Page 21 of Take Me Slowly, Part 1 (Aurora Hollow duet #1)

CONNOR

"I'm glad you're doing better, Dad, but I've got this.

" What was with the prickle of annoyance at seeing him sitting behind his desk in his office?

I'd been stir crazy for the last three days, waiting for the weekend, and for him to take back his job.

Now he was here, I was, what? Possessive?

Like somehow he was stepping into my territory, and not the other way around?

He glanced up at me and waved me away. "I'm fine. You know me, I can't lie around doing nothing."

He was right. He was as restless as I was. If things turned out differently, he'd be the one running the adventure tours. Bossing me around and making me step aside when he felt like it.

Respectfully, fuck that.

"Did you order more beer?" He frowned at the screen in front of him. "I'm not seeing anything here."

"I placed the order two days ago," I said. "It should be delivered this afternoon." Just in time for the weekend. Just as he asked me to do via text message the day after his heart attack. Of course he'd still question whether or not I did what he asked.

His frown deepened. "I can't see it… Oh, there it is. Right in front of my eyes."

Certain he wasn't looking, I rolled mine. Of course it fucking was. Right where I said it would be.

"Did you order enough?" He clicked on the link and peered at the screen.

"I ordered what you told me to order," I said. "Then a little more, because I didn't think it was enough."

He swung his face away from the screen to scowl at me. "You didn't think?"

I forced myself to hold my ground and not take a step back. "It's going to be a big weekend. Riley and I are?—"

He cut me off. "Did you think to check with me?" His tone was cooler than the cool room where the kegs were stored.

"You were resting," I said, trying to match his tone. Either he trusted me to run the place in his absence, or he didn't. Middle ground was something we rarely found between us.

"I was approachable by text, as you know. Even if you had to wait a few hours for a response." His chair creaked beneath him as he sat back.

"I made the call," I said. "I did what needed to be done. Like I said, this is going to be a big weekend. If we run out, who are they going to blame?"

"You," he said flatly. "Because you were running the Frosty Brew in my absence."

"Exactly," I said, just as blunt. "And I'd shoulder that blame. I made a decision that meant I wouldn’t have to do that. We won't run out." I closed my mouth before I added 'you're fucking welcome.' He probably saw it on my face.

He and I were uncomfortably alike at times. I looked like him and I had his temper. And his inability to back down from a fight. Us Ferguson men were as stubborn as they came.

He nodded once, sharply. As close as he'd ever get to agreeing with me. Fuck forbid he'd admit I was right. Asshole.

"It better be a big weekend." He turned back to his computer.

My heart dipped. I'd never admit he was right either.

In this case, there was a possibility he was.

But only a possibility. A busload of tourists was due within the next couple of hours, but they'd pulled out this late in the past. Sometimes the road up here got impassable.

Fallen tree. Ice. Or the bus broke down.

Any number of unforeseen things could fuck with the whole weekend.

None of that would be my fault, but I'd get the blame, regardless.

"It will be," I said. If I had to drive everyone up here on the back of a quad bike, one by one, that's what I'd do.

If only to prove to him I wasn't the dumbass he seemed to think I was.

If I didn't look like him, I really would wonder if I was adopted.

He seemed to care a whole lot more about Whitney than me.

Fair enough, I cared more about her than I did about him too, but she was my sister.

A parent shouldn't choose one kid over the other.

Because she went away to university and I didn't, who gave a shit?

Him, obviously. Yet, he still insisted I'd take over the pub someday.

What the fuck was with that? Either he trusted me or he didn't.

"Who's that girl who was helping?" He didn't look up at me while he spoke.

I should have known he'd hear about Leah lending a hand in his absence. He probably had a camera behind the bar, watching our every move. I should have had Riley eat her out there, so he could watch. Maybe I still would.

I shrugged. "She's a friend of Whitney’s." Since Whitney could do no wrong in his eyes, he'd have a higher opinion of Leah as her friend than mine.

"Oh yeah?" Now he glanced over like he didn't believe me. "She new in town?"

"Does it matter?" I asked. "She was here when she was needed. Even took food to Gavin with Fiona." My dad and Gavin Clarke went way back, like everyone else in this place.

Dad grunted. "I like to know who's coming and going in my pub."

"I would have texted you to let you know, but we were busy," I said.

That was bullshit, I wasn't going to text him to ask his permission for Leah to help. I didn't need his approval to spend time with her. Since he only gave his approval grudgingly, I'd learned to more or less live without it. That didn't stop him from withholding it as often as possible.

