Daddy Next Door - The Complete Series Box Set (A Single Dad Navy SEAL Romance)

by Claire Adams

  The living room and the bedroom had been almost completely destroyed, but the kitchen had managed to survive partially intact. We dug through the dust and dirt to find that Howard’s food and water bowl had miraculously made it through unscathed. His food had been stored in a bin in the closet and that, too, had survived. We gathered up a few things in trash bags, and I heard Emily sigh as she looked over the ruined remains of the living room.

  “There’s nothing there worth trying to salvage,” she said, kicking a scorched couch cushion and sighing loudly again. I drove Emily to the clinic where she picked up Howard, who was only slightly disgruntled about having to have spent a night away from his person, but he quickly forgave Emily when she gathered him in her arms and held him to her chest. We stopped and picked up a few groceries and a litter box for Howard, and by the time we pulled up in front of Kendra’s house, he was purring contentedly as he pushed on Emily’s arm.

  I unloaded the truck as Emily unlocked the door and turned on lights. I brought her meager belongings into the house and looked around. It was a clean but Spartan house.

  “She’s out of town visiting her parents; I’m not sure when she’s coming back,” Emily said, without prompting. “I’ll just stay here until I get the insurance settled and find a new place to live.”

  “Sounds good to me,” I nodded. “Meanwhile, I’d like to take you out on a real date. Maybe Wednesday?”

  “I’d like that,” she smiled.

  “Good, then I’ll pick you up at 7,” I said, as I kissed her and then turned to go.

  “Thank you, Blake,” she said quietly. “It’s been a horrible couple of days, but you made it all much better.”

  “I’m glad I could help,” I said, tipping my imaginary hat. “I’ll see you Wednesday.”

  I stopped and picked up burgers for Nina and I before I returned home. When I got there, she was frantically texting with someone obviously more important than I was, so I held up the bag containing dinner and said, “Might want to come and get it while it’s hot!”

  Nina set her phone down and followed me into the kitchen as I divvied up the burgers and fries and she grabbed the condiments and napkins.

  “So, what’s going on with you two?” she blurted out. “And don’t lie to me; there’s obviously something going on.”

  “I wouldn’t dream of lying to you, darling daughter,” I said, imitating her dramatic way of answering me when I dug into her personal life.

  “Dad!” she protested. “I’m serious! What’s going on with you and Ms. Fowler?”

  “I want to date her,” I said plainly. “So, I’m going to take her out to dinner on Wednesday.”

  “This is so gross,” Nina said, shaking her head. “I can’t believe you’re going to date my teacher!”

  “Who else am I going to date, Nina?” I said. “And besides, you are the one who's been pushing me to get out there and mingle with the singles.”

  “Yeah, but not my teachers,” she protested, before taking a huge bite of her burger.

  “Then I can’t win,” I said exasperatedly. “I give up. You want me to call and cancel?”

  “Nooooooo,” Nina said with a full mouth.

  “Then what do you want me to do?”

  “Just don’t be so obvious about it, Dad,” she grinned, as she grabbed fries off of my plate and popped them into her mouth. “Seriously. It’s gross.”

  “Fine, I will conduct my business with all the secrecy of a CIA black-op,” I said solemnly.

  “Oh God, don’t be so dramatic, Dad,” she said, rolling her eyes even more dramatically. “I’m just saying that you should keep it on the DL until you know if you two actually like each other or not.”

  “The DL?”

  “Oh my God, Dad! The DL is the down low! I’ve told you that a million times,” she exhaled exasperatedly. “What is wrong with you?”

  “Dunno, maybe I’m in love,” I said, shrugging. “Or maybe I’m starving because my daughter is eating all of my food!”

  Nina burst into giggles, and we spent the rest of our dinner hour laughing as we ate. As I got ready for bed later that night, I smiled as I realized that my date with Emily was the first thing I’d looked forward to in a long time.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Emily

  I quickly settled in at KO’s. She might otherwise live a Spartan life, but KO had a bathroom that rivaled any spa in the state. I poured a glass of wine as the tub filled with hot water. I dropped in a bath bomb and watched it fizzle on the bottom of the tub before I climbed in and sunk down into the steaming water. I sighed as I leaned back and let the day’s events turn over in my mind.

