from under me!”
One quick look, and I found my jeans. Without a second thought, I got out of bed, pulled on my jeans and made my way out of the room. I could hear Timberlynn talking in the living room.
“Dad, you can’t swoop in after years of having nothing to do with my life and then claim you’re protecting me. I want to be in Montana. I’m staying here whether you like it or not.”
I couldn’t help but smile.
Timberlynn’s head dropped, and I watched as her whole body seemed to slump. “Nursing was Mom’s passion. Not mine. I wasn’t happy. I’m not sure what she would say, Dad. She died when I was six. I barely remember her, and you never talked about her with me.”
I made my way into the kitchen and opened up the cabinets. Surely Jimmy would have stocked the place with coffee. After another minute of looking, I finally found it. In the refrigerator. Okay, wasn’t expecting it there.
Timberlynn sighed. “I’m not coming back to Georgia, Dad. I’ve met someone and…”
She looked over her shoulder to see me standing in the kitchen, holding a bag of coffee. A bright smile moved across her face. “And we’re dating. I really like him. His name is Tanner. He’s Kaylee’s brother-in-law.”
I winked and her cheeks turned pink. Then, her smile dropped, and she turned away from me.
A part of me wanted to pull the phone from her ear and listen to what her asshole father was saying. She wasn’t speaking, so he must have been doing all the talking. I poured the ground-up coffee into the pot, filled it up with water, and hit the brew button. Then I made my way over to Timberlynn.
She sat down on the sofa and leaned back on it with her eyes closed. “I’m sorry you feel that way, but I’m not a child and I’m able to make my own decisions. I’m not asking you for any money, Dad. I have my own, remember? Yes, I’m sure you didn’t mean to forget my birthday or Christmas. After all, I am your only child.”
When I sat down next to her, she opened her eyes. I hated that she looked so sad. That defeated look she sometimes had in her eyes came creeping back in. “You do what you have to do, Dad. I need to go, there’s a storm here and I need to take care of some things.”
I could barely hear a man’s voice coming through the phone. He didn’t sound angry.
“Dad, my signal is bad. I can only hear every other word. Dad? Dad?”
She pulled the phone away and hit End.
“Do you want to call him back?”
She shook her head. “No, he said he was being paged.” Timberlynn was holding the phone so tightly, her fingers were turning white. I reached over and gently took it from her hand, placing it on the sofa.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
She slowly shook her head and stared across the room. “He wants me to come back to Georgia. I just need a good talking to, he said. Like I’m a child.”
I didn’t say anything. Not because I didn’t want to console her, but I honestly didn’t know what to say. I got that her father was upset. She had left without telling him. Regardless of how often or not they talked, she was his only daughter.
“He’s going to make this as difficult as he can, Tanner. He’s already taken one piece of property from me. What’s to stop him from doing it again and again?”
“We’ll figure out a way, I promise.”
Tears pooled in her eyes. “How can you promise that?”
I smiled and pulled her onto me. She straddled my legs and I pushed the quilt away from her shoulders, exposing her breasts. “I swear to you, Timber, I’ll make it work. All of it.”
My tongue flicked her nipple and she moaned as she dropped her head back. “Tanner. Make me forget it all.”
Her words sounded needy. She pushed the quilt completely off of her and wrapped her arms around my neck.
I took in her body, and a rush of desire swept over me like wind in a storm. If she needed me to help her forget, I’d damn well help her forget.
“Christ, you’re so damn beautiful,” I whispered as I cupped her breasts in my hands and pulled her other nipple closer to my mouth. I sucked, pulled, and lightly bit on it as Timberlynn squirmed in my lap. When I felt her hands