Daddy's Christmas Date: A Single Dad Romance

by Piper Sullivan

  "Yes really," she ground out and threw her hands defeatedly up in the air, "You know what? So what if Keith and I shared a special moment? It's not as if he's taking anything that is yours!"

  That hit a nerve, and by the way, Conners brows drew together, she knew he was angry, but she didn't care. But even then he didn't respond. The longer the heavy silence suffocated the room, the angrier Caroline became.

  "You are an asshole, Conner James," she muttered, "I should never have come. It was a monumental mistake. I really thought…well, it doesn't matter now. I'll be out of your life before the sun rises tomorrow morning."

  She spun around to leave, but Conner snatched her wrist and spun her back around to face him.

  "What doesn't matter?" Conner said, his blue eyes boring into hers.

  Caroline tried to twist her wrist out of Conner's grasp, wincing at the slight sting but Conner kept his firm grip, "Tell me, Caroline!"

  She refused to entertain his little temper tantrum, she simply sneered at him.

  “God, you piss me off so much sometimes,” Conner said.

  Caroline was going to respond but that was when Conner pulled her forward and his mouth covered hers. She was shocked at first and briefly entertained the idea of pulling back, but quickly squashed it when his tongue dove into her mouth. Caroline moaned as he released her wrist, twisting her arms around his neck, her hands in his hair.

  Conner nipped and sucked her bottom lip, apparently relishing in the small whimpers that escaped Caroline's mouth. His hands moved down to cup her buttocks and with barely and effort, lifted her in his arms.

  She could see where this was heading, and while she wasn’t opposed to the idea, she knew that she could be very loud.

  "Wait," she panted.

  “No,” Conner growled.

  “Your family-”

  “They are all out.”

  "Your brother isn't," she protested

  "Don't talk about my brother right now," he warned.

  Caroline was about to respond again but her lips were covered once more and her mind short-circuited a little bit. Conner was able to maneuver the two of them to his bed where he laid her down. It only took a moment for him to strip the rest of his clothes off before working on hers.

  Conner slowly pulled her blouse over her head, then he roughly shoved one of the cups in her bra out of the way to furiously suck on a rosy nipple. Caroline gasped at the sensation as he bit and gently nibbled around the sensitive nub. Unhooking her bra, he gave the other nipple the same amount of attention before kissing lower. Conner unbuttoned her jeans and pulled them down until she was only clad in her panties.

  She was about to speak when Conner moved his face to between her legs, lightly kissing her cotton covered pussy.

  "Fuck you smell so good," he groaned.

  Caroline moaned as he slowly slid the last bit of fabric off to expose her. Gently, he parted her folds to rub the swollen little bundle that was already past its hood. Caroline thrashed and moaned at the sensation. Just when she thought she couldn't take it anymore, Conner's mouth was on her, sucking and licking all around her sex. He varied the pressure of his sucks on her clit and introduced his fingers, stroking her until with a cry; she came with waves of pure ecstasy overcoming her.

  When she stopped shivering from the pleasure, Conner positioned himself over her while reaching into his nightstand for a condom. He rolled it on as quickly as he could and positioned the tip at her entrance.

  With a moan, he entered her until he was all the way inside. Caroline was so full and she couldn’t stop herself from clenching around his length. He felt like she remembered, hard lines in all the right places; his scent surrounded her in an intoxicating musk.

  Slowly he began to thrust in and out of her willing body. Caroline clung to his shoulders and tried to keep her moans down by biting her lip. Conner grabbed her wrists and pulled them over her head.

  “I want to hear you as you come for me.”

  Caroline nodded and he picked up his pace, fucking into her tight heat and moving his fingers down to play with her very sensitive clit.

  Finally, Caroline crested and her orgasm washed over her; she barely realized that she was screaming until she shut her mouth and began to come down from the high. Conner pumped into her sensitive body a few more times until he came with a grunt.

  In the aftermath, the two lay there and contemplated what had just happened. Caroline waited for Conner’s reaction to it all, fearing the worst. He surprised her when he let out a little chuckle, looking up at her with a wide smile.

  "You always find a way to drive me crazy," Conner said.

  Caroline smiled back at him and leaned up to kiss him.

  “Likewise,” She responded.

  Chapter 7

  The two decided to skip dinner, Conner didn't really want to face his mother after all that went down. But he had to admit to himself that she had been right, he still loved Caroline. That night, after another round of sex, he held her sleeping form in his arms and tried to come up with a way to keep her there beside him before finally falling asleep together.

  When Conner woke up, the next morning, to a ringing. He moaned and reached for his phone, but it wasn't his phone ringing. With a huff, he stood up and searched around the room until he found it in the pocket of Caroline's discarded jeans. Her phone was going off with an incoming call from Adalene, her sister if Conner remembered correctly.

  He felt it was wrong to go through Caroline’s phone, but figured he would just tell Adalene that Caroline would call her back.

  He answered the phone, “Hello?”

  "Mama?" A little girl's voice echoed from the other end, and Conner's blood ran cold.

  “Um no I think she’s in the shower, is there an adult near you that I could speak to?”

