Chapter Fifteen

Cameron

I woke up and immediately felt Scarlett’s body pressed against mine. My eyes opened and I found myself staring at a mass of light brown hair. My arm was around her waist, and her ass was pushed against my groin. I inhaled the scent of her and immediately felt my dick stirring to life. The blackout curtains in my room made it impossible to determine what time it was. It felt early, or at least that was what I wanted to believe.

I heard her breathing change and knew she was waking up as well.

“Good morning,” I whispered close to her ear.

She stiffened.

“Shh,” I soothed, tightening my arm around her waist.

“What time is it?” she asked.

“Early, I guess.”

I lifted my head to see over hers and focused on the clock on the table next to her side of the bed.

“Oh shit,” I mumbled.

It was close to seven.

“Is she up?” Scarlett asked.

Little footsteps and the sound of Ella humming were the answer to the question. A swoosh of the blankets and a blur were all I saw as Scarlett grabbed her clothes, pushed the curtain aside and opened the window, then jumped out. I bolted upright out of bed and looked out the window.

The sight of a nude Scarlett frantically pulling on her panties and other clothes was forever burned into my memory. I didn’t get to watch the show for long. I heard Ella turning the doorknob and dove back into bed, pulling the sheet over my nude body.

“Daddy, it’s time to get up,” she said in her sweet little voice.

“I’m awake. I’ll be up in a minute. Go get the eggs out of the refrigerator.”

“Okay,” she said and left the room.

I jumped out of bed in time to see Scarlett pull her shirt over her head.

“Hey,” I said, interrupting her.

She grinned. “Hi there.”

“Go around front and stay for breakfast.”

She paused as she was pulling on one shoe. “Really?”

“Yes. Come over for breakfast.”

She shook her head, a look of disbelief on her face. “Okay. I’ll see you in a minute.”

I quickly pulled on my shorts. I heard the doorbell ring and headed for the kitchen.

“Can you answer the door, Ella?”

“Me?” she asked with shock.

“Yes. It’s okay, I know who it is,” I told her.

“Hi, Scarlett,” I heard Ella say.

I went to the door and stood behind Ella. “Hi. I was just getting ready to make breakfast. Would you like an omelet?”

“Sure!”

Ella grabbed Scarlett’s hand and led her into the dining room.

“My dad makes me breakfast every day when he’s home,” she said.

“He does?” Scarlett said with amazement in her voice.

“He does,” I confirmed.

“That is very sweet,” she said with a cheesy smile.

“Today it’s omelets. You like cheese in yours?” I asked, pulling out a bowl.

“Yes, please.”

“You can sit down with me,” Ella told our guest.

“You really cook breakfast every morning?” she asked.

I shrugged a shoulder. “I do. Breakfast is easy. It’s dinner that trips me up.”

“Grandma makes dinner most nights,” Ella said. “She makes casseroles and puts them in the freezer.”

“That is very nice of her.”

“Does your mom make you casseroles for the freezer?”

Scarlett chuckled. “No, she doesn’t. I inherited my mother’s cooking skills. She doesn’t cook. She actually has someone who cooks casseroles and puts them in the freezer for her.”

Ella’s little eyes widened. “Is she rich?”

I stopped mixing the eggs and waited for Scarlett’s answer. She hadn’t said much about her family. I knew she was close to her parents, but I knew nothing beyond that.

Scarlett smiled. “Well, they work very hard, and they own a business.”

“What kind of business?” I asked, intrigued to hear more.

“A winery.”

“What’s that?” Ella pressed, always the inquisitive little girl.

“They make wine. They grow grapes, and then they make it into wine,” Scarlett explained.

“Do you make wine?” she asked.

“I didn’t make the wine, but I did work for the winery. I helped in the vineyard and worked in the office sometimes.”

Ella looked enthralled. I appreciated Ella’s questions. It was okay for her to ask what I couldn’t without sounding like I was prying into her life. That explained why she was able to live in that house without having an income. I liked that she was close to her family.

I made Ella’s omelet first and served it to her before I whipped up mine and Scarlett’s.

“Coffee?” I asked Scarlett.

“Yes, please. I can make it if you point me in the right direction.”

I showed her where to find the supplies. We worked together like we had done it a hundred times before.

Together, we sat down and ate our breakfast. Ella chatted about everything from school to her new friends to the books she got from the library. The little chatterbox barely let us get a word in edgewise.

I cut her off before she could get started on another tangent. “It’s time to get dressed, Ella.”

“Are you going to go to school with me?” Ella asked Scarlett.

“No, sweetie. I’m going home. Your dad has to get ready for work.”

I looked at the clock and realized that was true.

“I’ll walk you out,” I said, following her to the door.

“Thank you for breakfast,” she said in a small voice.

“Anytime.” I checked behind me before giving her a quick kiss. “Do you want me to walk you home?”

