Brown Eyed Daddy: A Single Dad Next Door Romance (Daddy's Girl Series Book 3)

by Angela Blake

  “Fine!” she shouted, louder than necessary. “I see it means nothing to you that I want to. . .” Ashlyn shook her head. It felt dirty saying it out loud, now that Brandon clearly didn’t care what she felt for him.

  “Ashlyn,” Brandon said. He reached for her, but Ashlyn took a step back, wiping her own tears. “It is important to me. It means everything to me. That’s why I don’t know if I can just take you, even though everything inside me is telling me to do it. There’s still something inside me that says I shouldn’t.”

  “Just do it!” Ashlyn said, trying to be defiant, even though she felt rejected.

  Brandon tried to reach for her again, but Ashlyn crossed her arms and refused to melt into him. She stood like a statue as Brandon wrapped his arms around her. Ashlyn didn’t feel turned on anymore. She just wanted to go home and sleep. She wanted to go home to her mom, not her temporary home with these temporary crew mates.

  Brandon kissed the side of Ashlyn’s head. He kissed it again, her hair pressing up against his lips. Ashlyn started crying. All of the rejection from previous men assaulted her. She remembered Javon’s interest, purely physical. Now here was Brandon, interested in her for some other reason, and she wasn’t allowing him to treat her like a lady. Ashlyn was broken.

  Brandon gently stroked Ashlyn’s hair. Her tears eventually stopped, and she stopped shuddering. Brandon still held her. Then Ashlyn realized. Maybe Brandon didn’t really want her. Maybe he just saw her as a friend. But now, that couldn’t be. He had kissed her. He had held her hand. He was interested in her, even after most of his time working as an extra had ended.

  “I don’t know what’s wrong with me,” Ashlyn murmured, still buried in Brandon’s shoulder. By this time, her arms were wrapped around him, and her eyes were closed. She felt at peace.

  “Don’t apologize for being you,” Brandon gently reprimanded. “Remember, that’s one of the things I like about you. You are always so honest.”

  “I don’t think you would like it about me if you were with me for a long time,” Ashlyn replied. “My mother always said that I was too emotional.”

  Brandon laughed. He gave a real, from the belly laugh. “Yeah, people have said that about me too.”

  Ashlyn pulled back and had to look Brandon full in the face. “What? No way.”

  “Yes way! People say that I’m a guy. I’m not supposed to feel anything, but I do.” Brandon shrugged. “You just haven’t seen me get to that point yet.”

  Ashlyn sighed. She no longer felt overwhelmed by the need to be needed. She felt overwhelmed with gratitude that some guys didn’t just jump at the chance to have her body. Some guys wanted to know her for who she was first.

  Ashlyn looked at the ground as she reached around and re-fastened her bra. Maybe she wouldn’t do it tonight, but someday, if Brandon kept showing her this side of him, Ashlyn felt determined that she wouldn’t have sex with him, a simply physical thing. She would make love to him, something that involved the heart too.

  The moment suddenly seemed too tender to do something so bonding. Ashlyn realized that she shouldn’t be so eager to give herself away. “I guess we should go back to the house now,” Ashlyn said as she took his hand. Brandon started pulling her in the other direction.

  “Why? We’re already halfway there. We might as well take another trip to look at the hole in the sand.”

  Ashlyn smiled. “Okay, I like the sound of that.” She wasn’t quite ready to leave Brandon yet anyway. She wanted to hold on to a little of the magic of the night. Ashlyn held Brandon’s hand tightly, and as they came up to the turtle nest, they saw that the crowd of people was more than double.

  Brandon broke into a jog. “Come on! They’ve got to be hatching!”

  Ashlyn and Brandon found their way along the edge of the passage so that they could see the little creatures moving.

  “I’ve never seen turtles move so fast,” Ashlyn commented, in wonder of the baby turtles that were no bigger than the palm of her hand. There were hundreds of baby sea turtles, all following the passage down to the edge of the ocean. The turtles didn’t take notice of the large humans watching them. They had one goal only.

  “How do they know to go toward the water?”

