Page 65 of More, Daddy

A hand grab out of nowhere? And he washed his hands first, too. What was he doing, touching himself while he thought about me and decided he’d come grab my hand to get a pulse on my vibe?

Ugh.

So strange. What a strange, hot, buff, sexy man.

Unfortunately for him, strange is on my no list.

Sorry, West.

CHAPTER

SIXTEEN

If I wereto tell you that my mind is racing, I don’t think it would do justice to what’s actually going on inside me right now.

Cadence never came online last night.

And today? I don’t know if I’m gaslighting myself or if it’s true but… Ithinkshe’s avoiding me.

Cadence. My babygirl. My sweet thing. Daddy’s fucking plaything. The woman who knows more about me than my best friends, thanks to three full months of chatting for hoursevery damn day.

Cadence is fuckingavoiding me?

After an impromptu lunchtime training session with Tanner Colt, I’m headed back to my office to sulk and stew when I pass Leah’s office, and overhear something that catches my focus.

Leah shouting.

She seriously rarely ever shouts. I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve seen her even close to mad enough to raise her voice, much less actually do it.

“They’ve been recording grades in a physical gradebook,” she says so sternly that goosebumps appear on my forearms. Her hands on hips, the IT guy in front of her, she adds, “It’s not 1991, Paul. Okay? They don’t need to waste any more of their time working out of a book and using their home PCs for work. It’s unacceptable!”

“I know, we—” the IT guy doesn’t stand a chance. The vein in Leah’s forehead is throbbing to the beat of her impatient rage, the cry of all tired office folk everywhere when the IT guy just isn’t ITing.

“They have not been able to log into their district emails for three months, Paul. Three months of not knowing if a student has reached out with an issue, if an unhappy parent is being left unread, nothing.” She shakes her head, then brings one of her palms to her forehead, rubbing. “Tell me you have a solutionnow.”

The IT guy, whose name is apparently Paul, nods his head vigorously. “The replacement laptops are coming next week, I have tracking on them and everything, I promise, Ms. Miller.” He swipes one palm on his thigh, nervously shifting his weight. “And we’re rolling out two-factor authentication to defend against the county portal and intranet being accessible in the future. If this happens again, they will be unusable.” He slices an arm through the air, then nudges his glasses up his nose. “They will not be able to unlock them.”Paul stands a bit taller after delivering this bit of information, and I come to linger in the doorway, assessing the whole thing.

Paul looks confident as he glances my way, then back to Leah.

Leah’s eyes come to mine, looking thoroughly annoyed.

My brows lift. “A district laptop was stolen?” I point to the floor, surprised. “Here?”

She nods. “Two of them.” Leah levels a seriously angry glare at Paul. “Three months ago. These teachers have been without their laptops, their digital grade books, their email, all of it for three full months.” She tips her head to the side. “If they are not here next week, like you said, we’re going to have to sit down and discuss your role going forward.”

Paul nods and ducks out. When he brushes past me, his forehead is drenched in sweat and his pupils are large.

I hook a thumb over my shoulder, in the direction which he bolted. “He looked scared.”

Leah plops down in her desk chair, brushing her hair off her shoulder. “God that took effort. I hate beingmeanprincipal.”

I snort. “Liar.”

She looks up at me. “Fine. It’s fun. Sometimes.” She clicks on her computer and the screen illuminates her face. Clearly reading something while still speaking to me, she distractedly says, “but this time my anger wasn’t fun. Those teachers need their devices.”

About to walk away, the curiosity in me rises. “Who got their laptops stolen, anyway?”

Still reading, still focused on her screen, Leah slowly and disconnectedly says, “Ron Ellis and Cadence Caine.”