LISA

Maybe it was the music. Maybe it was the fact I'd barely eaten dinner, on top of drinking, when I never drank much to begin with. Or maybe I'd just been a little pent-up after a six-month dry spell spent having tea parties and braiding my four-year-old daughter's hair. Whatever the reason, there was only one thought running through my mind the first time I laid eyes on Jennie from across the bar.

I want her.

And once I saw her in that skintight dress, doing a horrible job of pretending to not be checking me out? I got all kinds of ideas about how to expend that pent-up energy. And now we were here, standing in my living room, surrounded by photos of my daughter. Which was pretty much the exact opposite of an aphrodisiac.

When we'd climbed out of the cab, I'd realized that the topic of my daughter never came up in our bar banter—and that we were about to be confronted with the babysitter. There really wasn't any way around it.

Casual flings didn't tend to handle the whole single-dad thing well. Single moms, on the other hand, fucking loved it. The idea of a man devoted to his kid had them panting for days. But casual, no-strings hookups? To them, me being a parent screamed one of two things: I was either an irresponsible asshole who couldn't properly wrap it up, or I was a total commitment addict trying to lure them in with my adorable four-year-old child in need of a new mama. Either way, it usually didn't go over well. But so far, Jennie was handling it fine.

Then she crossed the room toward me, and a single thought pervaded my brain.

Fuck, she's sexy.

All those curves and her throaty laugh, coupled with her confidence? I was a total sucker for a confident woman who knew what she wanted.

"Happy birthday," I whispered, placing my hands on her waist and drawing her in close.

Just because this would most likely be a one-time thing didn't mean I wanted to rush through it. Quite the opposite, actually. I wanted to savor and enjoy every minute of this. Starting with the perfect kiss.

"It's almost midnight," she murmured, her lips just inches from mine.

Placing one hand on her cheek, I guided her mouth to mine, sealing my lips over hers in a slow, soft kiss.

She responded perfectly, opening her mouth in a silent invitation for my tongue to slide against hers. My hands found those curves wrapped under that black fuck-me dress I'd been admiring, and God, she felt even better under my palms than I could have imagined. Soft and warm and so inviting.

I pressed one more slow kiss to her lips and pulled back to study her reaction. I rarely did this kind of thing. Having her here was surreal . . . and really fucking turning me on, knowing what was probably about to happen.

"Can I get you something to drink?" I asked, slipping my hand around her waist. If she'd changed her mind or wanted to slow things down, I wanted her to know that was fine too.

"I can think of other things I'd rather be doing with my mouth," she replied, her voice low and sultry as she ran her fingertips over my chest.

God, I love a woman who knows what she wants.

Wordlessly, I placed my hand around the back of her neck, guiding her face to mine for another sweet kiss. She wrapped her arms around me and pressed her hips into me, lining up perfectly with my quickly growing erection.

As our tongues moved more urgently together, I slowly guided her down the hallway toward the stairs. Our breathing became heavy and labored, and with each step closer to my room, my cock grew harder. I was sure she could feel it pressing into her belly as we crossed the threshold into my room.

I backed Jennie up against the wall, slipping my fingers under the hemline of her dress to feel the soft, warm skin of her upper thighs. She whimpered softly, and I moved my fingers to the front of her panties, my cock twitching at the feel of her heat against my hand. Pushing her panties to the side, I found her wet already and slowly slid one finger inside, causing Jennie to throw her head back in pleasure, where it collided with the wall behind her with a loud thwack.

"Oh fuck, are you okay?" I paused, leaning back slightly to check and make sure she wasn't injured.

She chuckled. "Yeah, I'm fine. It didn't hurt; it was just loud."

Smiling, I bent down to kiss her again.

As the kiss grew hotter, her tongue stroking mine, she began unbuttoning my shirt with surprising ease. Within moments, she was pulling the sleeves down over my arms and tossing the shirt to the floor.

"Impressive," I murmured, moving my lips to her neck, sucking and nibbling on her skin. She tasted sweet and smelled faintly of vanilla.

"Not my first rodeo." She sighed, reaching to unbuckle my belt.

I smiled. Two can play that game.

Hiking her dress up over her waist, I slipped her panties off with one hand, the other returning to its previous job of pleasuring the wet, silken spot between her thighs. The desire to rub and pet her until she was writhing and mewling and out of control was so powerful, I was almost shaking with it.

God, it's been too long.

As my hand moved between her legs, she bit her lip and let out a soft moan. Pulling at my belt, her fingers fumbled briefly over the zipper of my pants before roughly pulling them down to reveal the outline of my rock-hard cock, fully outlined by my black briefs. Her breathing became more ragged, and I knew she was ready for more.

Pausing to pull her dress the rest of the way up and over her shoulders, I dropped it to the floor. Jennie reached to unclasp her bra, and then it joined the rest of our clothes. Hauling her closer, I reveled in the feel of her full breasts against my chest as her fingers tugged at the waistband of my briefs.

Suddenly, my need to be inside her overwhelmed me. I guided her to the bed, pushing my underwear off in the two strides it took to join her. Descending on top of her, I resumed kissing her neck, aligning my hips with hers as she widened her legs to greet me. But before I could slide my aching, eager cock against all that wet flesh I was craving, she pressed her palms into my chest, prompting me to flip over onto my back.

Did I mention I like a woman who knows when to take charge?

I lay down, and Jennie climbed on top of me.

"This okay?" she asked.