  “The moon reflects off the water. They actually want to reach the moon, but the reflection throws them off.” Ashlyn smiled, not taking her eyes off the baby sea turtles. She couldn’t believe that she had finally gotten to see the turtles. The ranger was advising people not to take photos, so Ashlyn just watched. When the last baby turtle had found its way into the ocean, Ashlyn turned and smiled at Brandon.

  “I guess we finally found what we are looking for,” Ashlyn replied. “We saw the turtles at last.”

  “I wasn’t looking for the turtles,” Brandon said. “I was just looking for a way to spend more time with you.”

  Ashlyn giggled, and the two kissed, once again igniting the fire in Ashlyn’s stomach. She knew that she felt something strong for Brandon that wasn’t just based on physical features. She had a friendship with him, just like the friendship she had had with Mark, before he had broken her trust.

  The feelings of fear and distrust tumbled back into her thoughts. Could Brandon have a hidden side? How would she know if she knew him completely? Ashlyn sighed. She knew that she would just have to give him more time, more time before she would be able to completely get rid of the distrust she had for men.

  THE END

  In The Woods: A Workplace Romance

  Chapter One

  Ashlyn adjusted the settings on the camera one more time. She couldn’t believe that she was about to shoot scenes for the movie Firebird. She had always dreamed of filming, and being here felt surreal. It just seemed as though the preparations were taking forever! Gary Phogot was an up-and-coming director. The tabloids said he had promise, but that he hadn’t produced a movie yet that really grabbed into the public.

  Ashlyn looked around and saw that many of the other togs were sitting around. Some were talking; some were eating the drinks provided. They certainly weren’t worried about their cameras flying away. Ashlyn decided she had to do something to relax. Her part in the filming would come soon enough.

  “That looks good,” Ashlyn said, approaching one of the togs and commenting on their plate of food.

  The man held it up and smiled. “Would you like to try some?”

  Ashlyn grabbed a small handful of the trail mix and began eating it piece by piece as she tuned into the man’s conversation with another woman working on set. “. . .badly run. Before, we were very efficient. Now, it’s a lot of sitting, a lot of waiting, and not a lot of working.”

  “You say that like’s a bad thing,” the woman answered. “We’re still being paid the same, so what does it matter?”

  Ashlyn’s eyes traveled over to the director who was giving orders and flapping his hands like a bird who was desperately trying to take flight. Maybe he really was trying to move things along. The director motioned toward the woman in charge of the extras.

  Ashlyn shook her head and turned away as the extras started filing in. She felt a little sick to her stomach. Her luck had never been very good. When she was growing up, all she had wanted was to be an extra. She hadn’t even asked for a speaking part, and here were others receiving their places easily. Her luck never seemed to take her very far, but then, that was normal. She hadn’t been able to finish film school either for lack of money. She’d had to beef up her resume with a few lies before anyone would take her.

  But, it seemed to have work well in the end. Here she was, almost ready to begin filming her first scene. Ashlyn walked back over to the camera that had been assigned to her, her camera, and began fidgeting with it again. She looked up and watched the director direct. The extras were being led over to a certain part of the forest, and Ashlyn wondered why they needed so many. It’s not as though they were filming in the city.

  One of the extras was pulled aside, and Ashlyn found her stomach flipping ov
er as she studied him. She had never been one of those girls desperate to have a man, but this man was very attractive. He drew Ashlyn’s eye immediately. Ashlyn studied him as he listened carefully to the director’s instructions.

  He had dark skin that looked as smooth as an undisturbed cup of hot cocoa. His hair was cut short, and when he smiled at the director, Ashlyn felt her heart beat hard. He was very handsome. After a pause, where she seemed to be struggling for control over her body, Ashlyn pulled away and forced herself to focus on something else. She struck up a conversation with a cameraman who was standing nearby.

  “So,” she said, “what’s the protocol for filming? Do you know if we’re going to start this year?”

  The guy looked up from his phone as though surprised that someone was talking to him. “Oh, yeah. Soon. Sorry, my girlfriend is being needy.”

