AIDAN
Lila reappeared, decked out in a tailored blazer, slacks, and a simple button-down shirt. She’d swept her hair up neatly into a no-nonsense updo. She tugged nervously at her blazer. “What do you think?” she asked, worrying her bottom lip with her teeth.
“Beautiful, sweetheart,” I told her.
“Ditto,” said Clio. “You look like you’re ready to nail a perp on the stand.”
“But-”
Clio put up a hand. “I know, I know, that’s not what you’re going to be doing there.”
“Honestly, I’ll be lucky if I see anything past the inside of a filing cabinet today,” Lila lamented.
“That’s ok, it’s a start,” Clio said as she moved forward and fixed a piece of hair that had gotten loose from Lila’s clip. “Aren’t you always saying dress for the job you want?” she reminded Lila.
Lila gave her friend a teasing smile. “Is that why you’re always wearing those long, flowy boho skirts and hippie t-shirts?”
Clio huffed out a laugh. “Well, I don’t know what job that would be preparing me for.”
“A children’s music teacher?” Lila suggested.
“Lila,” Clio drew out her name.
“All you need is a tambourine and a crown of flowers in your hair, and you’ll be a regular Mother Goose to the littles with the way you are,” Lila said with a fond smile.
Clio gave her a stern look, even though the corners of her mouth were quirking upward. As I watched this sweet exchange between my daughter and her friend, I tried desperately to push away the thought of how much I wanted to kiss the corners of Clio’s mouth.
Lila rolled her eyes at her friend’s expression and said, “Okay, okay, I’ll quit pushing…for now.”
“Nobody could ever accuse you of not being persistent,” Clio said with a laugh.
Lila cut her eyes to me. “I come by it honestly.” She smiled, and Clio met my eyes at that moment.
“What can I say? We Miles people are good at knowing what makes sense and what doesn’t when we see it.” Clio tore her gaze away from mine. “And you, young lady,” I said moving towards my daughter, “are right where you’re supposed to be. You’re going to kick butt out there today.”
“Thanks, Dad,” she said, throwing her arms around my neck and giving me a big hug. She turned and gave Clio a hug, too, before waving goodbye and saying, “the next time you two see me, I will be a beleaguered law intern-pray for me!”
“Wait, I’ll walk you to the car,” I said, feeling the last-minute dad nerves as she went on her way. I knew she was going to do great, but some things didn’t go away just because she was grown up now.
I saw her off after giving her some last words of encouragement, and when I returned to the house, it was to find Clio diligently cleaning up the kitchen. Without a word, I jumped in to help. “Oh, that’s okay, I can get this. I made the mess after all,” she said.
“Clio, I contributed to this, too-” I started, but she cut me off.
“No, really, it’s okay,” she said, reaching for the dirty mixing bowl at the same time I did.
Our fingers brushed, and she snatched her hand away like I’d burned her. That move and the way her eyes widened like a scared animal unraveled something inside of me, and the tenuous, careful facade I’d been putting up gave way to my stronger instincts. “Clio,” I said in a low voice, “why am I making you so nervous?”
She gave a fake laugh, but she wouldn’t meet my eyes. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Bullshit,” I said, and it made her stop what she was doing and shoot a glare at me. Good, I thought, get mad at me. Maybe it would make her drop the nerves and be real with me.
“You’ve been acting nervous ever since you found out I’m Lila’s father. I could understand that at first maybe, but I told you I wouldn’t tell her what happened. I’m a man of my word, so you don’t need to worry about that. So, there’s got to be some other reason I’m making you nervous.”
Her posture was stiff as she spoke, “You don’t know me. I’m just like this-I’m not all that outgoing.”
“You weren’t like that when we met on the beach,” I pointed out, and her cheeks instantly flamed. I’d be lying if I said that blush didn’t cause a stir inside me.
