Page 52 of Mister Daddy

I have to.

20

Carter

No matter how hard I try to forget about her, I just can’t.

I miss Abby.

The woman stole my heart and then ghosted me, but she takes up every inch of my heart. She shouldn’t, but she does.

I take a sip of my drink and scan the bar one more time, searching for the best prospects. This is how I used to do things on every cruise. It’s how I found Abby.

But it doesn’t have the same appeal that it used to.

It’s been six months since Abby left without a trace. The next day, I double checked with Miss Havisham that Abby got my email and my phone number. She swore up and down that she gave Abby the info.

I figured maybe she was settling back into life on the shore and that was why she didn’t call me right away. Or she thought I was busy and waited until the next day. Then Sunday ended, and she still hadn’t called.Okay, maybe she still thinks I’m busy?I thought. But when a full week went by without a call, I knew I had been played.

Abby was different, or so I’d thought. She liked me for me, and she listened when I talked. And damn, she was the best lover I’ve ever had in my bed. I couldn’t get enough of her tight, sweet pussy.

Apparently, it never mattered to her the way it did me. She was only in it for a week of screwing before returning to real life and forgetting all about me.

There were a few times I thought about contacting the cruise director and getting Abby’s info from him. It wouldn’t have been hard to convince him to pull up her account from that trip and tell me her number so I could call. I never did, though. That would have been too embarrassing. If she wanted to talk to me, she would have called.

I’m not desperate. There are tons of girls here who would love to sleep with me. I don’t need to chase some woman who clearly wants nothing to do with me. I’m a total idiot, that’s for sure, for believing she cared about me the way I cared about her. That doesn’t matter anymore. It’s time to move on.

I move toward the first woman I can see clearly in the dark club. She’s not great, to be honest, with frizzy blonde hair and a big rack. Unfortunately, the tits are fake and they seem to move in opposite directions as she bobbles to the music. At least it’s pretty dark so I can pretend she’s Abby.

“Hi,” I say when I reach her. She’s standing by the bar with a group of girls all wearing the same shirts. Bridesmaids. “I’m Carter.”

“I’m Abby,” she says. You’ve got to be kidding me.

“Abby?”

“No,” she corrects me. “Gabby.”

Oh. That’s not much better.

“Nice to meet you, Gabby,” I say. “Would you like to dance?”

She checks with her friends, and they shoo her away. No need for deliberation. The girls are probably here hoping some guys will ask them to dance.

“So, your friend is getting married?” I ask. It’s a ridiculous question, but I can’t take it back. With Abby, the conversation flowed freely and easily. I can already tell it won’t be like that with Gabby.

“Yeah, about time! She’s been dating Kevin since we were freshman in high school.”

“Wow, that’s a long time.”

“Fifteen years, almost,” she says. Gabby is older than I thought, not that it’s a bad thing. The age difference was probably part of why Abby decided not to call. She was a baby when I started my company twenty-five years ago.

“Good for them. It’s not often you get that.”

She pulls back a bit. “Is that what you’re looking for?”

“Yes,” I say without thinking.

Gabby lets go completely. “Shame. If you change your mind and want a fling, come find me. I’m not looking for attachments right now.”