Caught Up: Chapter 17

“Dadda.”

The sweet scent of sugar fills my nose as I breathe a deep inhale.

“Dadda.”

My body is melted into the mattress, my arms filled with . . . Miller.

Miller is in my bed, or rather I’m in hers.

Inhaling again, I pull her closer until her entire body is on top of mine with her head tucked into the crook of my neck.

She feels like heaven. Warm and cozy. She also feels like mine.

“Dadda.”

My eyes shoot open to find my son at the foot of the bed, perched on Monty’s arm, the two of them looking down at us.

Max is wearing a smile. Monty isn’t.

“Shit,” I breathe out.

I’m a thirty-two-year-old man getting caught in bed by someone’s father.

“Well, I’m not sure how I’m going to scrub this visual out of my brain,” he says dryly.

Miller stirs when she hears her dad’s voice, but it’s not enough to fully wake her. Instead, she nuzzles further into me, slinging her leg over my hips where I’ve got a raging case of morning wood going on. I could not be more thankful this hotel bed has a thick comforter.

“Dadda,” Max says again, and Monty puts him on the mattress, allowing him to crawl over to us.

“Hi, Maxie.” My voice is all morning rasp as he climbs over my torso. “I missed you last night.”

He settles on my stomach, head on my chest, looking at a sleeping Miller. I wrap an arm around his little body so I’ve got them both as he cautiously reaches out to touch her septum ring. His tiny touch is enough to wake her and, as she opens her eyes, she looks right at my son, a sleepy smile blooming on her lips.

“Morning, Bug.”

He smiles right back at her.

This moment would be a whole lot sweeter, the two of them cozy on my chest together, if Monty wasn’t still staring down at me.

“Morning, Millie,” her dad says.

Miller whips around, realizing he’s here. “What the hell, Dad?” she asks, quickly covering herself with the blanket, not that there’s anything to hide.

She’s lucky she doesn’t have to deal with a raging boner the way I currently am.

“Ace,” Monty starts, heading back to my room. “I think it’s time we have a conversation.”

“I don’t think we have to do that.”

“Get your ass in here!”

Miller rolls her eyes, flopping over to the other side of the bed and taking Max with her, tickling his belly to keep him occupied while I go get reamed by her dad.

After I handle my business in the bathroom, I meet Monty in my room, closing the adjoining door behind me.

“It’s not what it looks like,” I tell him, finding a shirt to cover up my chest.

“I don’t give a shit what it looks like. What you two do is none of my business but Ace, she’s leaving in less than two months.”

I pause in my tracks. “Why the hell does everyone feel the need to keep reminding me of that?”

“Because I’m looking out for you.”

“Well, you don’t have to do that. I only slept in there because your snoring ass was hogging my bed.”

A smile ticks on his lips.

“I’m serious, Monty. Please don’t waste your time giving me the overprotective dad speech. It isn’t needed.”

He holds his hands up. “This is not that. I just wanted to talk to you because Miller has a life she’s going back to.”

“Jesus, I know.”

“Let me finish,” he says. “Miller has a life she’s going back to, a life she’s worked her ass off for. You two are adults. Whatever you do in your free time is between you two, but I’m asking—no, I’m telling you, if there comes a time where you find yourself wanting to ask her not to go back to that life, that you talk to me first.”

What the hell? I would never ask that of her. I know what this summer is to her. She made it clear last night when she gave me a moment to stop our kiss that she’s simply passing through. She’s got her entire life’s dream waiting for her.

“It’s not like that.”

Monty shrugs. “Keep it in mind. Come to me if that changes for you.”