So this is it.
This is what it’s like to be in love. A love that should have never been, but is that really true? Rick and I would have felt the same about each other if we’d met under different circumstances. It’s only the fact that my stupid mom got there first that threw a monkey wrench into things. It’s not like we’re related-related. This isn’t Game of Thrones or anything like that. It’s just two people, undeniably in love.
When we get home, Mom’s taking a nap on the couch. I beg Rick to let me come up to his room and service him, but he tells me no. “It’s too risky. We have to wait, beautiful. Even if it kills me.”
“You don’t want me, Daddy?” I tease, feeling the ache between my legs that reminds me of last night.
“I want you more than anything, Taylor, and you know that. Waiting will only make it so much sweeter.”
That might be true, but it doesn’t make things any easier.
I turn to go, but Rick stops me. His rough hand closes around mine, and he pulls me close. “I love you, you know that?”
His words pound my chest, and I gasp for breath. His fierce blue eyes blaze, and I go weak in the knees. Somehow I knew it before he even said it, but I wasn’t prepared.
“I…I know, Daddy. And I…” My voice is barely a whisper. “I love you too.”
We kiss, and I quickly escape to my room before my mom shows up and ruins everything.
Later, I suffer through dinner, which thankfully my mom takes in the living room, then lie in my guest room until I’m sure that she’s asleep. Then I find the secret bag Rick gave me earlier and slip into the lingerie and heels.
When I look at myself in the mirror, I almost don’t recognize myself. I’m actually even a little bit nervous as I sneak my way up to his bedroom, but all that is swept away when I see the look on his face.
“Wow,” he says simply. “You are gorgeous.”
“You think so?” I whisper, twisting my leg, doing my best to look cute.
“It’s a fact. Now get over here, baby girl.”
7
Rick
When I wake up, Taylor is in my arms.
Oh, no. Fuck, no.
How did I let this happen? I remember taking her last night, twice actually, but then what happened after that? We fell asleep in each other’s arms. I fucked up, and as I hear Brandi moving around downstairs, I realize just how badly I fucked up.
My house is big, but there’s no back way out of my part of the house—no secret stairs or outdoor steps. With a hand over her mouth, I wake Taylor. “Shh, baby. We fell asleep together, and your mom’s up. I’m going to go downstairs and distract her. I’ll try to get her outside, and you can run back to your room, okay?”
Taylor just nods, and I quickly throw on some sweatpants and head downstairs to find Brandi sitting on a stool in the kitchen, a sour look on her face.
“Good morning, sunshine,” I say sarcastically as I fill a glass with water. “How are you today?”
“I want fifty million dollars.”
I almost want to laugh as I turn around and face her. “Fifty million dollars, Brandi? That’s a laugh. You’re lucky I’m even letting you live here. Why on earth would I give you fifty million?”
“Oh, I don’t know.” She smiles like a snake. “So I don’t tell the world about you fucking my daughter?”
My heart sinks. No, scratch that. I almost have a fucking heart attack. She has to be bluffing. There’s no way she could know.
“I came upstairs to see you last night,” she says, rising from her stool. “Thought I’d try to make things up to you. And what do I find? My precious little daughter, completely naked, asleep in my husband’s bed.”
This is bad. Beyond bad. I’m a man who’s never short on words, but even I can’t come up with anything to say right now.
“This is a new low for you, Rick.”
“New low for me? I have to have hit a low to have a new low, Brandi. You would know all about that.”
“What, so I cheated on you?” she laughs. “Sure, that’s bad. But not as bad as this.”
“She’s not blood related, Brandi.”
“Is that what you’ll tell the tabloids?” she asks, advancing on me like an assassin. “Think your business partners will like that? When the public finds out that their favorite brand of auto-parts is run by a sick man, do you think they’ll keep buying from you?”
All valid points, but that’s not what scares me; what scares me is what happens to Taylor if this gets out.
“You drag me through the mud, you drag her through the mud, Brandi.”
She shrugs. I should have known better. She’s never been the model mom, and it’s never been more obvious than right now.
“She’ll get over it. Besides, maybe this will teach her a lesson about being a little slut.”
“Don’t talk that way about her!” I bellow. “She’s never even been with a man until…”
My voice trails off when I realize my admission. Brandi just shakes her head. “Until now? Until you? How’d you do it, Rick? Convince my daughter to have sex with you? Promise her all the money in the world? Vacations to the South of France? Gucci flip-flops?”
“None of that,” I snap back. “It—it’s not like that, Brandi.”
“Oh, so you’re gonna tell me that you really love her?” she laughs. “I’m not a teenager, Rick. That lie won’t work on me.”
“It’s not a lie, Brandi. I know love might seem like a foreign concept to someone like you, but for the rest of us—”
“Fifty million dollars, Rick,” she replies. “Or I call TMZ right now.”
“Fine,” I reply immediately. Fifty million might be a lot for her, but it’s nothing to me. “And as soon as you have the money, you move out.”
“Once I find a place.”
“No.” I shake my head. “You can stay at a hotel.”
“You’re in no position to be dictating terms here, Rick,” she replies. “Now go upstairs and tell my daughter you never want to see her again.”
“Wait, what? That wasn’t part of the deal.”
“Oh, did I neglect to mention that?” she muses, a cruel smile on her lips. She’s really enjoying this. It’s not enough for her to lie to me, cheat on me, blackmail me, and extort me, now she has to ruin any chance of happiness I have.
“Right now, Rick,” she says as she pulls out her phone. She opens the gallery and presents a photo to me: Taylor and me in bed. “Or I send this to TMZ. Five, four, three—”
“Okay!” A sharp pain embeds itself in my chest as I think about what this could do to Taylor. I don’t care what happens to me. I don’t care about the money; I just have to keep her protected. “I’ll go up there and tell her now.”
“I’ll come with you,” she says as I take the steps.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea…”
“I don’t think you plugging my daughter is a good idea.” She shrugs. “But then again, you didn’t bother to ask me.”