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That didn’t mean she had to be some goody-two-shoes, though, as tonight—and so many others—had proved.
“Jesus,” her stepfather muttered, quickly pulling open the passenger’s side door to let Kayla collapse inside. She was still drunk. Her head was swimming, and balance had suddenly become a major issue. “Look at you. This is no way for a young woman to behave.”
“What’s the matter, Daddy?” she sneered. “Are you afraid I’ll embarrass you?”
Carter stared down at her, his lips pressed into a thin line as he looked her over. For a moment, his steely gaze caught on her skirt, and when Kayla looked down, she saw that it had hitched up around her upper thighs when she’d sat down. With her legs splayed, her sheer pink panties were completely visible.
Why is he looking at me like that? she wondered as she pulled down the hem, watching Carter avert his gaze. It almost looks like he likes it…
She banished the thought immediately, chalking it up to her inebriated state as she managed to swing her unusually heavy feet into the car. Carter shut the door, walked around to his side, and got in, scowling as he turned a key, the big powerful engine roaring to life.
“Buckle up,” he told her sternly.
Kayla once again rolled her eyes, but inevitably obeyed. She might have been reckless in many ways, but she certainly didn’t want to end up flying through the windshield should something go wrong.
She snapped the seatbelt into place and leaned her seat back immediately, stretching out as best she could in her stepfather’s luxury sedan.
“Your antics are costing me a small fortune, you know,” Carter muttered as he pulled into the limited traffic at this hour. “God only knows what I’ll have to do to convince this girl not to press charges.”
“I’m sure it’s nothing you can’t handle,” Kayla replied, closing her eyes as the interior of the car began to spin. “Not unless the money’s dried up while I was waiting for you to show up.”
It was Carter’s turn to roll his eyes. “Sorry I didn’t drop everything sooner to rush to your aid. I do have a life outside of cleaning up your messes, you know.”
“Right, your second wife,” Kayla said, referring to the company her stepfather owned. “I’m sure she’ll understand.”
Kayla didn’t know why her stepfather was acting so put out. It wasn’t like he hadn’t been awake, anyway. Part of being a billionaire was hard work, contrary to popular belief, and she knew Carter was up until the wee hours of the morning most nights. She could tell it was beginning to wear on him, too. The dark circles under his eyes easily betrayed that.
She got the feeling there was more to it than that, however. Lately, her stepfather had seemed more aloof and stressed out than usual. While normally calm and collected, she’d been on the receiving end of a few uncharacteristic tantrums the past few weeks. She’d often wondered if it had something to do with her mom.
Thankfully, her stepfather seemed too tired to devolve into theatrics right now.
“I don’t know why you can’t understand how important it is not to tarnish your public image,” he said, gripping the leather steering wheel so tightly his knuckles turned white. “When I eventually turn my company over to you, it will be imperative for your reputation to remain as unsullied as possible.”
“What if I don’t want the company?” Kayla said, startling as her stepfather made a sudden stop at a traffic light. The red glow washed over his face, turning his stormy eyes a strange shade of maroon.
“You don’t have much of a choice in the matter,” he told her. “I have no other heir to give it to.”
“So make another one,” Kayla huffed, adjusting her seatbelt to get the strap off of her throat. “You’re still young… ish. It can’t possibly be that hard.”
Carter chuckled ruefully, shaking his head as the light turned green. “You’d be surprised,” he murmured at a volume Kayla was sure he’d meant to be inaudible, and yet she’d heard every word of it.
She frowned, looking over at her stepfather as he drove through the desolate streets. Every time they left the warm glow of a streetlamp, the shadows that passed over his face seemed to grow darker and darker. Is this why he’s been so distant? she wondered. Mom has been gone a lot, lately. And if they were trying for a baby…
She shook her head, trying hard not to imagine her stepfather engaged in the throes of passion with her mother. But it was no use. Kayla couldn’t help but to envision Carter’s strong, hard body stripped down to his naked flesh, each powerful, coiled muscle rippling as he threw her mother onto his bed.
A little shudder coursed through her. She’d never had those thoughts before—or at least, not in such detail—but she knew that overall, they were normal. It wasn’t all that odd that she should be curious about his physique. He was an objectively attractive man, after all, and closer to her age than he was her mother’s.
Still, this had to be the liquor’s doing, and she did her best not to think on Carter’s body any further as he pulled into the driveway of his manor.
“You could’ve just sent your driver,” she told him, fumbling with the door handle. “If coming to get me was such an imposition, I mean.”
Carter sighed deeply and shook his head, unbuckling his seatbelt. “You’re still my daughter, Kayla,” he told her, and now she could really hear the weariness in his voice. “Family matters should be attended to on a personal level, don’t you think?”
“Stepdaughter,” she reminded him, though she wasn’t sure if she was saying it for his benefit or her own. “But anyway… thanks. I guess.” She just couldn’t resist adding in that last bit. She didn’t want to seem like she was getting mushy all of a sudden.
With her stepfather’s help, she stumbled into their home, her heels clacking noisily on the marble floor of the foyer. She kicked off her shoes as soon as she was able, sighing with relief as her arches relaxed. Then, knowing she could go no further, she shuffled into the sitting room and threw herself down on the long sofa near the fireplace, moaning in pain as the feeling returned to her feet.
“You shouldn’t be wearing shoes like that,” her stepfather scolded. She’d expected him to retreat upstairs to his office or bedroom, but he surprised her by sitting down on the opposite end of the couch and pulling her to him by her ankles. “They aren’t good for you.”