  Ashlyn glanced at his phone. She didn’t know what to say. She’d never been great at conversing with others. She was more of an introvert.

  “So, shouldn’t we go ahead and set up our cameras?” she asked, more out of something to say than really thinking he would know the answer.

  The guy shrugged. “I don’t think so. Gary will tell us when we’re supposed to do something. Just stay quiet and out of his way until that happens.”

  Ashlyn smiled. “Okay. I’m just so excited to start that I want to be ready.”

  The guy smiled a crooked smile at her as if seeing her for the first time. “I remember being a newbie.” He slapped her arm as one friend would to another. “Enjoy it. Pretty soon, you get bogged down and life, and then sometimes, you forget how much you loved working with a camera in the first place.”

  “I don’t think I could ever forget that,” Ashlyn said.

  Gary came over a few minutes later and began shouting hurried directions. Ashlyn adjusted her camera and focused on the area she was assigned. Everyone was in place and ready to start the frame.

  Ashlyn stood behind her camera and looked through the lens. Her stomach flipped over again as she looked at the dark-skinned extra. She had thought he would just be playing with the others, be there for a day then leave. Instead, he had been chosen to have a little bit of a bigger part. Ashlyn didn’t like the idea of him having a bigger part, but who was she to say anything? She simply focused her camera on her and tried to calm her stomach. She had never felt such instant attraction to someone.

  As soon as she started recording, she couldn’t wipe the smile off her face. The man who was stirring her insides was playing a small role named Travis. She decided that would be his name from now on since she didn’t know his real name. She slowly moved her camera forward on the dolly at the correct part, focusing in close on Travis. He looked right at the camera as he delivered one line, and Ashlyn felt like she might throw up. What was her problem?

  “Alright, everyone has five minutes,” Gary said. “Five minutes, everyone.” Gary was pulled away to deal with a problem, and Ashlyn began reviewing the shots she had. They were pretty good.

  Ashlyn looked up and saw that Travis was headed toward her. Did he find her as attractive as she found him? Ashlyn looked toward the bathroom trailer, desperately searching for an escape. It was too late. Travis laid a hand on her arm.

  Chapter Two

  “You’re working with the cameras,” he asked as Ashlyn slowly turned back to him and acknowledged that she would have to speak to him.

  “Yeah,” she answered. “You’re an extra.” Wow, that was brilliant, Ashlyn. You really know how to draw them in, she thought.

  “My name is Javon,” the man said, offering his hand. Ashlyn shook it.

  “Ashlyn,” she replied.

  “Your eyes really make you stand out,” Javon said. Ashlyn self-consciously looked at the ground. Everyone said the same thing. Her green eyes were one-of-a-kind, beautiful, unique, and memorable. She had heard it all before, but somehow, when Javon said it, it made her feel different, like his opinion mattered.

  “Thank you,” she said, searching for something to complement back toward him.

  “You should be in front of the camera, not me,” Javon continued. Ashlyn looked up and caught his eyes. When she did, she forgot everything she wanted to say. She felt like she was frozen. A strong urge rose up within her to kiss him, but she batted it away. Why was she so physically attracted to him?

  “I guess we all have our place,” Ashlyn finally said. “I love working with cameras, so I much prefer to be with my camera than act.”

  Javon shrugged. “It’s the loss of the viewers then.” He smiled directly into her eyes, and Ashlyn felt desperate to busy herself in some way. This man was going to distract her and make her unable to work when he was around. If she couldn’t think when he was looking at her, how would she be able to work?

  “I’m going to get some water,” Ashlyn said. “I’ll talk to you later.” She took a step away and felt as though she were freeing herself from a trance, but Javon stepped forward again.

  “I’ll get your water. You wait right here.”

  Ashlyn didn’t like it, but she waited, watching Javon as he walked away. Her eyes dropped to his ass, and she half-smiled. He was certainly a very attractive man, and she didn’t mind looking at him. It was when she started to talk to him that he was a problem. If she was calling his attention as much as he was calling hers, then they would distract each other. They had to keep Gary, the director, happy or they could both lose their jobs. There was no dating among employees, even extras. If you were dating, you had to keep it a secret.

