Yeah, I knew. I slid in slow, never stopping and never looking away until I was buried so deep my eyes closed on their own. “Dani.” I could stay right here like this, forever. So warm and snug I didn’t think I’d last long.
“Ty, please. I need you.”
“Say it again.”
She shivered when I slid out and slammed in, a smile tugging on one corner of her mouth but interrupted by another moan.
The sounds she made as I joined our bodies, fast and hard, intense and raw, eclipsed all other sounds, even the smacking of slick skin. Every cry and moan made me grow harder, more determined to drive her out of her mind. She was close, I felt it and pulled all the way out.
“What the fuck?”
I grinned. “Not yet.” I held her thighs as she glared at me, then I dipped low and pulled her pussy into my mouth and sucked. Hard. “I said, not yet.”
“Ty,” she cried and I drove deep, my cock pulsing in her before I began to move as she clenched around me. “Ty, make me come.”
I love a woman not afraid to ask for what she wanted. “What was that?”
“Please, Ty. Make me come!”
I grabbed her hips and pulled her down onto me, pumping into her with enough speed to push a Mustang down the expressway. She grew tighter, her pussy squeezing in powerful tremors as I thrust hard and deep. “Oh, Dani,” I growled and she shivered, arched her back to accept more pleasure.
“Ty, yes. Ty!” She gripped my wrists as I held her hips, thrusting so hard and deep I worried I might hurt her, but she kept pace with me and then she froze and flew apart, her body doing the dance of pleasure as I pounded hard in search of my own release.
“Ah, fuck! Shit!” My hips slammed into her a few more times before coming to a stop and I lifted her in my arms, bodies still connected as I climbed the stairs.
She pulled back and smiled up at me, looking so sleepy and satisfied with her hair all rumpled and her lips swollen from my cock. My kisses. We reached her bedroom and she kissed me long and hard, like she was leaving me with more than a kiss. “God, I love you,” she sighed, speaking so quietly I almost hadn’t caught it.
Almost.
She froze as soon as she realized what she said and took a wary step back. Then another. “I’m going to, go get cleaned up.”
She disappeared without even giving me the chance to respond. Not that I had any fucking clue what to say in response to that. I hadn’t even thought of falling in love since I buried Tilly. It had never seemed important because it hadn’t been a possibility. I didn’t know if it was a possibility now. What I did know was that her words would only make what I had to do that much harder.
She emerged from the bathroom ten minutes later, hair wet and body wrapped in a fluffy red robe. “Sorry about that. I shouldn’t have said it so don’t worry about it.”
Like I could do that. “I didn’t come here for this Dani.” I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. “I have to go out of town for a while.”
She scoffed, her posture a banner of disbelief. “Okay, Ty.”
“I’m serious. I told you that I rarely travel for work but this is an important gig and the client wants a stakeholder to handle it. We both know that’s beyond Blake’s skill set.” I saw her soften just a bit and pushed on. “This is good for the business, Dani. I have to go.”
“No one is stopping you, Ty. Be safe.”
Be safe? Was she kidding? “You don’t have anything else you want to say to me? You just said you loved me!”
She stood, looking so small with her arms wrapped around her waist, face blank of all emotion. “And now you’re running away. Go do what you have to do for your family.”
“I’m not running away! I came here to tell you I needed to go away for a few days, not to fuck. But you know, maybe you’re right. Some time apart could do us some good.”
“That didn’t take long,” she muttered, gaze lingering on mine. For a moment I thought she would argue. Fight. Turn that fiery nature on me. But in the end she didn’t. Resignation sat heavy on her shoulders and she nodded then looked away. “If that’s what you want,” she walked to the door and held it open.
“It is.”
She nodded and shielded her body with the door, big green-flecked blue eyes looking at me with raw agony. “It’s been nice, Ty.” Her lips twitched but she couldn’t even muster a smile to go with her words.
“Yeah,” I grunted and walked through the door, feeling sad and angry and full of rage. I couldn’t deal with these emotions now, not when business was on the agenda. I would go to Brazil, pick up the package and hopefully be back home in four days.
