Teach Me Daddy: A Mountain Man’s Secret Baby Romance

by Hart, Rye

  It was another ten minutes before she arrived. In that time, I adjusted my position twelve times, trying to find the most comfortable position that would make me seem the least weak. I hated that Tara was seeing me this way: broken and bedridden. It wasn’t my proudest moment.

  When she came into my room, I smiled and watched her walk toward me. She was wearing the same outfit from before. Her body looked even better today, now that my mind wasn’t clouded with pain. The seventeen-year-old I held in my memory couldn’t hold a candle to the woman standing before me.

  Her body swayed just right with every step she took. Her curves had always been enticing, but now that she was older, they were more defined. She exuded confidence, and that alone was enough to make me hard beneath my hospital blankets. I swallowed and told myself to get it together. If I couldn’t control myself around Tara, this would never work.

  “How are you feeling today?” she asked, her blue eyes searching my face.

  “Better,” I said with a nod. “Last night was pretty fucking brutal, but today, I’m all right.”

  “Did the pain keep you awake?” Tara asked, ready to take notes on her chart.

  “Yeah,” I said. “Most of the night.”

  “What did they give you?” Tara asked, frowning and looking down at my chart.

  “I don’t know.” I shrugged. “Whatever it was, it worked.”

  “Good.” She nodded and looked back at me. Her eyes roamed over my face and then down my body. I felt myself flush as she looked me over. I knew she was just visually assessing me, but it felt like more. My dick twitched, and I shifted on the bed. “Mind if I take a look at your leg?”

  “Sure.” I nodded, and Tara moved forward.

  “Tell me if anything I do hurts, okay?” she asked.

  “Got it.”

  Tara lifted the bottom of my blanket. I felt a sense dread wash over me. What would she say if she saw my erection? Fuck, why couldn’t I get the damn thing under control?

  Thankfully, Tara didn’t lift the blanket far enough for it to matter. She moved it off my leg and examined the surgical dressings. Gently, she ran her fingers down the length of it, pausing every so often to apply pressure.

  Her hands were warm and felt electric against my skin. I trembled at her touch and prayed she didn’t notice. I stared at her face while she worked. God, she was beautiful. I’d spent ten years imagining her face, but seeing it in person was better than I ever dreamed it would be. I could have stared at her for hours.

  Now that my pain was gone, I felt more like myself. As Tara gently massaged my leg, feeling around for any tenderness, I felt a rush of confidence rise inside my chest. She ran her finger up my thigh, stopping just before she reached the blanket covered part. When she glanced up at me, I grinned.

  “Don’t stop there,” I said, my voice low and husky.

  Tara’s eyes instantly hardened. She lifted her hand off my leg and glared at me, not bothering to hide her irritation.

  “What?” I asked, laughing lightly. “I’m just saying what we’re both thinking.”

  “I’m not thinking about your dick,” Tara said boldly.

  “You weren’t?” I raised my eyebrows. “Not even a little bit.”

  “Did you feel any pain, Caleb?” Tara asked, sighing deeply and rolling her eyes.

  “Only when you rejected my offer,” I said playfully.

  “This little game you’re playing right now?” Tara said. “It’s not going to work on me.”

  “What game?” I asked innocently.

  “We’ll start your PT as soon as you’re discharged,” Tara said, ignoring me. “Your leg seems to be healing just fine.”

  “Tara,” I began, but she was already heading toward the door.

  I sighed and leaned back against my pillow. She disappeared almost as quickly as she appeared and yet again, I was left thinking about nothing but her. Her face. Her body. That tight little ass of hers. Everything about her called out to me, and I knew she felt the same way whether she wanted to admit it or not.

  As the day progressed, my pain returned with a vengeance. Dr. McGee ordered more painkillers, but they were a different kind. Instead of easing me into a relaxed sleep, they were designed to keep me awake, so I could ease myself through the pain as it slowly reduced. I soon felt better, but I wished I could close my eyes and forget about Tara for a little while.

