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“Wha- What is it?” I ask, feeling my stomach drop like she’s just figured out somehow everything between me and her dad.
She leans in real close.
And she sniffs me.
There’s a moment of recognition in her eyes, and they search mine.
She can smell her dad’s cologne. It’s unmistakable and nobody else in the college let alone the town would wear it.
Nobody else could wear it the way he does.
I feel my eyes widen. Guilt is written all over my face as I open my mouth, hoping the right words will come out.
But there’s another sound instead.
The voice of my hero come to save my ass in the nick of time.
“Zoe? Zoe?” The accented voice calls out.
It’s a little bit British sounding, the voice. But it could also be acting, fake.
Zoe spins on the spot, suddenly way more interested in the man behind the voice than she is in me, or the fact I probably smell like a virgin drenched in her old man.
Or vice-versa.
“Niles!” she calls back, gushing like a diva and ignoring me completely, she saunters back towards him.
“You forgot your scarf,” The man says, and I can see now he is indeed a man.
An older man. Thin and gaunt looking. A cigarette holder in one hand and Zoe’s scarf in the other.
Anywhere else I’d be worried about a guy looking like that calling out to Zoe. But this is theater and I’ve had plenty of experience with Zoe’s little eccentricities when she’s playing a part.
I watch with interest as Zoe reclaims her scarf, and hooking her arm into his, she pulls him towards me for introductions.
“Sheree, this is Niles Cartwright. The most amazing actor and the greatest Romeo the world’s ever seen,” she gushes again as I hold my hand out awkwardly.
He examines it, and then me, from head to toe before taking my hand, and with the flair of a true thespian, he flourishes a polite kiss midair above it before announcing himself.
“Niles Cartwright, at your service,” he murmurs, standing erect again to let me know that, “Zoe’s told us all about you already,” he adds, making my stomach twist in a new knot. Wondering just how much Zoe knows about me and her dad.
Panicked by the thought she might have seen him drop me off just now.
Zoe beams, giving me a maddening grin as she fights to contain herself in the man's presence.
Personally? I think he looks like a wet noodle. I dunno… like a phony or something, but Zoe seems smitten.
He’s not totally unattractive. But he’s no Michael Grayson. Not by a long shot.
Her taste in men and boys is certainly her own. The guy does nothing for me except make me want to laugh somehow.
But whoever else could ever do it for me, after what her dad’s just taught me?
“Zoe. Sheree?” Niles asks dramatically.
Theatrically.
“We’re all on a break now, so you will both join me over the road for a soy latte and hopefully some proper vegan nourishment at the local restaurant?”
He uses a French accent when he says restaurant, making me stifle another laugh as I pretend to push my glasses back up onto the bridge of my nose.
Zoe glances over to me, her expression telling me her latest beau means the diner across the street.
And good luck getting anything ‘vegan’ in this town buddy.
I make a face, trying to understand if the man is still acting or talks like this all the time.
Zoe tells him that’s a great idea, and despite not wanting to, I feel myself getting dragged along.
Zoe with an older guy crush, eh?
Maybe this could work in my favor after all…
Chapter Ten
Michael
I tell myself it’s only for a little while.
That dropping Sheree off at the theater to meet Zoe is fine. That being away from her, even for just a few hours is fine.
But watching her fine ass once I drop her off, not even being able to hold her again or kiss her. Not telling her how special she is. How badly I need to make her mine.
Only being able to relay a message for my daughter through her?
It’s not right.
It doesn’t feel right.
Not after what we’ve just shared. But I can see how anxious she is about being seen with me right now.
Like it or not, I’ve set wheels in motion that mean a huge secret between not only Zoe and her best friend, but between Sheree, me, and the whole world.
For now at least.
With packing up my office, needing to find a place for Sheree and me to meet, as well as somewhere for her to stay while we figure all this out?
Playing secret squirrel isn’t exactly my idea of fun.
My only desire is to be balls deep inside Sheree, filling her and continuing our family. Telling her how great she is.
“I should be looking for a family home, not some lover’s retreat,” I growl to myself as I drive back to my office.
