Daddy’s Lost Love

by Roberts, Laylah

  She wasn’t so sure. Ellie hadn’t seen the way that Jed had looked at her.

  “I’m gonna try the online dating thing, if it doesn’t work out, I’ll let you fix me up. Deal?”

  There was silence. “You tell me when you’re going out and where and with who and you text me when you leave and when you get home.”

  “Yes, Mom,” she said teasingly although it filled her with warmth to have someone worry about her. “It will be fine. I might meet Prince Charming.”

  Ellie snorted. “You’re more likely to meet Jack the Ripper.”

  “Thanks, that makes me feel so much better.”

  “What friends are for,” Ellie said cheerfully.

  Hopefully this would be the start of something. She could have something for herself. A new start.

  Yeah, she liked the idea of that.

  * * *

  He’d been a jerk.

  These last few days, he’d done a lot of thinking and that was the conclusion he’d come to. He’d been taken by surprise, probably overreacted and he’d had no right to tell her to leave town. He’d wanted to think the worst of her. He hadn’t wanted to look at her and see vulnerability. To see her sweetness. To see hurt in her eyes.

  Hurt that he caused.

  Yep. Class A jerk.

  Her searching him out now because of his inheritance made little sense. Plus, she’d seemed genuinely angry when he’d accused her of being after the money. Christ, that damn money was a headache. He had no idea what to do with what his grandfather left him. He didn’t need that sort of cash. So he’d just been sitting on it.

  He hadn’t expected the sight of her to hit him so hard. For there to be this sharp stab of longing. Of arousal. Of need.

  His phone rang as he entered his cabin and he took the call even though it was the last thing he felt like doing. He’d just gotten home. He was exhausted. He wanted to shower, eat and sleep. Maybe not in that order.

  “Jed. It’s Bear.”

  “What’s up?” Jed asked, moving into his cabin and dumping his bag on the floor.

  “It’s Daisy.”

  “Daisy? Is everything all right? Has she left?”

  It’s for the best.

  “No, she hasn’t. Ellie convinced her to stay.”

  Something filled him, something that felt like relief.

  “Bear?” he prompted when the other man said nothing more. “Is Daisy all right?”

  “Ellie just told me she’s gone on a date tonight. With some guy she met. Online.” Bear sounded horrified and disgusted.

  A knot formed in his gut. “She fucking did not!”

  “She did, man. Was going to go track her down myself, but thought I’d see where your head was at.”

  “Where my head is at?”

  “I don’t know everything that happened between you two. Daisy has told Ellie some of it. I do know that you don’t react the way you did to someone you feel nothing about.”

  “Does Ellie know where they’ve gone?” he asked, not about to go there with Bear.

  “Yep.”

  “Well?”

  “Not giving that to you until you tell me where your head is at,” Bear replied calmly. “I came to you out of courtesy, in case you still have feelings for her. But if you’re just going after her because you want to tell her to leave town again then I’m going to go myself.”

  “I’m not going to tell her to leave town,” Jed bit out. He wasn’t going into any more detail. But Bear seemed to get it.

  “Thought it might be like that. Go gentle man, a lot of things can happen in ten years.”

  Like he didn’t know that. His jaw tightened as he got the name of the bar where she was meeting this guy. That it was one of the roughest bars in the state didn’t help his temper. He ended the call with Bear, put his boots back on, then his jacket, and slammed the door on his way out.

  He wasn’t quite sure what he was going to do when he found Daisy. All he knew was that there would be no more blind dates.

  And that he wasn’t as done with her as he’d thought.

  * * *

  The date sucked.

  Boy, did it suck. She’d only been on the dating site for a few hours when she’d received a request for a date. The guy had sounded good. His name was Mike Lyle. He worked in IT, mostly from home. Seemed polite, nice-looking, and he wanted to go out for dinner.

  She’d said yes.

