X-Treme Measure (3 page)

Oh. Em. Gee. I heard something clash to the floor, but I didn't pay no mind. The man that was in front of me was like this tall, tan, muscular and all kinds of rough and tough, sexy god. He wasn't paying attention to me though since he was on his phone.

“Yeah, I gotta get Reighlyn settled with a sitter. You know Magen doesn't give a shit.”

This is the single dad that lives across the hallway? My eyes bugged out of my head as he stepped from the elevator, bent down and grabbed whatever I dropped, didn't really give me a side glance (figures) and handed it to me before walking with sexy confidence out of the building.

Holy mother of all things good looking. He was at least a foot taller than my five foot five frame, big broad shoulders, muscles to match but not in a body building way. He was all proportional. My insides melted and I scurried into the elevator punching the number four.

He didn't even look my way. Maybe like a side glance but nothing noteworthy to write home about. Not that I had a real home anyway but if I had a best friend, I'm sure I’d be calling her all about the encounter like a giggly girl who saw a cute boy. Hot, sexy boy. Man. Oh, God just shut up now. The gritty drop of his voice with that one sentence made me want to get closer so I could hear it again. But that would be completely horrible.

One, he’s a single dad. Two, most sexy-schmexy guys were complete dirt bags that a girl like me could not even compare to their normal pickin’s. Not that I was a dog. I never thought myself ugly. I was blessed to have my mother’s complexion, and hair. She was almost Miss Texas. Until she got pregnant with me. Then it was downhill from there.

Guys like this one, no matter if they were married, single, or single parent—they usually went for girls that had tall, thin, fit bodies. I was not fit. I hated working out. I weighed a little over my ideal weight, but I was fine with it. I watched what I ate, I walked. That was the extent of my working out. I walked a lot on campus so it kept me semi in shape.

Besides, it didn’t matter, that guy was a dad. He didn’t look over thirty, but then looks could be deceiving. Compared to my twenty-two years of age, he looked well-educated I guess. Not that I wasn’t attracted, I’d have to be completely dead to not be, but he had baggage. Would I want to get with a dad? Not really. He had complications. I don’t even know why I was still thinking about him. Way out of my league.

I walked over to the apartment just as it opened, Ashley was there with a briefcase strapped over one shoulder.

“Oh, you’re leaving?”

“Yes, I am on the board of committees for my father’s company. Meeting time.”

“Want a Subway sandwich?”

“Oh, how nice of you. Sure.”

I passed it over to him, and he nodded his thanks before rushing for the stairs. I was loaded down with groceries so I hurried inside to put them away. I looked at my plain, peppered turkey subway with white American cheese with longing. But I might as well bring the rest of my crap inside. Mosquitos were the absolute devil in this city the later it got.

I ventured back outside and took the stairs to grab the first box. The single dad, Daniel I think Ashley said his name was, was by the gate with a few other people. Maybe waiting for their kids. It was three and just about the right time for school to be let out. I took the box and the second duffel bag full of clothes up the elevator and took them to my room before going back out, and down the stairs. Hey, it was my work out. I’m sure I’ll be huffing by the end of it all. I already felt my thighs burning.

I saw a school bus unloading kids as I opened my trunk and took out two boxes. Closing it, I heard a young girl’s voice, animated and loud.

“Daddy, you won’t believe what Haven said about me to Tommy. She said I liked him and wanted to kiss him. I mean, that is so gross. Right?”

I heard the man’s deep chuckle as he responded, “For now, yes. So gross. Tell Haven that wasn’t nice of her. Friends shouldn’t act like that towards one another.”

“Exactly. I will. Thanks, Daddy.”

“Of course, babydoll.”

I didn’t dare look up at them but when I bent down to pick up the boxes there was a dark sent of arms already bending and picking them up.

“Hey! That’s my—” Oh, snap. Hot, single father alert. Right in front of me. “Stuff.”

“Yes. Of course. You’re my neighbor’s roommate. He didn’t tell me your name though.”

“Uh.”

“Uh?”

Fuuuuuuck.

“Moriah. Moriah. I’m Moriah Augustus. My name is Moriah Augustus.”

Face meet palm. I’m such an idiot. My eyes closed with mortification.

Another deep chuckle vibrated from his throat. Of course, he’d think I was an idiot, too. “Need a hand?”

My eyes flipped open and I said quickly, “Oh no! You have uhm,” I pointed towards his daughter.

