Daddy Lessons

by Stella Bagwell

Suddenly her melancholy mood was gone and a wide smile spread across her face. As Joe looked at her, his thoughts drifted back to last week when he’d danced with her in the darkness and her laughter had spilled over him like warm, sweet honey. He didn’t know what it was, but she made him feel hope. Something he hadn’t felt in a long, long time.

  “It is, Joe. Just follow your heart.”

  Unwittingly he reached out and touched her smooth forehead, then slid his fingers down her cheeks until finally they were gently cradling her chin. “I’m not so sure I’ve got a heart anymore, Savanna.”

  Something dark and warm flared in her eyes as she lifted her hand and pressed her palm against his chest.

  “It’s there, Joe. You’ve just been ignoring it.”

  Maybe she was right, Joe thought. Because he could certainly feel the heavy thuds inside his chest beating faster and faster as he slid his hand down the deep V of her collar, until finally his fingers were resting against the cleft between her breasts.

  “And what about your heart, Savanna? Is it still beating for your lost fiancé?”

  The touch of his hand burned her skin, but it was the soft, yearning look on his face that was her complete undoing. “No,” she whispered.

  “Good. Because I don’t want to kiss a woman who has another man on her mind.”

  “Joe—”

  His name was all she could manage to say before his head bent to hers. “Be quiet, Savanna. You talk way too much.”

  The next instant his hands were on her shoulders drawing her into the tight circle of his arms and then his lips came down on hers, warm and totally consuming.

  She shouldn’t be doing this. The words were screaming in the back of her head. But her senses were too shocked, too overwhelmed by the taste, the smell and feel of him to do anything about it.

  His mouth was slanting hungrily over hers, conveying a need to Savanna that transcended the physical. And she was drawn to that need. So much so that she wanted to give him everything he was asking for and more.

  With a groan in her throat she stood on her tiptoes and curled her arms around his neck. Her eager response caused heat to flare through Joe’s body. He forgot where they were as he spanned her waist with his hands and crushed her up against him.

  His tongue thrust between her parted lips as his hands slipped up her back to where her skin was bared to his touch. She was like warm velvet, begging his fingers to stroke her, love her. And more than anything he wanted to do that. He wanted to go on kissing her forever. He wanted to hold on tight and never let her go.

  As Joe’s lips and hands explored and caressed her, a trembling started somewhere deep inside Savanna, then spread outward, until her legs were like sponges and her hands were clinging to his shoulders just to stay upright.

  This was madness, her mind silently screamed. She had to get away from him before she lost her last shred of resistance and begged him to take her to his room and make slow, passionate love to her.

  Wedging her hands between them, she pushed against his chest with all the strength she could muster. The unexpected movement caught Joe unaware and his grasp on her waist loosened. Savanna quickly tore her mouth from his and twisted out of his arms.

  “Savanna! What—”

  His unfinished question hung in the heavy night air as he watched her run back into the restaurant as though the devil himself was chasing her.

  Dazed by what had just happened between them, Joe stared at the empty doorway for long moments. She was gone, he thought crazily. Just like that. One minute she’d been kissing him, turning him inside out, then the next she was gone. Damn it! What was she trying to do to him?

  What are you trying to do to her? a voice inside him countered.

  The question had him groaning and closing his eyes. Kissing Savanna had been a big mistake. Now that he knew how wonderful it was to have her in his arms, he wouldn’t be able to look at her without wanting her.

  Cursing under his breath, Joe pushed away from the balustrade and headed back into the hotel. It was going to be a long night, he realized. Long and lonely.

  Chapter Eight

  After a dreadful sleepless night, Savanna was up early the next morning, eager to get back to Oklahoma City and forget that last night she’d fallen into his arms like a lovesick teenager.

  Savanna had thought about her behavior all night and she still couldn’t figure out what had come over her. It was as if Joe had touched her and she’d instantly lost her senses.

  She had to stop these silly notions that came into her head every time she looked at the man. Long ago she’d promised herself that she would never fall for another man. For five years now, she’d made it a point not to include a man in her future plans. And that’s the way it was going to stay.

