Page 241 of On A Manhunt: Complete Series

DANIEL

I was trying to get her drunk. Or at least to keep her tipsy.

Not to take advantage. Hell, no. But I wanted more of the unvarnished truth from those full lips.

The more I learned about Melly, the more I was intrigued.

Especially how she used a vibrator bigger than my dick.

And she was a virgin. That meant the only thing that had been inside her was made of silicone and driven by her.

“I shouldn’t have told you all that,” she said, taking a big gulp of the wine.

“But you did. Your secrets are safe with me. You’re safe with me, sweet girl.”

She flushed and a sound like a whimper escaped, but she washed it down with more wine. She squirmed on her stool. I wasn’t sure if it was because she was aroused or if the talk made her unsettled.

Both were good. It wasn’t like I could do anything about it here in the middle of the bar.

I wasn’t tugging a virgin to the back hall or a bathroom stall for a quickie.

Not Melly. Maybe someday, because she deserved to know a guy needed to be inside her so bad he couldn’t wait to even get her to a car to fuck her.

But there was no someday. Not with me. I was out of here. Out of Hunter Valley. Away from a young woman who had her entire life ahead of her. Marriage. Children. Picket fence.

I’d missed out on all of that except the child part. My dreams got derailed once and I wasn’t letting Melly Harwood’s snug, virgin pussy or her shy smiles let that happen again. I certainly wasn’t starting a second family like my father.

But she’d called me. Sure, not one hundred percent sober, but she had. And she’d let slip–without saying it directly–that she thought of me sexually.

Me. Not some other guy who’d give her that picket fence.

I wouldn’t be a conscious, breathing male if I didn’t get hard and drive across town for more of that.

Why did I care? Why was I even here? I shouldn’t be sucked into her green eyes, her sex life or that of her dog’s. Danny would be home sometime soon and handle it. He could handle her and Earl and Fred.

But I didn’t want him to. I wanted to be the one she called. The one who–yeah, she got flushed over, just like she was right now. Fuck, was it easy to do. And because of how she responded, I was the only one she’d told her secrets.

She glanced away, then back. “Those messages I left. Why did you think I trapped you?”

“Because I got someone pregnant once,” I admitted. “I’m leaving Saturday and nothing’s stopping me. Not this time.”

“Danny.”

Just his name explained it all.

I nodded. Everyone in town my age or older remembered when I got Haven pregnant.

The wording of it… I got, insinuated I did it to her, that she had no involvement in the act.

We were nineteen and all over each other.

While we’d always used condoms, they weren’t foolproof.

Obviously. I’d been away at college when she announced she was having our baby and I had to quit and come home.

A month after Danny was born, she bailed on both of us, saying she wasn’t letting her life be ruined by a kid she didn’t want, then moved to Oregon with her parents. I hadn’t heard from or seen her since.

I made a life here in Hunter Valley with a baby.

I never imagined being a father at nineteen and it had been fucking hard, but my family had stepped in to help, of course.

Grandparents and four uncles and we’d ensured that kid knew he was loved and wanted.

But the dreams I’d had were put on hold to give Danny the best life possible.

Now? It was time to finally, FINALLY, move away from home.

Danny. I was sitting with a woman who was his age, not mine. Who Melly knew well enough for their dogs to have a torrid relationship. My dick was hard for her, for a woman who should be so fucking far off limits.

“What’s with you and Danny?” I asked.

“Danny? We dated back in January. Twice.” She offered me a nonchalant shrug. “Coffee. Lunch. I’m… um, not interested.” She glanced away. I wondered if talking about a guy with his father was as weird for her as it was for me. Still, I needed to know.

“Why not?”

She blinked. “You want to talk about how your dick fits in me when it seems like you’re trying to matchmake me with your son?”

Yeah, really fucking awkward.

I shook my head. “Hell, no. But you called me and told me about your virginity. You talked about my dick more than once,” I said, voicing my thoughts. “This isn’t happening if you’re into him.”

She took a deep breath and blushed furiously.

“Melly,” I said, the two syllables drawn out.

“Danny doesn’t do it for me. He’s nice and I like him, but he doesn’t make me hot. Guys my age don’t. They’re… not men. I mean, they’re men but they’re not manly enough. Okay? Now you know.” That came out in one swift rush, as if they fell out of her mouth without any ability to stop them.

“Now I know,” I repeated, immensely pleased. Danny was out. Guys her age were out. I was in, yet I needed to apologize for today. She may want a real man, but I’d acted like an overbearing asshole. Not once, but twice.

“I overreacted,” I admitted, giving her a small smile. “Earlier.”

She offered me one back. “You think? Are you always so big and… growly?”

“Yes,” I said right away because I not only stormed into the vet’s office but into the bar, too. And I’d waited earlier on her stoop all big and… yeah, growly. “Why did you call me?” With every revelation she revealed, I had a feeling I knew, but I wanted to hear it from her.

She sighed, her shoulders drooping. “I was mad. The girls and I agreed you’re an idiot and I wanted to make sure you knew it.”

I tipped my head and laughed. “I’m well aware of how many mistakes I made today with you and I’m sorry.”

“Then I say we start over.”

It seemed her little phone call wasn’t normal for her. I was catching on that she didn’t like confrontation or not liking someone. Or them not liking her in return. It was best to forget we’d been at odds instead of learning from it.

I shook my head. “No way.”

Her brows lifted. “Why not?”

I leaned forward, set both hands on her thighs.

She didn’t pull away, didn’t do anything but swallow hard, then bite her bottom lip, then look at my hands.

Yeah, she wanted me. A real man. “Because you didn’t call me to tell me you were mad about everything I did, but mad because you really want my dick and you thought I didn’t want to give it to you. ”

She gasped.

“You’re horny and you want my dick. Admit it.”