“Okay.”

“I know if it were me,” I went on, “I’d want to be the one to help my daughter if I could. And I’d hope that she came to me to ask.”

She kissed my cheek. “Thank you. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Dad?”

Frannie and I jumped apart so fast, her tailbone hit the island and she winced, rubbing it. Millie stood in the dining room blinking at us.

“I thought you were in the shower,” I said, my heart pounding. “The water is running.”

“I just turned it on and remembered that I forgot to tell you I need the twenty dollars for the fashion show tomorrow.”

“Wait a minute, we have to pay to be in this thing?”

“It’s for charity, Dad. Everybody has to pay.” Then she looked at Frannie. “Will you come to the show? It’s a week from Saturday.”

“Of course I will. I wouldn’t miss your dad in a pink glittery shirt for anything.”

I groaned, turning Millie around by the shoulders and giving her a gentle shove toward the stairs. “Get back up there and get in the shower, or I’ll have no hot water left.”

When she was gone, Frannie and I exchanged a wide-eyed look. “Do you think she saw?” I asked.

“Maybe not,” she said, but I could tell she didn’t mean it. “But we should definitely be more careful.”

I watched her leave, feeling that ache in my chest again, and I wished there was a way I could’ve asked her to stay. I was tired of being careful, tired of missing her at night, tired of feeling bad for wanting her, tired of feeling like I was one person with her, and a different person with the kids. Neither version of me was complete.

I wanted to be both at once.

Was it impossible?

On Wednesday, Mrs. Ingersoll said she’d take care of feeding the kids if I needed more time at work, so I was still in my office at seven when I heard a knock.

“Come in.”

The door swung open, and Frannie peeked around it. “Hi.”

“Hey.” I closed my laptop, glad to see her face. “How’s it going?”

“Good. I just had an awesome conversation with my dad.”

“Oh yeah? Come on in. Tell me about it.” I gestured at one of the two chairs in front of my desk. “I haven’t seen you all day.”

She shut the door and leaned back against it, her expression wary. “You’re not too busy? I don’t want to bother you. I know you’re short on time this week.”

“I could use a break.”

“Well, I won’t take up too much time, I just wanted to tell you that I went over the numbers Natalie gave me with my dad, and he said he’d give me what I’ll need to buy in.”

“He’s giving it to you?”

She nodded, her smile radiant. “Uh huh. He said it’s about equal to what my sisters’ educations cost, and since I never went away to school, I can have it to invest in my business.”

“Frannie, that’s amazing.” Her eyes were bright and her skin was flushed with happiness. She looked beautiful and sexy and I was dying to touch her.

“I know! I’m so excited, I don’t even know what to do with myself.” She pushed off the door and bounced around a little.

“I’ve got an idea. Come sit on my lap.”

She waved a hand at me. “No, you’ve got work to do. I should go.”

“Don’t make me come over there and get you.” I stared hard at her, my face stony. “Lock the door.”

She did as I asked, a smile on her face. “Want me to turn out the lights?”

“Fuck no. I want to watch you.”

“Watch me what?” she questioned coyly, one eyebrow arched.

I’m going to hell, I thought. But I said it anyway. “Watch you get on your knees and take my cock in your mouth.”

Her jaw fell open, and for a fraction of a second, I thought I’d gone too far. And then the little vixen dropped to the floor and fucking crawled to me, her back arched, her eyes hooded, her hair dangling seductively.

I turned my chair to face her as she slinked slowly around my desk. When she reached my feet, she put her hands on my knees. I unbuckled my belt and she watched as I took my cock in my hand, working it slowly up and down the thickening shaft. Her eyes were wide.

“Are you nervous?” I asked.

She shook her head. She licked her lips. She slid her hands up my thighs and took my dick from my grasp, wrapping her fingers around it.

Then she lowered her head over my lap and teased me with her tongue, slow swirling strokes over the crown that made my stomach muscles tighten and my legs tense. With my other hand, I reach for her hair, lifting it off her face. My breath caught as I watched her head dip lower to leisurely lick her way from the bottom to the top, where she circled the sensitive tip. Three fucking times she tortured me that way, and on the third time, her eyes met mine. She kept looking at me while she took only the head between her wet lips and sucked gently.

“More,” I growled.

Lowering her eyes and her mouth, she took me in a little deeper and moaned. It felt so good I nearly lost my patience and found my hand fisting in her hair. I must have pulled a little too hard because she gasped and took her mouth off me.

I loosened my grip and frowned. There was a reason this activity had been verboten during my marriage. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be,” she panted, looking up at me again, that wicked spark in her eye. “I told you I like it when you get rough. I meant it.”

My dick throbbed in her hand, and I tightened my fist again in her hair. “In that case …”

She made a noise somewhere between a laugh and a moan, and put her mouth on me again. This time, she took me all the way to the back of her throat, and I watched in ecstatic disbelief as her lips and tongue moved up and down my cock. But it wasn’t long before watching wasn’t enough—the restless, fiery tension building up in my body demanded I move. With my hands on her head, I leaned back and began to thrust up—quick, hard jabs that forced her to take me in deeper. She gasped and grunted and struggled to breathe, but she never pushed me away. Her hands moved to my hips and she dug her fingers into my flesh as I fucked her hot little mouth faster and faster, my blood running hotter and hotter until suddenly the orgasm erupted within me and I poured into her without even giving a warning.

A nicer guy probably would have pulled out instead of pulling her closer, but at that moment I was content to be the biggest asshole on the planet as long as I got to come with my cock hitting the back of her throat. It was selfish as fuck, but it was pure ecstasy. Not only the orgasm, but the awareness that she wanted all of me. Accepted all of me. Even craved all of me. I forgot where we were, what day it was, what I was supposed to be doing—it’s possible I even forgot my own fucking name.

When I finally let go of her head and she sat back onto her heels, looking up at me like she’d just won a million fucking dollars, my head was spinning, my heart was throbbing, and I could hardly breathe. It was like nothing I’d ever felt before.

I looked at her on the floor at my feet and thought, Either I’m about to die and that was life’s final parting gift, or I’m in love with her.