Falling For the Single Dad

by Mia Madison

  “Thank you. You’re here. That’s gift enough for me. How long do you have?”

  “All night, if that’s what you want.”

  “I want. Your Dad didn’t protest?”

  “I didn’t give him the option. I told him not to wait up. He just shrugged. Said he hoped I knew what I was doing. I told him I knew exactly what I was doing. Which I do.” She smiles at me, and our eyes lock. Then Alice toddles over from playing with her toys and says, “Tia dog.” So we have a laugh about that.

  I already gave my daughter dinner so I could get her into bed early, but Alice senses something is afoot and plays up. She wants a drink, she wants a cuddle, she wants a story and when she has all that, she wants them all over again. There’s no way she’s going upstairs anytime soon.

  Tia picks her up and has the dog tell Alice a story, and I suspect my daughter loves that so much she’ll never go to sleep, but eventually the dog says it’s time for bed and Alice nods and says bedtime. I’ll have to remember that one. Dog says put your coat on because it’s cold outside will be very useful.

  Tia puts Alice to bed with her dog, and eventually peace reigns over the household.

  And we’re alone.

  CHAPTER 17

  Tia

  Logan has made dinner, but I’m not sure I can eat a thing. Then again, I can’t say “Let’s go to bed, first.” I just can’t.

  I lean over the kitchen counter, watching him put the finishing touches to his Mediterranean-style chicken. He hands me a glass of white wine. “See if you like that.”

  “Mmmh, that’s lovely.”

  “Bottle says notes of peach, mango and elderflower. What’s wrong with grape?” He laughs and touches his glass to mine. “Are you hungry? Dinner will keep if you’re not.”

  “It smells delicious, but I’m not sure what happened to my appetite… for food.”

  “Same thing that happened to mine, I think.” He takes my glass and puts it back down on the counter next to us beside his own.

  “I missed you,” he says, kissing me. “I missed you a whole lot.”

  I take another sip of my wine. “What are you going to do about it, then?”

  “Fuck you. Hard.” His dark eyes twinkle, challenging me.

  I gasp. I wasn’t expecting that. Challenge accepted. I put down my glass and peel off my new sweater. Then he lifts off my t-shirt and unclasps my bra. He bends to take one nipple into his hot mouth, and then I gasp as I feel him dribbling a few drops of icy cold wine over the other.

  He follows that with his tongue and then his whole mouth. “Peach, mango, elderflower and you. Perfect,” he says. There’s a shiver of anticipation running down my spine that has nothing to do with the chill of the wine.

  He turns off the stove and takes my hand, grabbing his wine glass as we go. My heart goes wild. It’s as if I feel the blood pounding through every part of my body, yet I’m hyper aware of my surroundings, too. The soft light in the hall and on the stairs. The stark white cover on Logan’s bed, softened by a tartan throw in blue, lilac and gray, and pale gray walls. Me half naked. The heat from him. My ravaged nipple still slightly sticky from the wine. Warm feelings in my belly. Wetness between my thighs.

  Before my brain catches up, he has me fully naked, and I’m lying on his bed. I feel wanton, limp, watching the heat in his eyes as they rake over my body, fully spread open for his viewing pleasure. Nowhere to hide. But then I wouldn’t want to hide if I could.

  I just have to do one thing to drive him wild. I take a finger, one of mine this time, and roll my tongue around the tip.

  He groans and his clothes go flying this way and that as he fumbles with buttons and zipper to get everything off. And then I get my reward—the first time I see him without his clothes except in my mind.

  He’s even better in the flesh. The hardness of his chest, his abs, his arms and the rest of him—impressive. I quake a little. The sheer size of him is going make this… interesting. He reaches into his nightstand and pulls out a condom.

  “Do I need to use this?” he asks. “It’s been a long time since I didn’t use one, and I’ve been tested since then.”

  “I got tested, too.” That was one of the first things I did after I found out about Simon and his extra-curricular pursuits. “I didn’t stop taking the pill either.”

