Burned Page 5

  It drove him crazy with desire. Rhys drove into her harder and faster. When she started to shake, her nails dug into his back, and her pussy clenched so tightly around his dick he thought he’d die from pleasure, he exploded. Shuddering against her as he ejaculated, he looked down at her and knew he was in love. It wasn’t one of those in the throes of passion moments but he knew he loved this woman heart body and soul.

  An hour later, with their limbs still entwined and their arms wrapped tightly around each other, Sadie realized her lasagna was probably as cold as ice at this point. “Oh, no! Dinner.”

  “We can have it later. I’m not hungry for food right now.” Rhys nuzzled her neck.

  Sadie waited for the moment when she’d wake up from this beautiful dream. Rhys was an awesome lover. No one had ever made her feel so loved this way before. It surprised her how easily she’d fallen into his arms. It had taken months before she even let Terrell get to third base but something just felt natural with Rhys. She was falling for him and it scared the shit out of her. When was the Mac truck going to hit her? So far he was perfect and she couldn’t think of a single thing wrong with him save his propensity for silly jokes at times. But even that was an endearing quality.

  He kissed her on her forehead. “Penny for them.”

  “Hmm?”

  “You seem to be really deep in thought. Care to tell me why you were so upset when I showed up?”

  Sadie bit her bottom lip wondering how much she should reveal to him. “It’s just…I’m scared about us.”

  He frowned. “Scared? Why?”

  “I’m just waiting to find out that this is all some sick joke and you don’t really want to be with me.”

  His eyes darkened and a flush of red colored his face. “I don’t know who gave you any reason to doubt yourself but I intend to make you see how truly special you are. Sweetheart, I’m in love with you. I know we haven’t been dating long, but it’s how I feel. And before you say it, I don’t say the words lightly. The only other woman I’ve ever said it too was my ex-wife and I didn’t feel half as strongly for her what I do for you.”

  “But why me?”

  “Because you’re you, Sadie. And I’m not going to stop proving it to you until you believe me.” He lowered his mouth to hers.

  Sadie could see herself getting very used to this.

  Chapter Six

  Sadie ran her hands down the front of her outfit for the fourth time in the last ten seconds to smooth out any wrinkles. Was she wearing the right outfit? What did one wear when meeting their boyfriend’s fourteen-year-old daughter? Rhys had told Sadie, he and Carys kept things pretty casual but Sadie decided against jeans. Instead, she’d chosen a khaki colored skirt and black button up blouse and low heeled black sandals.

  At three months of dating, Rhys had pushed the subject of her meeting Carys and Sadie had at first found excuses, saying it wasn’t enough time but after another month passed, she could no longer put him off. The truth was she was terrified of meeting his daughter. Rhys’s ex-wife wasn’t in the picture and she had nothing to worry about on that front, but that didn’t mean other problems wouldn’t crop up. What if she ended up bonding with Carys as she had with Malia? Then if something were to happen between her and Rhys, Sadie would be doubly heartbroken again.

  Finally, Rhys had put his foot down and insisted that she meet his daughter. Was it really four months? Where had the time gone? Rhys was a dream come true and she was falling more and more in love with him every day. As she walked up the pathway to his front door, she took a deep breath. This was only the second time she’d been to his house: the first was when Carys had been away for the night. Even though it wasn’t a mansion, it was just as impressive as it had been the first time she visited.

  When Sadie had first seen it she’d jokingly asked if he sold drugs on the side to afford such an opulent home. Professors made good money depending on how long they worked for a reputable University such as the one he taught at but she didn’t think they made the kind of money to live in a place like this.

  Rhys had given that charming smile of his. “I take it you like the place?”

  “Who wouldn’t?” She noticed he hadn’t answered her question. “You’re not are you?”

  “Not what?”

  “A drug dealer.”

  He laughed. “No. Why would you think that?”

  “Knowing my luck with men, there has to be some catch.”