  Ashlyn accept the bottled water right at the moment when they were called to return to their position. Ashlyn thanked Javon for the water hurriedly and turned toward her camera, but Javon grabbed onto her arm.

  “I just want to say. . .”

  “We need to get back to our positions,” Ashlyn said. “I can’t talk anymore.”

  She pulled her arm gently from his grasp, her arm still tingling from where he had touched her. She hurried to her camera and pulled the shot into focus. Ashlyn wanted to take the time to evaluate what she was thinking and feeling, why Javon’s touch affected her so much, but she knew that her job had to come first. It had been hard to get this position, and if Ashlyn lost it, it would be even more difficult to get another. Ashlyn panned the scene below her then closed in on Javon’s face. He gave her a smile just before the scene started. Ashlyn was shaking her head, but she was also smiling. Maybe Javon did like her. It was kind of fun for someone to think her attractive.

  Ashlyn threw herself into filming, and even when the actors received a short break, she used the time to review her shots. She wanted them to be perfect. She wanted to pick up her mistakes before someone else did and correct them so that she wouldn’t be at fault for needing extra filming.

  The extras were let go at noon, and Ashlyn grabbed one of the half-sandwiches available at the table. She choked one down and returned to reviewing her shots. Javon approached her with a laden plate.

  “Don’t you want to actually eat something?” he asked. He held the plate out to her. “I got some extra.”

  Ashlyn let her eyes slide to the plate quickly before turning back to her camera. “I already had something to eat, so I’m not hungry. But thanks.”

  “What do I do with the plate now?” Javon asked, causing Ashlyn to look up and meet his eyes.

  “I guess you’ll have to eat it,” she shrugged. He was a big guy.

  Javon shrugged. “I guess I will. So how long have you been filming with Gary?”

  “Um, this is my first time,” Ashlyn answered, turning back to her camera.

  “I thought so. I’m pretty sure that anyone who works with Gary for a long time already has grey hair.”

  Ashlyn laughed, though she looked around to see if anyone else heard. “You’re just trying to make trouble. I am not about to get in trouble because of your jokes.”

  “Hey, freedom of speech, right?”

  “And Gary has the freedom to fire, so you should p
robably keep your free speech to a minimum,” Ashlyn recommended, once again burying her face in her camera. If she let herself be distracted by Javon, she knew that she would get hurt. It was better to focus on her first love, filming.

  Gary started waving his arms, and people were moving before the words had even left his mouth. “We are working on scene three, folks. Let’s get moving!”

  People scurried around, and Ashlyn hurried back to her camera. She was ready. She knew her place and didn’t need further direction. To her surprise, Javon followed her back to her camera.

  “Shouldn’t you be going onset?” she asked, wanting to tell him what to do but not knowing his place.

  Javon shook his head. “No, I’m not in this scene. I’m done for today.”

  “Oh, then I guess I’ll see you later,” Ashlyn absentmindedly answered as she adjusted the lens.

  “I thought I’d stay and watch you do your thing,” Javon said. “It’s not as though I have any other pressing appointments for today.”

  Ashlyn turned and studied Javon for a minute. “I’d prefer you don’t do that,” she tried to say it as politely as she could.

  Javon shrugged and bit his lower lip. “I would prefer to. Go ahead. Work. I won’t say anything.”

  Ashlyn pursed her lips and turned back to her camera, frustration already building up. She didn’t feel comfortable knowing that he was behind her watching her. Ashlyn tried to focus solely on her camera, but her thoughts kept turning back to what Javon was thinking or doing or if he was looking at her.

  After half an hour of silence from Javon, he decided he should start a conversation in the middle of filming. Maybe he really didn’t know what he was doing, but it seemed like he was trying to get her fired.

  “Have you always been into film?” he asked.

  Ashlyn waved her hand at him, trying to tell him to be quiet without saying anything herself. He was quiet for a few minutes. The actors had just started doing the scene again when Javon spoke again.