Take Me, Daddy: A Contemporary Romance 5-Book Box Set

by Nicole Casey

  Soon I was in the quaint town which I resided, heading into the tiny main center toward Envy Salon.

  There were nicer places in New Bern and closer to work, but habit dictated that Charlotte do my hair as she had since the dawn of time it seemed.

  I hated to admit that I was such a creature of habit but there was no denying it; I liked things done a certain way – mine.

  Charlotte hurried to greet me as I walked in, her smile wide as she brightened the modest entryway.

  “Am I late?” I asked, mostly out of habit. I knew I wasn’t.

  “Of course not,” she laughed. “Early as always. Come in. What are we doing today?”

  I followed her to a chair and sat as she draped me, pulling the chignon from my hair.

  “The usual,” I replied. “Only a couple inches off, a few layers, auburn lowlights.”

  Charlotte chuckled.

  “I don’t know why I asked,” she remarked ruefully, and I felt myself get slightly defensive.

  “If it works, why knock it?” I asked, and she nodded in agreement.

  “I concur,” she replied, brushing out my unruly curls with her fingers. “You are a classic beauty, however. You can pull off any look you want. I envy the Viera bone structure.”

  I snorted.

  “Do we have a bone structure?”

  “Vyolet was here day before last and she chopped off all her hair. Have you seen her?”

  My eyes widened in surprise. I could not envision my fair, blonde sister with short hair.

  “Really?” I asked. “She’s always had long hair. I wonder what inspired her to cut it.”

  Charlotte chuckled loudly.

  “I would say that married life inspired her to cut it. She’s got her hands full now, you know. Two kids and that sexy husband.”

  I admit I hadn’t given it much thought.

  Guilt flooded me suddenly as I tried to recall the last time I had gone home for Sunday dinner.

  It occurred to me that neither Maya nor Vyolet had bothered to ask if I was coming in a long while.

  I guess being paired off makes them forget about the little people now, I thought, and I was taken aback by the spark of bitterness the realization brought with it.

  I had no right to feel neglected.

  How many times had I brushed off the family because of work? They certainly didn’t need to continue chasing me but even so, I could not shake the sense of disappointment I felt.

  Just because they have significant others doesn’t mean that they should forget about me. Especially since they have a fifty-fifty chance of working out.

  I was mortified at my cynical thought.

  Even if it was a statistical fact.

  Your sisters’ unions are going to be fine. They will beat the odds and be happy, I chided myself, relieved that no one could read my mind.

  “And I saw Maya last week,” Charlotte continued, apparently not noticing the sour expression on my face. “She is positively glowing. Whatever she’s doing is working for her.”

  “She’s doing Slade,” I replied evenly, and Charlotte hooted.

  “Well I suppose I would be glowing too if I had a man like that,” the hairdresser replied. “How about you, Yve? You got any handsome hunk warmin’ your bed at night?”

  I snorted almost derisively.

  “I’ve got lots of briefs in my bed. Unfortunately, they aren’t the kind you’re thinking of.”

  “You’ll find your Prince Charming,” Charlotte assured me as if I looked forlorn about being single.

  I spared her the diatribe I usually reserved for the overly presumptuous because I knew she meant well but it didn’t stop a surge of annoyance from coasting through me.

  I could never figure out why people always attributed single life to loneliness. My days were filled with activity from dawn until midnight. Even if I wanted to feel lonely, I wouldn’t have a chance.

  I am perfectly happy being a career woman. Relationships are just not for me.

  After she washed my hair and we were seated back at the vanity, Charlotte still chirping in my ear as if she had been starved of conversation all day, my cell began to ring.

  I glanced at Charlotte apologetically, but she waved indifferently.

  “Go on ahead, honey. I know, honey, duty calls,” she said, and I snatched the Blackberry off the vanity.

  My brow furrowed slightly as I recognized Draven’s personal cell number.

