When We Met: A Small Town Single Dad Romance

by Shey Stahl

  Tenderly, his lips press to her forehead, and he pushes her blonde curls from her face. I nearly have to fan myself. Who knew watching a man be a good dad could be so sexy. Reaching into the cupboard behind him, he retrieves what looks to be Benadryl.

  I help him out by taking the measuring cap off the top so he can hold Sev at the same time. “Is this normal? Camdyn said this happens sometimes.”

  “She has sensitive skin. Could be the cold weather.” He sets her on the counter, where she continues to scratch her stomach and face. When he gives her the medicine, she stares at him. “Or she’s coming down with something.”

  “I not sick!” she yells, sliding off the counter and onto the floor. Reaching into the back of her pants, she scratches her bunny as she walks away.

  Barron smirks. “Such a little lady.” His dark eyes find mine, a warmth to them I haven’t seen on a man in a long time, if ever. They travel lower, taking a long pass over my body, and then meet my eyes again with the sincerest tenderness about them. “Thank you for watching them.”

  “It was the best day I’ve had in a long time.” It’s in this moment, I want to tell him what I know. My lack of words give my existence in their life an expiration date.

  But at least the view is nice.

  BARRON

  “So, who won the bet?”

  “They’re still alive. So I think I won,” Kacy says with a certain cocky vibe I find incredibly sexy. It’s probably because she’s half-naked and wearing my T-shirt, or she’s got that crazy but insanely hot thing going on.

  “Or a tie.”

  She steps forward. “What’s the tiebreaker?”

  Breathing in, I lift my eyes to the girls and then back to Kacy, grabbing a handful of my shirt she’s wearing and bringing her closer. “All your clothes on my bedroom floor later,” I whisper, wishing I could fuck her on the counter. Really, anywhere. I won’t be picky.

  There’s a fire in her eyes, desire, but something stronger too. She’s hesitant for reasons she’s not sharing with me. “If we’re going to get naked soon, would you mind if I took a shower?”

  Only if I can watch. I don’t say that though. “No.”

  “No you don’t mind, or I can’t?”

  I nod, reaching in the fridge for a beer. “I don’t mind.”

  “Perfect.”

  “You can take one in my bathroom.” I point to my room at the end of the hall. “There’s towels under the sink.”

  She pauses, her hands on the counter separating us, much like it did last night. I want so badly to kiss her again and more, but I don’t. The kids are in the room. Kacy smiles. “Thank you.” Backing up, she turns to leave but then stops snapping her fingers together. “Oh, my clothes.”

  “I’ll put them in the dryer for you. In the meantime, keep my shirt. It looks good on you.”

  Her hand rests on her hip. “I need pants.”

  I lift the beer in my hand to my lips, smirking. “You do?”

  “Yes,” she whispers.

  “I have a pair of sweatpants in my dresser. I’ll set them on the bed for you.”

  “I like sweatpants. I might keep them,” she teases, walking away. The way my shirt looks on her, the sexy way she walks away, I’m fucked. Completely.

  Groaning, I wait until she’s in my room before I check on the laundry. Clearly Camdyn helped her because there’s entirely too much soap. I start the rinse cycle again and then head back out to the kitchen to find Sev staring at me, her cheeks puffed out.

  “What’s in your mouth?”

  “Nut’in,” she mumbles around whatever’s in there.

  “Spit it out.”

  She shakes her head as if there’s nothing there.

  “Unless you suddenly grew a tumor in your mouth, ya got something in there. Now spit it out.”

  “No.”

  “I’m going to count to three, and if you don’t spit that out, I’m tossing Vader to the curb.”

  Sev’s eyes widen as if she can’t believe I’d do such a thing. But you know what? She spits it out into my hand.

  “Why did you shove a whistle and Chapstick in your mouth?”

  She shrugs. “I not know.”

  “Don’t shove shit in your mouth. The last thing I need is to go to the ER with my kid choking on a whistle. You’re gonna be whistling out your ass.”

  All I get is a shrug again. “Is it time to gets the tree?”

  “Soon. I’ll go check on Kacy.” Can you tell by my sudden eagerness I’m way too excited about this? Come on. You knew I was going to. That’s the polite thing to do, right?

