Page 24 of Temptress
Darcy beamed under his affection. “Love you too, Daddy.”
He gave her a look that my own father had given me a million times, that sternness mixed with tenderness that only a father could pull off. “What are the rules?”
Darcy rolled her eyes but humored him by answering, “No phone after nine thirty, and in bed, lights off by ten thirty.”
That single brow went up again. “And?”
“Anddon’t burn the house down.”
“That’s right. Break that rule and you’ll be grounded for the rest of your natural life.”
“Allright, Dad,” she grumbled in embarrassment. Meanwhile, I was standing there thinking this whole scene was the cutest damn thing I’d ever seen.
“Okay. Love you. And you two behave,” he said sternly as he pulled the front door open.
I gave him a mock salute and couldn’t help but press his buttons. “You got it, sir. But just to be on the safe side, where do you keep your fire extinguisher?”
* * *
Silas
Working nights at Whiskey Dolls was like jumping right out of the frying pan and directly into the fire. If I thought I had any idea how popular this club was, I’d been kidding myself. The line that stretched around the building from the moment the place opened didn’t trickle down until a couple hours before closing.
And after catching one of the sets on stage, I understood why this place was so damn popular.
I’d alternated between watching the live feed playing across the monitors in the surveillance room to walking the perimeter of the main floor. Doing that last one had required more time than I’d initially expected, but the place waspackedand navigating through the thick-as-molasses crowd took effort. I’d tracked the guys on my team and had been surprised to find Brad and Matthew weren’t slacking off, but actually keeping a close eye on their designated sections. That didn’t mean I was going to ease off either of them. They still had a lot of work to do to prove they weren’t the fuck-ups I suspected they were.
By the time they called last call at a quarter to midnight, I was more than ready to get my ass home. I was beat, and all I wanted to do was shower off this night, climb into bed, and pass the hell out.
I waited until the club cleared out of everyone but the after-hours cleaning crew, shut everything down, and headed home myself. The house was dark as I pulled into the driveway, the only light coming from the television, casting an eerie blue sheen through the front window.
I unlocked the door and opened it as quietly as possible, the creak of the hinges reminding me I still hadn’t stopped at the hardware for a can of WD-40 like I kept telling myself.
I expected to hear Sloane’s sexy, throaty voice greeting me as I stepped into the house, but when I was met with silence, I threw the lock behind me and went to investigate. I found the woman in question curled up on my couch, fast asleep, and the sight of her was a shock to my system, something I was never going to get used to.
She looked so peaceful, almost angelic in the glow of the quieted television. She lay on her side, her knees pulled up slightly, her feet tucked beneath the back cushions for warmth, with her palms pressed together, resting beneath her cheek. God, this woman really was something.
Without thinking, I moved toward the couch and lowered myself to sit on the coffee table in front of her, doing the one thing Ireallyshouldn’t have done, taking the time granted to me to study the beautiful woman sleeping before me.
If I’d been a smart man, I would have shaken her awake, thanked her for making sure my daughter was safe, and shown her to the door. But it was becoming more obvious by the day that when it came to Sloane Chambers, I was anything but a smart man.
She stirred, her legs stretching outward as her eyelids fluttered open, revealing those sweet honey eyes. Her soft, sleepy smile made my dick swell in my pants.
“Hey. You’re home.”
Fuck me, she could take my breath away. I had to curl my fingers into a tight fist to keep from reaching out and tucking her hair behind her ear just so I could see if it was really as soft as it looked.
“Yeah, Sassy. I’m home. Thanks again for helping out.”
She sat up, a yawn forcing its way from her mouth as she stretched her arms over her head in a way that lifted the hem of her shirt a few inches, revealing a creamy swath of skin my palms itched to touch.
“Of course,” she said a second later. “It’s never a chore to hang with Darce. She’s one of my favorite people ever.”
I couldn’t keep my mouth from curving up at the sound of that. “Because she takes after her mom, right?” I teased. Jesus Christ, when the hell did I start doing shit like that?
Sloane hummed and cocked her head to the side. “I don’t know. Getting to know you a little better, you don’t seem so bad after all.”
High praise coming from her, especially with how I’d treated her in the beginning, and, well... pretty recently as well.