Daddy's Best Friend: An Older Man Younger Woman Box Set

by Charlize Starr

  “Because I wanted to wait until the test was over. Just so that you don’t think that I am actually using you. Now that the test is over, I don’t need you to be my tutor anymore, but I still want to get to know you,” he said and stretched his hand out towards her. Margie looked at his hand, breathed in and slowly placed her own on his open palm. There it was, that electric shock again!

  Lance pulled her to him and she rested her hands on his shoulders.

  “I can’t believe I’m falling for it again,” Margie said, shaking her head.

  “From now on, we’re going to speak our minds and be open about everything. I’m sorry that I caused you pain. You caused me a whole world of hurt that night at the bar,” Lance said with a laugh, and Margie rolled her eyes.

  “When I was pretending to laugh and have fun?” She laughed with him.

  “That dress was killing me,” he said and tightened his hand around her waist. Margie grazed her lips along his chin now, unable to control herself any longer.

  “I can wear it again for you if you like,” she said with a giggle, and Lance kissed her softly on the cheek.

  “Please do. But this time, don’t screech at Chloe and ask her to get off you,” Lance said, laughing again. Margie felt her cheeks flush, embarrassed that he knew about that.

  “I’m sorry. That happened right after I heard Bryan talking. I had nobody else to take my anger out on,” Margie said, hiding her face on his chest. Lance was stroking her hair as he spoke. She could feel his fingers creeping up her back to trace the shape of her bra strap through the fabric of her clothes.

  “Do you want to come to mine this time?” she asked, whispering in his ear, and Lance looked back at her. He was not expecting her to be this forward when she was so shy the last time.

  “Yes,” he replied hoarsely.

  Chapter Nine

  The crowd cheered in waves. The game was being filmed this time by national television and the team supporters who were attending the game had been instructed to cheer in a wave pattern. There were going to be scouts in the bleachers, and Margie’s heart was pounding again. There was no doubt about it, Lance was going to be spotted, handpicked for a National League team.

  She was in one of his jerseys, her hair tied up but her curls tumbling down over the back of her neck.

  She cheered loudly as Lance kicked the team to victory. Bryan, at the other end of the seats, leaned forward to pass her a smile. Margie nodded in response. She decided she was going to warm to him.

  Lance was on the shoulders of his teammates again and he caught her eye. Margie blew him a kiss and he mimed a catch and then rubbed it on his cheeks. Margie’s smile widened and she covered her mouth as she laughed. They’d been together for three months already, college was nearing its end and each day was better and better with him.

  She watched as the cheerleaders swarmed the field now and Chloe ran right towards Lance. He leaned in towards her from above, still on top of two of his teammates’ shoulders and gave her a quick hug. Margie felt a jealous tug somewhere at the bottom of her heart, but he looked up immediately towards her and smiled. He was telling her that she had nothing to worry about. Lance was a man very much in love, and he was in love with her.

  “He’s proven me wrong.” Claire’s voice interrupted her thoughts. It was Claire’s first game, and she had agreed to accompany Margie after days of pleading.

  The buzz in the crowd had caught on to her as well. Claire was standing and clapping now, just like everyone else. Hank, the Arts Major from the bar, was beside her, equally converted on his first attendance of a football game.

  “Your boyfriend is quite the performer,” Hank leaned forward to say, and Margie couldn’t help but laugh. She agreed. If there was ever a performer, it was Lance Healy.

  People everywhere were blowing horns and waving big foam thumbs in the air, and Margie found confetti stuck to her hair now. This was going to be her life now, she was going to attend his games and watch on proudly as Lance took his team to victory after victory.

  “Here she comes.” Claire nudged Margie with her elbow just as Chloe appeared behind them.

  “We won!” Chloe shrieked, right into Margie’s ear.

  “We did!” Margie said excitedly, and Chloe shocked her with a tight hug.

  “What’s the deal with her then?” Claire asked as they watched Chloe walk down the seats towards Bryan and the other guys.

