Free Simmer: Erotic Romance (Fireside Series) by Morgan Black Page A

most of his life putting time and effort into his career and taking care of the family he had left. We’ve always been well off, but not really in the love department. Maybe that’s why my attraction to Luke was so strong. I never felt this way about anyone else, such a connection. And then there was the fact that he was damn sexy, that certainly didn’t hurt.
    We walked hand-in-hand and my father’s office . When we arrived his back was turned and he was wearing his usual, a cowboy hat, dark jeans, and a white button up shirt. As always he had on his best accessory, a pair of cowboy boots. He was on a cell phone talking about a sale for a horse as we walked in. He didn’t even notice our presence until he turned around and the look on his face told me exactly how this conversation was going to go.
    “ I’ll have to call you back David, my daughter’s here.” He quickly put away his phone and placed his hands on his hips. He was a statuesque man standing at about six foot four with the build of a football player. He was still strong in his later years. He had always helped out around the ranch even though he paid people to do simple things.
    “ Cheyenne… What are you doing here?”
    Luke squeezed my hand tighter, “Sir,” but my father interrupted.
    “ Son I’m sure what you have prepared to say is very well rehearsed however right now I’m looking at my daughter. Now Cheyenne what is this all about?”
    I let go of Luke’s hand and approached my father’s desk, taking a deep breath I said, “Dad I want to talk to you about something. I mean really I want to talk to about someone. Me.”
    He put his fingertips on his desk and slowly lowered himself down into his office chair. “Go on.”
    I turned back to look at Luke , his steely gray eyes reeling me in, forcing the truth out of me. “Luke and I, kind of found ourselves this weekend Daddy. And the truth of it is we want to be together.” I waited for his reaction but he simply pulled his hands up below his mouth and tapped his fingers against one another surveying our situation. “I know what you’re going to say, I know you’re going to tell me that this isn’t how we do things and I’m already with Collin. But none of that’s really true, Collin’s been with another girl for months! At least this thing between Luke and I has only been going on a short time.” That was me still trying to convince myself that what I had done hadn’t been so awful. I still wasn’t doing a very good job.
    I stopped talking to allow it to sink in with him. I chewed on my lower lip with my teeth hoping that I wouldn’t say anything further since he still hadn’t spoken but when I was about to start again Luke once again came to my rescue. “Sir I love your daughter. I love her because she’s stubborn, unbelievably intricate, and beautiful. I promise you that I will treat her the way she deserves to be treated.”
    My father sat back in his chair and I heard the creaking of the old wood. “That may be true, but that’s not for either of you to decide. I don’t know why Cheyenne felt the need to pull you into this ludicrous fantasy that the two of you have built, but she is marrying Collin. This isn’t just about how you feel, this is about business and decisions that we have made. Promises that have to be kept. The way I see that you care for her, that doesn’t matter.” He then turned to look at me, “Your mother and I were never love. It was a business arrangement and I still miss her every day.”
    My words seem ed to be caught in my throat like poison. They were killing me slowly. I knew when I spat them at him it would go through him like knives. Just like his words felt to me. So professional without any emotion. I had enough feelings for all three of us. “Do you? Do you miss her at all? Because you’ve never acted like it! I get that it was a business arrangement between you and Mama but that’s not how my life is going to be. I make my own