Page 21 of Hot Dad Summer

Wes let out a low laugh. “He just stole your rag.”

I didn’t even look back. I just finished what I was doing. I wasn’t about to get into a fight with a dog when Daisy was within a thousand feet. I couldn’t be soft around her. One crack and I was going to lose every hard-fought win over my nature.

Daisy’s voice was huskier than usual when she stopped just outside of the kitchen. “I’m ready whenever y’all are.”

Even her fucking accent made my blood run hotter. I gripped the counter hard and took a shallow breath to avoid her scent before turning and following Wes into the living room. Flynn was already there, sitting with his legs spread and a fake smirk on his face. I knew my brother well enough to know that he was just as unsteady as the rest of us. I didn’t understand why he wasn’t the happiest man on the planet after touching Daisy.

Daisy was in another pair of tiny silk pajamas; her hair stacked on top of her head in the same rollers I remembered 0ur mom using when we were kids. Her face was bare but her eyelashes still looked just as thick and dark. Her lips, which I shouldn’t have been looking at, looked swollen and slick with some sort of clear gloss. She looked utterly fuckable and wholly adorable in a way that twisted my mind into knots. Her curves made me want to hold on tight and go crazy but it was that same softness that made me want to wrap her up and hold her tight.

I was lost in the war on my control when Daisy opened her mouth and started talking, changing everything with just a few stilted sentences.

“I’m just going to say it. I did make out with Flynn last night. It was an accident, I mean, as much as any kiss can be an accident. I didn’t plan on it. I know it’s wrong. I’m Tyler’s ex. I should keep my eyes and lips to myself. Without Tyler here, with me being single, I feel…different. I’m…” She took a deep breath and tipped her head back to stare at the ceiling. “There’s attraction. Not just with Flynn. Everything feels different. Every interaction feels laced with more than we’re saying. I don’t think I’m imagining it.”

My heart was an angry thing banging around in my chest. Wes and Flynn had both sat forward. The room was thick with her honesty and our shocked silence. She was just saying the thing we weren’t supposed to say. There was something about that courage that made her even hotter to me. The alarm bells grew louder.

“This is probably so awkward but I don’t want to tiptoe around it and make everything weird. I’m attracted to y’all. It’s wrong and I don’t plan on doing anything about it. I can’t. Maybe y’all don’t even feel it and this is going to be so embarrassing that it kills all my ability to feel attraction to anyone ever again. I didn’t have these feelings when I was here with Tyler, I just want y’all to know. I promise I’m not that kind of person. I was loyal to your brother in every way.” She rubbed her bright red cheeks and groaned. “I don’t even know what I’m saying!”

She continued. “Back to the point. I want to apologize for crossing the line with Flynn. It won’t happen again. I’m supposed to be here for the kids. I can keep my hands and lips to myself, I promise. It’s the only way. But if this makes things too weird, I can go. I already looked and there’s a little cabin with an opening for the next few days. I could leave in the morning after saying goodbye to the kids if that would make this easier.”

She was breathless when she finished and seemed to realize she’d just spewed out everything without a word from us. A shame-filled look contorted her face in a way that I decided I never wanted to see again. That’s the only reason I was willing to give for why I opened my mouth and spoke up before either of my brothers could.

“No.” The word came out harsher than I meant for it. “We’re all adults. This doesn’t need to change anything. You stay.”

Her eyes were suspiciously damp when she looked at me. “Are you sure?”

I nodded once. “The kids love you. You’re good here.”

“And we can just...ignore everything else?”

“We can keep it professional,” Wes said.

Flynn made a sound that suggested he had opinions about that, but for once he kept them to himself.

Daisy nodded, but something about her expression bothered me. Embarrassment was still written all over her face.

“And Daisy?”

She looked at me.

“You’re not imagining it.”

Her lips parted. I stood before I could make things worse. “I've got a boat to fix.”

Before leaving I took one last look at my brothers and knew that whatever promise they made to keep their hands to themselves would be in vain. They were already staring at Daisy like starving men facing a buffet. Luckily, I wasn’t forced to look into a mirror and see the same expression on my own face on my walk back out to my shop.

17

***Wes***

Itold myself not to go down to the kitchen. Then I went anyway. I told myself not to stay in the kitchen, pretending to go through the books for the marina. I stayed anyway. Of course, I stayed. Daisy was always in the kitchen before me, already tucked into whatever she was baking that morning. That morning was no different. When I sat down at my side of the island Daisy was already elbow deep in a brightly colored dough. Before I even opened my notebook she was blushing.

“I’m making rainbow cronuts. The kids saw a picture on my phone from the bakery and demanded to be treated fairly and fed cronuts.” She smiled but I watched it not fully reach her eyes. She glanced up at me and then away before our eyes could linger. “I’ll let you focus on your work.”

Our normal silence was peaceful and comforting. That morning, it was heavy and made my skin feel a few sizes too small for my body. I couldn’t keep my eyes on my work, not with Daisy less than five feet from me. She’d admitted that she was attracted to us, to me. That information had kept me up half the night, until I’d had to jack off like a teenager to pass out.

It did nothing to help me keep my promise to keep my hands to myself that she was in another one of her figure-hugging dresses. The apron somehow made her tits look even sexier and when she bent over to get something out of the oven, I saw she had on thigh-high tights with seams up the back that felt like landing markers for my mouth.

“You’re staring.” Daisy pressed her hands down on the island hard enough to make her fingers pale.