Page 27 of The Prez’s Daughter

“So, when you turn up dead, I should just put on your tombstone that you had it coming?” Paulie asked. “She’s Doc’s daughter.”

“I know.”

“And she’s nearly nineteen.”

“I fucking know,” Savage said. If it had been anyone else, he would have shut him the fuck up now.

“Wow,” Paulie said.

“You think I don’t know her age, or what it fucking means?” He ran a hand down his face.

“Nothing has happened, then?” Paulie asked.

“No, nothing. I just ... I can’t get her out of my head. I can’t stop thinking about her.”

“You know, they call that love, and I’m not just saying that for the sake of saying it. It’s what people call it. They call it love.”

“Shut the fuck up.”

Paulie lifted his head. “Bacon is cooking. Come on, Mom is going to show her how to make your favorite green bean casserole.”

The only person he liked cooking it for him was Shirley. She used all the right ingredients, and he hated the recipes that used canned soup. He could always taste the difference, and one year, even Shirley attempted to fool him. She did two kinds of casseroles, one homemade, the other using the canned soup. He knew which one was which. The taste of actual green bean casserole was just the best.

Stepping into the kitchen, he watched as Shirley and Charlotte worked together.

“Son, I know for a fact you’re not staring at me, and not getting this man a glass of eggnog,” Shirley said.

Savage laughed, as did Charlotte. They were putting the topping on the casserole, and he watched Charlotte as she slid it into the oven.

“Now, you do that, and anything you want from that man will be yours,” Shirley said.

He winked over to Charlotte, she smiled, and he saw the blush staining her cheeks.

He really couldn’t get enough of this woman. She completed him in ways he wasn’t even prepared for.

Chapter Nine

Charlotte expected to have her own bed.

She thought Shirley would demand they have separate rooms, but instead, they were sharing a room with a bed. It was quite a big bed as well, and she waited for Savage to enter the bedroom. There was no en-suite bathroom.

He turned off the light the moment he walked into the room, and Charlotte watched as he stepped closer to the bed. He wore a pair of boxer briefs but nothing else.

Shirley had loaned her a nightshirt. It was an old one she hadn’t used in a long time. It had lace and was a sexy nightshirt, more like a negligee. At first, Charlotte had declined, but Shirley insisted on putting it to some use, rather than sending it off to charity. It felt nice.

It had been a good Thanksgiving. Shirley was a damn good cook. The turkey had been amazing, as well as the potatoes and stuffing. Charlotte thought she had eaten as much as she could take, but then chocolate pecan pie came out, and she had to have a slice, while Savage ate pumpkin pie.

“Did you have a good time today?” he asked.

“I loved it. It was probably one of the best Thanksgivings I’ve ever had. I like Shirley and Paulie.”

“They’re good people.”

“And they adore you,” she said.

“What’s not to like?”

She loved when he winked at her.