Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Epilogue
Forbidden Kiss
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Kelli’s Voracious Vixens
About the Author
Also by Kelli Callahan
Chapter One
Phoebe
“Phee, wait up!” My best friend, Valerie, waved to me as I walked to my next class.
“Hey Val.” I stopped and waited for her. “I thought you were sick? You said you weren’t coming to school today.”
“It turned out to be nothing.” She shrugged. “I think I was just freaking myself out because we’ve got that big test in Economics today.”
“Ah, yeah.” I nodded in understanding. “I wish I could say I was better prepared, but Jake was at my house last night, so I didn’t have time. I’ll probably have to spend my entire lunch period cramming.”
“I bet you’re really happy football season is finally over.” Val grinned and gave me a nudge with her elbow. “You get Jake all to yourself for the rest of the year.”
“Yes!” I smiled, and a sensation of excitement shot through my entire body. “It feels like our relationship has been on pause for the last few months, but that is all over now.”
“I hope you don’t have big plans with him tonight.” Val tilted her head inquisitively. “We are supposed to go to Monica’s house—remember?”
“I don’t really want to spend the night at Monica’s house.” I threw my head back and groaned. “We’re getting too old for slumber parties!”
“I know, but this is probably going to be the last one.” Val shrugged. “You never know—it might be fun.”
“It was fun when we were thirteen and had to hide under a blanket after we stayed up until the three in the morning watching horror movies.” I shook my head back and forth. “I’m not scared of Freddy Krueger anymore.”
“I’m sure we’ll find something to entertain ourselves with.” She laughed. “Okay, we need to get to class. Should I pick you up, or will your mom let you borrow the car?”
“No, mom isn’t going to let me keep the car all night. Besides, I promised Jake I’d have dinner with him and his dad, so I may need you to pick me up at their house. I’ll text you later.” I waved to her and walked into the classroom to my immediate right.
There was nothing exciting about spending the night at Monica’s house. It was one of those things Val and I enjoyed when we were younger because Monica’s parents didn’t really supervise us while we were there, but it got a lot less interesting as we got older. Val had been my best friend since elementary school, and Monica always wanted to be our third wheel. I tried to be Monica’s friend, but she was a little weird—her latest fascination was trying to talk to dead people with her Ouija board. I wasn’t really into that, especially after seeing it go wrong in every single horror movie we watched, but I promised Val I would go.
I have to keep my word, even if I would rather spend my Friday night with Jake.
The reality was that I had started to grow up, and my priorities were changing. I was eighteen years old and looking forward to the end of high school when I would get to leave Penny Grove in the rear-view mirror. Jake and I were going away to the same college. He would be majoring in football thanks to his scholarship and minoring in Religious Studies. I would be majoring in History and minoring in a full-time job, just so I could afford to be there with him. We were going to be all alone in a new town, and while we wouldn’t be living together or actually married—yet—I was pretty sure that it was going to feel like we were.
It’s hard to focus on the things I used to enjoy when all I want to do is get to the next chapter of my life—one page closer to my happily ever after with Jake.
After the school day was officially over, I went home and got ready to have dinner at Jake’s house. My mother was still at work and normally didn’t make it home until almost six. She also mentioned that she might get some drinks with a few of her co-workers to celebrate the end of another long work-week since she knew I had plans for the evening. I didn’t get to hang out with my mom as much as I used to when I was younger, but that was part of growing up as well.
If I wasn’t busy with Jake, Val, or my extracurricular activities at school, I was usually putting in a few hours at my part-time job. I worked for Jake’s father at his law firm, which is what led to me dating Jake in the first place, and Mr. Anderson was pretty flexible with my schedule. He even gave me a key so I could work on the weekends if I wanted. I was initially hired to help them go paperless by scanning all of the firm’s old case files into their new electronic system, but it seemed like there was so much new stuff to scan that I barely had time to get to the old files—I planned to spend my last summer before college putting in as many hours as I could to finish that for them before I left Penny Grove.
I definitely need the money.
* * *
“Hi!” I opened the passenger side door of Jake’s truck as soon as he pulled into my driveway. “I thought you forgot about me.”
“Nah, I just had to stop by the church before I picked you up.” He looked over at me and smiled.
“Did you need to squeeze in a quick prayer before you could have dinner with your dad?” I leaned across the middle console and gave him a kiss—which only lasted a couple of seconds before he pulled away.
“There aren’t enough prayers in the world…” Jake sighed and put his truck in reverse. “I don’t know what his problem is!”
Here we go…
I loved Jake—I really did—but his angst towards his father made things difficult sometimes. It was one of the reasons I was looking forward to leaving Penny Grove after graduation. Jake and I would be able to focus on us instead of everyone else. I really didn’t have a problem with Mr. Anderson. I thought he was pretty cool, and I owed him a lot because of everything he had done for me.