  “Nothing. She still hangs around Lance a lot, but she knows she doesn’t really stand a chance with him. She’s kind of nice to me, though. So as long as she doesn’t throw herself at him anymore, I have no complaints,” Margie said with a sigh and a smile.

  “You’ll have to deal with that a lot, though,” Claire said, rolling her eyes at Chloe, who was now hugging Bryan tightly. “Fangirls throwing themselves at Lance,” Claire added.

  Margie sighed and shrugged. That is what she had signed up for with Lance as a boyfriend, she knew that.

  “I consider myself lucky,” she said with another shrug. Claire pointed ahead and Margie turned to look. Lance had broken away from his team and was climbing the short distance through the bleachers towards her now.

  “You are very lucky. And he’s a lucky guy to have you,” Claire said, clapping again as the crowd cheered for Lance as he made his way to Margie.

  Margie’s heart was beating fast. Lance was coming to her. She was important to him, more than the game and more than the cheers.

  “We won!” he said, just as he came up to her and lifted her up in his arms to give her a twirl.

  “We won!” she repeated after him and leaned in for a kiss.

  “Let’s get out of here?” he asked, gripping her waist tightly.

  “What about celebrating with your teammates?” she asked, and Lance laughed.

  “They’ll understand,” he said, planting a kiss on her belly.

  “We’re leaving, Claire. I’m abducting your friend,” he said, turning to Claire and Hank.

  Margie couldn’t do anything else other than blush a bright red.

  *****

  THE END

  The Rich Cowboy's Baby

  Description

  OMG. He is so hot and so rich... but what if he finds out about this?

  Nadine couldn’t believe that Cole would cheat on her after they moved from her home state to start a new life together.

  Not only did he cheat, but he did it in his truck in a parking lot. She had given up a good job and a future to come here and support him in his dreams of becoming a rancher so he could live a more peaceful life. Nadine had given up everything.

  Is it fate when she meets Owen in the crowd as she runs away from the end of her relationship? Is it fate that she crashes into him, and he helps her to pick up the pieces of her life over the course of a night?

  Nadine never knew that a man could make her feel like that, but makes the hard choice to return to Chicago to start a new life for herself.

  But as fate would have it, she must return to break the news to Owen that he is going to be a father...

  It was so unexpected, and she is scared, but Nadine hopes there is a chance that they can rekindle things between them with their new situation.

  Will new information break all of that hope? Can she get past the idea that she got used all over again?

  Can Owen and Nadine find love through the turmoil and form a family?

  Chapter One

  The rodeo felt crowded as Nadine searched through the crowd for her boyfriend, Cole. He had just run to get them some beers while she waited in the stands for the bull riding event, but that had been half an hour ago. It wasn’t like she knew anyone here in Texas. She had come with Cole to learn the farming life so he could take over for his father down the line. They were both accountants back in Chicago and fortunate enough to make a decent enough severance pay to come here. She loved Cole, but she also loved the city life and missed it a lot. Nadine sighed and wondered if he’d gotten sick and headed back to his
truck to leave.

  For someone who claimed he loved her, Cole could be strange sometimes. She ran a hand through her curls and cursed the humidity before making her way through the crowd. Nadine didn’t feel right here, even after being in Austin for a month now. She was one of the few black women in Cole’s scene, and everyone just seemed to shun her most of the time. Maybe following him here based on promises of wealth and a peaceful life wasn’t the best idea, but Nadine had fallen in love with him during their two-year relationship. He seemed to be worth fighting for.

  Nadine checked the concession stand for her handsome cowboy, but there was no sign of him in any of the long lines. She shook her head and, after stumbling in the cowboy boots that he’d bought her again, she stared down at the pink leather. They were admittedly pretty, but she missed the heels she used to wear to work. Nadine left the food area as she took in the tempting scent of barbecue and corn dogs with a small sigh. They could get something when she found him.