  What had she been thinking? Why hadn’t she listened to Ellie? Mike was supposed to be thirty-four, but he looked about fifty. Not that she was worried about his looks. But he was so bland and boring it was all she could do not to go into a coma. He talked. A lot. About himself. And his two ex-wives, who apparently had taken him to the cleaners.

  Because that’s something she wanted to hear about.

  Pretty much the first thing he’d said to her was that she had to pay for her own meal and drink. She hadn’t been intending to let him pay, but it still put the date off to a weird start.

  They were halfway through the first course and he hadn’t noticed that she wasn’t talking. Not that she could get a word in anyway. She pushed her plate away even though it was still mostly full. How long until Ellie called? She was supposed to call half way through the date and see if Daisy needed an excuse to leave.

  She really needed an excuse to leave.

  “And do you know how much fucking lawyers cost nowadays? Should have fucking trained to be a lawyer, that’s what I should have done. Are you gonna eat that?”

  She looked down at the steak she’d only taken a few bites of and before she’d finished shaking her head, he’d whipped it off her plate.

  “Can’t let it go to waste. This is fucking good steak. That’s why I brought you here. Best fucking steak in the state.”

  Seriously? This place was a dive. The lighting was dim, which she figured was a good thing as it no doubt hid a variety of sins. And it stunk of stale beer and cigarette smoke.

  She needed to get out of here.

  “I think this date is going great, don’t you? Wanna make a time for a second date?”

  What? So, he could eat her steak and make her pay? And complain about his ex-wives all night? And chew with his mouth open so she could see everything?

  “It’s refreshing not to have a woman chatter on all the time, you know? Nag, nag, nag, was all I ever got from my bitch ex-wives.”

  “Maybe if you had refrained from calling them bitches and swearing at them constantly, they would have stuck around. And you could have tried listening to what they had to say instead of complaining about them nagging at you.”

  The deep voice sent a shiver of goosebumps up her back. He wasn’t here. He couldn’t be here. He wasn’t. Seriously, that was someone else standing behind her, talking in that deep rumble that made her insides dance with happiness and her body clench with need.

  Mike glared up at the stranger standing behind her who was, for some odd reason, interrupting their date to tell Mike what a jerk he was.

  Thanks, kind stranger.

  “Excuse me?”

  “You heard me,” the stranger replied. She was not turning around to look at him. She was not.

  Mike opened his mouth, closed it. “What the hell? You got no right to interrupt our date and talk to me like that, you fucking asshole.” Mike looked at her. “Do you know this fucking dickhead?”

  She shook her head. Then a hand landed on her shoulder. Its heat seeped through her clothing as though it wasn’t even there, searing the skin beneath. Branding it.

  Okay, now you’re just getting fanciful. He’s just touching you.

  “Daisy’s leaving with me now,” the stranger who somehow knew her name said. “She won’t be going on any more dates with you. Do not contact her.”

  “Now see here,” Mike started to say, standing. “You cannot just steal my date!”

  “I can when she was mine first.”

  Fuck. Fuckity fuck.

  She turned to look up at Jed. Big mist
ake. His jaw was tight with tension. He didn’t shift his gaze away from Mike, but she could tell his glare was intense. Fury rolled off him in frightening waves.

  Shit. Why hadn’t Ellie called?

  “What’s he talking about?” Mike asked. “You fucking seeing him too? Well, this is my turn with her tonight, buddy, so wait for yours.”

  “You are not having a turn with her. She’s not some toy. Come, Daisy. Now.”

  All right, that was not a voice you disobeyed and she found herself rising. She tried to find some anger for his high-handedness. But truth was, she was grateful for anything that meant she didn’t have to listen to Mike moan for another hour. She reached for her bag to grab out her wallet.

  “I’m sorry about this,” she said to Mike. “Let me get some cash to cover my dinner.”

  “Why? Seems he ate it all,” Jed bit off.

  She fumbled with her wallet then watched in amazement as Jed dropped a fifty-dollar bill on the table. “That should cover it.”