When I returned to Green Valley I would figure out what kind of future Dani and I had.
Dani
Thanksgiving was in just a few days and I had finished shopping for supplies for a depressing holiday dinner for one. But I was determined to enjoy it, and if not enjoy, at least overdose on holiday cheer. I’d bought all the classics from the sales bin and saved every holiday themed movie I could find on Netflix. I was prepared for my first—and likely not last—solo holiday. Well, technically it wouldn’t be solo because I’d have a child this time next year. And every year for the next hundred years.
But next year Aunt Amelia would be here with us, and probably Artie too. I’d treated them to a bon voyage dinner last week, the night before they took off for their trip half way around the world. Now it was just me and the tiny life growing inside of me.
“I can be okay with that,” I said aloud to make it real.
Brining a turkey was tricky business, which of course meant the phone rang while I was elbow deep in cold salt water. “Yeah?”
“Hey Dani, it’s Blake. Look I hate to call you like this but I’m still on a call and I can’t get away, but Bobby needs a ride home. Today is a half day and I promised I’d go but, dammit, I’ve been looking for this item for months.”
I didn’t really care about the details. “Fine. Time?”
“You’re a lifesaver,” he gushed and rattled off the details.
“I’m leaving now.”
“Great and do you think you could stay with him until I get there?”
“Sure,” I sighed and disconnected the call before he asked for a kidney. I covered the turkey, washed up and grabbed the gifts I wanted to drop off while Ty was still out of town before heading to Bobby’s school. As I waited in line with the real parents, I felt like a fraud. I felt terrified. In a few years this would be my reality.
“Dani! What are you doing here?” His face lit up with happiness.
“Your uncle asked me to pick you up. We get to hang out for a bit today.”
“Cool! I made up a new sandwich you have to try.”
I grinned, as excited as he was about his newest creation. “Then we’d better hurry.”
If we’d gone sooner we could have avoided the tall stacked woman heading our way, with a little boy in tow. “That’s Harrison and his mom.”
Of course it was, because that was my life lately.
“I’m happy to take Bobby for the afternoon since he and Harrison are such good friends.” She purred every word, fingers grazing the very low neckline of her top.
“That’s a nice offer but I promised Bobby we’d hang today. You should make arrangements with Ty.”
“Oh yes, I think I will. And you are?”
“Dani.” The woman had brought her kid to me no less than five times this year alone, but without a penis I don’t register. I get it. “You ready, buddy?”
“Yeah. Bye Harrison.”
“Dani, would it be a problem if I called Ty?”
I knew what she was, asking but I couldn’t bring myself to answer. “It could be.”
Big brown eyes widened and she nodded before tottering off on her white stilettos, her son jogging beside her. “Bobby I have a serious question for you,” I told him when I pulled into traffic.
“What is it?” His eyes were wide, silver-blue orbs of seriousness.
“I need you to think long and hard about this because it’s a big decision, okay?” He nodded dramatically. “Should we get French fries or onion rings at The Burger Spot?”
His grin spread slow and he practically bounced with happiness. “Both!”
I laughed but my grip tightened on the steering wheel as dark clouds rolled in and the wind picked up. Seconds later, big fat drops of water fell to the windshield, faster and faster until never ending buckets of water drenched the windshield and made sight impossible. I slowed down to decide if we should pull over or stay on the road. I let out a long breath and took the next exit that would lead us back to Ty’s house.
“Dani, I’m scared.” His voice was soft and shaky, I could hear the fear clearly.
“I know kiddo, I am too. But this isn’t my first storm,” I tried for a smile but it might have been a grimace based on his reaction. “Hey I was on my way to drop off your Christmas presents.” It was a means of distraction and it worked.
“You did? Thanks!” He gasped with excitement but his face twisted in confusion. “But Christmas is a long time away.”
I didn’t have the heart to tell him I wouldn’t be around for Christmas, so I turned to our shared love. “Are you the head chef for Thanksgiving?”
