less happy about his woman being sent out on missions. The first time her unit was sent out to South America, Drake had to be locked down. Thankfully, that trip only lasted seven days. The second time, he pulled his shit together enough he didn’t need a babysitter but he’d been in a foul mood until Liberty returned from Afghanistan.
The issue wasn’t that Drake didn’t understand Liberty’s job or why she was compelled to serve her country. The problem was Drake understood the danger—seeing as he was a former SEAL, he was also the man who’d rescued Liberty.
The sooner we got to the bottom of the situation the better. Not that it would erase all of Drake’s fear when Liberty went out but it would ease some of it.
“You ready to tell me why you’re avoiding me?” Jasper’s inquiry wasn’t a question as much as it was a demand.
Fuck.
The uncomfortable vibe in my office intensified the longer I remained silent. But there was no correct answer. There was Jasper losing his fucking mind and there was him losing his motherfucking mind. Neither one ended well for me.
Consequences.
I’d screwed up, now it was time for my punishment.
“Hadley,” Jasper huffed and sat in one of the two chairs in front of my desk.
“Jasper—”
“I’m gonna preface this conversation by reminding you she’s my daughter. It’s not lost on me, she’s in love with you. And it fucks me to say this but I am not blind. I look at her and see all the gifts my wife gave her. One of those gifts is her beauty, another is her determination. I know she’s been pushing you. I do not wanna know shit about shit and I think you catch my meaning.” Jasper let that last statement hang and I fought against squirming in my chair.
I was a grown-ass man talking to the father of the woman I banged and walked out on. A father who was not stupid, knew his daughter was gorgeous, knew she’d been playing me for damn near a year, and there wasn’t a man alive who, after being tortured by all that beauty, wouldn’t eventually give in and take what was being offered.
So with all of that, grown or not, I was squirming like a teenager who’d been caught with his pants around his ankles. Because while my pants might’ve been up over my ass at that very moment, they’d been around my ankles while I fucked Hadley, and Jasper knew it.
Christ.
“Not wanting to know shit about shit, we’re gonna tread carefully during this conversation. But you not looking me in the eye tells me everything I need to know.”
There it was; unwanted confirmation Jasper knew I banged his daughter.
“Jasper—”
“The only question I have for you is, what’s hanging you up?”
“Come again?”
“Brady, you get I’m not blind, right? You get I pay attention. I didn’t miss Hadley falling in love with you so I didn’t miss you doing the same. Four years ago, not only did I understand it, I appreciated it. She was too fucking young to take on a man like you. She needed to start building a life. Even two years ago, when I saw her making moves to position herself in your line of sight I was grateful when you held off. The last year she’s been making her plays and you’ve been fielding them but none of us missed her stepping up her game. I see something happened a week ago—and again, she’s my fucking daughter so we’re on dangerous ground here—but I figure she made a play you couldn’t refuse. So with all of that, I’ll ask you again, what’s hanging you up?”
It was safe to say I was freaked the fuck out. We weren’t on shaky ground, Jasper had shoved me in a pile of quicksand and there wasn’t a move I could make that didn’t include me sinking deeper.
“There’s a lot hanging me up,” I carefully told him. “Some of the reasons you already stated. She’s too young, she doesn’t have the first clue what taking on a man like me means, and she’s your daughter.”
“If I didn’t know my daughter, I’d agree. You got seven years on her but I know my girl, she’s far from dumb.” That quicksand was sucking me in so I remained quiet. Unfortunately, Jasper misread my silence and felt the need to continue. “And you misunderstood me. I know the man you are. You’re the man who ran into a burning house to pull Tuesday