Page 46 of Homebound

That might be the tiniest towel I’ve ever seen, and now all I can think about is what’s underneath, and that’s bringing up the visual of her in all that tight workout wear, and heat shoots to my groin. I have to think about saying goodbye to Grandma Patterson on her deathbed so I don’t get hard.

May she rest in peace along with my boner.

Her eyes land on me when she realizes she just walked into the bathroom in nothing but a towel. Both our lips part in sync.

She goes rigid and pulls the cloth up her body while I’m praying it falls to the floor. “Oh, shi—shoot,” she corrects with a glance at my daughter. “Sorry. I thought you were done with bath time. We need to fix this because it never locks.”

“Is that Kodie?” Cruz says on the line. “Tell her I say she needs to kiss the hell out of you.”

I don’t tell her that.

My voice is lost in the dryness of my throat because I’m too focused on her tan legs, those muscular, thick thighs that I want wrapped around my waist. I know how difficult it is to put on muscle, which makes her toned body all the more impressive.

I’m still staring.

I need to stop staring.

“Dee-Dee!” Vienna suddenly shouts, breaking me out of my trance. It’s actually pretty cute how she’s started calling Dakota Dee-Dee since she can’t say Kodie.

Dakota visibly swallows as she looks at Vi, and it seems like her eyes shine a little. After a moment of hesitation, she walks right up to her in the bath and smacks a loud kiss to her damp cheek while I try very hard not to look at the way her towel climbs up her thigh when she bends over.

“Hi, little devil. You look like you’re having a mighty fun time with all those bubbles. Can you say Kodie like we were practicing this morning with our peek-a-boo sessions? Ko-die?”

They played peek-a-boo this morning? My heart feels like it’s growing.

Vi garbles something unintelligible and then squeals, “Dada!”

Dakota chuckles, clutching the towel tighter as she brushes the hair back from Vi’s forehead. “Well, it seems like we all know who the crowd favorite is. I’ll let y’all finish bath time before we go.”

She winks, and having her standing there, smiling at my daughter, winking at me in a damn towel is too much for me to handle, so all I can do is nod because, apparently, I’ve lost the ability to string words together.

She drops another kiss on my girl’s head before striding out of the bathroom with a soft click.

She kissed my girl.

“Alright, forget about flirting with her,” Cruz says into my ear. I forgot he was still on the line, so I jump against the phone. “We just need to get you talking to her again because listening to that was painful. Stop acting like some flower boy, and start acting like the best fucking winger in the NHL with a massive cock.”

He’s right.

Dammit, he’s right.

Not about the cock thing, but everything else. I’m big, but I don’t think I’m that big. Then again, I’m not really measuring myself up against other guys’ dicks in the locker room.

I’m still acting like a flustered teenager around her because it’s too easy to get stuck in the old versions of yourself when someone’s known you as a kid.

I call it revertigo—reverting back to the person you’ve always been around people who’ve known you forever. I like that I’m a gentleman around Dakota, but I can be so much more than her friend.

I can be the man she needs.

The man she craves.

“Yeah, you know what?” I grit out, clenching the phone. “Enough’s enough. She’s gonna be mine by the end of the summer.”

“There he is!” Cruz whoops. “Now, that’s my boy.”

18

THE GENERAL