  In my room, I close the door, knowing full well my kids are going to get into shit they shouldn’t once I close any door. Some things are worth the risk. Kacy naked and wet is one of them. There’s steam rolling through my room, from the bathroom door cracked a fraction of an inch. I swallow thickly, my heart beating faster. What the fuck am I thinking, but also, why had she left the door cracked? It’s clearly not my fault if I can see in.

  I mean, it is my bathroom.

  That I told her she could use, but still, do you see my side in any of this? Or am I disgusting?

  You’re right. I shouldn’t peek.

  But goddamn, is it tempting.

  Be a gentleman. Be a fucking gentleman!

  After setting the sweatpants on the bed, I walk out of the room. Apparently, I chose to be a gentleman because I’m very disappointed in myself for not peeking.

  But hey, there’s always tonight, right?

  I stop outside the door and stand there. One peek won’t hurt.

  Sneaking back into the room, I close the door behind me and lock it, running my hand through my hair. Just as I’m fighting with myself to think of a reason to go into the bathroom and ask if she needs anything, I hear the shower turn off.

  Shit. I debate for all of two seconds before I turn around and see her standing in the doorway, a white towel wrapped around her slender body. Her eyes widen as if she hadn’t been expecting me in the room.

  I point to the bed. “Sweatpants.” As if that’s an answer for being in here.

  It’s not, but that doesn’t seem to bother her because, if you can believe it, she drops the fucking towel. “Like we agreed, my clothes are on your bedroom floor.”

  “Technically, it’s a towel on the floor, but I won’t be picky about the details of the bet.” Dragging my eyes over her long, lean body, I draw in a quick breath. I hadn’t been prepared to see her completely naked. Hoped for it, but no, not prepared, and I’m certainly not going to waste the opportunity. I take the five steps between us and push her back inside the bathroom, up against the vanity.

  A giggle escapes her lips about the same second my lips meet hers. “Eager?”

  “You have no idea,” I breathe into her mouth. Picking her up, I set her on the counter and then scoot her ass to the very edge so she can see very well what parts of me are eager.

  Snaking her hands around my shoulders, she grips my flannel and wraps her legs around my waist. I angle my head, covering her mouth with mine, sucking, biting, basically fucking desperate. I’ve been thinking about this since the night we met. She lifts herself up and down, writhing against my cock, just as needy. Her heat hits me, my cock jumping at the contact.

  In the next second, we explode in a frenzy of kisses, rubbing, twisting, gasping. Widening my stance, my tongue fills her, teeth scraping, dimly aware of the fact that my kids are in the next room, unattended, and I’m gasping for more from this girl I don’t even know.

  Kacy breaks the kiss, tilting her head back and giving me access to her neck. “Jesus, you’re a good kisser.”

  A grunt leaves my lips, my only acknowledgment of her assessment of my kissing. I haven’t even explored the rest of her naked body, but all I can think about is getting inside her warm, wet pussy. “My bed?” I keep my hands on her ass, grinding her into me.

  She moans into my mouth, and I pick her up, twisting toward my room. I run into the door, th
e wall, and then I hear it.

  “Daddy?” Their voices grow steadily louder as they approach my bedroom door. “Daddy? Are you in there?”

  I stop, setting Kacy down on the floor. Naked. Waiting for me. She meets my eyes, wide with realization. “Shit.”

  “Daddy?” There’s a knock on the door, the handle jiggles. I can tell by the voice it’s Camdyn. “You said we getting a tree? I wanna go now.”

  “Be right there,” I yell, keeping one hand on Kacy. She smiles, and I kiss her once more. When I sigh, her soft laughter rolls through me. Stepping back, I reach inside my jeans and adjust myself. Her cheeks heat. Handing her the towel, I press a kiss to her forehead. “I swear to God, trying to fuck you is an experience.”

  Her eyes find mine. “You’re not kidding.”

  “C’mon, people!” Camdyn yells. “Tree!”

  “I’d love to say they’ll lose interest—” I pick up the sweatpants on my bed and hand them to her. “—but they won’t.” Trying to even out my breathing, I watch her slide the sweatpants on and my shirt she’d been wearing before her shower.

