He couldn’t resist her, nor did he want to.
Biting her lip, he sucked it into his mouth, and then plundered hers with his tongue, deepening the kiss.
Moving her back toward the fridge, he pressed her up against it, grabbing her hands, and locking them together. He really shouldn’t be doing this, but he couldn’t stop.
In the distance, he heard the sound of someone moving, and the only person in their home was his daughter. Pulling away, he stared into Rebecca’s blushing face.
“Hey, Bella, you decided to join us,” he asked, glancing over his shoulder, and making sure he hid Rebecca so she could compose herself.
“Hey, Dad, Rebecca’s cooking. She’s so good at this.”
Rebecca stepped from around him, and he saw that she was biting her lip. “Are you feeling better?”
“My heart was broken. I’m fine.”
“Don’t worry about anything. Alaric is an ass, and you can do better without him.”
Jackson watched as Rebecca stepped back up to the stove. She began stirring the soup, and gave it a taste, before adding in the noodles. She looked calm, collected, which was everything he wasn’t.
Fuck, he needed to get his shit together right now. His daughter needed him. She was hurting, and he couldn’t think about Rebecca’s curvy ass, or the need to take her to his room and fuck her senseless. She was twenty-five years old. Old enough to make her own decisions, and he didn’t have to worry about taking advantage.
Ten minutes later while he was still standing back watching, as Rebecca served Bella a bowl of soup. She then served him a bowl before doing one for herself. They all sat at the kitchen, eating, and the silence wasn’t awkward, at least not for Bella. He saw that Rebecca kept glancing his way.
That kiss had started something, and instead of wanting to class it as a mistake, he wanted to see where that went.
When soup was finished, he sent both women away so he could clear his fucking head.
With his little girl’s heart broken, the last thing he should be doing was spending time with Rebecca or kissing her.
He cleaned away the dishes, and put the vegetables he hadn’t used back into the fridge. Once the kitchen was spotless, he made his way into his office, determined to get some work done. He was a big believer in making sure his staff took time off around the times that it mattered. Christmas was one of those times, and for a week he closed the office, and allowed his staff the time to be with their families.
It was what his wife had asked him to consider when she was alive, and it was something he continued to do even after her death.
Time passed as he got stuck into work. When he was busy with business, rarely anything could pull him out of it. He loved expanding his business, and he wished his daughter had the same love for the corporate world, but she was far happier working in the veterinary practice than in an office.
There was a knock on his office door, and when he looked up, he saw it was darker outside, and according to the clock on his desk, after eleven at night.
“Come in,” he said.
Rebecca opened the door. She wore a pair of pajama bottoms and a shirt. Stepping inside his office, she folded her arms and stared at him. “Bella’s asleep. She cried herself to sleep tonight again.”
“I’m going to need to talk to her at some point.”
She nodded.
Silence fell between them, and he didn’t like how uncomfortable he suddenly felt. “About tonight, I’m really sorry. I shouldn’t have kissed you.”
“You’re sorry?”
“Yes, I am. Something like that shouldn’t have happened, and I cannot apologize enough.”
“I’m not.”
“What?” he asked.
“I’m not sorry.” She glanced at the door, and then took a step into his office.
His cock had a mind of its own. Instead of being flaccid, he decided to get hard. This was the last thing he wanted to deal with. He wanted to be strong with her, and not start something that there was no way in hell of him being able to finish. “This cannot happen again.”