by S. L. Finlay
Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Author Note
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Thank You!
Daddy, Boyfriend
& Me
S. L. Finlay
Copyright © 2019 S. L. Finlay
All rights reserved.
Before we get into what looks like a sexy little story, a quick note from the author.
Yes, this is in a different font so you can skip past it if you’re re-reading the book and don’t need to re-read the note from me, I won’t be offended. Go on then. Still here? Your first time? Well welcome then! I am Stacey (aka S. L. Finlay) and I am the writer of this naughty little book you have just purchased for yourself. I hope you are happy with your purchase (well, it’s too late now if you’re not, right!?)
I wanted to take a moment to thank you for your support in purchasing this book, leaving a review, and joining my mailing list. The last two are of course optional. Optional like paying your taxes is optional, really. You better do them then!
To join the mailing list - and receive a free short story set with the same characters after the happily ever after in this book - then all you have to do is click here.
See, it was painless, wasn’t it!?
Now, onto the rest of the book.
Warmest Regards,
S. L. Finlay
(Melbourne, Australia, June 2019).
CHAPTER ONE
Every day more dull and difficult than the last, I was working my buns off to get through my thesis and to keep money flowing. It was hard work, with little rewards and even less time off to enjoy myself.
It felt as though all I was doing was working. Working and attending the odd work-related event (more work, only hidden under cocktails).
On one sunny Friday I slept though my alarm and waking up late I rolled out of bed grumpily. It had been a long week, the sort of week where you feel like you have not made any gains but have been struggling the whole time to get nowhere.
I knew intellectually that I had made plenty of gains. I had worked hard on my thesis and was making real headway. I had earned a bit extra this week so I could relax about work for the rest of the month - my casual job gave me an income I couldn’t always rely upon - I was late today not because I was lazy and didn’t want to get out of bed, but because I had thrown myself into work all week and now it was almost the weekend, I couldn’t give myself the motivation that I needed. I spent all my energy on work and didn’t have any energy left for me.
Typical. Or, typical of me at least.
By the time I got into the office and sat down at my desk with a hot coffee, it was eleven AM. The other people who I shared an office with were all buzzing around, they had been here since nine AM, or even eight AM. I slumped in my chair as I thought about that.
“Hey Mel!” Called the friendly girl who normally sat beside me, she was over at the photocopier giving me a little wave. Always photocopying for her own thesis, a paleontology endeavor. I wondered what about dinosaurs could possibly need that much photo copying.
We shared this small office with four other people. Together we were working across six different disciplines. The university would normally try to put you in an office working beside people of your own or at least related disciplines, but I think we were all the left-overs who wouldn’t fit in other offices so wound up here together. We made the most of the situation though. Having people from different disciplines working beside you meant you could ask one another questions informally over the water cooler rather than having to hunt down the person to ask about something specific and potentially wasting hours of your precious time on a single question. The person with the knowledge you needed was right there. I spent plenty of time hearing about other people’s work and talking about my own work with people who saw things differently to me. They would ask questions, or would want some things clarified, they would be my test audience. So in a way, we were all learning together and from one another. Learning through teaching I have found is the best way to learn something new.
Even though my thesis wouldn’t be released outside academic circles - or rather, no-one outside of academic circles would care about it enough to read it unless they were related to me and being supportive of my work - I figured it was always good to write so everyone could understand your work, rather than to get stuck in the world of academics and forget to communicate like a normal person.
So my test audience of clever people from different disciplines was perfect for that ‘does someone outside of my field understand this’ test.
That particular sunny hard-to-motivate myself Friday, I worked away at my thesis diligently and at eight o’clock in the evening, I shut down my computer, rubbed my sore staring at a screen all day eyes and walked out the front door of my office at the university. I was headed to one of my fathers garden parties for the evening.
I arrived at my parents house just after eight-thirty and there were already a number of people at the party. Both of my parents had been successful in their respective fields and as I looked around the garden, I could see many of their work friends mingling among those present. Their work friends would have normally stood out in anyones garden party, if it weren’t for the fact that my parents work friends and their other friends were all dressed exactly the same way.
Looking around my parents immaculate garden with all its little hedges, clipped lawns and delicately placed fairy lights, all the people I could see were wearing corporate attire. My parents would have made a point of telling all attendees not to dress up for this. They would have told their friends not to get out of their work garb after work, just to come in and have a drink and some food on their Friday evening before they went home and collapsed before the weekend began - those that weren’t working on the weekend anyway.
This was a normal happening for my parents who enjoyed entertaining but who couldn’t do so much due to their own hectic work schedules.