  He’d caught her chin beneath his finger. “Let’s not get on that tangent again, before I carry you upstairs and paddle your luscious ass. And then I’ll make love to you until you’re breathless. And to answer your indirect question about how I could afford a house like this is because I happen to be fortunate in the sibling department. My older brother Colin has done quite well for himself and is head of his own conglomerate. He’s a financial whiz and has been in charge of my portfolio for years. Everything he touches turns to gold it seems. I may not be super mega rich like him, but I’ve been able to carve out a very comfortable life for myself and my daughter. And this house is nothing compared to his or at least what his will look like when it’s done being built.”

  “Oh.” Sadie had felt foolish.

  He kissed her on the tip of her nose. “You’re so cute.”

  By the time he finished giving her the tour of his home that day dinner was somehow forgotten as they found themselves in his bedroom and didn’t come out until it was nearly time for Sadie to leave.

  Now standing at his front door ready to meet Carys, Sadie was glad she’d been here before. At least it took away some element of surprise which probably would have made her even more nervous than she already was.

  Just as she was about to ring the doorbell, Rhys yanked the door open. “What took you so long? I saw you had pulled up five minutes ago.” He stepped over the threshold to pull her into his arms and drop a deep hungry kiss on her lips. Whenever he kissed her it was like he wanted to devour her. Sadie couldn’t remember a time when she’d ever felt so desirable or wanted by a man. Terrell had never made her feel this way before and it scared the hell out of Sadie. In her mind, if Terrell could tear her world apart with what he’d done, there was no telling the kind of havoc Rhys would have on her heart.

  She placed her hands on his chest with a laugh trying to catch her breath. “What would your daughter say if she saw us kissing like that?”

  “It doesn’t matter because she’s going to have to get used to my kissing you seeing as how I intend on doing a lot of it.” He wiggled his eyebrows with a wolfish grin as he bent over for another kiss.

  Sadie turned her head in time for his lips to graze her cheeks. “I’d rather Carys be comfortable around me before we get into any heavy PDA in her presence.”

  “For your information, she’s upstairs in her room getting ready. So if you want to come inside, I’d better get a kiss.”

  Sadie gasped in mock frustration. “That’s so unfair.”

  “I never play by the rules.”

  “Well, in that case, I’d better give you that kiss then.” She threw her arms around his neck and practically melted against the hard wall of his chest. As their lips met, she pushed her tongue forward to meet his, tasting all his glorious maleness. She doubted she’d ever get enough of this sexy man.”

  Rhys finally pulled back with a groan. “I guess we should go in. I have some steaks on the grill I need to check on. It’s a pretty nice day so we’ll be eating out on the patio if you don’t mind.”

  “That sounds like a great idea. I love eating alfresco.”

  “Super. Carys should be down any minute. I can’t wait for my two favorite girls to meet. Why don’t you have a seat and I’ll fix you a glass of wine?” He placed a kiss on the side of her neck before heading to his kitchen. Rhys seemed so excited, some of his enthusiasm wore off on her. With a father like Rhys, Carys just had to be a sweetheart. What was she worried about anyway?

  Sadie took a seat on the plush suede sofa. Her ga
ze fell on a picture of Rhys with his daughter in black and white. It looked like one of those professional pictures families took together on the beach. Rhys sat on a blanket in the middle of the sand and Carys’s head was on his shoulder. The way he looked at her told Sadie how much Rhys loved Carys. It gave her heart a little twinge. Her own father had passed away when she was five from a heart attack. She still missed him a lot. Sadie often wondered if her mother would have been a different person had Daddy lived.

  She was so caught up in her thoughts she didn’t notice another presence in the living room.

  “So you’re the new girlfriend.”

  Startled, Sadie looked up into the face of an unsmiling teen. So this was the famous Carys. She was surprisingly tall for a fourteen-year-old, probably taller than Sadie’s five foot four. Her face was round not quite hollowed out to womanhood. With long dark brown hair and green eyes like her father, she probably could have been pretty were it not for a deep scowl on her face.

