with confidence.

I was done trying to keep my distance.

She needed someone to look after her. A protector. A daddy. Someone to love and watch over her. Who else would do a better job than me? No one , a deep animalistic voice growled in the recesses of my mind.

"I want you. Only you," I found myself telling her, and instead of looking scared, my beautiful curvy angel looked up at me with adoration in her eyes. That look was going to be my downfall. There was no doubt about it.

"I gotta be upfront right now and tell you I have never felt this way towards a woman. I tried to keep my distance because…" I had been virtually stalking her.

Learning her routine.

Moving across the street.

Watching each and every video, picture, and piece of content she posted onto social media. Her parents were clueless about what she did. The trouble she could find herself in. I was going to take care of her from now on. They'd done a great job raising her, but she was mine.

"It doesn't matter why. What matters now is you and me? Lita, this is going to happen."

"Okay," she easily agreed. "Six," she confirmed and blinked. "Where are we going? I mean, just so I know what to wear."

"A dress. Something pretty and fresh. It's going to be hot tomorrow."

"It's summer," she sassily reminded me. I wanted to do nothing more than lightly tap her perfect bubble butt to see what she would do. My girl's sassy mouth would earn her delicious spankings in the future. And I couldn't fucking wait! I had a feeling she would enjoy them even more than I would dolling them out.

"It is. So, wear something pretty and fresh. Flats or sneakers."

"With a dress?" Her eyes sparkled.

"No heels." I frowned playfully. "Don't want my favorite girl to get tired out on me." I winked. I was outright flirting with her because gone was the voice of reason. The only thing in its place was a man possessed and addicted to the girl in front of him. I forced myself to step back, because if I didn't, my plans would go to hell.

"Okay." She blushed and looked at the plushie in her hands. "Thanks again." I nodded because I didn't trust myself to say anything. "Good night," she whispered. I pointed at her door.

"Go inside and lock up, baby. Stay safe. "

"Okay." She smiled and then, like the good girl she was, did exactly as I'd asked. My hand dropped to the front of my jeans and gripped my dick tightly for a second of relief. Once the lights in her house were turned on, I turned around and went back to my place.

Tomorrow couldn't come quickly enough.