Until Daddy

by Measha Stone

  “We’re going to be late for your father’s now.” She looked at the black Fitbit circling her left wrist.

  “He’ll keep.” Jamison nodded. “Let’s get your things, and I’ll text Garrick to let him know we’re running behind. If I let him show up first and he has to wait with my father alone, he may never speak to me again.”

  “I left my purse at home. I’m all set.”

  He looked her over. She wore jeans and a casual blouse.

  “Where’s your wallet and your phone?”

  She turned around and stuck out her butt at him. “Right here.” She patted the two back pockets.

  He laughed. “Okay then.”

  “I just need to change my jeans for a skirt. This blouse should be okay, right?” They walked down the corridor to the main entrance.

  “Everything about you is more than okay,” he responded and pulled her to a stop just outside the shelter while they stood on the front steps. “You are amazing, Carissa. I mean, I knew it before, but watching you take care of that little girl… She didn’t even wake up, and with her mom—I couldn’t be prouder of you. Of everything you do and are.” He pulled her into an embrace and lifted her chin with his hand to give her a warm kiss.

  He’d meant it to be a small kiss. But once his lips touched hers, he was pulled into her. He couldn’t get enough and doubted he ever would. He swept his tongue over her lower lip, and growled when reason smacked him on the head.

  They were on the front steps of a women’s shelter. Not the best place to paw at his girl. And they were running late already.

  “When we get home tonight, we’ll finish this,” he vowed.

  She laughed and pressed her fingertips to her lip.

  “About time you pulled up.” Garrick reached out his hand in greeting.

  Carissa didn’t just change her jeans; the woman had changed her outfit three times before going back to the original blouse and skirt. Jamison had only gotten her out of her apartment because he’d threatened to start taking off his belt if she didn’t just pick something. Luckily for her they really didn’t have time for a spanking, and the little blush she’d produced at the threat had softened him.

  “It’s my fault,” Carissa announced, stepping up to them.

  “There was an emergency at the shelter. She was needed.” Jamison slid his hand around hers and gave it a squeeze. “Been here long?”

  “No, just pulled up. After your message, I took Jade for a coffee.”

  “I’m on midnights starting tomorrow,” Jade explained. “Not all of us were lucky enough to get that awesome shift up in Mommy and me.”

  “I know. It’s fucking awesome.” Carissa beamed, but quickly realized her error and dropped her gaze. “Sorry.”

  Jamison gave her hand another squeeze. “Let’s get this over with.” He nodded toward the steps leading up to his father’s home.

  “Yeah. I’m letting you do all the talking.” Garrick slapped his back and gestured for Jade to follow up the steps.

  When they entered the home, they were directed straight to the dining room.

  “Guess we missed the appetizers,” Jade remarked from behind Jamison.

  “Jamison! Garrick! Finally.” His father stood from the head of the table where he’d already begun to eat his meal, and gestured to the chairs. “I couldn’t wait another minute. Come sit down. But first introduce these lovely young ladies.” He rounded the table.

  “Father.” Jamison nodded. He splayed his hand across the small of Carissa’s back. “This is my girlfriend, Carissa.” Her back muscles tightened but he ignored it. She was his girlfriend, even if it was for only another ten days.

  Grasping Carissa’s hand, Barron took a long look at her. Jamison slid his hand to her waist, giving her a small squeeze.

  “It’s very nice to meet you, Carissa.” He shook her hand and turned to Garrick, seeming to want to get down to business as quickly as possible. Always the businessman and never just the man.

  “Mr. Croft, this is my girlfriend, Jade.” Pride carried through Garrick’s expression as he presented Jade. Jamison could see the unease in Jade’s smile, but knew it came from meeting his father and not from the possessive nature of Garrick’s hand on her or his grin. She enjoyed belonging to him. It didn’t frighten her or make her suspicious that the end might crawl around the corner any minute. Jamison could only wish Carissa would start to feel the same way.

