Dirty Daddy Fairy Tales

Chapter 4

The dawn cracked my eyes open like raw eggs tossed on cement, and I wondered how a shot or two of tequila turned into twenty. “Oh, my head.” I rubbed my temples and squeezed my eyelids shut against the brutal glare. Seated next to me, Gigantor gripped the steering wheel and watched the horizon as if kidnapping drunk girls was an everyday occurrence. “What did you do to me? Where are we?” No answer. “You can’t take me somewhere against my will! I have to turn back to Sacramento and my car!”

“How about one question at a time there, Cap’n Tipsy?”

Outside the window, the landscape blurred by, gold-colored dry grass of summer and the dull green of scrub brush. I fell right into this goon’s trap. God, I sucked at being on the run. “Dammit,” I stomped my Uggs on the floor of his truck.

“What was that again?” He actually glared at me from across the truck cab.

“What? Dammit? I can say dammit as much as I want. Dammit. Dammit Dammit.” It felt better to stomp one foot every time I said it. “You’re kidnapping me and keeping me from doing what I need to do!”

Dammit. Dammit Dammit.“Watch your mouth, missy.” He grabbed the wheel so tight his knuckles were white during which time I wondered why his icy air of command made me feel hot and wriggly.

And that stupid, sexy voice of his. “We’re headed east, passing through the lovely countryside of Nevada, on our way to Maryland. Bunker Inc. headquarters. Put your feet up, relax. Enjoy the tumbleweed.”

Just my luck, this dude was a deranged psycho, kidnapping me, and planning to take me to some excluded part of the desert to do me in on behalf of the terrible men who were after my papa. They must think I held the map to his whereabouts. “Where’s my stuff?” My stomach plummeted. My laptop was in my suitcase and I had work to do.

“Your things are in the back.” He wasn’t upset by my state of mind and displayed this by placing an elbow on the windowsill. “Have some of this, you’ll feel better.” He passed me a to-go mug of coffee. What if I threw it at him and he was forced to stop? Nah. He might crash.

“The sooner you give in, the faster you can help my employer find your father and he’ll make amends for what he did.”

My stimulating thoughts about the brute fled at his cold, detached accusation. My father was innocent!

“Things will go a lot easier for you if you come along peacefully.” His voice was sharp as a scalpel.

“That’s the thing. I don’t know where he is and even if I did, I would never tell you!” This time the heat surging through my body had nothing to do with desire.

neverI never gave up. Not when they accused my papa of a crime he didn’t commit. And not when f*****g cancer took Mom too soon, leaving me ten-years-old and trying to help my depressed dad by cooking his favorite tuna casserole each Wednesday.

Like she did.

My papa was sad. He hardly noticed.

No matter how tired chemo made her, she trained me in the care and feeding of Dad. Determined to do a proper job, I kept notebooks full of Mama’s direction on how to ensure he didn’t miss her too much when she died. The handwritten instructions I jotted down appeared in my memory:

• A sprinkle of cinnamon in his coffee every morning

• The secret to tuna casserole is a half a cup of mayo with sprinkled, crushed potato chips on top

• Use natural cleaner prepared with baking soda, vinegar, and lemon juice to clean the bathrooms and the kitchen

All the note taking and domestic trickery in the world didn’t atone for her absence. My mama did her best to fill her void with all the extraordinary things she used to do for our family by teaching them to me. But all it did was cause us to notice she wasn’t there. I’d set that special casserole on the table, and Papa and I would lose our appetite.

The cave dweller snapped me out of my daydreaming. “We’re pulling in here for gas and food.” With that, he parked the truck, and before I knew it said, “Get over here and hold still.” He pinned my wrists behind me, palms up, and snapped a pair of metal cuffs on me.

“Are you serious?” My eyes bulged at him.

“As a heart attack.” I wanted to smack the snarky smirk off his face. Every minute he detained me delayed my work towards proving my papa’s innocence. To think this Creaton made me have sexy feels last night—difficult to believe now.

The long, incessant dry spell my body endured forced her to betray me. Any burly male would do. Oh God, hopefully nothing happened that I’d regret, “Hey, uh. In the hotel room? I was pretty gone. You and I, we didn’t… did we?”

He spread his feet to hip width and epitomized the word formidable. “Don’t fret.” He spoke with eyes crinkled, and lit with an inner twinkle of mischief that almost cracked his stone-faced countenance, which was set in perpetual scowl since we met. “Your virtue is still intact.”

This part of him was far more dangerous than the tough guy exterior. This was a male that would be hard to resist, as evidenced by the intense craving crawling over my skin like melted chocolate. This signal told me that the time to plot my escape was now, before it was too late and my biological clock made her alliances clear.

“The handcuffs are necessary when we’re going somewhere you might make a run for it. Not gonna happen on my watch, princess.”

I briefly clenched my hands and leveled a cold glare at him, “Quit calling me that. I’m nobody’s princess.”

He arched a confident brow and gave my shape a bold, sweeping gaze which flamed across my curves.

“Sorry.” I tried the flies with honey tactic. Catch him off guard. “I understand. You’re merely doing your duty.”

His harsh response let me know I wasn’t deceiving anyone. “Why are you so cheerful suddenly? I’m still taking you in, and your fake obedient act isn’t fooling anybody.” He doubled his arms across his doorway-sized chest.