  Would it be so bad to make the kids wait? It’d take me what, two minutes?

  “Daddy!” they scream, kicking the door. Impatient little shits.

  Kacy smiles as if she gets it. “Can I come with you to get the tree?”

  I nod. “They’d probably kill me if I left you here, now, wouldn’t they?”

  Now her smile turns into a grin. “They’re so cute.”

  “You said that already,” I mumble, disappointed this didn’t turn out like I was hoping for.

  We’re all insane.

  BARRON

  The rest of Saturday night, we hunt for a tree for the house. I sneak about two more heated kisses from Kacy, both of which leave me desperate for more, and the kids fall asleep on the couch with her. Two days and my kids, and my dick, have met their best friend.

  Pathetic. I can’t believe we’ve fallen so easily, but then again, when you’ve denied yourself something for so long, it’s easy to dive all in regardless of how deep the water is.

  Sunday morning, after feeding cattle and trying to coax a horse from trying to commit suicide by taking a dip in the pond, I find myself doing snow angels in the field with the kids and Kacy.

  “I’ve never made a snow angel before,” she tells Camdyn.

  “You haven’t?” Camdyn asks, rolling over to lay flat on her back and stare at the cloudless sky. Thankfully this first snowstorm has passed, but we have another on the way next week. Today, it’s sunny, windy as usual, but the perfect day to have the kids outside.

  “Nope. Never seen snow until I came here.” She smiles at my daughter, and I want to know what that smile looks like at 6:00 a.m. with sunlight on her skin.

  I’m addicted to her wild. I’m beginning to crave it.

  “Daddy!” Camdyn sits up, motioning me forward. “Come do one with us.”

  I turn to see where Sev is. She’s standing next to the house staring at a bucket she’s probably thinking of getting herself stuck in later. “Don’t you dare get in that bucket, little girl.”

  Sev snaps her mischievous eyes to mine. Maybe she’s wishing she could put me in it. You never know with this kid.

  I step closer, righting my gloves, and walk toward Camdyn. Standing over her, I widen my stance, and her eyes brighten, laughter on her red lips. I make it look like I’m going to fall on top of her. “Don’t move,” I warn, winking.

  She freezes, body stick straight, and covers her eyes with her hands, giggling.

  Carefully, I fall forward only to catch myself on my hand in a push-up position. It hurts my fucking elbows like crazy, but I don’t let on. I’m trying to impress the girl next to me like a fool.

  Camdyn’s laughter rings through the field, everything else snow-silent and glistening like glass, including the one I’m dying to peel back the layers on and beg for her thoughts.

  Camdyn leaves us after that, coaxing Sev from the covered porch as they build a snowman near the house. The snow is powdery and won’t stick to anything, but they try.

  “I love it here,” Kacy says, staring up at the sky, flat on her back next to me. “When I left California, I had no destination in mind, but I’m liking Texas.”

  My heart beats a little harder. “Thinking of staying?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe.”

  Hope swells in my chest, and it’s unfamiliar but not unwanted like I thought it would be. When Tara left, I told myself I wouldn’t fall in love again. I wouldn’t put myself in that position again. And now look at me.

  Frustrated, I shift my position on the ground and sit up, keeping an eye on the kids.

  “Are you cold?” Kacy asks, sitting next to me in the snow.

  “My balls are.”

  I don’t know if she’s never heard a man talk like that, which I find unbelievable, or maybe she has hypothermia. Whatever the reason, she starts laughing to the point she can’t breathe. Between all that, it’s her smile that gets me. Warm. Sexy. Addicting. It’s times like these that I remember how badly love can burn you if you’re not careful.

  Three days ago, this girl crashed into my life, and it’s getting harder and harder to picture her leaving it. Blowing out a breath, I stare up the sky as I ask, “Every Sunday we have supper at my dad’s. You wanna come?”

  “What’s supper?”

  I laugh, realizing she’s from California, and they probably don’t call it that. “Like… dinner.”

  “Well.” She bumps her shoulder into mine. “You are holding me hostage on this ranch. I don’t think I have much of a choice if I want to eat.”