  He heard the phone being passed to someone else, “Hello?”

  "Adalene? What the hell is going on?" he demanded under his breath.

  "Oh…hello. Is my sister around?" she asked.

  "She's occupied right now, but tell me the truth, was that Caroline's child?"

  Adalene didn't answer but he knew she was still on the line.

  "How old is she?" he persisted.

  He heard Adalene sigh, "Yes, it is her child and she's three."

  "Is she mine?" he asked straight out.

  Nothing but silence answered him and that told him all he needed to know. Without saying goodbye, he hung up and waited for Caroline to exit the bathroom.

  A few minutes later she exited the bathroom with damp hair and wearing a blue blue sundress.

  “Good morning,” She said cheerfully.

  Conner didn’t answer and it was then that Caroline noticed her phone in his hands.

  "Why do you have my phone?" She asked nervously.

  "Your daughter called," he said coldly.

  Caroline looked down at her hands, "I was going to tell you."

  "When? After we fucked?" he uttered.

  Caroline winced at the harsh words but didn't reply.

  "She's about three years old now, right?" he said.

  She could hear the dismay and anger in the tone of his voice, and she deserved it every bit, she nodded once and averted her eyes. Too ashamed to look at him. She should have told him before... before he seduced her back into his bed.

  "Cat got your tongue? So I have a daughter that you chose not to tell me about?"

  Caroline looked up at him. Attempting to stop herself from crying was a failure as tears ran freely down over her cheeks.

  "What was I supposed to do? By the time I found out, you were already back here."

  "What you were supposed to do was pick up a phone and call, Oh hey Conner, by the way, I'm having your baby!" he mimicked.

  Caroline glared at him, "I was scared to tell you, I thought that you wouldn't want to see me after I left."

  "So you kept my daughter away from me?"

  "It wasn't like that."

  "Then what was it li
ke? Because I would really like to know."

  Caroline took a shaky breath, "I'm not proud of what I have done. When I left…you have to know that it was the hardest thing I ever had to do. I loved you so much, Conner."

  Conner didn't respond to the words, but that didn't stop his gut from twisting.

  "I thought it would be easier if I just left before you did. I knew that time was running out for us and it would have been harder and harder to say goodbye. I cried every night and every day, and then... a month after you were gone, I found out that I was pregnant with Lizette."

  Conner processed this information before he finally took in a shaky breath.

  "How could you have been so selfish Caroline?"

  She wiped her tears, "I can't change what I have done, but at the time, I was scared and completely alone. And considering what happened between us, I was scared that you would take my child away from me."

  "That's the biggest load of crap!" he started

  Caroline was growing angry too now, and she stepped forward, "You know nothing! You rich kids come to Paris, all looking for a good time. Do you have any idea how many girls fall pregnant and then 9 months later they are fighting a stupid custody battle? No, you don't. So..." she started towards him and poked her finger in his chest, "Don't you dare judge me!"

  "You didn't stop to think about how this would affect me? Or her for that matter?" Conner snapped.

  Caroline took a breath, "This is just going to go around in circles. You're angry and I'm going to leave you to it," she moved past him and then stopped, "Know that I don't intend to keep her from you if you decide you want to be part of her life."

  Caroline grabbed her clothes from the floor and turned to leave. When the door closed and Conner was alone, he finally allowed his knees to give out as he sat back on the bed. He took a deep breath and prayed that the trembling would leave his hands.

  Last night, he would have done anything to make Caroline stay; but now, he couldn’t wait for her to leave. He couldn’t help the rueful chuckle that came out of the irony of the situation.

  He wondered if god was having a good laugh.

  Chapter 8

  One month later.

  Conner was in the back shed, changing the oil on his bike when Rachel walked in.

  “Why are you still here?” She snapped.

  “I live here,” Conner said a little confused.

  “No, why are you here and not taking a one-way flight to Paris?”

  Conner rolled his eyes, not for the first time, regretting telling his older sister about Lizette. He hadn't talked to Caroline since that day and he was still trying to figure out what he was going to do about it. Ma wasn't talking to him at the moment; which was fine with him, after all, she had known all along about Caroline's secret. The rest of the family kept giving him hell over the whole situation.

  “You know the answer to that.”

  “So you’re just going to ignore the fact that you have a kid?”

  Conner didn’t respond.

  “Coward.”

  Conner met Rachel’s eye, “What?”

  “You heard me, I called you a coward. You would rather sit here and try to hide the fact you are now a father than go see your little girl.”

  Conner closed his eyes and took a breath, “Let it go Rach.”

  “No.”

  “Rachel!”

  “No! Why won’t you see her?”

  "Because I don't want to mess her up!"

  She looked at her brother in surprise.

  “What?”

  “You heard me.”

  “Why do you think that?”

  Conner snorted, "I'm not exactly father material. I would rather she grow up happy and well-adjusted."

  The two were quiet for a second until Conner felt a sting on his cheek.

  He was shocked to find that Rachel had actually hit him.

  “That was the sorriest excuse I have ever heard. You would be a great father and you know it. I’m tired of seeing you mope around here, you miss Caroline and you want to see your daughter. Damn it, Conner if you don’t go see her, I swear I will never forgive you.”

