Her First Time With Daddy

's

or this day longer t

tween us and I pulled back, he would smile that soft smile of his and tell me there was no rush. I believed him. I needed to believe him. After growing up without

ed was not wrapped in expensive paper. It was simply the decision itself. Today I

n I came downstairs. She looked up from the

said. "Corren is coming into

othes, the roof over my head since I was eight years old. I had spoken to him on the phone a few times over the years. Short calls. Polite questions a

told her. "I

s apartment felt longer than usual. I kept rehearsing how I would tell him. I imagined his face

door was

nking he might have planned something for us. I wal

ed itself into

unmistakable rhythm. Vance's face was turned into the sheets, and the sounds coming from him

it

had played on myself. I heard my own voice say his name. Both men froze. Vance scrambled for his clo

ain and failed. I remember the cold that spread through my chest, heavier than anger. It was the same cold

rtment without

my phone vibrated. A message from Sybil with the restaurant address and

in the mirrored wall. My eyes looked wrong-too dark, too empty. I had planned to give someone my first

topped and a m

ried the quiet authority of someone used to being obeyed. When the doors closed he stood a little too close.

of him against the curve of my low

he contact was the most natural thing in the world. My pulse, which had b

looking at me, vo

re sh

he betrayal was still raw. The loneliness that had lived under my skin for years felt suddenly sharper. Th

either of us moved t

d out first, then glanced back once. His eyes were dark

aid quietly. "If you change your mind about being alone, I'll be

without waiting

host of his body still warm against my back. Everything in me sai

the hallway wh

ht years old, I stepped toward somethi