  Nadine made her way out to the parking lot, pulling her black cardigan around her body to protect herself against the cool spring breeze she walked and listening to the sounds of the crowd cheering all of the action. She looked up at the sky for a moment to take in the stars before Nadine glanced forward to see Cole’s massive red truck at the edge of the dusty lot. The closer that Nadine got to it, the louder the sounds of moaning became and Nadine widened her whiskey-colored eyes as she moved a little faster. She crossed her arms over her generous chest as she watched Cole’s bare white ass moving between the legs of some woman as she eagerly begged him for more. “What the fuck, Cole?”

  He stopped moving and shifted onto his knees in the steel bed of the truck before he fell onto the woman, who was trying to cover herself as Nadine glared at the both of them. “I came here with you from a whole life that I had back home. Why did you even ask me of you didn’t want me to begin with?”

  “Nadine, let me explain.” He tried to get his pants on before the crowd that was listening to them drew closer, as he begged her to hear him out. “Nadine!”

  She pushed her way through the crowd as the anger turned into sadness, then desperation. Nadine had given up a fantastic job to move here. Even with the generous severance pay, the money had gone primarily into moving into their new condo at the edge of town, leaving her nothing. “Fuck. What am I supposed to do now?” Nadine didn’t know anyone well enough even to ask to stay with them, and there was no way in hell that she was going to forgive Cole. She ran around to the entrance of the parking lot, then she turned sharply and crashed into a sturdy body, falling to the ground.

  “Are you okay?” Nadine was crying too hard to answer as he helped her up and looked her over before she nodded and kept going to a part of the rodeo where she could be alone and collect her thoughts. She had seen it earlier when they arrived, and Nadine leaned against a tree as she played the whole scene back in her head. Their entire relationship seemed like a joke when she thought back to when they’d met at a deli in the city when she and Cole were both still in school. Despite their skin color being completely different, they had clicked and moved quickly into a long term relationship. Moving in together in Chicago happened within six months after they were both settled in accounting firms, and the move here had seemed like a no-brainer at the time. She loved him and expected marriage at some point shortly, but all Nadine had now was the shame of returning to Chicago only to tell everybody what had happened.

  That is, if she figured out how. Nadine had had no real need for a high-limit credit card before now, so she had nothing to work with. She hadn’t even found a job yet, though she’d been looking.

  She slid down the tree trunk in the dark, and her ass hit the soft grass as she started to cry again. So many emotions flooded her brain: rage, betrayal, heartbreak, disappointment and confusion, just to name a few. Nadine buried her face in her arms as she let it all out to try to get to a place where she could figure out just what to do.

  “Ma’am? Are you okay?” Her head shot up as she blinked to see the man she’d crashed into standing at the entrance to the trees with his hands in the pockets of his fitted jeans. He was wearing a black cowboy hat, and his voice sent shivers down her spine as his drawl settled over the clearing that she was sitting in. “I wanted to check on you after our collision back there.” He was clearly a local with that drawl, and Nadine looked slowly up his body before she tried to see his face.

  “I’m fine from that. The fall was nothing; it’s what caused me to run that I’m having an issue with,” Nadine admitted, as the man walked over and sat down in the grass across from her. He took off his hat to reveal tousled chestnut hair and a dimple that almost made her forget about all of her problems as he smiled crookedly. The light was dimmer here than other parts of the area, but it still showed off his full lips and tormented gray eyes when she took a closer glance at him. “I found my boyfriend with a girl in his truck just now. I moved from Chicago to start a new life with him here and now…I don’t know what I am going to do.” She wiped away the tears that flowed freely from her burning eyes. “I have no home, no car, nothing. I don’t even have money to get back to Chicago because I’ve been supporting his sorry ass.”

  He pulled something out of his back pocket and offered it to her. “Want a little distraction for the night?” It was a flask, and she shook her head as she stared at it. It was clearly expensive. “You’re not trying to drug me, right? Not that it would necessarily make this night worse.”

  “No, ma’am. I don’t find myself having to drug beautiful women to get them into bed with me.” At least he was honest. She shrugged and took the lid off before she took a long swig of the alcohol inside. It was a good whiskey, and she swallowed it before she took a slow breath.