"I'm more than happy to let you ride." My hands explored, caressing her breasts.

"It is my birthday, after all," she replied with a satisfied smirk.

"Excellent point." I grabbed a condom from the table beside my bed, tore the package open with my teeth, and handed it to her. "You want to put that on me?"

"My pleasure," she whispered, sending all kinds of chills racing down my spine.

Her clever fingers made quick work of the condom. Placing one hand on her hip and the other on my swollen shaft, I guided myself into her snug pussy, the two of us moaning at the long-awaited pleasure. She felt like a fucking furnace around me. She was so hot and so sexy perched on top of me like this.

We quickly found our rhythm, my hips pumping in a steady pace while she rocked above me. It was heaven, pure heaven. She felt incredible—so tight and warm and inviting. And the sexy, throaty moans she let out were destroying my stamina.

It was the best sex I'd ever had with a one-night stand. Her moans grew higher pitched as I found that place inside her and stroked it again and again with my cock.

Her palms flattened against my abs, and her head fell back as she lost herself in the pleasure.

"That's it, sexy girl. Come on my cock," I murmured.

But then I heard something . . . and it wasn't another of her moans.

No, it was something that made me freeze, my hips stilling in mid-thrust.

The creak of a floorboard in the hallway. Bare feet on the hardwood floors.

And then a small voice asked, "What are you doing to my dada?"

FUCK.

Standing in the open doorway was my four-year-old daughter, Lily, in her unicorn pajamas, her eyes wide as she clung to her favorite teddy bear.

"Fuck, oh my God, fuck, I'm so sorry!" Jennie quickly climbed off me, grabbing the nearest blanket to cover her naked body.

"Hey, sweetie. What are you doing up?" I said in my calmest voice, frantically covering my quickly dying erection with a pillow.

Jennie was running around the room trying to find her clothes. Suddenly, the haphazard way we were throwing them around seemed incredibly stupid.

"Dada's fine. Why don't you go wait in your room, okay?"

Lily scowled but obeyed, throwing one last dirty look in Jennie's direction before turning and walking back to her room.

Jennie didn't seem to notice, however, as she'd finally found her underwear and was getting dressed faster than I thought was humanly possible. She could have literally won the world record in getting dressed.

I pushed my hands into my hair, letting out a deep sigh. Shit, why hadn't I thought to lock the door? We must have been louder than I thought if we woke Lily. She was normally a very sound sleeper.

"Listen, Jennie, I'm so—"

Before I could finish, she ran out of the room, and twenty seconds later, I heard the front door open and slam behind her.

I sighed, burying my face in my hands. Perfect, just fucking perfect. Another casual fling ruined by being a single parent.

I was used to a few bad dates every now and then, like getting a your daughter just threw up phone call from the babysitter, but this? This was unlike anything I'd ever experienced before. I'd actually been caught in the act, doing the deed, bumping uglies—although there wasn't one ugly part of Jennie, and I was really pissed I didn't get to see every part from every angle.

It was official. My four-year-old was a cock-blocker.

Sighing again, I went to my closet and pulled on some sweatpants and a T-shirt before gathering the rest of my clothes and placing them in the closet. In the bathroom, I washed my hands and checked my face in the mirror, raking my fingers through my hair so it wasn't so obvious I'd just been caught in the middle of boning a stranger . . . by my child.

Real classy.

I was a parent now. I needed to be better than this. Stronger. Keep my priorities in check. And my priority was definitely my daughter.

I opened the door to Lily's room to find her curled up in her bed, staring at me with wide, confused eyes.

"Dada, what was that lady doing to you?" she asked, rubbing her eyes with her tiny hands.

"Dada and that lady were just spending some adult time together, that's all. I'll tell you more about it when you're older, okay?" And when it's not the middle of the night and you just witnessed something that will inevitably scar you for life.

Lily furrowed her brow but nodded, and I could already tell it was something she'd remember to ask about in the morning. I hadn't planned to even remotely have this talk with her for at least another ten years, so I mentally reminded myself to check my parenting books to find out what's normal to tell kids her age about sex. I didn't want her to be one of those kids who still believed storks dropped babies on doorsteps when she was fifteen, but still. Four seemed a little young to know everything about the birds and the bees.

Seconds later, Lily rolled over and closed her eyes. I placed a kiss on her forehead and, once I'd tucked her in, left her room to get myself ready for bed. After brushing my teeth and splashing some cold water on my face, I lay down to sleep, only to find my mind racing.

I couldn't believe that things had started off so damn amazing yet had ended up so horribly. It had been so long since my last casual fling, I couldn't even tell you if I'd ever imagined something like what happened tonight actually happening. Scratch that. I definitely never imagined that my daughter would walk in on me having hot sex with someone I hardly knew.

It just figured that the one time I put myself out there, I got burned. There were reasons single parents didn't do things like that anymore. Crazy shit like this happened.

Sighing, I flipped my pillow over, trying to relax and get comfortable. But I already knew I wouldn't be sleeping well that night. I couldn't stop myself from replaying that moment over and over again in my head, the complete shock of being in absolute ecstasy one moment, and the next . . . absolute embarrassment.

And the worst part was, Jennie seemed like a really cool person. Even if she wasn't the love of my life, our chemistry was hard to deny, and I wouldn't have minded making our casual hookups a regular thing.

If nothing else, there was one thought that made me feel better as I unsuccessfully tried to fall asleep.

At least I'll never have to see Jennie again.