  I knew I ran her off with my comments, but I didn’t regret them. I did what I always do: spoke my mind. If Tara ran away from me, it was only because she knew I was right. After all these years, there was still a spark between us, and damn if I wasn’t about to set it ablaze.

  End of Sneak Peak. Would you like to know how this continues?

  Click Here: Forbidden Touch: A Second Chance Romance

  Damaged Goods

  A Single Dad & Nanny Romance

  PROLOGUE

  “God, you’re gorgeous,” he said breathlessly. “Holy shit.”

  I closed my eyes and rode him harder than ever, throwing myself forward and back with a power I didn’t know I possessed. His groans turned into growls as he took in the sight of me on top of him. In his eyes, I could see how much he wanted me, and it fueled my own desire.

  “Harder, baby,” I told him, begging him to take me.

  He didn’t need any encouragement. He grabbed my hips and thrust himself upward, slamming into me desperately. With the first thrust, I cried out and rode him harder. We met each other’s rhythm easily, never slowing or losing our desperate need for each other.

  “Oh God!” I cried out, unable to control myself.

  “Come for me, baby,” he said, his voice low and husky. “Come for me.”

  I obeyed in an instant. My body shook violently as I continued to meet his thrusts. I fell forward, my hands pressing into his chest while he held me up and continued to pound against me. The pleasure I felt was so great that I stopped breathing for a second, unable to think or move.

  He flipped me onto my back and threw my legs onto his shoulders, never once sliding out of me. He rammed into me over and over again, seeking his own release. The pleasure was still tingling through my body, and as he took me hard and fast, I felt myself lingering on the brink all over again.

  His eyes were hungry, and his chest was glistening with sweat as his thrusts became more urgent. I came for the third time and screamed out his name.

  “Holy shit,” he groaned, feeling my walls collapse around him again.

  CHAPTER ONE - SEAN

  “Are you sure this was the best idea?”

  Tommy’s face was turned down in a frown that I knew all too well. Ever since Telissa died, he’d become the worrier of the family. While I shut down and closed myself off, Tommy turned into an eighty-year-old grandpa, always worried about the safety of any situation.

  Tommy was all me. His dark hair was cut the same as mine, and his eyes were a mirror image of my own, deep blue and brooding. If anyone was unlucky enough to catch us on a bad day, good luck to them. We were both extremely protective and also had the tendency to be hot-tempered.

  “Yes, Tommy, I do,” I told him, no trace of doubt in my voice. Tommy wouldn’t know the real reason we were moving until I thought the time was right – if that day would every come.

  The truth is I received an email from Sarah’s biological father. He wants to take her away.

  It had taken me all of five minutes after opening that email to make the decision to move. The three of us had already lost so much that there was no way in hell I would let us be broken apart even further.

  We’d been on the road for two long days. It was just over thirteen hours from San Diego to Telluride, Colorado. Alone, the trip would have taken me exactly that long. But with two hell-raisers piled in the backseat, everything took twice as long. Bathroom breaks and food runs took up many stops, and occasionally, I had to pull over to break a fight.

  I glanced in the backseat again, my eyes falling on Sarah’s sleeping face. She looked
so much like her mother, Telissa, with her dark hair and striking green eyes. They could have been twins.

  For years, I searched for a sign of myself in Sarah’s face, but I never found any. Finally, when I learned the truth about her, it made sense. Everything I thought I knew was no longer true. I expected my feelings for Sarah to change, but they never did. It hurt like hell to know the truth about the affair, but as far as I was concerned, Sarah was 100 percent my little girl. No one could take that away from me.

  As I watched her sleeping beside her brother, I knew I’d made the right decision to move. Sarah and her brother were the only ones that kept me pushing forward. Without them, I would never have risen out of my deep depression. It was an ugly place for me and they deserved so much more. I still had demons inside that wanted to pull me back into that hell hole, but I had two good reasons to tell those demons to go fuck off.