  Sadie stood up, pasting a smile on her face and offered her hand. “Yes, I am. You must be Carys. Your father has told me so much about you and I’m very pleased to meet you.”

  Carys was indeed taller than Sadie by a few inches. Taking a step back, the teen eyed her up and down not seeming to miss a single detail, while totally ignoring Sadie’s outstretched hand.

  After an uncomfortable silence between them, Sadie dropped her hand self-consciously. “Well, I hope we can become friends eventually.”

  Carys’s lips curled in to a sneer. “You’re fat.”

  Sadie’s mouth popped open. Had she heard correctly? “Excuse me?” She hadn’t known what to expect but this outright rudeness never occurred to her.

  “Well, you’re definitely not Dad’s usual type. He usually likes thinner, prettier women. I mean, you’re not ugly or anything, but Daddy can do much better and has done than you.” Carys finished off her statement with another slow insulting perusal.

  Even her mother who was known for being able to cut a grown man down with her words in half a minute at least had the couth to wait a while before insulting someone. It took several stunned moments before Sadie finally found her tongue. “Perhaps I may not be your idea of what’s beautiful but your father likes me just the way I am.”

  Carys shrugged. “Of course he’d say that. Daddy’s a nice guy. Besides after the bad experience with his last girlfriends, he told me beautiful women were more trouble than they’re worth. So I guess it makes sense why he’s dating you.”

  Sadie’s heart plummeted. Had Rhys really said that? Was that why he was with her because he didn’t think he’d have to work as hard with her as he would for a beautiful woman? It made sense. All this time she’d tried to figure out what it was about her that he a man like Rhys could possibly want with her and here was her answer.

  The smirk on the girl’s face said it all. I don’t like you.

  Sadie opened her mouth to say something, anything instead of standing there like an idiot. She should have seen this coming. Things had been going so well with her and Rhys it was probably too much for her to think she’d get along with his daughter as well. So this was the catch—the price for dating Rhys Edwards. An obnoxious teenage daughter. Was he worth it? Or was she already in too deep to cut her losses and get the hell out of here before she backhanded the little she-devil?

  Rhys returned to the room, a glass of wine in hand. “Sorry it took so long, darling. The steaks are ready and I needed to take them off the grill.” He handed the glass to Sadie. “I see my two favorite girls have met. I’m sure you’re fast friends now?”

  Carys beamed and sidled up to Sadie and put her arm around her shoulders. “We sure are. Sadie is a sweetheart, just like you said she’d be.”

  Sadie did a double take. What the hell? Did this child have a split personality? One second she was one of the Children of the Corn and the next she was Pollyanna.

  “Carys, honey, why don’t you go set the table for me.”

  “Sure thing Daddy.” Carys walked over to her father and gave him a big hug and a kiss on the cheek. As she walked out of his line of vision however, she tossed a look over her shoulder toward Sadie that said watch it bitch.

  “She’s quite affectionate when she wants to be, that is when she’s not being a typical teenager. So what did you think of her?”

  “What did I think of her?” What she wanted to say probably wasn’t appropriate. “Uh, she’s something else that for sure.”

  Rhys’s grin widened. “She is that. It’s so important for the two of you to get along.”

  “Oh? Why is that?”

  “If I may confess, the last couple women I dated that Carys actually met…well, things didn’t work out and Carys believes she’s to blame. She’s such a sensitive girl and I feel guilty for being the cause of her upset.”

  Something told Sadie that Carys didn’t feel anything of the sort. “Why would you feel guilty?”

  “I shouldn’t have been so quick to introduce them to her. I should have made sure what type of people they were before subjecting my daughter to them. But I know you’re different.”