  In the span of only one day, I’d watched my house burn down, feared that I’d lose my feline companion, been rescued by Blake Gaston, had some amazing sex with him, and spent the day with his entire family. I reached over, grabbed the wine glass, and sipped the burgundy liquid as I tried to process it all. I quickly gave up and sank back, enjoying the combination of the wine and warm water.

  After my bath, I dried off and pulled on a pair of KO’s sweats and a T-shirt that said, “Well-behaved women never make history, so fuck off.” I chuckled as I headed to the kitchen to make myself a sandwich and give Howard his medicine.

  Howard was still unsettled after the fire and his stay at the hospital, and he spent a good deal of time sniffing everything in KO’s house. He came into the kitchen to see if I had food, but when he realized that it was time for another of his pills, he made a beeline for the couch. We’d been through this drill many times before, so I tucked the pill inside one of his favorite salmon treats and buried it in the hand holding my sandwich plate.

  Howard smelled food and tentatively came closer to check it out. I smiled at him as I lifted the sandwich off the plate and took a big bite. He mewed softly and tapped my arm with his paw.

  “Oh, you’re hungry, are you?” I asked, as I eyed him skeptically. Howard blinked twice and then nonchalantly looked away. I chuckled softly before I said, “Well, you’re not getting any of this sandwich, my fuzzy friend.”

  Howard turned his glare back at me and shot me a dirty look before looking away again. I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing.

  “Okay, okay, you want a treat?” I asked. He looked at me as if to ask what the treat was. “I’ve got a salmon treat for you. Do you want it?”

  Howard mewed loudly as he stood up and walked closer to me. He stood on my thigh with his paws pressing into my flesh as he mewed louder. I held out the treat. “Do you want this treat?” Howard strained his neck toward the salmon treat and mewed again. I held it close enough for him to have to work a little harder to get it, knowing from experience that doing this would cause him to gobble down the treat before he knew there was a pill hidden in it. It worked as I’d planned, and soon Howard was sitting next to me licking his paw and cleaning his ears.

  “You’re such a pig sometimes,” I laughed. He stopped cleaning for a moment to give me a dirty look before hopping off the couch and continuing his exploration.

  Once I’d eaten, and Howard understood that we were safe, we snuggled up together in the spare bedroom and slept soundly.

  I woke up unsure of where I was to the sound of the phone ringing. When it stopped and then insistently started again, I got out of bed and went to answer it.

  “Jesus H. Christ, Em!” KO shouted on the other end of the line. “I’ve been calling for a half hour! Why didn’t you pick up?”

  “Maybe because I was dead asleep?” I yawned into the phone.

  “I was worried as hell about you!” she scolded. “What did you do yesterday? Are you okay? How’s my boy?”

  “We’re fine. Fat man has meds to take for the next few days, but he doesn’t seem to have suffered any major damage,” I said, as I took the phone into the kitchen and began making coffee.

  “So, how was Christmas at the hot fireman’s house?” she asked excitedly.

  “You mean besides the uncomfortable fact tha
t one of my students was there and earlier in the day I’d slept with her dad?” I replied, as cheekily as I could.

  “You had sex with the firefighter?” KO yelled. “Oh my God! Are you sure you don’t have a head injury?”

  “I’m positive,” I laughed. “If I hadn’t slept with him, I’d have asked that same question.”

  “Good point,” she replied. “So? How was it?”

  “Hot as hell, my friend,” I said, recalling the feel of Blake’s body pressed against mine. “It was almost worth having my house burn down for it.”

  “You’re really hardcore sometimes, Em,” KO said quietly. “You know that, don’t you?”

  “I’m teasing, KO!” I laughed. “It was not worth having my house burn down, but it was an incredibly good consolation prize.”

  “You going to see him again?” she asked.

