Page 17 of Working For Her Attention

“Good. You should.”

“Hmm.” Her eyes sparkled. “But I don’t have one for you.”

“I’m sure my good girl can think of something,” I rasped, leaning forward to nuzzle my nose against hers. “What did you want to talk about?”

“Oh, umm…” She blinked adorably, almost like she was lost in the moment. She shook her head, and I could feel the anxiety roll into her like a Mack truck.

“What is it, baby? Talk to me.”

“I like you,” she blurted, and somehow, I managed to hold back a smile.

“I like you, too, Avery. A lot.” More than was reasonable since we’d just met, but she wasn’t ready to hear that. Just yet.

“When… when I sent you away and I said it was me?”

“Yeah?”

“Before we take this any farther…” Her eyes dipped to my mouth, and I knew she wanted a kiss, but she wanted to tell me something first. Something she thought might change the way I saw her.

She didn’t know that wasn’t possible.

“You can tell me anything you want, Avery. It won’t change the fact that I want to be here with you. I’m not going anywhere, baby girl.”

“I never had a family,” she blurted. I blinked, letting her words settle in.

“Baby—“

“Not really. Not like regular people do. I mean, my mom was… Have you ever heard of the term dumpster fire?” I nodded, and she gave me a sad half-smile. “I’m pretty sure my mom was the inspiration for it.”

“Princess—"

“Just let me, please…” My arms wrapped around her to help remind her she wasn’t fucking alone. “I’ve been on my own since I was sixteen. Moving around, not really staying anywhere for too long because I felt like I couldn’t really… connect with people.”

Almost half her life floating around. Alone. The thought of her not having anyone felt like an arrow to the chest.

“Before I was on my own, I was still on my own. I just… had to deal with my mom. She wasn’t terrible, but she wasn’t great. I was a chore to her. Something she got stuck with.” She winced. “The night I left, her boyfriend at the time tried to…” Our eyes connected, and I nodded, because she didn’t have to relive that shit with me. “He didn’t because, well, I kicked him in the balls. He screamed, and she woke up. Even seeing him grabbing his crotch in pain after telling her what happened, she still didn’t believe me.” I’d never thought of hitting a woman, but she fucking deserved it. “I left that same night.”

Things in my head started to click into place a lot quicker. I wanted to do nothing but hold her close and make the fucking world pay for its unfairness towards her.

“Honey,” I roughly said, and she shrugged.

“That was a long time ago. I’m good with how my life is, but when I got here…” She smiled so fucking peacefully. “There’s something about Forge Creek that felt different. Special,” she confessed.

“Baby—“

“But when I saw you? Across the street, walking to your car?” She smiled brightly and pressed her forehead against mine. “It felt different in a whole other way. Constantly being new to town, I was good with being friendly and a little extroverted, but with you…” She laughed softly. “So beyond different. I wanted to get to know you and run into your arms before I even knew your name. And when you showed up at my doorstep and we talked, and then you saved me that morning and put me in your truck? I felt like I was home for the first time in my entire life.”

I swallowed the emotions that bubbled up to the surface at her sweet words.

“And being around you felt even better that night you came over for dinner and I… I got scared. No one sticks with me. No one… If you felt like the one thing I’ve always wanted after two days, having more of you and losing you would destroy me.”

“That’s not something you have to worry about, baby girl.”

“You can’t promise that.”

“Daddy can promise whatever he wants, princess.” I tipped her head back, so her eyes met mine, hooded and slightly glassy. Now that I knew her background, how alone she’d been, I had a better idea of how I needed to move forward.

“Daddy?” she whispered back. My dick got even harder than it had been with her delicious weight on my body.