  At five years old, Sarah was the bane of her brother’s existence. Tommy was seven and smack in the middle of a “girls-have-cooties” phase. If Sarah so much as sneezed wrong, her brother flew into a full-blown rage that took hours to subside. Sarah, of course, loved to rile him up. It was her mission during the entire ride to make him as angry as possible and then watch while he got in trouble for being mean. I knew it wasn’t fair, but I expected more from Tommy. He was older.

  When we finally pulled off the highway and began the trek into Telluride, the kids fell asleep together. I glanced behind me in the rearview mirror and saw them each with their heads flopped back against their seats. I smiled to myself and kept driving. There were times during the trip when I’d asked myself why we didn’t just catch a flight. I could have easily paid for first class tickets to Colorado, but the idea of a car trip brought back blissful memories of my childhood. I guess I wanted them to have the same experience. Selfishly, it also allowed me to slow down time. In that moment, they were so young and innocent that I wanted to freeze them forever.

  In so many ways, they were still babies, safe from harm and the world’s harsh realities. Still, I knew better. At seven and five, my kids had been through more grief than people three times their ages. My wife, their mother, passed away just over a year before our move to Telluride.

  She developed cancer after Sarah’s first birthday, and three years later, she lost the fight. It was hard on the kids, but their innocence helped them grieve quickly and start to move on. For me, it was different.

  Thirty minutes later, we pulled into the driveway of our new home, where the moving truck was waiting for us. I climbed out of the car, shaking hands with the moving guys and unlocking the front door. While we unloaded, I let the kids continue sleeping. It was nice to have a bit of peace and quiet, but I also wanted them out of the way while the movers were unloading the furniture and boxes. The last thing I needed was one of them getting hurt.

  “Anything else, Mr. Evans?” one of the moving guys asked after they carried the last box inside.

  “No.” I shook my head.

  “All right,” he said with a nod. “Good luck with everything.”

  “Thanks.” I’d already paid the moving company a large sum of money, and I didn’t see a reason to tip the men for doing their jobs.

  Just as I was about to unload the luggage from the trunk, Sarah woke up and stepped out of the car. She let the door slam closed behind her. Tommy woke at the sound and rubbed his eyes. He looked around for a few seconds before he too climbed out of the car.

  “We’re here already?” Tommy asked.

  “Yup.” I said. “What do you think?”

  Tommy and Sarah both looked at the house. I followed their gazes and took in the beauty of the house before us. In such a small town, we could get a house three times the size of our home back in San Diego.

  “It sucks,” Sarah said boldly.

  “Sarah.” I shot her a warning look, but she just shrugged.

  “Well, you asked,” she said.

  “It’s fine,” Tommy said. “It’s fine, Dad.”

  “Can we go inside now?” Sarah asked.

  “Sure.” I nodded, and the kids hurried through the front door.

  Taking a deep breath to calm my nerves, I grabbed our luggage out of the trunk and heaved it up the front steps. Once inside, I set the bags in the foyer and went to find my kids. They’d already disappeared, which wasn’t a surprise.

  “Sarah!” I called. “Tommy!”

  “We’re upstairs!” Tommy yelled back.

  With a sigh, I mounted the stairs and went to find them. They were in the master bedroom, looking out the window at the street below.

  As they turned around, I noticed the look on Sarah’s face. She was glowering at me, her green eyes narrowed in anger.

  “What is it?” I asked.

  “I don’t like it,” she said firmly.

  “What about it don’t you like?” I asked.

  “Everything.”

  Shit. They hate it here. How the hell am I going to handle this by myself?

  I sighed and walked over to them. Kneeling, I took each of their hands and turned them to face me. Tommy looked at me with wide eyes, waiting for me to speak. Sarah continued to glare. “Look,” I said. “It’s no secret I haven’t done the best job since Mom died. I’m sorry that I haven’t been able to keep things together well enough, but I’m trying. This move is what we all need. We can start fresh here.”