  “He’s taking me on a date on Wednesday,” I affirmed.

  “You can totally have sex in my bed if you want to,” she offered. “Just change the sheets when you’re done.”

  “KO, you’re so weird! I’m staying in the guest room; why would I want to have sex in your room?”

  “I’ve got mood lighting in there!” she boasted. I laughed out loud as she went on to describe the various levels of lighting and how I could control them all with the remote she had stashed in the bedside drawer. We spent the next hour laughing and catching up on what Kendra had been doing while at home.

  “When do you think you’ll come back?” I asked.

  “I’m not sure, Em,” she said, hesitating. “Pop needs an extra set of hands to keep things going here, and my brother isn’t up to the task right now. I’m going to stay a while and see what happens.”

  “What about your job?” I asked, as I tried to hide how lonely I was without my best friend, but I also knew that KO loved her family.

  “Eh, they don’t need me to keep things going,” she scoffed. “The guys can pick up a shift or two and cover it for a while, and Arnie said that he’d keep the job open as long as he could.”

  “I see,” I said softly.

  “Hey, buck up buttercup,” KO urged. “This won’t be forever, and I’ll be back before you know it! Besides, it’s better for you to have the house to yourself right now so you can sneak off and have a roll in the hay with the fireman!”

  “Oh God, KO!” I groaned, as I thought about my date with Blake. “I can’t do this!”

  “Of course you can,” she said. “You go get yourself a blowout and a manicure, and maybe even a new outfit, then you seduce him and have your way with him. It’s easy!”

  “You’re killing me, KO,” I laughed, as I considered her advice.

  “Go do it,” she urged. “Don’t argue with me. I might not be there, but I’m still right!”

  “Fine, I’ll do it,” I said, giving in. She told me to call her later in the week so she could live vicariously through me. I told her I would and then hung up.

  I stared at the phone for a few minutes before I picked it up and dialed the salon and booked an appointment for Wednesday morning. Then I grabbed my purse and headed out to do some serious shopping.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Blake

  After what felt like more than two days, date night finally arrived. I’d just finished picking out a tie to go with my shirt when Nina walked into the room and shook her head.

  “Dad, no. Just…no,” she said, digging through my closet and pulling out a tie I hadn’t even known was there. “This one is way better. You won’t look so old in it.”

  “Thank you, my incredibly young daughter,” I said dryly. I took the tie from her and began knotting it the way my father had taught me. It had been years since I’d worn a tie with anything, and it definitely wasn’t like riding a bike.

  “Oh my God, let me help you,” Nina sighed, as she quickly undid my handiwork and slid the fabric under my collar before deftly weaving it into a stylish knot at my throat.

  “Where in the hell did you learn to do that?” I asked, as I examined the effect in the bathroom mirror.

  “Gramps taught me,” she grinned. “He was pretty sure you’d never remember how to do it yourself.”

  “Why, you sassy little—” I exclaimed, as Nina danced out of reach. I turned back to the mirror and ran a hand over my closely cropped hair and then over my freshly shaved face, wondering if I should have left the scruff.

  “No, you were right to shave, Dad,” Nina nodded.

  “Are you eavesdropping on my conversation with myself?” I asked.

  “No, it’s just obvious that you’re nervous and I wanted to reassure you that you were right in shaving,” she grinned. I chuckled as I shook my head in disbelief. Nina continued, “Okay, now there are a few rules about this dating thing. You need to make sure that you stay away from the inflammatory topics, like politics or religion. You should ask her questions and then listen carefully. Don’t spend your time lost in your head thinking about how you’re going to respond.”

  “What in the hell is this?” I asked. “You think you can tell me about how to go on a date? I was doing this long before you were a gleam in my eye, little girl!”

  “Oh my God, Dad!” Nina protested. “I’m trying to help you here! You haven’t dated in almost 20 years; that’s a lifetime! Things have changed!”

  “And you would know this because…” I asked.

  “You are so difficult sometimes,” Nina said, rolling her eyes in disgust.