“No. I’ll be fine. I’ll see you later.”

“Call me if you need anything. If he calls you or you just want to talk, call.”

“Thank you. I will.”

I turned to go back in and stopped. “Scarlett?”

“Yes?” She stopped on the bottom step.

“I’m off tomorrow. Did you want to hang out? I could show you around the city or maybe we could grab lunch.”

She smiled, and it was like the sun shone directly on me. “I would like that.”

“Good. I’ll be by in the morning if that works for you.”

“Perfect. I’ll be waiting,” she said and bounced down the last couple steps.

I watched her walk across the yard and into her house. I didn’t see her come out crying and screaming, so I assumed all was well.

I rushed through a shower and drove Ella to school.

“Daddy, is she going to be my new mom?”

I nearly drove off the road. “What? Why would you ask that?”

“You like her, and she likes you. I like her too.”

“Honey, she is a nice person and I’m glad you like her, but she isn’t going to be your new mommy. She’s our neighbor, and we might sometimes have dinner together or maybe have her over for a barbecue. That makes her a friend, not a mom,” I explained as gently as I could.

“Do you like her?” she asked.

“Of course I like her.”

She rolled her eyes like she was a practiced teenager. “Not like her. I mean like her, like you want her to be your girlfriend.”

It always amazed me how perceptive she was. I wanted to think she was an innocent little girl who knew nothing of adult things, but Ella was observant and intelligent. I should have known she would pick up on the little things and have questions.

“We are friends and I do like to spend time with her. Is that okay? I mean, are you okay with me and her being friends?”

She smiled. “Yes. I like her, and I want to spend time with her too.”

I had to take a deep breath. She was growing up way too fast. Maybe I needed to think about settling down and giving her the family dynamic she was clearly looking for.

“Maybe we’ll have Scarlett come over this weekend,” I said.

Ella grinned, and I fought the urge to pinch her cute little cheeks. I had already been warned that was a no-no now that she was a big girl. I parked in the school parking lot and jumped out.

I gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. “I’ll see you tonight. Have fun and learn a lot.”

“Bye, Daddy.” She waved and skipped into the school.

I left and headed for work. I hoped it would be another easy day. I was a little tired after my exertions last night. The thought made me smile. Scarlett was my match in the bedroom. She gave as good as she got, I thought with a salacious grin.

I walked into the station and greeted Noah.

“Again?” he asked, one dark brow raised.

“What are you talking about?”

“Dude, I caught that smile. You were thinking about sex. I’m guessing you were thinking about sex with your hot little neighbor, or you did her again,” he said, his eyes opening wide.

I tried to play it off but failed miserably.

“You did. This is serious. Twice? At your house? Damn, man,” he said, shaking his head.

“It isn’t like that,” I argued.

“Sure it isn’t,” he said with a heavy dose of sarcasm.

“Let’s get our sheets for the day and get out of here,” I grumbled, not in the mood for his ribbing.

I drove the city streets, enjoying the sunny day.

“What the hell?” Noah said, pointing out the windshield.

I followed where he was pointing and let out a long sigh.

“Dammit. How much you want to bet they’re tourists?”

I hit the lights and then ran the siren once to break up the fight.

“Fucking morons,” Noah complained, unfolding his long body from the car.

“Stop moving,” I ordered.

Three men stopped their scuffling and held their hands up, looking at us with angst.

Noah approached the group slowly. “Get your IDs out.”

These were the moments I dreaded. I stayed back, ready to draw my weapon if things changed in an instant.

“Toss your wallets on the ground,” Noah ordered.

The men complied. It ended up being a run-of-the-mill call. One guy was the store owner. The other two thought he was ripping them off. Things had escalated and it turned into a shoving match.

“Go home,” I ordered the tourists. “I see you in this city again, I will personally run you out.”

The two tourists looked properly terrified. When Noah and I got back in the car, he burst into a fit of laughter.

“What are you laughing at?” I growled.

“You sounded like a John Wayne wannabe back there. You’ll run them out of town?” he managed to get out before he burst into laughter again.

I shrugged a shoulder. “It was all I could think of at the moment.”

“I cannot wait to tell all the guys. They’re going to laugh their asses off when they hear this story.”

I groaned. “Can you not?”

“Nope. I took an oath, and that includes telling all our brothers in blue when you do really crazy shit.”

Thankfully, the rest of the shift was quiet. We wrote out our fair share of tickets before heading back to the station to fill out our paperwork.

“See you Thursday,” I told Noah as we walked out of the building.

“Get some sleep, Romeo.”

I rolled my eyes. “Thanks, Dad.”

I was looking forward to a quiet evening and a good night’s sleep. I would check in on Scarlett, make sure everything was okay, and then go home. I had to say it to myself several times. I couldn’t spend another night with her. It was getting into gray territory that I didn’t want to mess with. Not now.