  She’d say. The steak only cost $12.95, which she was betting was the real reason Moany Mike had brought her here. Best steak in the state her ass.

  Jed wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her with him.

  She tried to turn back to say good night, but he tightened his grip around her waist. “Do not even think about it.”

  “You’re being super rude.” She glared up at him.

  “No, being rude would have been just picking you up and carrying you out of here over my shoulder. That’s still an option if you don’t behave yourself.”

  “Behave myself?” she gasped. “I’m not a child.”

  Jed snorted. “Sure act like one at times.”

  “I do not.” She was highly insulted by that. She’d raised both of her siblings. She’d always been the adult. She had never had a chance to be a child.

  “You’re impulsive, you do things without thinking them through like going on dates with strangers.”

  “I used an online dating app; people use them all the time!”

  By this time, they were in the small foyer of the restaurant. He grabbed her jacket off the rack then he held it out for her to slip her arms in. That was surprisingly gentlemanly.

  “What?” he asked, staring down at her with one eyebrow raised. “You didn’t think I’d have manners?”

  “No, it’s not that.” Of course, he would. He’d always opened doors for her, always walked on the outside of the footpath, said his grandfather taught him how to treat a lady. “People change.”

  He nodded. “They do. Just what did you think you were doing going on a blind date? Why would you meet someone here? This place is dodgy as hell, did you do no research first?”

  She hadn’t. But she wasn’t going to tell him that “It’s a public space. I doubt anything bad would happen to me here.”

  “It’s a biker bar and someone was murdered in the parking lot six months ago.”

  She gaped up at him, so shocked that she let him take her hand without protest. He led her outside. “They were not.”

  “They were. And you just met some stranger here.”

  “Mike isn’t a murderer.”

  “Maybe not. But he is an asshole. What kind of jerk talks about his ex-wives and makes his date pay for her meal?” The disgust in his voice nearly made her smile.

  But she didn’t want him thinking that she was a total fool. “I’m not an idiot. Ellie knew where I was. She was supposed to call me at nine to give me an out if I needed it. I better call her and make sure she’s all right.”

  “Ellie is fine. What Ellie is not, is suitable back-up. You’re just lucky Bear discovered what was going on and called me. What would Ellie have done if he’d turned out to be a rapist or murderer, huh?”

  “Do you have an unusually high number of murderers in Montana?” she asked with exasperation.

  He came to a stop beside a huge-ass, black truck and turned to look down at her.

  “What kind of question is that?”

  “It’s just you all seem to have this crazy idea that murderers use dating sites to pick their next victims.”

  “Doesn’t seem so crazy to me.” He beeped open the truck. Figured. It matched its owner’s personality. Dark and stormy.

  He opened the passenger door lifted her and placed her in the seat.

  “Hey! What are you doing?”

  “I’m taking you home.”

  “I have my car here.”

  “Well, at least you didn’t let him pick you up. Please tell me he doesn’t know where you live.”

  “Of course, he doesn’t!”

  He reached over her to do up her seatbelt. She slapped his hand then she froze and stared down at him without breathing. He leaned back and watched her. The interior light of the truck was on, and at least he didn’t look mad. Or stern. In fact, there was concern on his face. “Daisy, you scared of me?”

  “N-no.”

  He narrowed his gaze. “Don’t want you to be scared of me. But I also want you to know that I won’t take you lying to me. Gonna ask you again, you think I’ll hurt you?”

  “Not physically,” she muttered.

  “You had a guy who’s hurt you in the past?” There was a stillness about him that made her wary.

  “No.”

  He breathed out a sigh. Then he gently cupped her face with his palm. “I won’t ever hit you. Won’t hurt you. Definitely gonna spank you. No doubt you’ll be over my knee in the future, but that’s all about me keeping you safe and you knowing that if you cross boundaries and break rules that there are consequences.”

