Substitute Daddy (11 page)

She’d been doing the feed and purchase ordering for the ranch, and she was starting to make sense of Lance’s accounts. She found big discrepancies and then more. Soon it was obvious Lance had been stealing from his best friend. She’d e-mailed the files to Matthew so he could see for himself, and she hoped he wouldn’t be too upset. She half expected that Matthew would already know about it or not be surprised by what his friend had done. But she wouldn’t hide the truth from him because they were trying to build on a solid foundation.

The sun was setting on the horizon and she was cleaning up the kitchen after she made dinner. She left Matthew a plate warming in the oven and now that Lilah was napping, she could make some cookies. She had the baby monitor on high, so she could listen to the radio while she worked. She hummed along to the classic rock radio and shimmied her hips to the music.

“That’s a pretty sight.”

Matthew’s voice made her turn around, and she giggled. “You snuck up on me.”

“If I get to catch you shaking like that I plan to do it more often.” Matthew danced over to her and smacked a kiss on her lips. “Hi, honey.”

“Hey, baby. How are the horses?” Grace asked.

“They’re great. Copper is going to foal any day now, and we have three cows that are just about to pop too,” Matthew answered. “I’m all sweaty. I need to get a shower.”

“Okay, I’ll be here baking. Oh, I’ve got dinner in the oven for you,” Grace said.

“Okay.” Matthew stopped and turned back. “This is good, right? I mean, it’s not wrong that this feels really awesome?”

“I like it too,” she smiled and teased. “Now go shower, shoo.”

He saluted. “Yes, ma’am.”

She watched him walk away in his jeans and felt the now familiar curl of desire in her belly. He looked so delectable and smelled like the outdoors, but when he came out of the shower he’d be damp and have that spicy musk smell she was addicted to. She went back to cutting out cookie dough and placing cherries in the middle of each one before sliding two big trays in the oven. She set the timer and put his dinner on the table for when he came down from his shower. When he did, he wasn’t alone. A very bright-eyed Lilah was with him cooing happily as he talked to her.

“I didn’t even hear her on the monitor,” Grace said.

“She wasn’t crying,” Matthew said. “I peeked in on her after my shower, and she was just staring up at the mobile. Then when she caught sight of me, she started waving her arms and legs. How could I resist?”

“Yes, how could you? Those arms and legs just call to you to pick her up,” Grace said dryly.

“Mommy doesn’t understand how we roll,” Matthew said. He kissed Lilah on the cheek as he sat down. “Does she, princess?”

“I see that. You, sir, are a marshmallow.” Grace held out her arms. “Give her to me and you eat. I’m sure you must be hungry.”

“Famished, actually,” Matthew agreed and handed the baby to her. “Please tell me some of those cookies are for dessert.”

“Only if you’re good,” Grace said while she bounced Lilah on her knees.

“I plan to be very good.”

It was the way he said it that made her look up, and excitement jumped inside her when she caught the devilish gleam in his eyes. That unspoken promise of endless pleasure was evident.

Matthew ate his dinner, and they talked about the ranch and his business travels. He had to go away in the next few weeks to Greece and wanted her and Lilah to come with him. It was an automatic yes for Grace who couldn’t pass up seeing such an amazing place with the man who held her heart. A few weeks would give her time to get her passport and Lilah’s and plan her sightseeing route. After his dinner and her baking, she left the cookies cooling, and they went upstairs. Matthew played with the baby while she took a hot shower before bed. Some people would call her life boring or routine, but she loved every second of it. She was brought up in a household of upheaval, and her life was a series of drama. For once, she was in a stable, happy place, and it was due to her letting her past go and having Matthew in her world. By the time she walked into the bedroom from her shower, he too was coming back into the room and sat on the bed.

“Where’s the baby?” she asked.

“Out like a light after a warm bottle and a good burp,” he answered.

“You have to teach me your trick because when I do it, she wants to be cuddled and rocked forever before falling asleep.”

He grinned. “I have the magic touch.”

She laughed. “I see that.”

“It also works on her mother. Come here. Let me show you,” he said.