  Logan tosses the condom on the floor and joins me on the bed.

  “So that thing you’ve been doing with your fingers,” he says.

  “Yes…” I grin.

  “It can wait.”

  I pout. “Why?”

  “Because I have other plans for you.” He kisses his way down to my stomach from my throat, stopping to sneak a lick at my nipples. And I giggle, unable to stay still on the bed as he continues down and reaches my mound.

  I remember his lips, his tongue on me. I think every cell of my body remembers that. But this time, after bringing me to the edge with his gifted tongue, he grabs his wine where he put it on the nightstand and dribbles the icy coldness between my legs.

  It hits the mark and I cry out, spiraling out of control as he sucks at the trail of wine and warms my clit with his mouth.

  When I come down from that, he’s leaning over me, his cock nudging at my entrance. I don’t think I’ve ever been so wet, and it’s nothing to do with the wine he spilled.

  He slides in with one smooth, perfect movement, thrusting right up inside me, and I feel him everywhere, so full, so deep, the manly scent of him surrounding me. My whole head filled with sensation, with him.

  “Okay, baby?” he asks, concern in his face.

  “Yes, I’m good,” I moan. “Don’t stop.”

  He doesn’t stop. Hot and raw, he grinds into me, burying himself deeper and deeper inside me, with long strokes, sending me harder against the bedcovers every time. I hear moans from my own throat, the loud smack of flesh against flesh, his voice rough with arousal, urging me on. “Come for me.”

  His words like a match to dynamite, I don’t need urging, my hips meeting his with every thrust, eager for more of him, bringing me closer and closer on a wave of pleasure that builds and takes over my whole body as another orgasm crashes over me, leaving me a shuddering wreck as I clench around him.

  He stops a moment, his jaw tight with the effort, and then he looks down at me, with a knowing smile, and plunges back in, driving into me relentlessly, over and over until we both lose all control, and he releases inside me as I come again.

  He pulls the throw over us, and as we catch our breath, I lie against his broad chest, his arm looped around my waist, holding me close to him, his mouth nuzzling my hair. I feel enveloped in his arms, trying to register all that just happened in his bed. But I can’t compute. I’m not sure I’ll ever want to move again, and we slip into sleep.

  CHAPTER 18

  Logan

  I wake a couple of hours later and look down at Tia in my arms. She looks so peaceful there; I hate to wake her. But she seems to sense me looking at her, and she opens her eyes and smiles.

  “That was terrible,” she teases. “We’d better not do that again. Not more than once an hour anyway.”

  “I thought I might feed you first, seeing as I promised you dinner.”

  “I forgot all about dinner. That’s a first,” she says. “But now you mention it… it’s very strange.” She looks puzzled and shakes her head.

  “What?”

  “I’m still hungrier for you than for dinner.” And her fingers run over my cock, already hard for her, then she looks up, all innocence.

  And then she puts her mouth over me, and I lose all sense of where I am or what time it is. The chicken can wait.

  I can’t seem to get enough of her or her of me. Is this even healthy so soon? I don’t care whether it is or not. All I know is that I want her like I’ve never wanted anyone else; I never want to let her go.

  The Mediterranean chicken remains uneaten. But I do make Tia breakfast in the morning. She says she’s never getting out of my bed.


  I wish I could stay in it with her, but Alice will have other ideas. I take a shower before she wakes up the whole house and then go in to see her. She’s happily playing with her dog in her crib. I get her up.

  Everyone seems happy today. Two of us tired but happy on very little sleep. But so worth it. I smile to myself as Alice smashes fingers of buttered toast against the tray on her high chair while I feed her the halved grapes that she loves. A normal morning. But it’s hardly normal. Will it ever feel like that again? I doubt it with Tia around.

  She’s in the bathroom when the doorbell sounds. I wasn’t expecting anyone.

  CHAPTER 19

  Tia

  I’m just out of the shower and dressed when I hear a woman’s voice. What the hell? Do I stay here and work out what’s going on, or do I go out and see? No option. I have to know. I take a quick look in the mirror and then go out.