  “Lovely,” Barron said but barely glanced her over. “Come, let’s eat. I couldn’t wait anymore.”

  “I did call,” Jamison stated as he pulled back a chair for Carissa. Once she was seated, he patted her shoulder and took the seat next to her.

  “Yes, but I was already hungry.” Barron looked across the table at his son with a blank expression. If Jamison had been bringing along a slew of investors, the meal would have kept just fine in the kitchen until they arrived. As it was, he was merely bringing a friend and their girls. No one of true consequence, even if he was attempting to drag them into his newest project.

  Plates appeared before them and dinner officially began. The conversation remained light. Small talk annoyed Jamison, but it was the only sort his father excelled at when it came to killing time before talking about business. It was his warm up before the big race.

  “Everything was delicious,” Carissa complimented as she folded her napkin. She’d barely touched her chicken and the green beans still remained piled neatly beside it.

  Jamison leaned over to her. “Eat your veggies, little girl.”

  Her face reddened within a heartbeat and if they weren’t in mixed company, her shocked expression would have made him laugh. She looked ready to argue, but instead she replaced the napkin back on her lap and picked up her fork, stabbing a green bean and taking a bite out of it.

  Jamison took a long sip from his water glass while giving her knee a squeeze beneath the table. A quick glance around the table confirmed he’d been discreet. He wouldn’t want to embarrass her. Although Garrick and Jade understood and accepted the dynamic he shared with Carissa, he wouldn’t want to have to explain any of it to his father—or worse, have his father questioning Carissa.

  “Well, if we’re just about done… Boys, we can move to my office. I have some new numbers to show you; I think you’ll like them.”

  “Oh, I think we can all move to the office if you want to, but I have some concerns about this project. Garrick and I visited the site and we found one of the buildings—the largest lot, in fact—is a women’s shelter.” Jamison draped his napkin over his plate.

  “Yes, and they are giving us the most trouble. But they’ll sell. If the ladies wish to listen to us drivel on about work, of course they are free to join.”

  Carissa’s head jerked to the side and Jamison placed his hand on her knee.

  “Oh, we’ve sat through plenty of meetings at the hospital where we work, Mr. Croft. Jade and I can keep up just fine.” Carissa’s voice held steady, but Jamison could feel her body tensing beside him.

  “Hospital? Are you both physicians, then?” Jamison knew that tone, knew what was coming next, and before he could intervene, Jade spoke up.

  “Nurses. We are both nurses. We do the work doctors can’t.” The tension between doctors and nurses was well documented, and the firm thread in Jade’s voice confirmed that.

  “Ah. Nurses.” Barron nodded and moved his eyes to meet Jamison’s.

  A complete dismissal. Nurses held little value as they weren’t the top dog. And that meant everything to Barron Croft.

  “They are both excellent nurses,” Jamison stated, meeting his father’s gaze. He wouldn’t allow him to make any attempt to make Carissa feel small. “In fact, that’s why we were late. Carissa was helping a little girl who had a fever.”

  “I didn’t mean to imply her job isn’t important. Of course it is; we all need worker bees, don’t we?” Barron put on a flat smile and stood from his chair. “Let’s go to the office. It’s more comfortable, and there’s br
andy in there.” He patted Jamison on the back as he walked past, heading out the door.

  Garrick gave Jamison a look and shook his head.

  “I know. I know.”

  “He’s never going to change,” Garrick stated.

  “Why would he? He seems like a perfectly personable and loving man.” Carissa rolled her eyes as she stepped ahead of Jamison.

  “Watch your attitude, young lady,” he cautioned with a slap to her rump as they poured out into the hallway. She shot him a look over her shoulder, but it was more of contrition than of irritation.

  When they walked into his father’s office, he was already pouring brandies. For the men. For the women, he poured a small glass of sherry.

  Carissa and Jade thanked him and took seats near the door.

  Considering the way Barron treated women, Jamison was astounded the man had managed to obtain four wives, much less keep them for as long as he had.