  “Lights out by 10, young lady,” I warned, as I grabbed my keys off the counter and stuffed my wallet in my back pocket before pulling on my parka.

  “Right, like you’re going to be here to monitor that,” Nina said, rolling her eyes again. She reached into the fridge and pulled something out before walking over and handing a bouquet of fresh flowers to me. “Women like flowers. Just saying.”

  I laughed as kissed her head and took the bouquet from her then headed out to the truck. It wasn’t a long drive to Emily’s, and before I knew it, I was pulling up in front of where she was staying. The lights were on, and I got a warm feeling as I rang the doorbell.

  “Hi, Emily—oh wow,” I exhaled, as she pulled the door open and I saw that she was wearing a form-fitting knit dress that clung to her like a second skin. Her blonde hair was pulled back in a neat ponytail and her blue eyes shined as she smiled at me.

  “C’mon in, Blake,” she said. “I’m glad you made it.”

  “You look amazing,” I said, as I stepped into the entryway and wiped my feet. I stood there staring at her, unable to speak.

  “Are those for me?” she asked, looking down at the bouquet in my hands.

  “Oh, yeah, they are,” I said, holding the flowers out as a grin spread across my lips. Emily laughed warmly as she took the flowers and walked into the kitchen. I stared as she walked away and then shook my head as I cleared my throat. I looked over and noticed the fat tabby cat sitting on the edge of the only armchair in the living room. “I see your boy is doing well.”

  “Thanks to you!” Emily called from the kitchen. “He’s healing up nicely, and the vet says there shouldn’t be any lasting damage to his lungs.”

  “That’s great,” I said, as the cat stared at me without blinking. I got the feeling that he was sizing me up, and for some reason, I felt compelled to say, “Hey, buddy, don’t you remember me?”

  The cat blinked once, nonplussed, and then jumped down off the chair and strolled into the kitchen. He had quite a personality.

  I’d decided to take Emily to Flank, an American steakhouse that was known far and wide for its incredibly delicious steaks as well as its intimate dining room. I handed off the truck keys to the valet and led Emily inside, where we were led through the mahogany-walled dining room that was decorated in the style of a 1920’s speakeasy. The crystal chandeliers gave off a warm light, and once we were seated in the circular, leather-covered booth, it felt like we were the only two people in the dining room.

  “This is love
ly,” Emily whispered, after the waiter had handed us large, leather-bound menus and taken our drink orders. “I’ve always wanted to come here, but I’ve never actually done it.”

  “I’m glad I could be the one to bring you here,” I smiled, as I looked into her eyes and felt the blood rushing away from my brain. I quickly looked down at my menu and asked, “So, what looks good to you?”

  “I’m going to have the Caesar salad and the Filet Mignon,” she said, setting her menu down on the table.

  “Thank goodness,” I said. “Because I’m having the carpaccio and the New York strip, and I can’t stand it when I have to watch my dinner companion pick at a salad while I chow down!”

  “Are you kidding? If there’s steak on the menu, I’m ready to chow down,” she laughed, as the server returned with our drinks. We placed our orders and then raised our glasses to toast.

  “While I’m sorry your house burned down, I’m not sorry I got the chance to get to know you better as a result,” I offered.

  “I guess there is a silver lining to every black cloud,” Emily smiled, as she clinked her glass against mine then took a sip.

  Over dinner, we got to know one another better, and I discovered that Emily had a deep, abiding love for the Boston Celtics. She talked about how she’d begun following the team when she was in college, and how it had given her a way to calm her brain after long days of classes and studying. I told her about how I felt the same way about the fire department’s various sports teams, and how they’d given me a way to release the stress that built up while fighting fires.

  “How long have you been divorced from Nina’s mother?” she asked, after our dinner dishes had been cleared and our dessert orders taken.

  “Uh, a little more than two years,” I said, shifting uncomfortably on my side of the booth. Brining Remy into the conversation made me uneasy for many reasons, not the least of which was the possibility that Emily would decide I wasn’t a good risk.