  “Tia, this is my sister, Emma.” I hope the relief doesn’t show too much on my face. For some reason, the way he talked about her I thought it might be Logan’s ex-wife making trouble. But the woman smiling at me is anything but hostile. She’s a female version of Logan with shoulder length hair. Easy to like. I smile back at her.

  “Sorry to intrude,” she says. “I didn’t know you had company, Logan. I should have called, but I was just taking the girls to the winter market in Brampton, and Polly thought that Alice might be old enough to enjoy some of the stalls and rides this year. So I thought I’d stop by.”

  “You do so much with her already, but if you’re sure she’d not be too much trouble…”

  “You know I love to have her.”

  “In that case, I’ll get her things.”

  When Logan leaves to get Alice’s bag, Emma turns to me. “He looks happier than I’ve seen him in ages. Thanks for that. He’s had a hard time.” And there’s just a little warning edge to her voice, the kind of protective note I recognize from Dad.

  “He told me what happened. I hope this is the end of that miserable time,” I say.

  “I hope so too.” And she gives me a hug.

  “Enjoy your day off,” she says when she goes, Alice holding her hand.

  “You’re an angel,” Logan says.

  “I know.” She laughs.

  Once they leave, Alice excited by the day ahead with her cousins, we have the day to ourselves, the whole wonderful day—a day when we act like two kids ourselves.

  But not always like kids.

  We’re not like kids when Logan pleasures me so hard and so thoroughly I need another shower, and he joins me in it. Not like kids when he takes me against the shower wall, and under the spray, until I don’t know where I begin and he ends. And not like kids when, tired from the night and the morning, we “nap” after lunch, and he spoons me, making me come with his hands as he slides easily, oh so easily, in and out of me.

  Yet the day also gives me a chance to find out he likes beaches and mountains just like me, that he did needlework at school so he can sew on a button. That he hoped to be an astronaut when he was five. That he is good at Scrabble and hopeless, completely hopeless, at sorting the laundry.

  “Who has time for that?”

  I fear for the white bedcover if he shoves everything in together. “The last one went gray after I washed it a few times,” he says. “I bought a new one.”

  But he’s good at things that matter, especially at taking me so hard he makes me forget my own name, over and over again.

  Dad is only sulking a little bit when I get back, exhausted, replete. I make the effort to chat as if everything is the same as it was a day ago, but I’m sure that he guesses it’s not.

  He could always tell when my mood shifted from one day to the next, but he doesn’t make a big deal out of it. He doesn’t even comment, as if the whole situation will go away if he doesn’t.

  I guess he’ll just get used to it. By the time I go to bed I’m ready to drop. I sleep good and long, dreaming about Logan.

  *

  I don’t get to spend New Year’s Eve with either of the men in my life. Both Logan and Dad have to work, but I don’t mind. It feels like there will be many other celebrations in the future. I feel positive about everything these days. Cassie tells me I’m turning into a real Pollyanna as she moans about her job at the bank. Then she laughs and gives me a hug. “Can’t say that I prefer you moping,” she says.

  A few days into January, I have my interview at Smithson Marketing. It goes so well, I come out of their offices feeling like I could take a swim and not get wet. I can’t call Logan. He’ll be sleeping after his night shift, but I know he’ll be happy for me.

  I go back to the station and tell Dad how I did. He’s pleased as punch, especially when I explain how working at the fire station helped. I showed the interviewers my designs, and they loved them. I cross my fingers that I’ve got my first job.

  Cassie is ecstatic too. “Yay, we’ll be able to get a place if they offer you a position.”

  “I know.” I guess Dad is not going to like that very much, but he’ll just have to deal with it. He has to let me grow up sometime.

  He’s still annoying me by shooting off the odd warning about my relationship with Logan. I’m trying to ignore the remarks. Dad will come around in the end. He has to, because I’m not giving up something that makes me feel so good.

  Dad worries too much. Can’t he see I’m happier than I’ve been in ages? I’m happier than I ever remember being. I’ve seen Logan a couple of times since we spent all day together, every time better than the last.