Jake, on the other hand, thought his father was the root of all evil. He didn’t approve of his father’s habits, vices, or even his profession—which Jake thought was enough to sentence his father to fiery damnation since he helped criminals avoid the punishment they deserved. I learned not to argue with Jake when he was on one of his rants—even if I didn’t agree with some of the things he said.
“It’s going to be okay.” I put my hand on Jake’s thigh. “We’re just having dinner with him. Don’t you have plans with the guys tonight?”
Hopefully I can get him to talk about something else so that he doesn’t have steam coming out of his ears by the time we get to his house.
“Yeah, we’re going to hang out. We were supposed to meet up right after school.” Jake nodded. “But—of course, I can’t do what I want to do because dad is making us have dinner with him!”
“Maybe we’ll get a little time to ourselves after dinner?” I moved my hand up Jake’s thigh—as far as I could go without him pushing me away. “Next weekend, we might even get to go out on Friday night. We haven’t been able to d
o that in a while…”
“Yeah, I’m not having dinner with him again next weekend. I don’t care what he says! I’m not obligated to spend time with him just because I don’t have a football games on Friday nights anymore.” Jake shook his head and glared at the windshield.
“Don’t think of it as spending time with him.” I squeezed Jake’s thigh. “We get to spend time together—he’s just in the same room with us.”
“I swear if he starts talking about my major again, I may just get up and leave the table.” Jake’s eyes narrowed, and he gripped the steering wheel a little tighter.
“We’ll make it through dinner, and then we’ll go upstairs.” I took a deep breath and let my hand venture higher than normal. “I’ll help you relax.”
“Careful!” Jake put his hand on my wrist and pushed me away. “We talked about this.”
“Sorry…” I muttered under my breath and folded my arms across my chest.
I always tried to be respectful of my boyfriend’s religious beliefs, which included a pretty firm position on sex before marriage. I couldn’t help it if my teenage hormones didn’t want to be contained by the teachings of Pastor John at Penny Grove Baptist Church. I didn’t grow up reading the good book. I grew up reading the dirty books on the bottom shelf of my grandmother’s library—the ones that featured grand historical romances and plenty of ripped bodices along the way.
The day my grandmother caught me with my nose buried in one of those books was the day they all disappeared. When I got home, my mother gave me a pretty stern lecture that ended with a trip across her knee, and she pulled my pajama pants down for an introduction to the flat side of the wooden hairbrush she kept on her dresser. After that lesson, I made sure the books I read were nice and clean. I still preferred historical ones—as long as nobody lost their bodice.
“I don’t know how you can work for him!” Jake glared at me when he made the last turn that would take us to his house.
This again? Great…
“You know I have to save money for college.” I looked down and sighed. “You have a scholarship. I have to pay for my tuition, buy books, and my dorm room isn’t free.”
“You’re getting loans…” He muttered and shook his head angrily.
“Those loans won’t pay for everything.” I shook my head quickly. “We’ve talked about this…”
“I’d rather scrub toilets than work for my dad.” Jake turned his attention back to the road.
I bet I’ve scrubbed a lot more toilets than you ever have.
“We’ve discussed this several times already. I tried to find something else…” I sighed a little louder. “Your dad pays really well, and he’s very flexible with my schedule. That means I get to spend more time with you.”
“Yeah, sin always pays well.” Jake’s jaw tensed up. “If you can live with the price.”
“It’s only until the end of summer.” I reached for my purse when he turned his truck into the driveway. “No more sin after that…”
I really hope we’re able to commit one or two together at some point—otherwise college is going to be four very long years…
The worst part was that there were rumors about Jake—allegedly, he wasn’t always a saint, but he didn’t like to talk about anything that happened before he got washed in the blood of the lamb. I couldn’t say for sure if I would have started dating Jake if I realized exactly how devoted he was to the cross he wore around his neck, but it wasn’t always teenage angst and anger towards the man who raised him.
Jake could be so incredibly charming—so kind— and I fell in love with that side of him before I realized our relationship was going to slam into a brick wall when I wanted it to go further than hand-holding and a few passionate kisses. The only time it had gone beyond a PG rating was one night in his room—when we got lost in the heat of the moment and he got a happy ending in his pants that made him immediately start praying for forgiveness.
“If your dad isn’t finished making dinner, do you think you could help me with our assignment for Mr. Smith’s class?” I looked over at Jake. “I’m really struggling with a couple of the essay questions we have to answer.”
“Yeah, I’m already done, so I should be able to point you in the right direction.” Jake nodded. “I’d rather do homework than spend an extra minute with my dad anyway.”