  He’s not calling from the office. What could he possibly want? I wondered and in spite of myself, I felt a strange flutter in my chest.

  Our college relationship had belonged to different people, young, idealistic and unwise kids who believed in the commercial concept of love and forever.

  But every so often, I would be hit with the memory of Draven and I, sitting on the quad, laughing at something inane and it would stay with me for a long while.

  There was forever a picture of him ingrained in my psyche, one which was so vivid, it I could almost reach out and touch his tanned face with my fingers.

  In it, his grey eyes were sparkling with amusement over something I had said as a single, rogue black spiral teased his forehead from the top of his widow’s peak.

  His long, even white teeth gleamed in the sunshine and he sat back against the lush grass of the courtyard, his lean but toned frame long and relaxed.

  I loved the way his face lit up, accentuating his round cheeks as if all the life of the universe existed in him.

  I had never really laughed with anyone as much as I did with Draven.

  Landing in the same law firm had been somewhat of a shock but occasionally, I indulged in the idea that my ex had followed me to North Carolina, hoping to reconcile.

  That notion was quickly quashed when he arrived at Kilpatrick-Campbell with a fiancée in tow.

  Still, we maintained our friendship and it didn’t take me long to figure out that we were better as chums than we were lovers.

  We know too much about human suffering to go down that road again, I thought when he broke up with his fiancée within two weeks of joining the firm.

  Although I never said anything, I could have seen that coming.

  “Yvette Viera,” I answered, even though I knew who it was.

  Maybe he’s going to ask me to meet him for a drink, I thought, and a shiver of anticipation slipped through me.

  I was embarrassed for myself.

  Clearly, I had not had sex for a long while.

  “You picked a hell of a day to skip out early,” he greeted me. “I was tearing around the third floor looking for you until Abby finally told me you left for the day.”

  “I had an appointment,” I replied. “What happened?”

  “Are you sitting down?”

  “Yes,” I answered slowly. “Do I need to be?”

  Draven let out a huge sigh and my anticipation turned to apprehension.

  “The Sterlings signed off on the conflict of interest waiver,” he told me flatly and I felt my breath catch in my chest.

  “What the hell is wrong with those people?” I asked. “Moreover, what the hell is wrong with Vern for allowing it to go this far? How much more money does he need to net this quarter?”

  “I hear your arguments and I voiced them myself…to Vern of course. I have to meet with Angeline Sterling in the morning.”

  “Well, a judge will never go for it!” I insisted but as I said it, I felt a cold sweat break out on my forehead.

  I would be a fool not to know that what Ryerson Sterling wanted, Ryerson Sterling was going to get.

  How many judges did that man have in his breast pocket alone?

  “Yve, you know that he’ll have no problem – “

  “I know!” I interrupted, irritated that I had even made such a naïve statement aloud. “I’m just trying to process this catastrophe.”

  “If it’s any consolation,” Draven mumbled. “I sprouted an ulcer today.”

  I smiled despite my newfound worry, but my m
irth was cut short by a new, disturbing thought.

  If we ended up on opposite ends of a mediation table, we wouldn’t be able to socialize, however innocently.

  It would be misconstrued as improper because even though we were bound by confidentiality, it could be seen as collusion…couldn’t it?

  That night might be the last opportunity I had to see Draven without these paranoid thoughts creeping into my head.

  Those damn fools! They’re making a mess already and we haven’t even gotten into the hair pulling and name calling.

  “Want to grab a drink?” I asked abruptly.

  Draven had to be feeling the same way I did. We might even be able to comfort each other in our time of distress before it was too late.

  “I can’t tonight,” he sighed. “I have a date.”

  The words sent a steel rod through my spine and I turned to stone under Charlotte’s still working hands.

  Or maybe I was completely off base, and he didn’t care at all that we might not have personal contact again for months or more.

  “Of course you do,” I replied lightly. “Another time.”

  “You bet.”