“No. Dad said he wanted me to relax and it’s being catered. Catered, Dani,” he said with the same gravity others spoke of war and famine.
“Enjoy the holidays you don’t have to cook, Bobby. When you’re my age you’ll wish to have someone else cook for you.” I believed that, but I also hoped that he would talk to distract us both because I could barely see more than five feet in front of me and I knew a sharp turn was up ahead. “If you were going to cook this year, what would you make?”
That did the trick. He spoke quietly but with plenty of passion as I pushed the car up the road, closer to home. He mentioned something about putting walnuts in the cornbread dressing and green bean casserole. “I would make a hundred desserts!”
“I’d eat every one of them kid.” The turn came and I slowed until I could see the lines in the road. We were halfway through when I felt confident, okay and a little bit proud, we’d made it without a proper freak out. Then I saw the headlights. No, the high beams. They were coming fast—too fast—and there was no room on the road to avoid the car. “Hang on Bobby,” I shouted as the car swerved at the last minute, slamming into the driver’s side instead of head on. “Bobby,” I groaned, gaze locked on his terror filled eyes before everything went pitch black.
Ty
I hated being away from home, away from Bobby for any significant amount of time. But this four day trip had already stretched to six and I was more than ready to go home.
Thanksgiving was just a few days away and I wanted to be home with my son and my brother. He’d been upset when I told him I hired a caterer for Thanksgiving. And when he realized Dani wouldn’t be there, it would be like a slap in the face. Dani was the other reason I felt anxious to get back home. I didn’t like the way we left things. It felt final, and while I didn’t know how I felt about her, I did know that I wasn’t ready to lose her yet.
“Mr. Hawke, we’ll reach New York within the hour and should be wheels down in three.” The beautiful flight attendant stood a respectable distance from me and waited patiently.
“Thank you, Gretchen. I’ll have a bottle of water and you can relax the rest of the flight.” Her shoulders relaxed but her chest jutted out a few more inches and I smelled trouble. “I’ll be finishing up some work.”
She deflated and turned to retrieve my water, setting it down and curling up in a seat by the door with her digital reader.
Thank fucking goodness. I liked Gretchen. She was competent, pretty and she did her job and kept her mouth shut. But as beautiful as she was, I had no desire to date or fuck her. So I did what I always did when women batted their eyelashes or pushed their tits in my direction. I buried my head in work and ignored them. Luckily, Gretchen didn’t seem to mind.
I had enough woman problems, I didn’t need to add more women to the mix. One diminutive pixie with a medical degree was apparently already more than I could handle. None of that could be settled right now, so I got back to work, updating the expense report for the trip as well as notes and any other info that might be useful for the future.
“Excuse me, Mr. Hawke.”
I sighed, annoyed at the intrusion. “What is it, Gretchen?”
“Your brother is on the line,” she handed her pink bejeweled phone to me. “He said you weren’t answering your phone.”
“Damn phone, Gretchen. I said he wasn’t answering his damn phone!” Blake’s voice sounded from the pink atrocity posing as a phone.
“Thank you. I’ll return it when I’m done.” She nodded and walked away. “What’s so important you couldn’t wait three hours?”
“Whoa! What’s got your panties in a bunch, old man? Did the beautiful Swiss countryside do nothing for your grumpy ass?”
“Countryside? What I saw of it from the window was fucking delightful but it took an extra day to track down the seller.” And another day to finesse the eccentric old man into departing with his prized vase for an obscene amount of money.
“As much as I hate to be the bearer of bad news, there’s been an accident. Bobby is okay, but we’re at Lincoln Memorial so you should get here as fast as you can.”
“I’m still in the air, Blake.”
“Yeah that’s why I called the flight attendant, asshole. Just come here first. Don’t go home.” Blake disconnected the call before I could ask any more questions.
