Chilled and Thrilled (Daddy Issues, #1)

by Cleo White

This isn’t ordinary behavior for an adult man speaking to the close friend of his daughter, a woman who is also his employee and half his age. Nor is it typical for me to stay up half the night, sick with regret over hurting a woman who has just as little business wanting me as I do wanting her.

“Out, Holden. And don’t fucking touch her.” He pauses with his hand on the doorknob. “I’ll consider your request carefully. No promises, though. Maybe you should give her a reason to say no, if I do end up asking her to that lunch.”

Sophie is currently sitting upstairs with my partner, who has made it clear he’s interested in her, and there’s not a damn thing I can do about it.

“I have to stop at the store,” I blurt out, and my eyes must be close to bugging out of my head. “Perfect. So do I.”

She seems to understand me in a way I’ve never encountered before, in a way that should be unnerving but isn’t. There isn’t a chance in hell that I wouldn’t fall in love with her. Hell, I’m beginning to suspect I already have.

I want to follow her into that shower and wash the blood from her hair. I want to carry her into my bedroom and hold her all night. I want to take care of her. Not as her best friend’s father, not as her boss, but as a man who takes care of a woman who means the world to him.

I want to take care of her. Not as her best friend’s father, not as her boss, but as a man who takes care of a woman who means the world to him.

“I’m going to kiss you now.”

I kiss her and it doesn’t feel like our first time, or our third, or our hundredth. Sophie Nelson, the forbidden fruit, the girl I was never supposed to touch, feels like she was created just for me. I was wrong, more wrong than I’ve ever been about anything. Wanting her like this isn’t a punishment, it’s a gift.

Sophie Nelson, the forbidden fruit, the girl I was never supposed to touch, feels like she was created just for me.

For something so wrong, this feels awfully right, and the only thing I’m worried about now is making her realize it too. No more running.

“You can take it.”

“Fuck, you feel so good, sweetheart.”