  Joe McCann was mixed up. From what she could gather, he didn’t even know what loving a woman was all about. But, oh, Lord, she thought as she lifted a brush to her hair, it had certainly felt as if he knew last night.

  A knock sounded at her door. Savanna laid the brush aside and went to open it. Megan was standing out in the corridor, and the smile on her face was almost as bright as the striped short set she was wearing.

  “Good morning, Savanna. Are you ready for breakfast?”

  Actually, Savanna didn’t think she could eat a thing, but considering she had to get on a plane later today, she knew she should put something into her stomach.

  “Are you and your father ready?” she asked.

  Megan nodded eagerly. “Daddy’s waiting by the elevator. He sent me to fetch you.”

  A spurt of annoyance flashed through Savanna. Last night the man was kissing her as if he had every right as her lover, now he couldn’t even come to her door and invite her to breakfast.

  Well, what did you expect, Savanna? she asked herself dismally. The man is your boss. He didn’t kiss you because he’s fallen madly in love with you. He merely had a momentary lapse of sanity. And so had she!

  “Just let me get my purse,” she told Megan.

  Seconds later she made sure the door was safely shut, then followed the teenager down the corridor to where Joe stood waiting.

  As Savanna’s eyes slid over him, she noticed he’d reverted back to his regular habits. In place of the business clothes he’d worn yesterday was a pair of blue jeans, black cowboy boots and a short-sleeved cotton shirt patterned in black and white. He’d looked professional and handsome yesterday. But Savanna preferred him dressed like this. Like the outdoor man he really was, not the suited businessman he pretended to be.

  “Good morning, Joe,” she murmured once they drew near him.

  Joe nodded as his eyes flicked briefly over her green silk tank top and white slacks. This was the first time he’d seen Savanna with her legs completely covered. Rather than dampening his interest, the slacks only fired his imagination even more.

  “Good morning, Savanna,” he drawled, his eyes lifting and connecting with her brown ones.

  Her throat tightened and her heart took off in a foolish gallop. He looked so hard, so aloof. Yet everything inside of her wanted to put her arms around him and kiss him. She wanted to experience all the things she’d felt last night in his embrace.

  “I hope you slept well,” she said, feeling more awkward than she could ever remember feeling.

  Joe turned away from her to punch the elevator button. “As well as ever,” he replied. Which was the truth, Joe thought. He rarely slept well. Things were always on his mind. But never so much as they had been last night.

  He was attracted to his secretary. No, he was more than attracted, he corrected himself. Last night he’d kissed her. Not like a friend. Not even like a lover. He’d kissed her as though she was his wife and he’d made love to her hundreds of times. And now, this very minute he wanted to do it all over again.

  “I don’t know about you two, but I’m starving,” Megan spoke up. “May I have Belgian waffles for breakfast, Daddy?”

  “You may have anything you want,�
�� Joe said as the elevator door opened and the three of them stepped inside.

  “Gee,” Megan said with cheery surprise. “That was easy. That business meeting you had yesterday must have put you in a generous mood.”

  Leonard Brown’s promised thousands hadn’t done it, Joe thought glumly. Savanna had. With a smile and a kiss she’d suddenly changed his world and he was afraid his life was never going to be the same again.

  “Daddy, when are we going to catch a plane back to Oklahoma City?” Megan asked a few minutes later as she dug into whipped cream and crispy waffles.

  Savanna looked up from her scrambled eggs and toast. She’d been wondering the same thing and hoping it would be this morning. She wanted to get home, visit with her friend Jenny and try to get her jumbled thoughts back in perspective. At least, that’s what a part of her wanted. The crazy, reckless part of her wanted to spend as much time with Joe as she could.

  Reaching for his coffee cup, Joe said, “Unfortunately, the first available flight back is not until seven thirty-five this evening. Everything else was booked full.”

  Seven thirty-five! That was hours and hours away, Savanna thought desperately.

  “Wow, that’s great!” Megan exclaimed.

  Joe arched a brow at his daughter. “I fail to see the greatness of it. Sitting in an airport terminal for a day isn’t my idea of having fun.”