  She just stared at him; aware her mouth had dropped open. What the hell was going on? Was she dreaming? Being pranked?

  He placed a finger under her chin, lifting it so her mouth closed. “Gonna catch flies like that. Now settle in. I’m taking you home. I’ll arrange to have your car dropped off to you in the morning, okay?”

  She didn’t say anything. Couldn’t say anything. And he backed away and shut the door.

  She should use this opportunity to get away. Obviously, he had lost his mind. What was he even doing here? So he’d found out from Bear that she was on a date but what did he care? He didn’t want anything to do with her. He’d made that clear. And yet here he was, telling Moany Mike that he was a dick, paying for her meal—which she fully intended to pay him back for, helping her into her coat, driving her home. . .

  Threatening to spank her.

  What was with that? He wouldn’t hurt her but he would spank her if she broke some rules, of which she knew nothing about?

  “I’ve entered an alternate reality,” she muttered.

  She jumped as she heard a chuckle and she turned to stare at him where he sat in the driver’s seat.

  “You feeling all right?”

  “Are you?” she countered.

  He belted up. “Yeah, I’m feeling great.” He looked her up and down. “For the first time in a long time, everything feels right.”

  And what the hell was she supposed to do with that?

  * * *

  Jed flicked his gaze over to his silent passenger. Funny, he’d expected her to be angry. Upset. He hadn’t expected silent. She’d always been a bit reserved. Aloof. But with other people. Never him.

  Because she trusted him.

  Had. She had trusted him. They no longer had trust between them and her shields were fully up.

  What if Bear hadn’t found out about this date? What if she’d gone on other dates? With guys worse than that prick he’d just found her with? She had no business dating other guys when he. . .

  When he what? He took a deep breath. He’d come to the conclusion as he was breaking the speed limit to get to her, his gut tied in a knot the entire time, that he was only going to find some peace was by exploring whatever it was that obviously still existed between them. These feelings that had been stirred to life by her return.

  But he got that she was confused. So was he. He’d come on strong. He’d inte
rrupted her date, pulled her out of there and basically told her that she needed rules and discipline. And she. . .

  Hadn’t hit him. Or told him he was a jerk. Hmm that was interesting. Did she want what he could give her? Boundaries and consequences?

  “Guess you’re wondering why I haven’t left town?” she asked. “Is that why you came tonight to find me? To tell me to leave again? Are you driving me home so you can make sure I pack?”

  He frowned. Fuck. He couldn’t blame her for thinking that way, though. He had been a jerk the other night. He hadn’t handled things well.

  He didn’t want to want her. He didn’t want to spend these last few nights tossing and turning, thinking about her, remembering the look on her face after he’d told her to go.

  This time he was going in with his eyes wide open and some rules firmly in place. He definitely had no intention of trusting her.

  “I came tonight because I heard you were going on a date with a complete stranger to a bar that doesn’t have the best reputation.”

  “You were worried about me?” There was surprise in her voice.

  “Yes.”

  “Why?”

  He took in a deep breath. “Daisy, I owe you an apology for the way I reacted at the cookout, but mostly for what I said to you the other night at your place. I had no right to tell you to leave town. You showing up out of the blue took me by surprise. I jumped to some conclusions and I didn’t react well.”

  “You thought I searched you out for your money.”

  He nodded. “I did.”

  “I didn’t. I had no idea you lived here. I’m not after anything like that,” she whispered. “I hurt you. Ten years ago. When I left—”

  “That was ten years ago. We were both kids and I’ve got no right to hold onto old shit to punish you with now. The past needs to stay there. So I’m sorry for what I said and the way I reacted. Forgive me?”

  “Yes,” she whispered.

  “Yes?” He gave her a look of surprise. He hadn’t expected it to be that easy.

  “I get that you were surprised and it wasn’t really a good surprise. So yes.”

  “Thank you,” he said gruffly. “I appreciate that. I also need to hear that you won’t be going on any more blind dates with strangers.”