Maybe it’s better than I’m spending the night at Monica’s house. There’s no way to reason with Jake when he gets in one of these moods.
Chapter Two
Arlo
“Damn it!” I pulled my hand away from the stove when I accidentally touched the handle of my cast-iron skillet. “Where the hell did I put my potholder?”
Shit! I need to stop talking to myself—especially if I’m going to say things like that. Jake and Phoebe will be here any minute.
It had been a long day at the office, and I got home a lot later than I expected. The highlight of my week was supposed to be dinner with my son and his girlfriend, but there wasn’t going to be any food to put on the table if I didn’t hurry. I was being careless—trying to cook the hamburgers on high instead of medium just so they would get done faster, and I needed to check the air fryer to make sure our onion rings didn’t need another ten minutes to be extra-crunchy—the way Jake liked them. I also needed to throw together a salad because Phoebe didn’t always like to have onion rings with her meal.
Did I remember to pick up Thousand Island dressing? I know it was on the list…
I finished the glass of whiskey sitting beside me and put my glass in the sink. I turned towards the fridge, then remembered that the bottle was still on the counter, so I quickly put it in the cabinet above the stove. Jake knew that I never had more than one or two drinks, but he still gave me crap about it every chance he got. Out of sight meant out of mind—I hoped. All I wanted to do was have a nice dinner that didn’t end with him blowing up at me or storming off because of something I said. I hated walking on eggshells in my own house, but I was managing my way through his teenage angst the best way I knew how—while still trying to be a father to him. It was supposed to just be a phase, but the phase seemed to have started late and showed no sign of ending anytime soon.
“Hi Daddy!” A soft, delicate voice echoed behind me, and I turned to see Jake’s girlfriend standing in the doorway of the kitchen.
“Hey Phoebe.” I gave her a nod, and my face lit up with a smile. “How are you doing? I haven’t seen you at the office in a few days.”
“I’ve been busy with school. I’m planning to go in on Sunday and make up for the time that I missed.” She nodded quickly. “Is dinner ready?”
“Not yet—soon though.” I motioned to the hamburgers and then remembered that I needed to check the fridge for Thousand Island dressing.
“Okay, we’re going to work on some stuff for school.” She waved and walked towards the living room.
Phoebe had been calling me Daddy since she started dating Jake—it began as a joke that never really ran its course. I hated being called Mr. Anderson, and I couldn’t get her to call me Arlo, especially at the office where everyone who worked there felt like they had to address me with rigid respect because my name was on the building. Some of the people that worked there when it was Anderson Law instead of Anderson & Anderson were a little more relaxed, but the newer lawyers had too much your honor in their system to loosen up. Technically, the second Anderson could come down since my father had retired, and it didn’t look like my son had any intentions of following in our footsteps, but I hadn’t gotten around to it yet.
Fuck, now the hamburgers are almost burnt, and the onion rings still need another five minutes.
“Dinner will be ready in five…” I leaned out of the kitchen and saw Jake in the living room table with Phoebe, and they had a couple of textbooks open in front of them.
“Thanks Daddy!” Phoebe looked up at me and smiled—my son didn’t even lift his head.
Damn it, Jake. It’s your first Frida
y without a football game all year. Surely your girlfriend is a lot more interesting than those fucking textbooks.
The giant rift that had formed between my son and me seemed to get wider by the day. It wasn’t always that way. Things were great when he was younger. We watched football games together all the time, hung out on the weekends when he wasn’t busy with sports or friends, and he even came by the office in the afternoons after the season was over to help out when he could.
Things took a strange turn the summer before his Junior year of high school. He went to stay with his grandparents—his mother’s family—and a fiery sermon on a Sunday morning convinced him that he was going straight to hell if he didn’t change his ways. He was different after that, and while I respected everyone’s religious beliefs, I was concerned that he might have landed on the extreme side of the message that was delivered.
Okay, the burgers seem to be okay, the onion rings are extra crisp and—oh, the salad.
I moved the hamburgers and onion rings to the table, tossed all of the salad ingredients from the fridge in a big bowl, and lined up the condiments—including the Thousand Island dressing. It wasn’t exactly a fine dining experience, but it was Jake’s absolute favorite thing to eat. He would have chosen a hamburger and onion rings over prime rib, steak, lobster, or anything else that I could have fixed if I had more time. I would fix it for every meal if I could have done so with a clear conscience—but it was okay to indulge every now and then. We didn’t get to eat dinner together very often, and the days when we could, were rapidly passing us by. It wouldn’t be long until I was sending him off to college.
My Ex Boyfriend’s Daddy Page 1