  Fun? Since when had fun ever entered into any of Joe McCann’s plans? Savanna wondered.

  “Oh, no! We don’t want to sit at the airport,” Megan said with an emphatic shake of her head. “I’ve got a lot better idea. Let’s drive down to Galveston and spend the day on the beach. It’s not very far from here and I’ll bet Savanna’s never seen Galveston Island before, have you?”

  The teenager turned an eager look on Savanna.

  “No,” Savanna conceded. “This is only the second time I’ve been in Texas. Most of my traveling has been done in the northern states.”

  Megan shot her father a triumphant look. “See, Daddy, you’d be doing something nice for Savanna. How can you say no?”

  A week ago it wouldn’t have been hard at all. He would have told his daughter to forget it, to pack her things and get ready to spend the afternoon in the airport. And he wouldn’t have felt an ounce of guilt over it. But today he couldn’t bring himself to disappoint his daughter or Savanna.

  “We don’t have a car, Megan,” he said, but the excuse was only a halfhearted one and his daughter knew it.

  Gulping down a mouthful of milk, she scooted excitedly to the edge of her seat. “We could rent one! And we could buy sandwiches and sodas and fruit for a picnic! Wouldn’t you like that, Savanna?”

  Before Savanna could respond, the teenager was shaking her head. “Oh, don’t bother answering. I know you would,” she told Savanna, then whirled her attention back to her father. “May we go, Daddy? It’s been ages since we’ve done something fun.”

  “I didn’t bring my swimming trunks,” he said lamely.

  Megan giggled a she whittled off another piece of waffle, then sopped it in whipped cream. “Yes, you did. I put them in with my things. Just in case,” she added impishly. “And Savanna and I have our swimming suits with us.”

  Joe forced himself to look across the table at Savanna. She’d been surprisingly quiet through this whole thing and he could only wonder what had her so preoccupied. Maybe she was thinking she didn’t want to go on a family outing with him and his daughter? But damn it, she was the one who’d been telling him he needed to loosen up and spend more recreational time with Megan.

  “You haven’t said anything, Savanna. What do you want to do?”

  Savanna’s eyes scanned his lean, masculine face. More than anything, she wanted to forget she’d ever kissed him. She wanted to deny that she was growing more and more attracted to him. But she couldn’t. No more than she could say something that might knock Megan out of a day at the beach with her father. The girl needed that sort of time with her father. And as for Joe, well, he needed anything that would remind him there was life beyond McCann Drilling.

  “It sounds like fun. I’d love to go,” she agreed, then, finding it impossible to hold his gaze, she turned to Megan and gave the girl a smile.

  Picking up his fork, Joe said, “Then I guess it’s settled. We’ll rent a car and drive to the beach.”

  “This is super! Really super! Can you believe it, Savanna? Daddy is really taking us to the beach.”

  Savanna smiled once again at the excited girl, then, lifting her coffee cup to her lips, she glanced over the rim at Joe. “Actually, I can’t believe it. Has this Texas air done something to you?” she asked him.

  To her amazement, a grin spread across his face. It crinkled the corners of his eyes and exposed his white teeth and gave Savanna a glimpse of the Joe she really wanted to know. And suddenly Savanna didn’t care if she was living dangerously. To see him smile like this was almost worth risking her heart over.

  “It’s not the air, Savanna. I just decided I had a good day’s work yesterday and deserved a little break. Besides, what man in his right mind could resist taking two beautiful women to the beach?”

  “Oh, Daddy, you’re flirting now,” Megan said with a sly laugh. “I’ll bet Savanna thinks you’re awful.”

  No, Savanna thought, for once he was simply being a man. And she didn’t know whether to be happy about that or run for her life.

  “I think we’d better finish breakfast and get him down there quick before he changes his mind, Megan.”

  Galveston was about a fifty-mile drive down the interstate from Houston. On Megan’s insistence Savanna sat in the front seat of the rental car with Joe, while she took the back.

  “Have you ever seen anything like this?” Megan asked Savanna as the fingers of Galveston Bay began to appear to the left of them.