“You were a little shy, yes, but not this nervous cat business.” She looked annoyed and also like she’d been caught. I couldn’t help myself, and my lawyer instincts went for the kill. “So, be honest with me, Clio, what is it?”
“It’s nothing, I just…” she trailed off, and I could see those walls closing in.
Oh no, not with me. “You what?” I pushed.
She blew out a frustrated breath. “I don’t trust myself around you, okay?” She looked so embarrassed, and I hated myself for it, but I could feel the blood rushing to the lower half of my body. Easy now, I cautioned myself, even as I moved closer to her.
“What is it that you’re afraid you’ll do? Huh? You afraid you’re going to want more?” I asked, now moving to her side, my breath in her ear. “Tell me what you want, Clio?”
“It’s not right,” she said in a breathy whisper.
“I didn’t ask if it was right, I asked what you wanted,” I demanded.
She looked up at me with wide, frustrated eyes. “I want you…I want you to kiss me, to touch me again,” she admitted quietly.
She started to turn her face away, but I was not about to let her off the hook that easily. Gently, I grasped her chin in my fingers and made her look at me as I asked her, “See, was that so hard?”
She raised an irritated eyebrow at me, even as her breathing picked up. “Yeah, it was, you-”
I cut her off by taking her mouth. It was not a gentle kiss either. My mouth slanted across hers and my tongue dipped inside, tasting her and mimicking what the rest of my body wanted, no, needed so badly to do to her.
The instant my tongue tasted hers, she moaned against my mouth, her body sagging into my arms. I moved us, so that her back was facing the kitchen island, placing my hands on either side of her waist and effectively trapping her against me. She seemed to be all for it as she ran her palms up my chest, then wrapped her arms around my neck, pressing herself harder against me.
It took everything I had not to grind against her sweet, soft, little body.
I speared my fingers into her hair, undoing it from its band. God, I’d give anything to feel that silky hair draped over my thighs as I watched her wrap that sweet little mouth around me. But I was getting ahead of myself. Right now, it was our mouths mating and our tongues dueling, the sweet scent of Clio and whipped cream clinging to the air. I wanted to drown in it.
I let a hand wander down to her waist, squeezing her hip before letting it trail upward and squeeze a generous breast through her t-shirt. I could feel her nipple already hard and aching for more than a simple touch from my hand. Her hips bucked up against me at this touch, and I deepened our kiss knowing in my bones now that there was no fighting this connection. Neither one of us would be ok until we saw this through.
That was when Clio broke my heart a little bit more by breaking our kiss and pushing me away. “I can’t do this,” she said, breathless.
I ran a frustrated hand through my hair, fighting the urge to get on my damn knees and beg her to see reason. “Clio-” I started, but she turned on me then, fire and desperation in her eyes.
“No, no more.. please, I’m your daughter’s friend…no matter how much I wish it could be different. We’re just going to have to put this behind us,” she said sadly.
“Clio, c’mon, you gotta know this is bigger than something we can just put behind us.”
“No,” she said emphatically, “it can’t be. It’s as simple as that. So, we’re just going to have to pretend like none of it happened.”
“Look, I know this isn’t the ideal situation. But life has a way of working these things out, and lying to yourself never works, believe me.”
She tore her gaze away from mine, biting her lip and looking like she was holding back tears. I wanted so badly to go to her, to comfort her, but I also knew that was the last thing she wanted from me at this moment. She shook her head sadly. “I-I gotta go,” she said, then bolted from the kitchen and to her room.
“Fuck,” I muttered to myself as I hung my head, leaning over the kitchen island. I had done exactly what I said I wasn’t going to do by pushing too hard and she’d understandably run for the hills. I needed to cool it, but I couldn’t seem to help myself around her.
I went back to my office and shut the door behind me. What had happened to me? I used to be able to control myself. Hell, I was known for my patience in the courtroom, my willingness to play the long game to make sure that everybody got what they needed.
Now, I could barely contain myself.