  The phone call disconnected in my ear and I caught Charlotte’s eye as she watched me expectantly for an update.

  “Well?” she cooed, her brown eyes wide. “What happened? It sounded juicy!”

  I shook my head and lowered my gaze.

  “Nothing happened,” I replied. “I changed my mind though.”

  She peered at me pensively.

  “About what?”

  “My hair. I want you to chop it all off. I’m going for a new look this time.”

  3

  Draven

  Chloe opened the door, her blue eyes sparkling as she stared at me.

  “I have a surprise for you,” she purred, grabbing my hand and pulling me into the foyer of her tiny apartment.

  I managed a smile even though my mind was not in her words.

  “Oh yeah?” I said. “That sounds promising.”

  She grinned at me and yanked me further inside, her full hips rocking side to side.

  She reminded me of Joan from “Mad Men” with that wide, undulated waistline and dark red hair.

  Did I think of myself as some high powered executive chasing around women like her?

  I hoped not.

  She walked into the bedroom and I saw the flickering candles immediately.

  Under normal circumstances, I would have been delighted by her uncreative seduction, but I was far too distracted that evening to notice even the sprinkling of rose petals spread over her comforter and the flirty smile on her lips.

  “Oh my,” I said with forced amazement. “What is all this?”

  “You just work so hard,” she purred. “I want to relish the little time we have together before I don’t see you again for three weeks.”

  I chewed on the insides of my cheeks.

  Chloe was under the impression that my busy work schedule kept me from seeing her more often, despite my attempts to be as forthcoming as possible with her about my stance on our casual relationship.

  It wasn’t her, per se. I simply had no interest in anything serious with anyone, let alone a girl who believed that plutonium was a made-up element, used to foil Superman.

  Still, I refused to feel guilty that she only heard what she wanted to hear and continued to provide my healthy male loins with gratuitous sex.

  And after the day I’d had, I was eager to take it.

  Slowly, Chloe began to unbutton the front of her dress and I licked my lips in anticipation.

  “What about dinner?” I asked, and her light eyes widened in surprise.

  “This is better than dinner,” she promised as the silky material fell away from her ripe, voluptuous body.

  She was exquisite, like a Ruben’s statue with full, luscious breasts and a flat stomach.

  Adorning a black and white lace teddy, she sashayed toward me, gently pushing my body against the wall as her mouth grazed my cheek.

  A hand moved up toward my tie and she loosened it, casting it aside with her fallen dress.

  My palms cupped her round cheeks, drawing her closer to me and when our lips met, her tongue jutted out to meet mine.

  She continued to study my face with big, questioning eyes but I closed my lids and savored the sensation of her skillful movements, trailing down my throat as her fingers worked my shirt.

  My palms glided up the smooth pale skin of her back as her head worked across my abs, her breaths growing hotter.

  Chloe dropped to her knees and I gazed at her with half-closed eyes, the stress in my pants increasing but the tension in my shoulders melting away.

  In seconds, my belt was undone, my charcoal grey pants around my ankles and I sighed as she massaged the swelling sack beneath my erect member.

  When she took me in her mouth, I groaned aloud, fingers lacing into her free-flowing red waves to steady her head as she took me in, deep and long.

  The heat of her mouth was like hot butter against my skin and her hand clamped around the base of my shaft, drawing me fully into her throat.

  Chloe tightened her grips against me and I groaned loudly, feeling the pressure building inside me.

  I didn’t want to release like that but if she didn’t stop soon, things would be beyond my control.

  It took a minor struggle to unhinge myself from her locked jaws and when she finally let go, she fell back, a mischievous grin on her lovely face.

  “What’s the matter?” she teased. “You didn’t like that?”

  Growling, I leaned forward, scooping her up almost like a caveman, half over my shoulder as she squealed with delight.

  I tossed her onto the bed, diving in behind her before she could spin around and pressed my naked body against the flimsy material of her lingerie.

