Page 70 of The Daddy’s Girl

“No, please don’t wait up. I’ll see myself out once I get this pesky app figured out.”

My dad laughs in the distance. “Good luck.”

“Thanks,” Matis chuckles. “Bonne nuit.”

My dad’s voice echoes from across the house as he clearly disappears into the bedroom he shares with my mom. Judging by her silence, I assume she’s already in there. If I’m not out and about, she’s usually early to bed.

When Matis appears in my doorway, my eyes bulge out of my head as I stare at him. With a panicked expression, he scurries into my room and quietly closes the door behind him.

My blood pressure is through the roof. He’s…in…my…room.

“What are you doing here?” I whisper.

“I had to see you,” he replies, and my heart soars. “I mean…speak to you.”

And just like that, it plummets.

“You couldn’t call?”

He’s keeping his distance between us, torturously so. Why must he stand so far away? But I know the truth. He doesn’t trust himself to be any closer.

“No, Amelia,” he says, and I hate when he uses my name. I mean, I love the sound of it on his tongue, but I prefer Trouble or my new favorite, mon trésor.

He puts his hands up as if he’s trying to ward me off, like I might attack at any moment. “I came here to tell you that what happened at the club⁠—”

“And Saturday night.”

He winces. “And Saturday night…was a mistake.”

I saw this coming, so as much as it hurts to hear, at least I don’t have shock and disbelief to process as well.

“Was it really?” I ask. “Was it a mistake? Because mistakes don’t usually happen twice in a row.”

He scrubs a hand over his face and turns away before spinning back toward me. “Not a mistake, but…a regret.”

Ouch.

“No,” he says, quickly correcting himself. “Not a regret. It’s just that we cannot do this, Amelia. You must know that we cannot do this.”

“But you said you ache for me,” I whisper, feeling like a fool so desperately begging a man to want me. It’s humiliating.

His eyes find mine, and there’s pity in the gray irises. “I do, mon trésor. But that is my cross to bear. You are too young for me. You are my goddaughter. You have known me your entire life. It would be wrong.”

Just like today, he takes one slow step after another toward me, almost as if his words say one thing but his body says another. It’s like he can’t help himself. No matter how hard he tries to stay away from me, he physically can’t. We’re going in circles, constantly saying we can’t do this while simultaneously colliding like stars.

When we meet toe-to-toe, I feel for the first time like I have power in this scenario. Reaching up, I place my hands on his warm chest. I’d like to memorize every inch of his body.

“It doesn’t feel wrong,” I whisper. Gazing up into his hungry eyes, I see a new version of Matis that I have never seen before. He is looking at me like I am a meal for him to devour, not a girl to protect.

“But it is,” he murmurs. His soft hands start gently over mine, which are still placed on his chest. With a defeated sigh, he runs his caress along my arms toward my shoulders.

Goose bumps erupt in their wake. With every touch of his fingers, it’s like the first time my skin has felt any touch at all.

“I’m not a little girl anymore, Matis.”

His chest hums with a low growl. The conflict in his eyes seems to be tearing him apart, and I wish he’d just give in.

As his fingers reach my shoulders, I inch closer, drawing them down my back. His gaze flits from my lips to my eyes and around my face as if seeing it for the first time. When his tongue darts out between his lips and wets the lower one, I know he’s about to give in.