Page 24

“You know what the best part of waking up is?”

“Why don’t you show me?” I growled, shifting my hips to encourage her to stroke me faster.

She craned her neck, planting kisses along my jaw, and the feel of her warm breath on my skin made goosebumps break out. She squeezed my cock as she started to move her hand faster. It felt good, but my shorts hindered her movements. Besides, I was the type of man who preferred to take charge.

Grabbing Heather around the waist, I pulled her up until she was straddling me. Her eyes widened as she gasped at the feeling of my cock pressed into the space between her thighs. Even with layers of clothing between us, I could feel her heat, and it made me want her even more. Sliding my hands under her Star Wars tank top, I cupped her breasts, the hard peaks of her nipples pressing into my palms.

Heather’s back arched, and I was just about to ask if she had any condoms when there was a knock on the door.

“Goddamn it,” I muttered. I was getting really tired of people knocking on doors while I was alone with Heather.

She moved off my lap, straightening her shirt as she hurried to the door. I stood and stretched my arms over my head, enjoying the way my shoulders popped.

“I figured I should stop by because you didn’t respond to the group text I sent,” a woman at the door said.

“Sorry, Jess. I just woke up.”

“Well, the spa had a cancellation this morning and can get us in for our session earlier than planned. Everyone else has decided to take the earlier appointment. We leave in twenty minutes.”

“Oh, okay.” Heather’s voice betrayed her dislike of that idea, and I wasn’t too thrilled about it, either. We weren’t going to be able to pick back up what we were doing before the interruption.

“We’re meeting in the lobby.”

The woman—Jess—looked over Heather’s shoulder. Her eyes sparked with recognition when she saw me, and I knew she must be an NFL fan. But she didn’t say anything other than, “See you soon,” to Heather before leaving.

Heather closed the door, and I pulled my own phone out of my pocket, realizing that if Heather missed a text before we slept in, I might have as well. It turned out that Christine had sent one.

Christine: Meet us for breakfast on the terrace?

I checked the time and realized she’d sent it about ten minutes ago. If I hurried, I could probably still join them.

“I’ve got to go,” I said, feeling guilty that I nearly missed Christine’s text. No matter how much I enjoyed my time with Heather, I couldn’t let myself forget that I was here to vacation with my daughter. “Christine is waiting for me.”

“Oh, of course,” Heather said, completely sincere as she grabbed my shoes from where I’d discarded them by the balcony and handed them over. “Go. Have some fun with her. Don’t let her run off and hide behind any potted plants.”

Heather told me last night about meeting Christine in the lobby, and I wasn’t even really surprised. She’d been rebellious lately, and part of that was acting out against Audrey specifically. I’d read that it was normal for a teenager to do this, but that wasn’t exactly a comfort to my ex-wife.

All the more reason I needed to make sure that Christine remained my top priority.

“I’ll see you later,” I said once my shoes were on. Pressing a kiss to her lips, I left the room and hurried down to the terrace, where I found Christine and Audrey still eating breakfast. Audrey was taking a picture of her strawberry crepe that I was sure would be posted online before we even left the table while Christine drizzled syrup on her waffles.

“Hey, Dad,” she chirped, all smiles this morning. I liked seeing that. Her moods could be unpredictable lately—something else that I’d read a lot about and determined was a normal teenage thing.

“Morning, Chris.” I bent to press a kiss to the top of her head and settled into the chair beside her. Across from us, Audrey glanced at me, her sharp eyes taking in my appearance with a slight frown.

That was when I realized that I was still wearing the same clothes from yesterday. I was so determined to make it to breakfast that I didn’t go to my bungalow to change first. It figured that Audrey would notice.

She didn’t say anything, but I knew her, and she’d bring it up later when it was just the two of us. Hiding what was going on with Heather from her was probably never going to work anyway, considering that we were all vacationing at the same resort on this small island.

I wasn’t looking forward to dealing with her attitude about it, but that was a problem for later.

“Did you know that the mountain on the north side of the island used to be a volcano?” Christine asked as she took a bite of her bacon. “One of the women that works here was telling me about it this morning. Tectonic plates shifted, cutting off the magma like three hundred years ago.”

“So, we don’t have to worry about an eruption?” I asked, waving to the waitress at another table to get her attention. I was starving, and even more important, there was a coffee pot in her hand and I wanted some of it.

Christine laughed. “Not likely. We’d have to have some pretty bad luck for that to happen.”

The waitress arrived, filling up my coffee cup. I ordered an omelet stuffed with bacon and sausage with toast on the side, my stomach already rumbling at the thought of food.