  “Savanna said she lived in Seattle, Megan. That’s by the Pacific Ocean and Puget Sound,” Joe spoke up.

  Surprised that he’d been paying that much attention, she glanced over at him. “So the geologist knows his geography,” she teased. “So what bay was I living near when I lived in Boston?”

  “Boston Bay,” he said drolly. “And you had a redheaded boyfriend who chewed bubble gum all the time.”

  So he really had been listening. Savanna was both surprised and touched. Joe McCann wasn’t a man who wasted his brain space on trivial things. Maybe he considered her a step above trivial. She liked that idea.

  “Is that the only boyfriend you ever had Savanna?” Megan asked.

  Savanna glanced at Joe, then back out the windshield. “No. I had a few others. My first serious love was when I was a senior in high school. We became engaged and were going to be married after graduation.”

  “That young!” Joe practically shouted. “Megan isn’t even going to date until she’s eighteen!”

  “Daddy! That’s crazy!”

  Savanna looked over her shoulder and winked at Megan. To Joe she said, “So she’s going to be able to choose who she wants for president before she’s allowed to date a young man. That’s rather strange logistics.”

  Joe grimaced. “If that’s what it takes to keep Megan from getting into a bad relationship, then that’s the way it has to be.”

  “Savanna looks like she’s survived okay,” Megan quickly countered. “What happened, anyway, Savanna? Did you get married?”

  Savanna could feel Joe’s eyes on her, but she didn’t look his way. “No. We didn’t get married. At the last minute he decided he wanted another girl more than he wanted me. So he left town with her and I was left with a wedding dress to get rid of.”

  “Oh,” Megan groaned. “How awful for you. I’ll bet you still hate him for that!”

  Savanna laughed. “Actually, I’m grateful to him. He wouldn’t have made a good husband and I was too young to be a wife.”

  A few moments passed, then Joe asked, “You were engaged twice?”

  He sounded as though he found that incredible. We
ll, Savanna couldn’t blame him. There weren’t too many women her age with such a miserable record at losing fiancés.

  A wry twist to her mouth, Savanna nodded. “That’s right. I haven’t exactly been lucky in love.”

  “What happened to the second guy?” Megan asked curiously. “Did he find another girl, too?”

  “Savanna doesn’t want to talk about that. Change the subject,” he ordered Megan.

  She shook her head at Joe. “I don’t mind telling Megan. She’s my friend.” Glancing over her shoulder, she said, “My fiancé died from an accident, Megan.”

  The young girl’s expression was suddenly contrite. “Oh, gee, I’m sorry, Savanna. That’s too bad. I’ll bet after all that, you probably don’t ever want to get engaged again.”

  Savanna smiled wanly. “No, getting engaged is the very last thing I’d want to do.”

  Suddenly Galveston Bay came into view and the harbored ships caught Megan’s attention. Scooting to the other end of the seat, she pressed her nose against the window for a better look.

  “There’s a giant oil tanker, Daddy. Do you think it might be carrying some of your oil?”

  Joe glanced at the ship with the Texaco star painted on its side. Do you want to be the new king of the American road? Savanna’s question drifted back to him, but surprisingly, this time it didn’t strike such a deep chord in him. He could honestly say he didn’t want such lofty goals for himself. Joseph had wanted them for him. How could he ever forget that?

  “I guess anything is possible,” he told his daughter.

  Less than an hour later they changed clothes, purchased food, drinks, beach towels and a tote bag to carry it all in, then loaded themselves back into the rental car and drove east on Highway 87 where the beach was more secluded.

  Megan was the first one out of the car. She ran straight to the water, shrieking all the way. Laughing, Savanna raced after her, stripping off her cover-up as she went.

  Back at the car, a smile touched Joe’s mouth as he watched Savanna and his daughter splash their way into the warm surf of the gulf.

  It didn’t seem possible that only a week ago his daughter had been calling him twenty times a day, whining her discontent over the telephone, then crying her way through the evenings. Since Savanna had come to work for him, Megan hadn’t shed one tear. She actually seemed glad to be living with him. As for Joe, having his daughter back with him had turned into something wonderful, like finding a piece of lost treasure.