Page 40 of Playing With Forever

Thankfully, Josie took over the conversation. “Are you in the middle of a painting, or will you be joining us for dinner?”

Why did I fucking love that Josie knew something so personal about my daughter?

Lindy narrowed her eyes at me, but they slid to Josie and then went back to normal. “Are you cooking, or is Dad?”

“Why do I feel like that’s an insult?” I asked.

Lindy’s lips twitched, and she gave a noncommittal shrug.

“I’m cooking,” Josie declared. “And I’m feeling tacos tonight.”

“Awe-some.” Lindy exaggerated the two syllables.

“Perfect. I’ll run to the store and get what we need⁠—”

“Let me wash up and change. I’ll come with you.”

Without missing a beat, Josie smiled. “Go do that, and I’ll wait.”

Lindy bolted out the door, leaving Josie and me staring at the place she’d vacated.

“I seriously fucked up with her,” I conceded with a sigh.

“She’s a lovely young woman, I don’t see how you can say that.”

“Josie, she’d glue herself to you if she could. And yesterday morning, she all but admitted she was setting us up and told me not to come home from our date because I needed a private life.”

Josie pinched her lips at the word private.

“Yeah, and it got worse from there. She proceeded to tell me I lived like a monk and reminded me she was an adult and it was okay if I had a lady friend—that lady friend being you, and she’d be more than happy if you spent the night here and I could put a sock on the back door to warn her I had company.”

By the end of my tirade, Josie looked like she was about to laugh.

“That shit’s not funny,” I warned.

“I can see you don’t think it is.”

“You do?”

“I think you being flustered that your daughter hinted at you having a woman in your life and possibly in your⁠—”

“If you say bed, I might gag.”

Josie clamped her mouth closed and gave me big eyes. Yeah, when she felt safe to be herself, she was cute as fuck. Meaning I couldn’t stop myself from stalking across the kitchen and hooking her around the waist. When she was plastered against me, I dropped my lips to hers and kissed the ever-loving hell out of her.

Josie's moan vibrated against my tongue, and for a second, I lost my head. Unfortunately, seeing as I was in a haze from a really great fucking kiss, I didn’t hear the back door opening.

“Yippy! I mean, oopsie, I’ll come back.”

Fuck.

I pulled back and rested my forehead against Josie’s.

“Oopsie,” Josie mimicked.

That had to be the most unlike-Josie thing I’d ever heard her say, therefore I threw my head back and damn near busted a gut.

Yeah, of fucking yeah, thank God my earlier screw-up hadn’t led to me fucking us up beyond repair, or I never would’ve had this… standing with Josie in my arms, laughing my ass off after getting busted by my daughter for kissing my woman.