  The afternoon of the interview, I can’t take any more of Dad’s jibes without saying something. “Look, is it just that he’s older and that he used to be married and has a daughter that you object to, or would it be anyone I went out with? I remember it took you ages to get used to me going out with Simon.”

  “That was a mistake, too.”

  “But I learned, didn’t I? I managed to get out of that myself. I wish you’d stop treating me like a child. I know you’re doing this because you care, but you’ve got to let me live my own life in my own way. What if your parents had forbidden you to go out with Mum before you got married?”

  “It wouldn’t have changed a thing.”

  “Exactly.”

  He gives me a hug. “Okay, but I can’t say I like it.”

  And I have to be content with that.

  CHAPTER 20

  Logan

  I call Tia as soon as I see the text about her interview. “We’ll have to celebrate.”

  “Maybe we should wait until I actually get the job. I’m starting to wonder if it really went as well as I thought, or if I was just happy to get through it without any kind of disaster.”

  “If you got to show them the work you’ve done for the station, they can’t help but be impressed.”

  “Yes, they loved that.”

  “Well, then.” I catch myself smiling into the phone, as I always do when Tia is on the line.

  “Let’s just give it a couple of days.”

  “Okay, we’ll have a bigger celebration then. If you find out by the weekend, we might have to celebrate at the zoo. I promised to take Emma’s girls with Alice to give my sister a break.”

  “It’s a deal. I’ll miss you tonight.”

  “I’ll miss you, too. Stay safe and don’t go down any drain holes.” It’s a standing joke with us.

  “I’ll try.”

  When we eventually hang up, I sigh. I want to see Tia more often than I do. I’d like her here with me all the time, but we’re taking it slow. Still not slow enough for her dad, but not so fast that even a parent who is not so protective would protest. If her dad could see us together he might understand… but then, maybe not. That’s for our eyes only. Even the thought of her and the things we do makes my cock hard. Must get a grip.

  I throw on my clothes, ready to pick up Alice from daycare. She’s just started there, but it’s working out well. It means Emma doesn’t need to have her a
ll the time, just when the place isn’t open.

  After a few hours, I’ll have to take Alice to Emma’s and get to work. But I have the next few days off, so I should get more time with Tia and my daughter soon.

  CHAPTER 21

  Tia

  I go into the station early the next day, without Dad, hoping to catch Logan at the end of his shift before he goes home to bed. The weather is worsening. It looks like more snow is on the way. But I don’t care about going out into the cold; I want to see Logan every chance I get, though I’ll see him properly later once he’s caught up on sleep.

  But when I ask Adam if he’s seen Logan, Adam shakes his head. “He had to get off early. Some crisis at home.”

  Oh my god, Alice! “Did he say what it was?”

  “No. He stayed on call in case we needed him, but it was a quiet night. There was nothing much happening, so no harm done. Chief won’t be happy if he finds out, though. Not unless it was life and death.”

  “I guess not. But then, what he doesn’t know won’t hurt him.”

  I text Logan to ask him if there’s anything I can do. No response. All kinds of scenarios go through my head. Is he at the hospital with Alice, his sister, or one of her kids?

  It’s two hours later before he sends me a text. “Sorry I missed you at the station. I’ll catch you later.”

  Is that it? All he’s going to tell me? After I sat here worrying for two hours, unable to say anything at all to Dad when he arrived? Having to pretend nothing was amiss? I’m not putting up with that. Logan is getting a piece of my mind when I see him.

  I feel like going home. I’m so worried and annoyed I can’t focus on anything. I catch Dad looking at me and pretend to update a file. It’s a relief when he goes out to one of his fire safety committee meetings.

  I give up trying to do anything productive and scroll through the comments on the station’s Facebook page to see if I need to delete any spam. Catching a picture of Logan and Alice at Christmas, I stop. Someone posted it on the Bexford Station Facebook page under my Merry Christmas post. I didn’t think Logan would do that.