Scanning the men in suits and women in feminine corporate wear which consisted mostly of dresses, I found my parents in the crowd. They were in the middle of everything, of course. Chatting away to some of their friends who I did already knew.
I made a bee-line for my parents and before I could reach them, a familiar face reached out and grabbed me by the shoulder.
“Hello there, young miss!” Said the voice and I turned to smile at William. It wasn’t a smile that came from being polite. I was genuinely happy to see him and my face showed that involuntarily.
“Hey! I didn’t see you!” I chimed as I leaned in for a hello kiss.
William kissed me back and started telling me how gorgeous I looked today. I felt the blush rise in my cheeks. These comments always made me feel a little uncomfortable. Not because I didn’t like them (I did!) or because I didn’t like William (I certainly did!) But because of the age gap that existed between us, and because he was a close friend and business associate of my fathers.
It felt inappropriate, but pe
rhaps that was part of the appeal, I had always thought that might be the reason for the appeal. Of course, these thoughts about inappropriateness would come unbidden when I was on my own in my room, thinking about him as my hands trailed their way over my body.
“Thank you.” I said, before I started giggling like an idiot. I hated all the giggling, yet didn’t seem able to stop myself. It just came out, often right in front of other people too. I was sure by now everyone must know that I had a little crush on William.
“Not a problem.” He told me before asking, “how is your thesis going?”
I gave a little nod and my mood shifted, from giggling girl to thesis writing super star.
“Yes, it’s really good, thank you. I am looking forward to when it is finally finished, when all my hard work has paid off.” I told him.
“Are you?” He asked, “What will you do then?”
I cocked my head to the side and asked, “what do you mean?”
“Well, I mean, what are you planning to do once the thesis is written?” He asked.
For some reason, my stock-standard answer wasn’t flowing from my lips as it normally did when someone asked about my future. For some reason, I was being honest with this man, which felt like the oddest thing I had ever done.
“I don’t know.” I told him, “but I don’t think I want to keep doing what I am doing.”
“You don’t?” He asked, eyebrow raised. He wasn’t expecting this answer, either.
“No. I don’t want to be an academic, and I don’t want to work in my field, either. I just, want to do my own thing for a bit.” I told him.
“Your own thing?” He asked, surprise painted all over his face, “and what’s that?”
I took a breath and thought hard. “I don’t know yet, but I’ll know it when I see it.” I told him.
William was used to a well-ordered world, one where things had rules and made sense, he was a lawyer after all. So I was surprised when his immediate reaction wasn’t to call me crazy, but I was all the more surprised by the thing he did say.
“Maybe you should do something a bit more creative?” He asked.
“What do you mean?” I asked right back.
William took a deep breath as if to steel himself before he told me, “well, maybe you should do something a bit creative after doing all this hard and boring academic work. Be a painter or a poet for a little while, maybe?” He asked.
I raised my eyebrow, “you can make money doing that?” I asked.
William chuckled and gave a little shrug, “anything is possible nowadays, my dear.”
“With the Internet?” I asked, feeling more curious than I would have expected about this creative career prospect.
“Yes, with the Internet.” He told me and I gave him a little smile.
“Those are interesting ideas, I hadn’t thought of them.” I told him honestly, “I will give it some thought. As well as all the other stuff rattling around in my head, those ideas might be the key to help me decide. Who knows.”
“Yes, who knows?” Smiled William kindly.
His smile lit up his whole face, and it made me swoon, just a little bit. Happily, my swoon was so subtle no-one else would have noticed it.
William was an attractive man, but I felt like he had grown into his looks as he got older. I had seen a picture of him as a young man - as a university graduate - and he looked a big lanky and awkward, nothing like he looked now.
William was distinguished, well built, if on the slim side. He was taller than me and had the air of a man who knew what he wanted, but didn’t push that onto anyone else. A kind man, William seemed happiest when he was making others laugh. That was something that I truly loved about him.
Right now though, he was being whisked away from me by a colleague. Ever so politely, William excused himself and went to join a conversation with a bunch of lawyers. I ducked out of the conversation, knowing better as a lawyers daughter than to get stuck in those sorts of conversations.
I had an entire childhood of being caught on the edge of conversations between lawyers about their boring work. The conversations seemed to go on for ages and would often escalate into debates about points of law that I knew nothing about and didn’t care about either. No thanks, not today.
Scanning again where my parents had been before I had spoken to William, I felt frustrated that I had lost them. They must have moved on I thought as I felt something vibrate in my handbag. My mobile phone was demanding attention I thought as I unzipped the bag and reached in with one hand. The screen was lit up and I saw the text message I had just received was from someone who I had been excited to hear from.