  “Here are updated projections now that we’ve wrangled agreements from a few of the property owners. We’re still in negotiations with them for the price, but they are willing to move out.”

  “The shelter isn’t willing,” Carissa said from her seat behind Jamison. He pushed his chair toward the right, affording her a better view and giving his father a better idea of where he himself stood on the topic.

  “The shelter will be willing. We just haven’t found the right price. Everyone has one.” Jamison’s chest tightened when his father spoke. Barron didn’t even look at Carissa when he did so.

  “Carissa’s right. They aren’t going to sell, and I don’t think they should.” Jamison took the reports from his father and walked over to his desk to dump them down.

  “Oh, they will.”

  “That shelter has been there for over fifty years. It’s a part of the community.” Carissa maintained her tone, but it was starting to waver.

  “Isn’t there another location you could look at?” Jade added, and Jamison noticed how she scooted toward the front of her chair and kept glancing at Carissa. His little girl had almost everyone in the room watching out for her, even if she didn’t know it.

  “No. There isn’t.” Barron’s smile dropped and his lips pinched together in a long, thin line. His patience was at an end.

  “There needs to be,” Garrick entered the conversation.

  “Don’t worry about the shelter. I have friends on the city council, and they have assured me that evoking eminent domain will not be a problem if they won’t sell.”

  Carissa bounded from her chair. Jade tried to grab her but missed. Jamison managed to catch her when she stepped to him. He didn’t shove her behind him, but rather laced his fingers through hers. She needed grounding at that moment, something to assist her out of her rage.

  “You corrupt—” She took a deep breath and looked up at Jamison. Tears were building in her beautiful eyes, but not from hurt. No, his little girl was fighting back every bit of her anger. For him. She was not unleashing her fury on his father for him.

  She took a deep breath. “You would force the shelter to close its doors by using your friends on the board to declare the city would be better benefitted by your hotel than by them?”

  “That shelter can do its work anywhere.” Barron shrugged.

  “Your hotel can be built anywhere!” Although she raised her voice slightly, she didn’t yell.

  “Jamison. Seriously, let the girls have coffee in the library so we can talk about this reasonably.”

  He wasn’t sure if anyone else heard it, but there was a bit of a snap somewhere. A sharp sound signaling an official break.

  “No need. It’s time we left. We’ve wasted enough time already. Father, I have no intention of joining you with this project. I won’t force that shelter to close its doors. It benefits too many people. It actually makes the city a better place, makes those women’s lives better. I won’t be part of anything that destroys that. Your hotel will be profitable. It will bring in elite clientele, I have no doubt. You’ll have your name on the front page of the Tribune when it opens, but you have never and will never do anything that makes this world—or hell, even this city—a better place. If you really wanted to leave your stamp, you’d do something that built up the community, not just your bank account.”

  When Jamison turned away from his slack-jawed father, he found Carissa staring up at him with wide eyes. Surprise, awe, a mixture of both? She recovered much quicker than Barron. She turned with him, switching hands to continue holding his.

  “I think Jamison summed that up nicely. Thank you for dinner, sir.” Garrick put his brandy down on the side table and took the few steps required to collect Jade before opening the door and leading them all out.

  “You’ll be back!” Barron finally recovered enough to sputter the single sentence.

  Jamison collected Carissa’s coat and helped her into it, taking extra care to button her up and even put on her gloves for her, no longer caring if anyone could see. Let them see. Let them gawk, but he was taking care of his girl.

  “Well, that was different than I thought it would be,” Jade said as both couples reached their cars.

  “He can still get enough investors, and he does have those friends he talked about.” Garrick shoved his hands into his gloves.

  “I’ll deal with him if he does.”

  “You won’t be able to stop him. I’ve seen men like him, I’ve seen him and what he’s done to communities.” The dejected sound of Carissa’s voice tore at his heart. He bundled her up in his arms and kissed the top of her head, ignoring the chill of the February air.

