“You worried about your pops?” I asked, winking at her.
“Would that be such a horrible thing?” She wiped her hands on a dish towel before placing them on her hips. “It’d be nice to see you happy, Daddy.”
“I’m happy,” I sighed, scratching at the scruff that lined my jaw.
She threw a dishtowel at my head.
“Liar,” she accused. “You know what I think?”
“Not sure I want to hear this,” I grumbled.
“I think you like her,” she continued, cocking her head to the side—the expression on her face daring me to deny it. “You said it yourself, you wanted her to come here tonight.”
“Reina is just some girl I met at a diner that serves a mean cup of coffee,” I said, fighting off the memories of the night before when I was buried deep inside of her. I’ve been battling those fucking images all damn day and seeing her this afternoon didn’t help—just as I was sure sharing a meal with her tonight wouldn’t either. “She’s a little lost and a whole lot of lonely, so yeah, I wanted her to come for dinner because I’m not that much of a cold-hearted bastard.”
“You’re not a cold-hearted bastard at all,” she whispered.
Lacey and I had a normal father-daughter relationship. She was my little girl, and I was the number one man in her life. We were like two peas in a pod and shared an unbreakable bond. She owned the biggest piece of my heart and she was right, around her I wasn’t myself, around my Lacey I wasn’t the cold, vicious, dark man the rest of the world knew. However, she was the only one who got that from me and as far as I was concerned she’d always be the only one. She deserved that and so much more, more than I’d ever be able to give her. I was the reason behind her pain, the loss that lived in her heart and the memories that tainted her youth.
Lacey shoved at my arm.
“Earth to Dad, hello?” She said, waving her hand in front of my face.
“What?” I asked.
“The bell. Go get the door,” she ordered, pushing me out of the kitchen. “And be nice. You know, try to refrain from grunting and mumbling.”
I grunted then I mumbled as I walked into the living room making my way to the front door. Until the doorbell rang I didn’t believe Reina would even show up, despite the text message she sent me an hour ago, asking for my address. After last night I was sure she would’ve burnt the napkin I left her with my number. I pulled open the door and stopped short. The cab she arrived in pulled away from the curb as she turned around and stared at me awkwardly.
I missed something, somewhere, because Reina was morphing from the shy outcast waitress in a diner to this vibrant beauty who had shed her old persona. Or maybe the girl I spent five weeks staring at wasn’t timid at all and just a disguise she hid behind. She lost her baggy clothes and my imagination didn’t have to work so hard to see what she was hiding under all the layers. I glanced up at the heavens, silently thanking whoever sent this girl in tight leather pants to my doorstep. The transformation didn’t stop at her legs though, she was wearing a long sweater that stretched across her chest and I instantly regretted that I hadn’t ripped her shirt off last night when I had the chance. She completed the outfit with a cropped leather jacket and leather riding boots, looking like she was born to be on the back of my bike.
She was a goddamn dream.
My fucking dream.
I finally snapped out of my daze as she turned her face and looked away from me, nervously. I reached out, placing my finger beneath her chin and turned her head back toward me. I stared at her, noticing the subtle make-up she wore. She had pulled her hair away from her face, exposing all of her perfect features and her big brown eyes that stared back at me. Beneath the wary gaze, was the girl I unraveled last night, the girl I branded mine. The same girl who dismissed me like I wasn’t good enough.
Let’s break bread, sunshine.
I’ll play nice with you for now.
Because, looking at her now I realized the taste I got of her last night was not enough. It barely scratched the surface of what I wanted to do to her. I dropped my hand from her chin and stepped aside so she could enter.
“I hope you’re not too hungry,” I mumbled.
Her eyebrows drew together as she stepped inside and I closed the door behind her.
“You mean to say you hope I’m hungry,” she corrected. “Right?”
She held out her hands, offering the bakery box.
“No, Lacey can’t cook for shit but I don’t have the heart to tell her,” I said, diverting my eyes to the box in her hands. “What’s that?”
“I…I wasn’t planning on being invited anywhere and I didn’t have time to bake it myself. I went to Rosalie’s bakery and well…they had cherry pie,” she rambled, eyes roaming around the room before they found mine.