  “That is just what I needed,” Nadine told him, as he watched her and settled back on his hands. “Want some?”

  “I’ll be driving you to a hotel for the night in a while, so I’ll hold off for now.”

  “Hotel? I don’t even have money for that.” Reality struck Nadine, and she took another swallow from the bottle. “What’s your name?”

  “The name’s Owen James. What is yours, if you don’t mind me asking?” He let his eyes drift down her body, over her tight fitting jeans and loosely buttoned plaid shirt with a white camisole underneath it that teased Nadine’s generous cleavage. She swallowed the lump in her throat.

  “Nadine Parson,” she replied in a soft, shy voice, as he extended his hand to her easily. It was evident that this man was a bit on the cocky side, but someone had taught him some good manners.

  “Pleasure to meet you.” She reached out to shake his hand as she smiled and he shook it firmly as the heat passed between them.

  Chapter Two

  The seriousness of her situation, as well as her growing attraction to Owen, made Nadine keep sipping at the bottle and soon she was giggling as she dropped back against the trunk. He moved closer to her and slipped a hand over her thigh as she stared into his eyes under the white lights that lined the fence. “Would you like to stay with me tonight?” There was a look in his eyes that told Nadine that he needed this as much as she did, a pain that she had picked up on despite his flirting and smiles. Owen had something of his own that he was going through, and Nadine found herself worrying about him more than herself.

  “Yes, I’d like that a lot.” She could pretend that everything was fine for a night and then deal with things tomorrow.

  “To my chariot, my lady.” Own stood and held out his hand to help her up as she smiled at him and allowed him to lift her into his arms. Owen barely paused before his lips crashed over hers and Nadine wrapped her arms around his neck as she pulled him closer. A kiss had never made her knees weak like this one did and she parted her lips at the prodding of his tongue against her mouth and moaned as he tasted her. They kissed for several moments before he led her urgently to a shiny SUV in the corner of the lot and opened the door for her before he kissed her again. A phone was rin
ging over and over as he pulled away with a ragged breath and ran around to his side. Owen started the engine with a quick twist of his wrist as the phone sounded again.

  “Shouldn’t you get that?” Nadine prodded him. Whoever it was seemed to need to talk to him, and Own glanced at the screen before he tossed the phone into the back of the Tahoe.

  “No. It doesn't matter.” His voice was dark, and she stared at him for a moment before he backed out of the space and headed to the main road with a hard press of the gas pedal. Nadine looked around as they drove, fairly sure that they were moving in the opposite direction to her condo—her old condo. Once she got the few things she’d brought along with her, Nadine would never see those rooms again.

  The car moved into the country with sprawling land and crops on both sides of them. Nadine looked at it and decided this part of Texas was beautiful as she leaned back against the comfortable leather seat. Owen took a sharp turn left into a long driveway and then a right to drive away from what looked like the main house. “Where are we going?”

  “I don’t live in the house. I have my own space,” Owen responded. He kept driving until they reached a top-of-the-line double wide trailer out in the middle of nothing but miles of land.

  Nadine allowed him to open her door for her and slid out before staring up at the stars in the sky. “Beautiful.”

  “Yes, you are,” Owen assured her, as Nadine looked up at him and soaked in the compliments to soothe her wounded soul. “That man was a fool to throw away somebody like you, if you don’t mind me saying so. I am not too familiar with relationships myself, but I would cherish one with the proper woman.”

  “You are charming, Owen.” Nadine allowed him to lead her to the front door through the porch that offered a few chaise lounges and tables that were perfect for stargazing. They walked into a large living room with an old style rock fireplace and mantel as the focus of the large space. It was simple and beautiful, and she watched as Owen dropped his keys onto a table and headed into the kitchen. He took two glasses from a cupboard and a bottle from near the fridge before he walked over to her with a needy look on his handsome face. Nadine had never been into the cowboy look, even when her former boyfriend had taken it up, but Owen was stunning, and she stepped closer to him.