“Is that an invitation?” Grace drawled.

“Take that bathrobe off and find out,” Matthew replied.

She let the soft white terrycloth fall to the ground and walked over to stand between his legs. “Show me.”

Matthew spanned her waist with his big hands and pulled her closer until the skin of her torso met his naked chest. Grace was suddenly breathless with anticipation pressed against his muscled body. She could feel every contour of him as she ran her hands along the sleek lines of his shoulders and arms, lines that she’d already committed to memory. He had a hard, sculpted body that breaking horses and ranch living had created. He always looked dashing and devilish in a business suit, but at home, where he felt comfortable, he was boyish and sexy as a cowboy.

He pulled her head down to his for a long kiss. Grace opened her mouth willingly to accept his tongue and his taste. His hands roamed against her back, massaging her body and cupping the cheeks of her ass. She made a little sound of pleasure in her throat as his hands moved up to cup her breasts, slowly massaging the firm, round globes. Her nipples hardened against his palms, and she moaned as he brought them to tight, aching peeks between his fingers. Their tongues dueled and mated as the kiss grew more heated.

Matthew tore his mouth away from hers and looked into her eyes. “I love you. I don’t want to scare you, but I have to tell you how I feel.”

Even now he was worried about how she might react, and Grace needed him to know he never had to hide his feelings from her. She was so sure about how she felt with him and about him, and more certain than she was about anything else in her life.

“I love you,” Grace echoed his words. “I thought I loved Lance, but I loved the wildness of the move and what he had promised me, but I learned quickly what I was trying to do was get away, escape from my real problems. But with you, I feel like I’ve come home. We’re a family, me, you, and Lilah. You’re her father, and I bet you she loves you just as much as I do and will say so as soon as she learns to talk.”

“Then I can’t wait until she does,” Matthew said huskily. “But hearing you say you love me makes me want to go yell it from the rooftop that I found my Ms. Right. We started out in two different places, but what we have could be nothing more than pure kismet, fate, destiny, luck. Hell, call it whatever. Just as long as the end result is that I have you.”

“And you do. Make love to me, Matthew.” She kissed him once and then twice with more urgency.

She stood before him naked and bare but with not one ounce of shyness. This was the man who loved her without reservation, and she cherished him just as much. With their gazes never wavering from each other, he slowly slipped his hand over one of her breasts. Grace closed her eyes in pleasure from the sensation of his touch and let herself succumb to the sensual haze. In one fluid motion, he stood and stepped out of his pajama bottoms. Grace pressed her face against his chest and listened to how his heartbeat sped up when she touched him.

“I want you, Grace,” he whispered.

“You have me forever,” she responded and lifted her head up so he could claim her lips.

He kissed her as he swept her off her feet and laid her down on the bed. His hard length was there for her pleasure as he stood proud and naked in front of her. She got on her knees and pulled him closer until his legs bumped the mattress of the bed. Grace kissed the tip of his cock and felt a shudder run through him before she took his length in her mouth inch by slow inch.

“Oh, damn.” He said the words before his breath hissed out between his teeth as she teased him with her lips and tongue.

He combed his fingers through and buried them in the thick tresses of her hair. With every movement, she took his cock deeper into her mouth, and with every sound Matthew made in pleasure, it fueled her own need. He pulled away suddenly with a savage sound and lifted her so her breasts were against this chest. He kissed her hungrily, pressing her body back into the bed before covering her with his own. He kissed his way down her neck to her breasts, and he took a hard nipple in his mouth. Grace gasped as his hot mouth enclosed the tight bud and sucked. Matthew moved from one to the other hungrily, tasting her flesh. Grace cried out as ecstasy shot to her core. She bucked against him wanting to feel him deep inside her. But her sensual urging did nothing, and he took his time in pleasing her. His hand traveled down her smooth stomach to the apex of her thighs. When she felt his fingers slip between the moist folds of flesh and another rubbing against her sensitive clit, Grace could only clasp her hand against her mouth to smother her cries of passion.

“The door is closed.” Matthew pulled her hand away. “I want to hear you come for me.”