  A hand reached beneath her to caress a full breast, my fingers finding their way under the bodice to toy with her rigid nipple as I rubbed my member between her cheeks.

  Even with the teddy, I could feel the heat pulsating from her core and I knew I didn’t have much time to continue the foreplay which I wanted to prolong.

  Without finesse, I yanked the thong center away from her middle and prodding the tip of my head against her, savoring her juiciness before plunging inside her.

  Chloe yelped out as I guided my hips fully inside her, pressing my torso against her back to restrict her movements.

  The hand which was on her breast flowed down her body to the throbbing button between her creamy thighs and together, we began to mount toward our climax.

  She began writhing beneath me and I closed my eyes, hoping that I wouldn’t cum before her, but her kitten cries and wriggling were proving to be too much, and I couldn’t hold back any longer.

  Streams of hot nectar flowed through me as a warm gush cover my rigid organ.

  I gripped her hip jerking upward as Chloe gasped, our orgasms meeting one another in unison.

  Exhaling slowly, I felt her relax slowly underneath me and together we eased onto the bed, a sweating pile.

  Chloe purred, rolling out to stare at me with her clear eyes, a soft smile on her full lips.

  “My, aren’t you full of vigor today,” she teased, and I laughed, my heart struggling to regain control as it thumped furiously in my chest.

  “You bring it out in me,” I replied easily, sitting up as my pulse began to steady.

  She smiled, cocking her head to the side.

  “Well I’m glad,” she said. “Sometimes I worry that you’re going to get bored of me.”

  I swallowed a smile and cast my eyes downward.

  I worry about the same thing which is why I don’t see you that often, I thought. It was embarrassing to admit that I did not see Chloe as an equal but after working with knowledgeable, educated people all day, the luscious ginger was quite a mental step down.

  I slipped off the bed and began to redress.

  “Should we try to make dinner?�
� I asked as I buttoned up my now wrinkled shirt. “I’m starving.”

  She nodded in agreement and I eyed her through my peripheral vision.

  “Are we going to Belladonna’s?” she asked. “I have a craving for manicotti.”

  Unexpectedly, a tingle of guilt fluttered through me and I thought of Yvette.

  She loved Italian food and every time I went to the four-star restaurant, I thought of her, wondering if she had ever tried it.

  It was one of the many things I had been meaning to ask Yve and never gotten around to doing.

  Why didn’t I take her up on drinks tonight? I suddenly wondered, a strange flush of confusion washing through me. We probably won’t have a chance to see each other socially for a long while if the Sterlings get their way. That’s why she asked me to meet her and I was too busy thinking about getting laid.

  I glanced at my watch, my brow furrowing slightly.

  It was only seven thirty. I could still call her and see if we could meet for one last night of freedom.

  “Why do you look like that?” Chloe demanded.

  “I just remembered,” I said slowly, fumbling through the recesses of my mind for an excuse. “I have to go back to the office. I have a hearing tomorrow and…”

  I trailed off, glancing at her furtively to see if she was buying it.

  The scowl on her pretty face told me that she was not happy, but I also knew she wouldn’t argue me.

  Yvette would have called me on my BS before I finished speaking, I thought affectionately but Chloe was not Yvette.

  “So no dinner then?” she asked, her mouth falling into a petulant pout.

  “Sorry, Yve, not tonight,” I replied.

  I didn’t immediately realize what I had said, and it wasn’t until Chloe’s face grew red did I see I had said something wrong.

  “Who is Yve?” she snarled, all traces of her alluring beauty dissipating into a mask of ugliness I had never seen.

  “Who?” I asked, playing dumb but my fingers were working furiously as I dressed. I sensed danger.

  “You just called me Yve. Who is she? Is she a lover?”

  I forced a laugh.

  “Did I?” I asked nonchalantly. “No, of course not. She’s another attorney at the firm. I must have our upcoming case on my mind.”