“Dad,” Penny yells out as she knocks on my bedroom door.

Shit. What time is it?

I roll over and reach for my phone on the nightstand.

It’s 9 a.m. on a Saturday.

Okay, there’s no work at least, so I’m not late for anything.

I do have one appointment, though. An important one.

I can feel the warmth of a body next to me and the slight dip in the mattress, but I still can’t quite believe that last night wasn’t just a dream. I glance to the other side of the bed and stare for a few seconds until I make sure she’s real.

“Dad.” Penny knocks again.

Usually, I’d yell back from bed that I’m up and I’m getting ready, but I don’t want to wake up the beauty sleeping next to me.

With urgency, I jump out of bed and twist the doorknob before Penny makes any more noise.

“I’m up, I’m up,” I say, cracking the door open just enough to let Penny see me, blocking her view of my bedroom with my body.

She looks up at me, frowning. With the sun in her hair, she looks almost angelic, but I know the gears in that devious brain are already turning.

She tries to look past me, those intelligent eyes searching for gaps between my body, the door, and the wooden door frame. She stares at me with suspicion, but a pleased smile forms on her lips.

“Weird. You don’t usually get up just to tell me that,” she says, in a tone that sounds an awful lot like the detectives she watches on TV.

“What, is that a crime now?”

“No, but it’s suspicious.”

I shrug. “I was already awake when you knocked on the door.”

“Liar,” she accuses. “I was already knocking for a whole minute when you finally responded.”

At this point in my life, I’m convinced that if I were to commit a crime, Penny would be able to figure it out. Perhaps my shoes would be dry even though it’s raining outside, or maybe I’d blurt out some detail I’m not supposed to know—you know, some typical mistake that fictional criminals make.

I’m glad she’s still small and short, at least. It’s easy to block her view or physically stop her from getting into my shit. But this is not going to last long. I just know that I’ll be in trouble when Penny becomes a full-fledged teenager.

“Do you want to go to breakfast or not?” I ask, changing the subject. Jesus, I’m losing this battle so badly I have to resort to bribery.

“Sure I do,” Penny says. “I’ll go get ready.”

“Wait for me in the living room when you’re done.”

“Okay.” She shoots me a sly smile and pauses dramatically before saying, “I tried to wake Megan up, but she’s not responding. Maybe she’s not in her room.”

“Maybe,” I say as casually as I can.

“I also wanted to tell her about her clothes in the hallway,” Penny says. “I guess she doesn’t know that Mrs. Williams does our laundry. Maybe Megan washed her own clothes and dropped them on the way to her bedroom.”

“Maybe,” I repeat like a broken record.

“Mystery solved,” she says as she gives me a knowing look.

“Mystery solved,” I say, giving her my most normal smile.

Damn it, how do I usually act on Saturday mornings? I don’t even know anymore. She’s really making me sweat.

“Great,” she says.

“Great,” I say.

As Penny walks away, she says, “You should ask Megan to join us for breakfast…if you see her.”

“I’ll let her know if I see her,” I say to her back as she disappears into her own bedroom.

Yep. Bribery and lies. I’ve lost this battle.

As I turn around and close the door, I see Megan stirring in bed. She pulls the sheets up to cover herself and looks around.

“Hey, you’re up,” I say softly as I take a seat on the edge of my bed.

“Yeah.” She gives me an awkward smile, like she’s not sure what to say or do.

I decide to talk about something safe. “Hungry? We’re going out for breakfast.”

“Okay,” she says.

“Do you want to use my shower?” I ask, knowing she can’t just walk out with a bedsheets wrapped around her naked body.

“Yeah, okay.”

“Great. I’ll grab your clothes and put them on the bed for you.”

“Okay,” Megan says with obvious relief.

This way, she won’t have to make the short, awkward walk from the bed into the bathroom.

I’ve already taken a good look at that beautiful body last night, even in the dim light. Just thinking about it right now makes me cock start to stir in my pants.

But Megan obviously needs a little space right now. Maybe she’s not ready to let me see her in the light of day, although I’m sure she’d look just as breathtaking.

I tell myself to chill. There will be other mornings. Besides, if I looked at her naked body right now, I might be tempted to just have her as breakfast. And then what would I tell Penny?

“Just let me know when you’re done so I can come in and take a shower, too.” I get up to give Megan some privacy, intending to be a gentleman about this. But as I stop at the door, I can’t help but add, “If you want to shower together, though, we could do that, too. It could save some time. And water.”

Megan just stares at me with a flat expression that tells me she doesn’t appreciate my offer. “Let’s just stick to the original plan.”

“Okay. Just thought I’d ask.” I give her a grin, then step out of my bedroom and close the door behind me.

I wait until I hear the water running from the shower before I grab her clothes that we left on the floor last night and slip back into the bedroom to leave them on the bed.

I’ve never had a woman shower here before. And it’s been so long since I last flirted with a woman, much less made her come with my mouth.

Megan is reminding me of a version of me I was starting to forget, and I like that.

I just hope she likes it, too, because I don’t intend to let her go now.

I want her to stay here so we can have more nights like last night, and more Saturday mornings just like this.

The only difference is I want us both in the shower together.