The next three hours seemed to go on forever as I tried to focus on work but it was useless. Bobby was hurt. No matter what Blake said they wouldn’t be at the hospital three hours from now if he were completely fine, and the guilt of that settled on my chest like a lead weight. This wouldn’t have happened if I’d been there. As soon as the jet touched down, I hopped in the waiting town car and gave the driver instructions. “If you get us there in under an hour there’s an extra grand in it for you.”
“Yes, sir.” The driver pulled into traffic, carefully, making me wonder if my voice held enough urgency for the man. But as soon as we merged onto I-55 the man opened up the luxury car, dodging all manner of vehicles so we made unbelievable time. “Here we are. Should I wait?”
“Yes,” I told him, keeping my word and handing him the cash for his rapid, yet safe trip. “I’ll let you know if that changes.” Without another word, I took a deep breath and walked through the automatic doors of the hospital, finding a grouchy nurse at the information desk who gave me half-hearted instructions to the emergency room.
“Dad!”
I turned at the sight of Bobby’s voice, squatting down as he ran to me. “Hey buddy, how are you?” He looked a little banged up, but he seemed fine.
“I’m fine, I got a scar under here,” he pointed to the bandage covering most of his forehead. “But it’s small and the doc says I’ll be fine ‘cause I’m a strong boy.” He punctuated the words by flexing his bicep.
I pulled my son close and hugged him tight, so damn happy that he was okay. He squirmed out of my grasp and rolled his eyes. “If you’re fine and you’ve been taken care of, why are we still here?”
“Dani’s not okay,” Bobby offered up, lip quivering with impending tears. “It started to rain real bad and she was driving real careful. Lights came at us super fast and she slowed down more, but the other car didn’t. She held out her arm over me like this,” he demonstrated the universal parenting hold for kids in cars. “It crunched. Loud.”
My heart squeezed at his words. Dani was hurt. I looked at Blake. “How is she?”
Blake shrugged. “Not family, so they won’t tell me shit.”
“Her head was bleeding and then she fell asleep. Even in the ambulance she wouldn’t wake up.” Tears welled again and this time they fell. “Is she gonna be okay?”
I sure as shit hoped so. “I’m sure she wil
l, buddy.” I had no real fucking clue, and so many thoughts and emotions ran through me that I couldn’t process any of them. Nothing registered other than the fact that my son was okay.
“I wanna see her!”
I couldn’t do that. I wasn’t ready to see her, not yet. My heart still raced at the thought of Bobby in a car accident, but hearing him describe her injuries, bloody and unconscious, was already more than I could deal with at the moment. “Maybe tomorrow.”
“No! Now! I wanna see Dani now!” He pouted, gaze shooting from me to Blake and back again. “Please, Dad. She saved me!”
“She needs her rest, Bobby. That’s how wounds heal.”
He contemplated my words and gratitude settled deep that Bobby still believed whatever I told him. His shoulders dropped and his little head shook. “Okay. But I have to come tomorrow. I have to!”
“I understand.” I told him and steered him towards the front doors. “Let’s get home.”
“But who’s gonna give Dani a ride home? Her car is broken.”
“I’ll wait here and see if they let her out tonight,” Blake said, an edge of anger in his voice.
I turned and, sure enough, his most menacing glare was aimed right at me. “What?”
“Nothing,” he spat out in a tone that definitely meant something. “I’ll find my own way home. After I check on Dani.” This time Blake didn’t wait for me to respond, he shook his head and walked off.
“Come on Bobby, let’s get home. You hungry?”
He nodded, exaggerating each move. “Dani was gonna take me to The Burger Spot and we were gonna get fries and onion rings!”
I grinned and scanned the lot for the driver, but I didn’t need to look far. As soon as he spotted me he pulled forward. Impressive. “Both, huh?”
“Yep. Maybe we should bring her burgers tomorrow?”
“Maybe,” I told him but it felt like a lie. I wasn’t ready to see her, especially laid up in a hospital bed. But I had a feeling Bobby wouldn’t let it go.
Daddy's Christmas Date: A Single Dad Romance Page 9