I flicked the screen to read the message.
“Hey! Sorry I have been busy this week. Work has been crazy. What are you doing tonight?” The message read.
I looked up at the garden party around me. It was already past nine PM, I knew it wasn’t a good idea to meet up with this guy, not tonight. But then it occurred to me how I didn’t care about what I should do, not where this guy was concerned. Where this guy was concerned, should had long since left the building. I was only focused on what I wanted to do with him. What felt good and what felt important were what I would do.
“Busy with work?” I wrote, then deleted the message. I knew he had been busy with work, even though the sort of work he did was so different to the sorts of work people in my circles did. I took a breath and tried again.
“I am at a party. What are you doing tonight?” I shot back, deciding to play it cool.
His response was quicker than I had expected, I hadn’t even had a chance to put the phone away when it came in. “Out with some friends, but they’re boring. Can I come to your party?”
He was bold. A bit too bold. I put the phone away as I could see my mother coming towards me. I had been spotted, finally.
“Mum!” I said, kissing her on both cheeks to say hello.
“I didn’t see you!” She told me, “when did you get here?” She asked.
“Um, oh, maybe an hour ago?” I half-asked half-told her, feeling a little unsure of the current time, despite having just had my phone in my hand moments before. I could feel it vibrating in my bag as my mother and I exchanged pleasantries.
Then my father was with us, saying hello as if he hadn’t seen me in ages, despite the fact it had only been a few days. He gave me a big hug before taking a step back and greeting me.
Both my parents were alive with chatter and questions, and it wasn’t for a good ten minutes until I was able to get away to pour myself a much needed drink and check my text messages.
“Or we could go for a drive somewhere, see the stars. It’s a good night for it.” He had written in one message.
Then in the second message, “or get late dinner? Or dessert?” He asked.
“I don’t care. I’ll do whatever you want to do, just so long as I get to spend time with you, I am happy.” He finally wrote.
My heart started jumping about in my chest. He wanted to spend time with me! Wasn’t he sweet? Wasn’t this all so sweet? He made my heart dance with just his messages, I adored him so much!
The truth was, the boy, Joel, wasn’t completely at fault for not chatting this week. I had been busy on two occasions when he tried to call, then when I texted, I apparently messaged him when he was in the middle of work and he couldn’t message me back until hours later when I was already past being interested in a conversation.
It was good of Joel to apologize though, it showed he did actually care about my feelings, even though he wasn’t completely at fault.
I felt the flutter of butterflies in my tummy whenever I was around him, and that was addictive. But did I really want this man to come and see me right now?
The answer was complicated. I wanted to see him right now in my heart. In my whole, entire jumping around my chest heart. But in my head, I knew better. I was at this garden party, spending time with my lovely parents who I didn’t get too see enough and their fr
iends. When I was done here, I knew I would go home and straight to bed. It had been a long week and I deserved the time off.
I stood there thinking abut my heart and what it wanted. Then I had to remind myself that it had been a busy week and I did need my time to relax. After all, I had slept past my alarm this morning because I was so exhausted. My body needed the rest. My body didn’t need the excitement and inevitably late night that time with Joel would mean.
I turned to my phone and shot off the most honest message I had ever sent to him, “I’m tired honey. Not tonight. What about tomorrow?” I asked.
It was a few moments before Joel messaged me back to tell me, “that’s fine. Can I take you to lunch? Pick you up around midday?”
“Sure. That would be great!” I wrote back before slipping my phone back into my bag and out of sight just as I saw William approaching for another chat, this time a much more in depth and personal one as there wasn’t anyone around us to overhear.
CHAPTER TWO
I woke up the next morning feeling a bit worse for wear, I was hungover and over-tired. Not a fantastic combination for going on a lunch date with a cute boy who you liked a lot.
Despite all of this, I still got my butt out of bed and threw myself in the shower. I was going to look beautiful for this date, then after I looked beautiful, of course I would feel beautiful too. As if one naturally proceeds the other.
Running the shower I jumped in without checking the temperature first. It was only a few degrees too hot and I corrected it with one hand while reaching for the small bar of soap I used every day to get myself clean.
Smiling to myself, I ran the bar of soap over my body as I imagined Joel’s hands on my body, touching me right where the soap was. Joel was never shy about touching my body, and expressing himself physically. I needed that when we had first met, and he had happily obliged.
Unlike William, who I had a huge crush on but could never act on it - instead having to savor the sexual tension like tasting a fine wine - I could drink Joel down in one gulp. He was the opposite of William. That was exactly what I needed. I couldn’t deal with two men like William at the same time, just as I couldn’t deal with two men like Joel at the same time.