  I held my tongue from adding the part about Sarah’s biological father having the nerve to try to waltz into her life and take her away from the only home she’d ever known. As if I’d just stand there and let him take my precious girl away from me. Sure, I had a great chance of winning the custody battle, but he would plant a seed in Sarah’s impressionable mind that she wasn’t my girl – a seed that would eat her up inside. She’d already lost one parent; there was no telling what the news could do to her now. Was I going to stand there and find out? Not a damn chance.

  After I’d made it clear that Sarah was not leaving my side and she’d be told the truth when she was old enough to understand, he continued to stand his ground and push harder to get what he wanted.

  I understood exactly what was happening. It was more an ego issue with him than what was best for Sarah. As far as I was concerned, I had two choices: beat the crap out of the guy who knocked up my wife and wanted to take my daughter away from me, or leave town.

  “We can create new memories here. Doesn’t that sound good?”

  They remained silent, just watching me. After a minute, Sarah’s expression softened and she took a step forward. She wrapped her arms around my neck, and I felt that familiar tug in my chest that told me how much I loved her. Tommy joined the hug and we held each other.

  My life after Telissa’s death had been anything but easy. I shut down and hid. I barely spoke to anyone other than my kids. They became my life, my entire world. Nothing and no one mattered as much as them. My job as a partner at my legal practice stopped mattering to me. I showed up late for meetings and blew off clients left and right. In the end, when I decided to make the move to Colorado, it was a no surprise that I chose to sell off my share to the other partners. They bought me out and, along with my existing fortune, it left me with a solid financial foundation for our new life in Colorado.

  When we pulled away, I smiled gratefully at them both and stood up. We walked around the rest of the house, and I showed them their rooms. Sarah’s mood instantly improved when she saw her brand-new bedroom set already assembled for her. Tommy was still looking around as if he thought the walls might tumble down around us, but I knew he would warm up soon enough.

  “How does pizza sound?” I asked. “We can go into town and check it out, sound good?”

  “Yeah!” Sarah said with glee. Tommy nodded, and we all headed back out to the car.

  I hadn’t spent enough time in Telluride to know where everything was, but the town was so small that it didn’t matter. I drove into the main square and immediately found a pizza place. I parked out front an
d cut the engine. I helped Sarah out of the car, and she grabbed my hand as we walked inside.

  The second we stepped through the door, the entire place fell silent. Pairs of eyes turned to face us, and I froze, unsure of what to do. Tommy took a step back, instinctively hiding himself behind me. Sarah just squeezed my hand tighter and looked up at me.

  “Why are they staring at us?” she asked loudly.

  Several people heard her and immediately looked away. A few people laughed and smiled.

  “We’re new in town,” I said softly. “They’re just curious.”

  “We’re not that interesting,” Tommy said.

  “Let’s just eat,” I said, leading them to a corner booth.

  We sat down and ordered dinner. The kids quickly forgot about the staring strangers when the pizza arrived, but I didn’t. Every time I looked around, someone was looking at our booth with interest. I nodded at a few of them and then took to ignoring them completely. I wasn’t the type to smile and make friendly chit chat. If that’s what they were waiting for, they’d be waiting a long damn time.

  “You guys new in town?” the waitress asked when she brought us our check.

  “Yes,” I said.

  “Where are you from?” she asked, looking from me to the kids and back again.

  “California,” Sarah said with a mouthful of pizza. “The southern part.”

  The waitress laughed and smoothed Sarah’s hair down as if it were the most natural thing in the world. I cleared my throat and cut her a look but didn’t speak.

  “Well, welcome to town,” she said with a bright smile. “We hope to see you guys in here again sometime.”

  “We’ll be back,” Sarah said with confidence. “We love pizza, and my daddy can’t really cook. And since he’s single—”

  “That’s enough, Sarah,” I said, shooting her a warning look.

  She shrugged and took another bite of her pizza. “Well, you can’t.”

  The waitress just laughed again and hurried away from the table. I watched her go, knowing she would share our entire exchange with anyone who would listen.