Page 6 of Lumberjack DADDY (Yes, Daddy #55)

ELI

I didn’t get much sleep last night thanks to Emery fucking Pierce.

I lay awake most of the night, staring at the ceiling while I tried to stave off the fantasies that kept trying to pry their way into my brain.

I was not going to give in to those lustful feelings.

I refused to let myself jerk off to her.

Because I knew that if I did, it would be a short trip from getting myself off to letting myself get involved with her. And I can’t have that.

Throwing back my covers, I quickly make my bed, then pad into the bathroom and take a shower as frigid as I can stand.

The freezing water pretty much kills all the lustful thoughts about Emery bouncing around in my head, thank God.

After a brisk shower, I get dressed and head into the kitchen to make some coffee, ready to get my day started.

I’ve always liked the morning. The world is quiet and peaceful, and I can hear myself think. Especially out here in the woods. Standing at the sink, I eat a bowl of oatmeal, drink my coffee, and just enjoy the tranquility of the morning.

“Dammit,” I mutter.

My peace is shattered by the truck that rumbles into my driveway. Travis, the kid who works down at the market in town, is here with my standing order of supplies for the week. With a sigh, I set my bowl and cup down in the sink, apparently getting started with my day earlier than I’d expected to.

“Hey,” I say as I step outside. “You’re here early.”

“Good morning, Mr. Proctor,” Travis replies. “Yeah, Jonah wanted me to get an early start on deliveries today. It’s not a problem, is it?”

“Nah. As good a time as any, I suppose.”

I help him unload his truck, stacking all the boxes on my porch. Once we’re finished, he shuts the tailgate and leans against it, wiping his brow with a rag. I walk into my cabin, cut a check for the supplies, and then walk it back out to Travis, handing it to him.

“Gonna be a warm one today,” he says.

“Yeah,” I reply.

He stands up straight and is looking at something over my shoulder, a strange light in his eyes.

I turn and immediately see what he’s gawking at.

Dressed in short, tight shorts and a t-shirt that hugs her curves enticingly, Emery goes jogging by on the trail.

When she glances over at me, the smile that had been forming on her lips instantly dries up.

She turns away, puts her head down, and picks up her pace, quickly disappearing where the trail disappears into the woods.

“You know her?” I ask sharply.

“What? Me? Nah,” he replies. “She came into the store the other day.”

The way his eyes linger after her and the tone in his voice send a flash of irritation and possessiveness that cut through me like a scythe. I don’t like the way he’s looking at her.

“She renting a cabin from you?”

“Yep.”

“Huh. She told me she was staying down at the Pines,” he says.

“Guess not.”

“And I thought we shared a moment. I thought we kind of connected.”

Yeah, she lied to you about where she was staying.

That’s a real strong connection there, kid.

I want to say it, but don’t. I’d rather not extend this conversation any longer than necessary.

I just want him to get back into his truck and get the fuck out of here—and to stop leering after Emery the way he is.

“Anyway, I think that’s it,” I say.

He tips me a wink. “I’ll tell you what, I’d love to share a connection with that fine piece of ass. Am I right?”

My jaw clenched, and my hands curled into fists at my side, I glare at him. “You really should learn a little respect, kid.”

He puts his hands up. “Sorry, man. I didn’t mean anything by it. It was just guy talk.”

“You should go now.”

His eyes slide to the woods behind me as if he’s trying to steal one last glance at Emery. I take a step closer to him, my eyes burning with anger. Travis licks his lips and then nods.

“Yeah. Sure, man. Whatever,” he says. “I’m going.”

I wait until his truck is rumbling down the road before I turn and stare at the woods behind me.

I don’t see her anywhere, which I’m both glad and disappointed about.

Once I’m sure Travis is gone, I carry all the boxes into my cabin, thinking about how I need to place a call to Jonah and let him know to keep an eye on his boy.

I really didn’t like the way he was leering at Emery, and it’s not just because I had a sudden and inexplicable flash of overprotectiveness.

That’s part of it, of course. But there was something in the way he was staring at her that made me feel a little…

uneasy. I don’t know Travis well; he’s only been working for Jonah for a few months, but the way he leered at her bothered me.

A lot. There was just an unsettling vacancy in his eyes I didn’t care for.

As I’m putting my canned goods away, a knock sounds at my open door.

And when I turn, I feel my heart lurch in a way I wish it hadn’t.

Emery is standing in the doorway, her face flushed and dotted with sweat.

I clear my throat and try to ignore the way her t-shirt, now heavy with her sweat, sticks to her skin, outlining her full, round breasts tantalizingly.

“Something broken?” I ask.

“No. Nothing like that,” she says. “I just… that guy you were talking to…”

Despite my best efforts to stave it off, a wave of jealousy crashes down over me.

It’s stupid. I know it’s stupid. I have no claim to this girl.

I don’t want to have any claim to her. And yet, hearing her even reference another man sends a lightning bolt of jealousy crackling through me.

I find I don’t like it any more than I liked the way Travis leered at her.

“Yeah, what about him?” I ask.

“He’s the guy from the market in town, right?”

“Yeah.”

“What was he doing here?” she asks.

“Why do you want to know?”

She clears her throat and shuffles her feet, dropping her soft brown eyes to the floor. The girl is obviously uncomfortable about something. She draws in a breath, then raises her gaze to me. Her jaw is clenched and her chin tilted up in something like defiance.

“Because if he’s here a lot, I think I need to find somewhere else to stay,” she says firmly.

“And why’s that?”

“When I was in town picking up groceries the other day, he just… he made me uncomfortable,” she admits quietly.

“How so?”

“He just… he followed me around the store and just… the way he looked at me…. it made me uncomfortable,” she says, then stands firmer. “So, if he’s a regular fixture here?—”

“He’s not,” I tell her.

She visibly relaxes, and a shaky smile touches her lips. “I’m sorry. I just?—”

“You have nothing to be sorry about. If he’s making you uncomfortable, I get why you wouldn’t want to be around him,” I tell her. “I was actually going to call his boss and tell him to have somebody else do my deliveries from now on. I don’t like him much either.”

“Really?”

I shake my head. “Not a bit. You don’t need to worry about him coming around again.”

“Thank you, Eli,” she says. “I appreciate that.”

“Not doing it for you,” I tell her, even though in a way I am. “I just don’t like him.”

The corners of her mouth turn upward, and there’s a glint in her eye that’s both mischievous and seductive at the same time.

It’s all I can do to keep from pulling her to me and having my way with her.

And that gleam in her eye tells me it might not be unwelcome.

Clearing my throat, I turn away, refusing to let myself give in to those urges.

“Anyway. Thanks again,” she says with what sounds like a hint of disappointment.

“Sure thing.”

She opens her mouth like she’s about to say something, but closes it again without speaking.

Instead, she puts in her AirPods and then turns and jogs away.

As she goes, my eyes are fixed on the way her ass bounces and sways in those tight little Spandex shorts.

I feel my cock stiffening as I imagine what that would feel like in my hands.

And as I’m standing here with a raging hard on and a plethora of filthy fantasies bouncing through my head, Emery glances over her shoulder at me.

She catches me staring at her tight little ass and smiles.

Stepping back into my cabin, I close the door and shake my head. “Fucking hell.”