“Reighlyn, come on over here, girl.” He looked back towards me, his brown eyes the color of milk chocolate. I was getting hungry just looking at them. Like a Hershey’s Milk Chocolate bar with Almonds. “Now what kind of man would I be if I let a woman carry heavy boxes up four flights of stairs?”

“Uh, the elevator.”

He shrugged and hefted the boxes like they were weightless and strode up towards the stairs. Oh, snap. My ovaries just exploded at the confident swagger as he walked up the stairs, with my boxes. His butt filled those jeans like a lover and it wasn’t small.

I hurried and grabbed two bags and followed him up the stairs, my eyes practically glued to his butt. I didn’t think I was a butt obsessed kinda girl, but he had a nice one. His daughter was talking animatedly next to him and they held the conversation, clueless to my guy-inebriated, raging, hormonal anxiety. I was anxious because I should not be thinking about this guy like that. He had a daughter. That should have sent WARNING signals like crazy in my brain. But nope. And his little girl? She was a beautiful little girl that looked just like him. Except the eyes. She had blue eyes.

By the time I got to the apartment, I was huffing, puffing and so out of breath I was ready to collapse. I semi-ran past him as he waited for me inside the apartment.

When I got to my room, I chunked the stuff to the floor. I turned around quickly only to bump into a nice, wide, hard chest. My hands met the soft material of his shirt, but beneath that, the planes of his chest was all muscle.

“So sorry. Sorry. Uh, yeah. Nice chest. Meet you. Nice to meet you. You are?”

A deep chuckle rumbled from his throat again, but he didn't say anything to make the situation awkward.

He stuck out his hand and said, “Daniel Greensboro.”

“Thanks for the help. I can take it from here.”

I know it might be rude not to shake his hand, but with my insides playing peek-a-boo with each other I was afraid of how I might react to skin on skin contact.

He didn't move though and tilted his head, his hand still out waiting for mine.

Crap. He wasn't going to let me not shake his hand. When I slipped my hand into his, it was like static electricity shot straight up my arm and shot to my vagina.

He jerked me just a bit closer and said, “It was nice to meet you, Moriah.”

Then he was gone, his daughter talking animatedly next to him.

I’ll say it again.

Oh, snap.

Damn. This day couldn't get any worse. Magen fucking flaked again. Fucking crackhead. The only good thing that came from that bitch was Reighlyn.

My little girl was my entire world and when Magen dropped her off at my doorstep eight years ago, I was both stunned and angry.

Not at Reighlyn. She was innocent in all of this. But I didn't even know Magen was pregnant. We only went out a few times and it wasn't until after we did the deed that I found out she was a drug user.

Not just pot either. She liked the hard shit. Disgusting bitch. I can say without a doubt I had only gotten with her for her hot-as-hell body. Brains? Eh, not so much. I didn’t give a shit until I learned she was doing drugs. I didn’t want that shit in my life. I made sure she knew to stay the fuck away.

I had been working my way through college already with a bachelor’s degree and with a football scholarship, I was going places. At least until she called. My plan had been to get my Master’s in sports medicine.

When Magen called me, telling me she needed to see me after almost a year of no communication, I was reluctant, but she sounded desperate. It wasn’t in me to deny a female in distress. It’s not like I wanted anything to do with her. Fucking druggie. But when she begged, I felt bad enough to meet with her at my apartment.

When I got there? My world stopped. In her arms was a chubby little baby, wrapped in pink blankets.

There was no denying Reighlyn was mine either. She looked like me and had the same birthmark my family had on our hand in the shape of an L. There was no mistake that baby was mine. When my mother found out, she agreed she’d help, but I had to take responsibility.

Magen tried getting back together so we could
be a family
but when I said no, she freaked out, screaming and throwing a fit as she walked out. Threatening some bullshit that she’d never act on. Then I was stuck being a new dad. It hadn't taken me long though to fall in love with Reighlyn. I'm biased, but she was the most well behaved baby I've ever seen. Not that I’d seen many, but she wasn’t a big crier.

The job I had at the gym just wasn't enough to survive on with a baby, so when I found X-Treme Measure, a male stripper and escort establishment, I was both appalled and shocked I was that desperate. I quit college, kept a day job at the gym and worked my nights at XM. When it was getting hard to keep focus on Reighlyn, I quit the gym.