"Don't knock her up," he said.

I smirked. He'd gotten my mother pregnant when they were both seventeen. They married when they were eighteen, right before she lost that baby. They'd been making each other miserable ever since.

I'd never bring up the subject with him, but I suspected he cheated, at least a couple of times.

With tourists, of course, because gossip spreads faster than wildfire in a town like this.

For all I knew, he had another couple of kids out there he didn't know about.

Whatever, he wouldn't give a shit about them any more than he did about me.

Unless they were highly paid lawyers or doctors or some shit. Then they'd be his new favourite child.

"I have no intention of knocking her up," I said.

Not for a while anyway. We had plenty of time for that.

Or for adopting. Pregnancy would be hell for her arthritis.

I wouldn't put her through that. I wanted all of her, her body, mind and heart; not for her to suffer.

She belonged on the back of my quad bike, or riding my cock, not lying in bed in pain.

Besides, I wouldn't want any kid to inherit my asshole gene.

"Good. Tell Riley not to knock her up either." He gave me the briefest glance.

"I'll pass on your pearl of wisdom to Riley," I said. "I'm sure he'll be happy to take your advice."

"Don't get pissy with me, son," he snapped. "I don't think Riley wants to be tied down with a baby and a woman either."

I'd hadn't talked about any of this with Riley, but chances were, Dad was right again. We were living our best lives, building our business. All that other stuff could come later. Once we and Leah were ready.

"Did you need anything else?" I asked. "I think I heard the delivery truck." I didn't, but it wouldn't be too long before it arrived anyway. Someone should be at the loading dock to receive it.

"No, get out of here," he said gruffly. "Get the delivery in and call it a night."

"Shouldn't you be finishing up and resting?" I asked.

"If you wanted to be my doctor, you should have gone to university," he said. "Since you didn't, go and meet the delivery driver."

Of course he couldn't resist the jab. He never could.

I responded with a curt nod and took a step toward the door. I stopped and placed my hand on the door frame.

"You might not believe it, but I'm glad you're okay."

He looked over at me, surprised, then gave me a nod of his own. "I'm glad I am too, son. Thanks for holding down the fort while I took a little holiday."

"It wasn't a holiday," I said softly. "You had a fucking heart attack."

"You don't need to remind me," he snapped. "Don't give me another one."

I raised my hands to either side and stepped back, out of the doorway. "Wouldn't dream of it."

The thrum of an engine and the squeal of brakes announced the arrival of the delivery truck, just in time. Saved by the beer.

I could use a drink right about now too. The weekend couldn't come soon enough. I needed a hit of adrenaline even more than a drink. And in there, somewhere, I was going to fit at least one orgasm in.

I hurried away from the office without looking back, and without trying to dwell on how I wished our relationship was different. As if there was something I could say or do that would make him really see me. Something that didn't require compromising myself. Or leaving town to go to university.

I'd thought about that for a while, years ago, but it was never going to be for me. Maybe a little part of me was worried if I left, I'd never want to return. Would that have been a bad thing?

I would have missed out on a lot, including spending time with Riley.

Tearing around the forest on our quad bikes.

Swimming in the lake in summer and skating on it in winter.

Navigating the white water rapids below the falls.

All the things that made me feel alive. Would I have found that anywhere else?

I supposed it didn't matter now. Nothing and no one would make me leave Aurora Hollow permanently. Not even my father's approval. Knowing him, it wouldn't be enough anyway. He'd find a way to disapprove of me. A reason to scowl.

"That's his problem," I muttered to myself.

"Pardon me?" Zara said as I walked past the bar to make my way to the loading area.

"Nothing," I said. Nothing important anyway.

She shrugged and went back to polishing glasses. "It's good to see your dad back on board."

I stopped before the corridor that led to the back door of the pub. "Was I that bad to work for?"

She grinned. "Nah, you're okay. I just notice you're happier when you're not working here."

"That obvious?" I grimaced.

"I don't know how to put this, but…yes," she said. "Everyone has seen it."

"Everyone in this place is nosy," I said.

"We want what's best for you," she said. "You can be a prick at times, but you're our prick." She always did have a way with words. And complementing while insulting me at the same time, she must have learned that from my sister.

"Thanks. I think." I pretended to think that through then shrugged.

She just laughed. "You're welcome. Shouldn't you be meeting that delivery?" She jerked her head in that direction.

"Yeah." I patted my palm against the door frame a couple of times before turning and hurrying away.