  Rachel then turned around and stomped back into the house. It was more of a furious waddle than actual stomping given she was in her eighth month. Conner sighed and rubbed his cheek; Rachel really had some swing in that one. He considered ignoring her and the ache her words caused. Of course, he wanted to meet Lizette and, dammit he also missed Caroline.

  He went back to his bike and finished working on it and then went back to the house to clean up. When he emerged from the house it was with his jacket, helmet, and a bag packed with some clothes. Soon he was speeding down the road towards the airport with a twist of uncertainty in his stomach.

  Paris was just as he remembered it, picturesque and beautiful. He wandered the familiar streets until he found the door he was looking for. With a burst of courage, he knocked. He didn't know what to expect when the door opened; it certainly wasn't a little girl who could only be Lizette.

  His daughter.

  He gave a small smile, “Do you speak English?”

  The little girl nodded.

  “Is your mother home?”

  She nodded again.

  “Could you go get her?”

  The little girl turned around and ran back inside. A moment later, Caroline was at the door.

  “Conner?” She closed the door before wrapping herself tighter in the shawl she was wearing over her dress, “I wasn’t expecting you.”

  Conner ran his hand through his hair, "Believe me, I wasn't expecting me either," he said with a slight hint of a chuckle.

  Caroline shrugged, "Would you like to come in?"

  “In a minute,” Conner held up his hand, “I’ve been working on this the whole flight over here and if I don’t say it now, I never will.”

  Caroline studied him intently and waited for him to continue.

  “I am still so incredibly angry that you didn’t tell me about Lizette earlier.”

  Caroline tensed but stayed quiet.

  “I don’t think I will ever not be angry about it…but I am still so in love with you that I would be a fool to let you slip away again.”

  Caroline’s shocked expression made him smile.

  “And if your offer is still on the table, I would like to be a father to my little girl.”

  Caroline didn't answer and for a second, Conner thought he had said something wrong.

  Suddenly Caroline jumped up to wrap her arms around his neck and pulled him in for a kiss. The connection between them was so powerful and charged with a passion that could easily light up the Eiffel tower.

  When they finally parted Caroline's eyes were shimmering with fresh tears.

  He looked at her and waited, and when she didn't budge he smiled awkwardly.

  “Would you like to meet your daughter?” She asked reaching her hand out.

  Conner smiled and grasped her hand not really knowing what to expect but excited by what was to come.

  The End

  Enjoyed this book?

  Click Here to join Our Romance Connoisseurs’ Club and receive a FREE copy of Her Fake Fiancé Billionaire Boss.

  Feel free to use the Table of Contents to read an exclusive excerpt included in this book.

  Seal’d to the Cowboy

  Lance

  “Ready to go, Starling?”

  I turned my head, locating the voice coming from the grizzled old man with the huge cowboy hat. It was good old Hank! He was here to take me back to the ranch. I should have known.

  It had been a long, long journey, in more ways than one. Five years of service with the SEALs, and now it was almost over. The final leg was driving back to the ranch, which would take about half a day from the airport.

  I ran a hand over my chin. Stubble had formed, I hadn’t had time to shave. Once the decision had been made, I just legged it. From Iraq to New York, and then another plane to Wyoming.

  I hel
d out my hand. “Hank, you’re gold,” I said to the man. His face split with a smile from ear to ear.

  Hank was the head ranch hand at my ranch, the Starling Ridge. He had taken the reigns while I was on service, and since the old man had died. I hadn’t been back to the ranch in over two years.

  “You look like shit,” Hank grinned, then enveloped me in a bear hug. Damn, it felt good. I had been through things lately that had made me miss home so bad, it almost twitched like the nerve endings from an absent limb.

  Lance Starling. Special Forces SEAL. Hero. The names and labels that were once me. They felt like the drooping ribbons pinned to the chest of a child after winning a second-grade sprint.

  “Hell, some things never change, Hank,” I told the old ranch hand. “Still full of compliments, you old son of a bitch.”

  Hank laughed. It felt like old times. We made our way to the parking lot.

  I stopped when we got to the car. “Old Betsy is still running?” I couldn’t believe it. The 1970’s Chevy pick-up was here in all her glory. I thought she would have been relegated to the scrap heap years ago.

  “Still purrs like a woman under my hands,” Hank grinned. We climbed into the old girl. I smiled to myself. Travelling in Betsy, we’d be lucky to make it home before dusk. The old girl didn’t clock anything over fifty on the speedometer.

  We got out onto the Interstate. Hank turned the dial to his favorite country station. The sound of Waylon Jennings crackled through the speakers, warbling about lost love.

  I stared out the window. My eyes saw the mountains of my home state, but in my mind’s eye I could still see that arid desert in Iraq, where everything had gone to shit…

  “Sorry about Jack.” Hank’s voice broke into my reverie. His voice was gruff.

  “Yeah, I’m sorry too,” I replied. What was there to say, when your best friend since elementary school had just been killed?

  “Want to talk about it?”

  “You know I can’t, Hank.” I flicked a small spider that was crawling on the dash. “Classified.”