Daddy's Girl: A Daddy Issues Novel, Rebel Wild [top 10 most read books in the world .TXT] 📗

Secretly, I still think it might all be bullshit from a quack therapist but I’m trying it.

I walk through the brown, smelly old store. There’s a little reading nook with a Dr. Seuss theme that reminds me so much of Sydney. This has to be her place. I spot her toward the back with a stack of books waiting to be shelved. She almost drops the one she’s looking at when she sees me standing at the far end of the aisle. Her face goes from shock to happiness, to defiance all in a matter of seconds. She’s never looked more beautiful.

“I thought that was you,” I tell her, pretending I wasn’t in here tracking her down.

“Mr. Garrett.”

“Hello, Sydney, you’ve outdone yourself,” I say looking around.

“It’s nowhere near as great as your library, but I’m working on it.”

“This place is better. It has you.”

“Why are you here? I know it’s not for books, so why are you here?”

“I needed to see you.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. Why can’t I forget you?”

“I haven’t heard from you in a year, so it seems you did forget.”

“Not for a single moment. Are you free for dinner? I think we should talk. I have a lot I need to say to you and it’s taken me a very long time to get to a place where I can say it.”

“I’m… uh…”

“Please.”

“I close in thirty minutes.”

“I’ll wait,” I say, and she nods with a smile before her face frowns.

“You’re not going to disappear again like you did at the ceremony, are you? Because I’m not—”

“I apologize for my behavior. I wasn’t as prepared as I thought I was at seeing you again.”

“Prepared?”

“As I said, I haven’t forgotten you for a moment.”

“Oh,” she says, smiling. “I see.”

“I give you my word, I won’t disappear again. I’ll be waiting for you outside.”

She nods, going back to her work. I linger for a moment, not wanting to walk away. She looks up and catches me staring. I smile before walking away.

I swear, the thirty minutes it takes her to close is the longest of my life. I wait as the last customer leaves and an old guy, who I assume works for her, turns the open sign to closed. It takes another fifteen minutes for her to emerge and I still can’t stop staring at her. Beautiful just doesn’t scratch the surface in describing her. She looks around, half expecting me to be gone until her eyes lock with mine. I’m relieved to see she looks happy to see me as she walks over to my car.

“Hi,” she says.

“Hi,” I whisper to her. “I hope you’re hungry. I found a place that sells palatable veggie burgers. You’re still into that, right?”

“I am and I’m hungry, but I… uh,” she starts, seeming unsure of how to act around me now.

Shit, this is the last thing I want her to feel right now.

“Let’s start over,” I tell her, holding out my hand. “I’m Tristan.”

“Very nice to meet you,” she says, shaking it. I can see the wheels turning in her head as her eyes dance around in thought. “Uh… Mr. Garrett, what does this mean, exactly? What are we doing?”

“Honestly, I don’t know, but if you’re willing to take a chance, I’d like to find out. Are you seeing anyone?”

Her forehead crinkles at the question.

“Why?”

“I need to know who my competition is, what he means to you, and how fiercely I have to fight for you.”

“You said you didn’t care about me, remember?”

“I care. I care too fucking much and you know it. You’ve always known it. Don’t act as if you haven’t seen right through my bullshit from the start.” I dip down a little and she looks up at me, searching my eyes to connect with me the way she used to. I let her see everything I’m feeling. She shakes her head, trying to turn away.

“I can’t do this,” she says.

“Sydney, wait. It’s not easy for me to admit what I’m feeling. I need to be straight with you and I know I’m messing up.”

“No, you’re not. I just… go on, I…” She swallows hard. “I’m listening,” she whispers, making me smile at her.

Unable to resist doing it, I take hold of her chin. Her eyes flicker looking into mine and I know she sees whatever the hell it was she used to see in me.

“I want you in my life again,” I say to her. “I want that very much.” She pulls her chin away before she takes a step back and clears her throat. “What is it? Why do you keep pulling away?”

“I wasn’t expecting you to say any of this.”

“I’m probably the last guy you want telling you this shit.”

“What? No, I’m just trying to control what I’m feeling.”

“But you are still feeling it? It’s not too late to get us back where we were?”

“Look.” She pauses to take a breath. The old bookkeeper comes out and she waves goodbye to him. We watch as he gets in his car and drives away before she turns back to me. “If you’re asking if we can start up again and if, that’s a big if, I agree to it, I couldn’t do the TPE. That just doesn’t work for me. I need you to be my Dom, but not a strict one.”

“I know…” I start to tell her. “I’m sorry, did you say you need me to be your Dom?”

“You’re not the only one who had a journey of self-discovery this past year.”

“Is that right?” I grin at her.

“Yes, it is, and I liked being your submissive, but like I said, not with the TPE. I need more. I would need so much more from you.”

“I’m open to more. I need more. I know it’s a lot to spring on you like this, but I’ve been regretting letting you go for so long. Can we go to eat? We can talk about what more means and see if we can figure it out? We left