  His words did nothing to reassure her. As a matter of fact, they only made things worse. In a strange way, they served to reinforce what Carys had said. Maybe Rhys did find her attractive in his own way, but now the doubts had resurfaced. How long would it be before he got tired of or found someone more desirable? And would his daughter always be this way?

  She wanted so much to believe there could be something between them, but all the old doubts and insecurities came crazy back.

  Was this the beginning of the end?

  * * *

  On his way to bed later that night, Rhys walked to Carys’s bedroom and peeked inside. Music was blaring from her phone. The singer sounded like a drowning cat. He shook his head. It was amazing what kids called music these days. Carys was draped over her bed, arms hanging over the edge as she lay absolutely still.

  She was almost a woman. He remembered when she was just a little girl with uneven pigtails. He’d done the best he could as a single father and at times he wondered if it had been enough. Rhys knew Carys still harbored some residual pain from her mother’s abandonment. Even though he’d taken her to a few child psychologists, when she was younger, during her acting out periods, he still sensed a sadness within her.

  Even though the last few years of his marriage had been rocky, he wished at times Lacey would have seen fit to at least visit her daughter from time to time. Once, he’d tracked his ex down through a detective agency in hopes that she’d come to Carys’s tenth birthday party, but Lacey had been living the high life with a boy that was barely out of his teens. She’d been supporting her boy toy with alimony she’d received from her much older second husband. The last time Rhys heard from her she was married again. He only kept tabs on Lacey in case Carys wanted to know her whereabouts and for that reason only.

  Maybe in his attempt to fill the void, he’d made some bad decisions in the women he’d selected, but now he believed he’d gotten it right with Sadie. Not only did she make him hard with just a smile or the way her hips swayed from side to side when she walked, but she was a genuine person. Sadie was someone he could have a future with, and grow old with. She was a woman who loved him for him and would love his daughter as well.

  Rhys tapped on the bedroom door lightly. “Carys?”

  She lifted her head and smiled. “Hi, Daddy. Come in.”

  He walked into the room and took a seat next to her on the bed. “Shouldn’t you be getting to bed soon? You have school tomorrow.”

  “There’s only two more weeks of school left. We don’t really do anything. It’s basically like one big free period. I have study hall for my first class so I can sleep through it if I’m too tired.”

  Rhys raised a brow. “Mmm, maybe I should have a talk with your teachers so they’ll give you something more challenging to do.”

  “Daddy, you wouldn’t!”

  He grinn
ed. “I guess not. But you really should hit the sack kiddo. You know how cranky you are if you don’t get eight full hours of sleep. I’m going to turn in myself. I have a meeting with the dean of my department tomorrow morning. But before I go, I wanted to ask you, what you thought of dinner.”

  “In what way?”

  “Did you like Sadie?”

  “She was okay but…”

  Rhys frowned. “But what?”

  “I don’t know why but…I get the feeling she doesn’t like me very much. Maybe I’m just being too sensitive.”

  “Of course Sadie likes you. Why would you think she didn’t?”

  “I dunno. Is she always that silent? I guess when I tried to ask her questions she seemed a bit, standoffish.”

  “She was probably just nervous. Once you get to know her better, you’ll see how wonderful she is.”

  Carys smiled. “I’m sure she is.

  Rhys leaned over and kissed his daughter on the forehead. “Goodnight, Angel.”

  “Night Daddy.”

  As he walked out of Carys’s room, an uneasy feeling took over. Sadie had been unusually quiet at dinner. If he was being completely honest with himself, she didn’t seem one hundred percent. Perhaps she wasn’t feeling well. Yes, that had to be it. The next time the three of them were together, things would go much better.

  Chapter Seven

  “I didn’t know it was in my bag. I didn’t place it there. Why would I steal a CD from the dollar bin? Who even buys CDs anymore? And even if I wanted the CD it’s a freakin’ dollar. I would have bought it.” Sadie was beyond annoyed. She’d never so much as jaywalked in her life and here she was being accused of theft. And there could only be one possible explanation.