Being a quitter wasn't in my nature, but I had bills to pay. With no government to help, being a male entertainer and escort was the best option for me at the time. It paid well over what I needed to get Reighlyn and myself out of the little rinky-dink apartment I had lived in as a single guy and into the Wells Condominiums.

We’ve lived here for the last six years. Now it was time to go wait at the bus stop for her while I had dinner cooking. I had to learn a shit ton of stuff to be a good dad and since I was so young when my own dad died, I learned a lot from my mother.

For the last year, Magen had been dried out. No drugs. No booze. At least that’s what her drug screenings had shown or otherwise she wouldn’t be allowed anywhere near Reighlyn. She had been given one weekend a month where she kept Reighlyn from Friday after school until Sunday afternoon. But for the last two months, she’s skipped out on her obligations. Which shouldn’t be surprising. She was supposed to pick Reigh up after school today, but she hadn’t picked up when I called earlier and has yet to show.

I normally didn’t even bother giving her visitation, but this weekend was already going to be a long ass weekend. I had several private shows lined up including the public routines I did with the guys and then a dinner arrangement with a wealthy widow.

Magen had promised which I shouldn’t have even bothered trying to believe. Her promises meant jack fucking shit to me. To anyone really. The one time she tried getting custody, I shot that shit down real quick and she was only allowed to have her one weekend a month. Not that she really ever bothered with it. Reighlyn hadn’t seen her mother in over two months.

The last time she did, Magen dropped her off at my apartment practically in the middle of the night, with no one to even take care of her. If Ashley hadn’t opened his door and then called me to tell me Reighlyn was there, she would have been outside in the fucking cold and dark.

That’s why it wasn’t a surprise that Magen promised to come this time and flaked, but with my mother out on a cruise, there was no one else to watch her.

I could try the neighbors, but they said no last time. Taking care of a little girl wasn’t on their agenda they said. Fucking dipshits And I knew Ashley would be gone most of the weekend.

My buddy Matt had called and I was telling him about the sitch when I got into the elevator.

When it opened I paid no attention to the chick who had shit in her arms since I was running behind trying to get to the condo gates to wait for Reigh at the bus stop.

“Yeah, I gotta get Reighlyn settled with a sitter. You know Magen doesn't give a shit and she totally fucking flaked. Again. Dumb bitch. I can’t keep letting her do this shit to Reighlyn. I can see the toll it’s taking on her and that sadness pisses me off, because she tries to hide it.”

“I can see if Karissa will watch her tonight. She’s always liked Reighlyn.”

“Yeah, does Karissa even know what you do, bro?”

“Ha. Nah. I’m sure she’d freak the fuck out. Then dump me.”

“She’d be a fool if she did. You don’t even do anything except perform.”

He laughed and told me he’d check back in a little bit with an answer. I didn’t know what else to do. Normally my mother would watch her when I worked, but she had been waiting a long time to go on this cruise and I wasn’t about to deprive her of her dreams.

I couldn’t call in either. I was lucky Reighlyn hardly ever got sick. Not that I was desperate for money but I it was my job. I needed to find a sitter.

I got to the gates when Ruth, a mother of three sprung up a conversation. “Hey, Daniel. How are you doing?”

She too was waiting on her kids, and was the only mother who didn’t hit on me. We talked about mundane crap while the bus turned the corner to the apartments.

When my daughter hopped off the bus it never ceased to amaze me how much she’s grown. Her beautiful brown hair, curly and running halfway down her back bounced as she came to me.

Although she had Magen’s blue eyes, they were bright and pure and everything good in my life. There wasn’t anything I wouldn’t do for her.

“Daddy, you won’t believe what Haven said about me to Tommy. She said I liked him and wanted to kiss him. I mean, that is so gross. Right?”

I couldn’t help the laughter that came out. Thank God she still thought that was gross. I didn’t know what I was going to do when puberty hit and girly things started happening to her. God help me.

“For now, yes. So gross. Tell Haven that wasn’t nice of her. Friends shouldn’t act like that towards each other.”

“Exactly. I will. Thanks, Daddy.”

“Of course, babydoll.”

We started walking towards the stairs, even though there was an elevator, I usually took the stairs. I told Reighlyn that it was good exercise. She normally just rolled her eyes and slugged my arm.

“Oh, daddy! Look! A new resident!”

“Yes, she’s Ashley’s new roommate. He told me about finally finding one before he left for the night.

I turned to see where Reighlyn was pointing and saw a blonde chick lifting boxes from her rusty-crap car and setting them on the ground.

