I’d always called her baby girl. She was six years younger than me and had been eighteen when we first got together. While I wasn’t into being her daddy, I’d always want to take care of her. Protect her. Based on how I’d reacted when she was sitting inside with Brad, I was still pretty fucking possessive, too.
She turned and faced away from me. I could see the roll of her shoulders, the way she was looking down at the ground. “As for being my guy, you lost that chance a long time ago.”
“And I got it back last night when you sat on my face.”
“How dare you!” It was pretty dark, but I was sure her cheeks were a bright pink when she spun back.
“You pressed your knees into my ears all on your own. I didn’t force you since I was cuffed to the fucking headboard.”
If looks could kill, I’d be dead on the ground. “I can’t believe you said that!”
“No more Brads,” I warned.
She set her hands on her slim hips. “For your information, I came here with my friend Jane. Brad stopped by, asking after work for my dad.”
Stopped by? He hadn’t left since Thatcher had called me. I lifted my chin. “Text Jane and let her know you’re with me and not coming back.”
Her mouth dropped open and she sputtered. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”
“Maybe not, but you’re done in there.” I leaned back against my truck and crossed my arms. She could argue all she wanted. She wasn’t going back inside. Brad may have wanted an interview, but no one did that at a bar on a Saturday night. He’d wanted a different kind of job, one that involved getting under her pretty yellow dress.
Muttering, she grabbed her cell from the purse she had slung over her shoulder and sent the message. Shoved the phone away.
“There, satisfied?”
Slowly I shook my head. “Not yet. Not until you are. I might have gotten you off last night, but it was clear afterward that you sure as fuck weren’t happy.”
Her hands fell to her sides. “Huck.”
“You got questions for me. Ask. You don’t need to handcuff me to do that.”
“Why didn’t you tell me Claire wasn’t yours?” She snapped her mouth shut as if the words had fallen out by accident.
“She’s mine.”
“Not biologically,” she countered, shaking her head. Her blonde hair flew around her shoulders as she did so.
“The way that matters the least.” Once I’d learned the truth, Mandy had admitted she had no idea who Claire’s actual father was. She’d said it could have been a number of guys, but not me.
It was one thing on a long list I’d shared with Kale in case Mandy ever came back to try to claim custody. Which it seemed she had.
“A sperm donor doesn’t make a guy a good father.”
“I thought…” She cut off, set her fingers over her lips. She wasn’t angry now. She seemed upset. Sad.
“What? What did you think?”
“That you’d moved on to someone else right after me.”
I’d broken it off with her at the end of July, not long before she headed to Bozeman. I’d left for Helena directly after. Claire had been born the following May. If someone took the time to do the math, which Sarah obviously had, she was right. I’d have gone from taking her virginity in the back of my pickup, the same one I leaned against, to Mandy’s bed within a few weeks.
Except I’d never been in Mandy’s bed.
I pushed off the truck. Shrugged. “You believed the same as everyone else.”
“Believed—” She sputtered, stared at me. “Are you kidding me? You came home with a baby! Why would you have an infant that’s not yours?”
I pointed at her. “That. Right there. You think I gave a shit then what people thought of me? Or now?”
“I thought you cared about what I thought.”
“I did.” I ran a hand over my face.
She huffed out a laugh. “You have a funny way of showing it.”
I sighed. “You found out Claire’s not my biological child. She’s legally mine though. I’m her daddy, and that’s all that matters. All she’ll ever know.”
I laced that with a hint of warning in case she had any ridiculous ideas.
“You walked away from me. Told me you were holding me back. You had no job besides working the ranch. The town knew you as a slacker.”
“Your father’s word, I believe,” I countered.
Tears welled in her eyes. “I tried, Huck. Tried to change your mind. I wanted you just as you were. God, I loved you.”
That hit my chest harder than any bullet.
“If I’d known the truth about the baby, it would have been different.”
I shook my head. “And yet I stopped being a slacker and got my shit together. You didn’t come to me until last night.”
She stared at me. I doubt she even blinked. I hadn’t been able to tell her the truth. I’d walked so her family didn’t get ripped to shreds back then, and it wouldn’t make a difference now.
“What I want to know is when you’ll be in my bed again.” She wasn’t the only one who wanted answers. “This time to stay.”
Her mouth dropped open. Then closed. Then open again. “I don’t want that!”
I smirked. “Really? Your nipples and dripping pussy last night said otherwise.”
“How dare you!”
“You’re the one that bought me, baby girl. For five hundred dollars, you at least deserve a little dick, don’t you think?”
She came over and slapped me across the face. It rocked my head to the side and stung like a bitch, but I’d made my point.
I took hold of her shoulders and pulled her close. “Why are you so
