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“Shit,” he said under his breath.
She didn’t have to ask him what was going on to know Rachel was home.
Lisabeth got out of bed and frantically searched for her clothes. When she was dressed she realized she was breathing hard and fast, hyperventilating. She turned and saw her reflection in the mirror above the dresser. Her hair was a wild mess, her cheek painted red from the sex they’d just had.
Trying to clean up her appearance seemed to make it worse. With her hands in her hair, trying to tame the rats’ nest, she felt like crying. This was not how she wanted Rachel to find out.
The sound of the car door opening and closing seemed amplified. A moment later the front door opened and slammed shut. David was busy finishing putting his clothes on. Once he was dressed he stood there, running his hand through his hair, mussing the strands even more.
“What the hell are we going to do?” she asked, feeling frantic, her whispered words sounding like she was about to have a breakdown. Then again, that was what she felt like in this moment.
“Dad?” The sound of Rachel calling out had Lisabeth freezing.
“What do we do?” she whispered.
David looked calm, cool, and collected. “It’ll be fine. Just stay up here unless…” He lifted a brow and smirked. “Unless we just tell her what’s going on by having you come downstairs.”
She closed her eyes and exhaled. “This isn’t how I want this to go.”
“Me either, but she’ll find out sooner or later, and I would love for it to be on our terms, not because she walked in on us.”
She felt her face heat even more. “She’s not finding out like this … whatever this is.” She moved a hand between them, emphasizing her words.
He lifted a brow, seeming almost amused by her words.
“You know what this is between us.”
“Dad?” Rachel called out again, this time sounding closer.
She looked over toward the closed bedroom door, her heart beating so hard it hurt.
“I’ll handle this. Just stay in here.” He walked over to the door and stopped before he opened it. He looked over his shoulder at her. “And once this is taken care you and I will be having that talk about exactly what’s going on between us.”
He sounded so determined that all she could do was stand there and nod. And then he left her in his room, shut the door behind him, and went to diffuse this potential bomb.
14
David tried not to groan but the last thing he wanted to do was deal with his daughter. Yes, that made him sound like an awful dad but seriously, Rachel had been putting him off for weeks. Always cancelling their dinner dates, and yet here she was and it annoyed the hell out of him. Lisabeth was finally in his bed. He didn’t like how nervous she seemed to be at the thought of Rachel catching them.
He got it. Of course he did.
They’d been friends for a long time and he didn’t know how Rachel would react catching them together.
“Honey, what brings you here?” David asked, finding her in the kitchen.
“I hate men.” She slammed the door to the fridge. “I mean, seriously, what is so wrong with you people?”
“You people?”
“Is it really that hard for you to say that you love someone or are you like totally above all that crap?”
He frowned. Was he supposed to remember a boyfriend? Had he met a guy that she’d been dating? Life had been so hectic at work that he didn’t have the first clue what to say.
“We’re talking all men?”
“Yes. All of you. I bet even you don’t do love or maybe you do, I don’t know. I don’t want to know either. Ugh!” She pulled the lid off a carton of yogurt, shoving a large spoonful into her mouth. He always kept the peach flavored ones just in case she ever stopped by, as he knew she loved them. “This is good.”
“This… attitude. Have you been dating someone?”
She stared at him and he watched as she swallowed, gulping down the yogurt. “Look, it’s not important.”
“No, it is important. I should recognize when it is important when my daughter raids my fridge.”
Rachel glanced down at the yogurt pot. “I’m sorry. I just … I guess I wanted to come home, you know. I couldn’t get a hold of Lisabeth, which is so not like her and well, you’re my dad, duh.”
He wasn’t about to tell his daughter that Lisabeth was hiding out in his bedroom. “Want to tell me who has caused this?”
“Not really. I guess I just overreacted. I can’t really talk about it.”
“I can help if you tell me who the guy is.”
Rachel chuckled. “It’s fine. Really. You don’t know him.” She tucked some hair behind her ear, letting him know she was lying. He’d been a good poker player throughout his day and raising Rachel, he’d learned all of her tells. He knew she was hurt but she was also trying to hide it so he wouldn’t keep asking questions. What made him even more curious was that Lisabeth was sure to know who. Filing that information away for later, he smiled at his daughter.