I vaguely remembered her from the elevator earlier, but I was too busy dealing with my own shit to get a good look at her. I was going to remedy that right now. And what kind of gentleman would I be if I just walked past her and not help with those heavy boxes?

I saw a few guys walk pass already and not even bother. Like helping someone was a travesty. I knew where she lived anyway so it wasn’t like it was out of the way for me. Not that it would matter. She was a female and it was the gentlemanly thing to do. It was natural to help out.

She bent over about to lift them when I went ahead and lifted them for her.

“Hey! That’s my—” she looked up at me and her eyes widened with shock. “Stuff.”

“Yes. Of course. You’re my neighbor’s roommate. He didn’t tell me your name though.”

She seemed flustered and a red hue spread on her cheeks. A girl who blushed? Was it from embarrassment? Or something more? She looked young. Like maybe she was in her early twenties. She had a wholesale look about her. As if she had some sweet, Miss-Apple-Pie, good girl quality about her. Her blonde hair hung to her lower back, even in a ponytail. It was beautiful. She had creamy vanilla skin and her blue eyes were like the sky.

“Uh.”

“Uh?”

She shook her head, gathering her wits I suppose and finally smiled in an awkward kind of way which almost made me laugh.

“Moriah. Moriah. I’m Moriah Augustus. My name is Moriah Augustus.”

She was definitely affected by me. But she didn’t try hitting on me. She just genuinely seemed flustered in my presence. For some reason, it made me want to tell her there was nothing to fear. I was just a guy.

I let out a chuckle and her face reddened deeper when I asked, “Need a hand?”

“Oh no! You have uhm…” she pointed towards my daughter.

“Reighlyn, come on over here, girl.” I looked from my daughter who was looking at Moriah with curiosity, then back towards me before smiling and coming over.

If I had to take the reins, I would. I turned back to Moriah and said, “Now what kind of man would I be if I let a woman carry heavy boxes up four flights of stairs?”

“Uh, the elevator, maybe?” She almost said it like a question and I shrugged, striding towards the stairs with her load in my arms. I had no problem carrying the weight. Reighlyn was next to me

I heard shuffling behind me and then Reighlyn and I waited at the door as the girl rushed past us, out of breath. How could a girl who looked like she did be out of breath? She didn’t look like she was unhealthy or out of shape. She was thicker…softer around the middle than most women I’ve met. Not that there was anything wrong with thicker girls. Hell, sometimes a man needed to feel that extra bit of cushion and I had no problem with size. Tall, short, thick, thin, race. It didn’t matter to me. I’d just never met one up close. At least outside XM.

She walked passed me down the hall and I followed her with her things, hoping she didn’t just want them out in the living room.

That and I was curious. The fuck I was curious over? I had no idea. But I felt…propelled. Almost like a magnet. Now that I looked at her and all those swaying curves, I was hypnotized. She filled out those shorts really good with a high, round, bubbly ass and a waist that I itched to get my hands on. The shorts were short enough that it leaved only a little to the imagination. Since no one was around, I didn’t mind the eyeful she showed me.

She turned around a little too quickly and I hadn’t meant to be so close, but she bumped right into me. Her soft hands palmed my chest.

“So sorry. Sorry. Uh, yeah. Nice chest. Meet you. Nice to meet you. You are?”

A deep chuckle rumbled from my throat but I didn't say anything to make the situation any more awkward than what she was probably already feeling.

I stuck out my hand and said, “Daniel Greensboro.”

“Thanks for the help. I can take it from here.”

She didn’t take my hand right away and it made me wonder why she was hesitant at such a normal gesture. I just tilted my head, kept my hand out and waited.

When she finally did slip her hand in mine, it was like an electric shock went straight up my arm and down to my cock. Hardening it to ready position. Detective Dick was ready to explore.

Whoa, boy.

The hell? I did not have this kind of response. I wasn’t embarrassed about it though. Never in my almost thirty years have I had such a strong reaction to a woman before. So I did the only thing I could think of. I knew Reighlyn was waiting patiently in the other room so I needed to make this quick.

I jerked her just a bit closer and I inhaled her pretty scent as I said, “It was nice to meet you, Moriah.”

Damn she smelled good and it only made my dick thicken more and I could feel the teeth of the jean zipper imprinting on the underside of my dick. Made me wonder if she smelled good all over. If she tasted just as good. I bet she did.