  “Then it’s decided. You’ll come.”

  “Hopefully soon.” She sighs, resting her head against my shoulder.

  Groaning, I shake my head, wishing I could roll her over and have my way with her. But I’m not sure my dick will work in this cold. “You’re killing me.”

  Every Sunday, the kids and I have supper with my dad, Lara Lynn, Morgan, and Carly. It’s kinda been a tradition since the kids were little. What I’m not expecting is Carly to be there.

  “Wait, that’s his wife?” Kacy asks after they’re introduced, and we’re rummaging through my dad’s liquor cabinet. I can hear the kids’ laughter in the other room and my dad’s gruff chuckle that follows.

  “Yep.”

  “I thought they were getting a divorce?” She stares at them in the family room, looking every bit as uncomfortable as two people do at the end of a marriage.

  “They are… I think.”

  “Weird.”

  “Not really.” I pour us each a glass of whiskey.

  Kacy takes the glass in her hands, holding it near her lips. “Does Morgan have kids?”

  “Nope.” Twisting the cap back on the whiskey, I place it back in the cabinet. “Ripped his nut sac on a bull.”

  “What? Really?”

  “Yep. Can’t father children.”

  Her eyes widen. “Holy crap.”

  “That’s what you get for trying to ride a bull buck-ass naked.”

  She grins. “I think I like your brother.”

  I raise an eyebrow. “You better like me better.”

  “Why’s that?”

  I wink. “Because you’re sleeping… on my couch.”

  “True. Good point.” She sniffs the air, eyes lighting up. “What’s the smell? Is that what’s for dinner? It smells amazing. Way better than my apartment used to smell. I’ll probably never eat Indian food again.”

  I chuckle at her word vomit. “It’s the cow we slaughtered last summer.”

  Her bottom lips jets out. “Don’t tell me that. I made friends with Jelly Bean in the barn yesterday, and if he gets slaughtered, I’m going to be disappointed in all cowboys.”

  I laugh. “Jelly Bean is a bull.”

  “What’s that have to do with anything?”

  “We don’t slaughter bulls or heifers. Only steers.”

  Her eyes widen. “Yo
u lost me again.”

  There’s a small sense of pride swelling in my chest that she cares enough to ask questions about all this. “A steer is a castrated male, and a heifer is a female cow that hasn’t been bred.”

  “And what’s a bull?”

  I watch her face, her eyes, that undeniable spark between us growing stronger. I want to reach out and trace my hand down that heart-shaped face of hers and bring her lips to mine. “A male cow that hasn’t had his nuts chopped.”

  And she bursts out laughing in my face.

  Morgan comes into the den where we’re at and smiles at Kacy. “Ma’am,” he greets her, tipping his hat.

  “You guys and your ma’am’s,” she grumbles, walking away with her drink in hand.

  Chuckling to myself, he watches her leave. “Did I say something wrong?”

  “No.”

  “What are you doing?” he asks, smiling like he knows what’s up.

  “Fuck if I know.”

  He checks her out when she bends over to pick Sev up. I swear every time I look at her she’s carrying Sev around, and my little crazy is loving it. “She’s hot.”

  I don’t think before I grab a handful of his jacket and drag him forward until we’re nose to nose. “If you know what’s good for you, you’ll never look at her again.”

  He searches my eyes, glaring. “Okay, okay. She’s taken.”

  “You got your own problems.” I let go of him and push him into the wall. Relaxing, I gesture to Carly talking with Lara Lynn. “I thought she left you.”

  He groans, rolling his eyes. “She knows about Lil.”

  “So?”

  “I have no fucking clue. I don’t know what’s going on.” He sets down his beer and starts rummaging through the cabinet. “I need something stronger than this shit.”

  “Not tequila.”

  He grins and takes the bottle from dad’s liquor cabinet. “Where’s the fun in that?”

  Shit.

  Inside the den, I find Camdyn, Lara Lynn, and Kacy, who is still holding Sev in her arms. My dad is showing her his vast collection of animal heads plastered to the walls.

  Kacy touches her fingers to the bear standing upright in the corner as Sev wiggles free from her arms and takes off with Camdyn to play with the goats. “Did you kill this too?”