His grumpy attitude was reassuring, and I recognized it as a disguise for hidden feelings beneath the rough surface. He wouldn’t allow himself to grin at me or show warmth for fear of appearing weak. I should be afraid; instead, his gruff demeanor was somehow reassuring. At least it was honest. It was weird that I could see through this creature’s facade, as if I were suddenly a wildlife psychologist.

I needed to date more.

Perhaps I could convince him my compliant put-on was for real. “No one’s taken me on a cross-country road trip before. May as well enjoy it!”

Mom’s echo from the past spoke inside my brain. A bit of a hippy, she used to advise me: “Savor each day, Bella. There’s something to appreciate in every moment.” She said the words often enough so they stuck.

Thanks, Mom.

Thanks, Mom.There was indeed pleasure to be found in this occasion, taking a trip across the U.S. with this surly, sinewy creature driving me to parts unknown. I’d have sufficient time to plot an escape plan crossing through states between here and our destination, and once free from the thug, make it safe for my dad to come back. We pulled into the parking area, pinned down at the two short sides of the concrete rectangular lot by either end of a huge neon arch boasting “Nevada 50, Loneliest Highway”. On the inside, the truck stop cafe looked the same as a million places in America. Dickies wearing dudes and their baseball cap sporting companions populated the diner and had enormous plates of breakfast in front of them.

I was ravenous. And the brute had his hand at my lower back, guiding me. “Hey. Is that appropriate behavior for transporting a prisoner?” I asked. “I don’t think so.”

think“If you prefer, I’ll use a waist chain with the handcuffs,” he threatened. “That will secure you so I don’t need to maintain contact.”

Swear to God he enjoyed tormenting me.

The restaurant was old as dirt with black Naugahyde, deep tufted booths. Liam demanded a place in the corner and sat so close his thigh burned mine while we shared a menu.

“Don’t get any ideas; this isn’t a date,” he said.

“If so it’d be the worst date I’ve ever had.” It was a total lie. Even handcuffed, I thought of some way worse dating doozies. Like the dinner with a guy studying mortuary science. He asked if I’d consider a cold bath before s*x, and then lay very still. He went to the restroom and I dashed outside as fast as I could. Otherwise, I’d never met a man who intrigued me. I went to school with boys. No wonder I hadn’t been keen on the dating scene since then.

boys“So what are you going to have? You must be hungry. Those gummy bears from the mini bar last night wouldn’t fill up an ant.”

I sat on his “normal side” which sounded wrong as soon as I thought it; they were scars not a rap sheet. I pretended to look at the colorful banners touting professional baseball team mascots. Looks stunning enough to stop traffic were his by birthright. Then the demolition on the other side happened. Wonder how he dealt with that. “I could eat a horse. I’ll have the Big Rigger and a chocolate milkshake.”

He grinned widely at me for the first time and I felt lightheaded. “On one condition. I get a sip of your shake.”

I swung my legs below the table. “Answer me this, how am I supposed to eat my breakfast with my hands behind my back?”

“You won’t have to feed yourself. I’ll do it for you.” He sat back on the bench seat and crossed his log-sized arms across his chiseled chest making me worry his sleeves might split.

Our meal came, and ole huge-hands cut my food. The fork and knife looked incompatible with his fingers, which dwarfed the utensils. “That’s unnecessary. I promise to sit here and be a good girl and not try to escape.”

He halted his sawing at my French toast and jerked his face towards me. The contrast between his breathtakingly handsome and startling, scarred side jarred me. I forced myself not to look away or suck in my breath, wondering why the sudden shift in his behavior.

“You’ll. Be. A what?” his deep voice demanded.

I cleared my throat, “A good girl?” I opened my mouth indicating it was time for him to deliver to my tongue another piece of syrup-soaked toast.

He dropped his forehead into his right palm and made a low, guttural complaint, “This can’t be happening.”

can’t“What’s wrong?” Leaning towards him, I realized that this annoying giant held my life in his hands. Hands that kept the keys to my shackles safe, and it wouldn’t do for him to be impaired by whatever he found upsetting.

“Do me a favor. Finish your goddamn breakfast and quit saying things that force me to wonder about the color of your panties.” Liam picked up his cup of coffee and took a loud slurp.

“Oh, so you can say dammit but I can’t? Mighty chauvinistic of you, Tex.” Not to be outdone, I bent my head to my coffee cup and took a loud suck.

you Only louder. Sluuuuuuuuurp.

SluuuuuuuuurpThe two truckers sitting at the table next to us started cracking up.

Plenty pathetic was the fact that the closest thing to a proper occasion to go out with an alpha male, since ever, was with this husky barbarian who gulped his coffee. A guy hired to seize me and haul my ass in. My excitement over the simple act of sitting next to this Titan was a sure sign I needed to get out from behind a computer screen way more often. No chat room conveyed the same physical thrill as being in Liam’s immediate vicinity. The sheer bulk of him and hard, muscled body of a warrior was best appreciated in the flesh.

He shoveled one mouthful at me after the next of syrupy goodness, sausage spice, and interspersed it with sips of my shake. A set of emerald eyes stayed locked on my mouth with every bite or sip I took. I noticed that he moved his thigh away from mine on the bench so we were no longer touching.

My opponent had just revealed his vulnerability. I didn’t have any arrows handy, but one thing was certain: this hired soldier had an Achilles heel.

His weakness was me, and I intended to exploit it to the maximum extent.