  “I will handle this. I don’t want you to worry about it.”

  She looked up at him, uncertainty lingering. “Okay, Daddy,” she whispered and pushed her face back into his chest.

  He’d never made a promise before that he wasn’t one hundred percent sure he could keep. But he’d never loved anyone with such ferocity before Carissa, and he’d move the earth off its axis for her. And going up against his father could prove just as large of a task.

  Chapter 14

  “So, how are things with that large hunk of a man who picked you up last weekend?” Margaret grinned, displaying dimples on both sides of her face.

  Carissa had started her new shift at the hospital, and it had been a few days since she’d been able to make it to the shelter. She should have known Margaret would want to know all about Jamison.

  “Things are going okay.” She downplayed the entirety of their relationship.

  The truth? Everything was going perfectly. Too perfectly.

  Jamison had slowly eased his way into her life, taking over parts of her world that she’d never considered penetrable before. He wasn’t overbearing, or too stubborn. He was strict, and hell, she liked that about him. She put up a good front but he saw through that right away. If he said she was getting a spanking, she got a spanking. There was no wiggle room, no backing out, no forgetting because he got busy. The man’s focus on her was uncanny.

  He’d bought her a Keurig! After the second time he’d come over to her apartment to find coffee burning away in the carafe, he’d gone out and bought one for her, along with a six-month supply of k-cups because he knew she wouldn’t go out for more. Then he’d applied her hairbrush to her bare bottom for not being more careful with her electrical appliances. He’d made a whole connection between overheating the pot and overheating her ass. It had been clever, and if she hadn’t been wiggling and crying from the sting of the damn brush, she may have appreciated it a bit more.

  Groceries were delivered to her apartment. She filled her virtual cart and set the order, but he went in afterward and pulled out the garbage, replacing the items with more veggies. The first time he did it, she’d thrown a fit on the phone with him. But the sound belting she received that night for it taught her never to do that again. If Daddy said she had to have a green veggie with every meal, she was going to be eating a green veggie with every meal. But she still snuck in a box of Ho Hos
before the cut off time for the order.

  Margaret laughed. “Okay? I saw the way his eyes devoured you. That man has it bad for you. I’d say okay passed a long time ago.”

  “What do you mean?” Carissa followed Margaret down the hall to the clinic. Jamison’s stare was intense, there was no denying that, but that was just his normal way of looking. Right?

  “I mean that men who feel okay about a girl don’t look at them the way he looks at you. He watched you like you were some goddess moving around, like you’d entranced him. And,” Margaret continued while unlocking the clinic door, “letting you stay to help Joyce? I mean, he didn’t let you stay, you would have anyway, but he insisted. He didn’t even give it a second thought that it would make you two late for whatever you had going on. I’ve seen plenty of men come and go from around here, annoyed their girlfriend or wife was putting volunteering in the way of their reservation at some hoity toity restaurant or late for a meeting. He didn’t give it a second thought. This was important to you, and it made it important to him.”

  “You got all that from a few minutes with him?” Carissa tried to brush it off. Because it couldn’t be that deep. If it was that deep, if his feelings ran that hot for her, she’d start letting the idea of not calling it quits after the month start seeping in. And she’d been doing her damnedest to block that thought. Even if she stayed up at night remembering how warm his lips were on hers, and wishing he’d spent the night with her. Even while she’d missed her elevator stop at work the day before because she’d started daydreaming about him, she didn’t allow the thought of forever enter her mind.

  “No, I got that from the first second he saw you walk out of that classroom. You better hold on, because I don’t think this one’s going to let you just walk away.”

  “I don’t just walk away from men.” Carissa found herself getting a little more defensive.

  “No, it’s more like a run, but not with him. Don’t get upset. It’s a good thing, and I know you have a good reason to get rid of all the rotten ones in the bunch. But this one isn’t rotten. That’s what I’m saying.”