Forbidden, Tempted Series (Book 1) by Selene Charles Page A

soft teal-blue sleeveless sundress. She sniffed it.
    There’d been a time when that wouldn’t have been necessary. But ever since she’d taken over keeping house, well... Things had slid downhill a little.
    Satisfied that it was good enough, she slipped it on, brushed her teeth, did something with her hair. Hated it and decided to just let it hang, as usual, then put on some eye shadow. Hated it, but didn’t have time to scrub it off. With a groan, she sprinted to the kitchen.
    “Dad?”
    He was at the counter, drinking a cup of coffee and reading the morning paper, looking fresh and clean and wearing a pair of slacks and a blue button-down shirt.
    He glanced up with a smile, and then his eyes widened and the mug stilled by his lips. “Wow, baby, you look—”
    Running her hands down the front of her dress, she headed to the fridge and grabbed the first thing she saw. Which happened to be a bottle of orange juice and an almost completely brown banana. She grimaced but grabbed them anyway. “Didn’t expect to see you up so early.”
    He shrugged. “Someone’s gotta stock that fridge, right?”
    She frowned. “In slacks and a nice shirt?”
    “Yeah, about that.” He folded the paper and set it down on the counter, then rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m inviting Katy over for dinner tonight.”
    “Whoa.” She plopped down on the stool beside him, her stomach knotted up for an entirely different reason. “Isn’t this moving kind of fast?”
    His brows dropped. “No. I’m a forty-year-old man, Flinty... I’m not some boy trying to flirt, and I’m pretty sure she knows that.”
    Peeling the banana open slowly, Flint barely refrained from rolling her eyes, sick in her gut at the thought of some blond stand-in eating at their kitchen table tonight. No wonder he was going shopping. He’d never bothered to do it for her.
    Resentment curled its claws in her as she ate the disgusting and overly ripe fruit. “Bananas don’t go in the fridge, Dad.”
    He sighed. “Flint, it’s been a year. I’m not the type that can...” Swallowing hard, he pressed his lips together.
    She took a sip of the juice and then scraped the stool back as she stood. “Look, I can’t stop you. What do you expect me to say?”
    A hurt look flitted in his eyes. “Weren’t you the one telling me to get out and date? That’s what I’m trying to do.”
    “No.” She jerked her book bag onto her shoulder. “I told you that it was time to stop drinking and grow up! Not move on to the first bimbo who bats her lashes at you.”
    “Katy’s not like that.”
    She rolled her eyes. “And how would you know, Dad? You’ve known her all of what? Two weeks?”
    Then she heard the squeal of the school bus.
    “I gotta go before I miss my bus.”
    “She’s coming over, Flint.”
    “I heard you the first time.”
    She didn’t look back because she knew if she did, she’d start crying. Flint hadn’t expected it to hurt this bad. She was almost eighteen for crying out loud, all grown-up. Shouldn’t she be able to handle her dad moving on?
    But as she boarded the bus, she had a sick feeling that this day was only going to get worse.
    And it did.
    She didn’t know why she’d expected Cain to suddenly change. Maybe because he’d driven her home last night. And because he’d been halfway nice by the time he’d dropped her off.
    But the second she entered homeroom, she knew. This time, not only was he wearing his shades, but he also had on a pair of earbuds, and the tinny strain of rock music annoyed her all through class.
    She kept glancing at Mr. Wickham, expecting him to take Cain to task like he’d done her on the first day of school. But no, completely oblivious.
    And Cain... might as well have been a statue for all that he noticed her.
    Feeling all sorts of stupid for wearing a dress, sure that he knew it was because of him, she wanted to kick herself. Really hard.
    Of course he didn’t care. Why would he? Nothing had changed.