She closed her eyes and focused on his fingers inside of her, and his thumb circled the bud of her bud, rubbing gently. She could feel his intense stare on her as he made her senses take flight by his touch alone. Matthew sent her over the edge, and she came with a low sultry cry as his digits pistoned in and out of her wet pussy. Grace shuddered and felt her body’s release.

“I’ve got to be inside you.” His voice was guttural as he spoke.

He lifted her legs high around his waist and plunged into her almost savagely, wringing another cry from her kiss-swollen lips.

“Matthew, please!”

Grace arched into his thrusts and wished she could explain to him how good it felt to have him buried inside of her, but no words were needed. As she looked at him, she could see that he felt the same way. His blue eyes had gone dark with desire as he moved inside her. She spread her legs wider, and he groaned before pressing her knees close to her chest so he could watch himself plunge inside her in rapid succession. Each thrust sent him deeper, and he arched his neck, and to Grace he looked primal as he took her.

“Matthew,” she panted, “I’m going to come. Please don’t stop.” Her fingers were on his tight biceps using him as her anchor as she strived for completion.

“Not ever, baby, not in this lifetime. Ah, fuck, you feel so good, I can’t hold back,” Matthew moaned.

“Come with me. I want to feel you with me,” she said urgently.

Grace felt his body tense, and he shuddered against her as he pumped inside her. The sound of their bodies meeting filled the room.

Suddenly, he bent low to kiss her hard. “Look at me, Grace. I want to see you come and that it’s me who is making you feel this way.”

Grace opened her eyes as she spiraled into her orgasm. She watched Matthew’s face as pleasure passed over it, and his body tensed. Her cries were his fuel because he threw his head back, and a loud groan escaped his lips as he spilled inside of her. He collapsed against her, and she stroked his damp back as they waited for their bodies to stop shaking in the aftermath of their passion.

In their usual way, they showered together, both wanting to be clean and dressed in case Lilah needed them during the night. After their shower, Matthew opened the bedroom door knowing she preferred it that way with Lilah’s nursery directly across the hall. He then got into bed and pulled her into his arms.

“So about this wedding in Greece…” he said.

Grace laughed incredulously. “Is that a proposal?”

“I’m just throwing it out there,” Matthew teased.

“Well, I’m not catching it unless it’s done right,” Grace responded primly.

“One knee?”

She shook her head. “You’re too warm to let go of right now. Just nice it up a bit.”

He chuckled before saying somberly, “You’re my world, Grace. You’re my family, my home, and you gave me a daughter. Let’s watch our children and then our grandchildren grow up on this farm. Be my wife, Grace Reid, and I promise I will love you every day for the rest of our lives.”

“Best proposal ever.” She reached up and pulled him in for a kiss.

“Is that a yes?” Matthew asked. “It needs to be done right.”

She pinched his waist for his teasing. “It’s a yes, for sure.”

“Good. We’ll work out the plans later, guest list and all that,” he said.

“You’ve got my guest list, just me and Lilah,” Grace said.

“How lucky is that? Both of you were on the top of my list,” he answered. “Tell me again that you love me.”

“I love you, Matthew Ryder, and that’s my promise.”

“Best I love you ever,” he said with a grin.

“Damn right it is, cowboy,” Grace replied.

She leaned in for another kiss, to seal the promise of their love and the beginning of a whole new chapter on the Ryder Ranch. In another fifty years, she hoped their children would find love and bring it back to the Nevada ranch where they’d be raised. Like Matthew had said, for generations to come. This was the beginning of the rest of their lives.

The End

About the Author

Dahlia Rose
is the best-selling author of contemporary and paranormal romance with a hint of Caribbean spice. She was born and raised on a Caribbean island and now currently lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, with her five kids, who she affectionately nicknamed “The Children of the Corn,” and her biggest supporter and longtime love. She has a love of erotica, dark fantasy, sci-fi, and the things that go bump in the night. Books and writing are her biggest passions, and she hopes to open your imagination to the unknown between the pages of her books.

Table of Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five