Filed to story: Submitting to My Bestie’s Daddy Read Online >>???
I heard a persistent buzz and glanced down to see my phone going off. My brows lifted as I took in the name that lit up across my screen—Caterina.
I quickly cleared my throat and answered the call.
“Hey, what’s up?”
A huff of frustration blew through the speaker. Her voice was strained and filled with irritation, part of me already kind of knew where this call was going. But I wanted her to ask for my help. I wanted her to say that she needed me.
“Can you come over here?” she gritted. “My shower decided to not work.”
For some strange reason, the shower in Caterina’s room had always given her trouble. If it wasn’t something as simple as a leaky shower head, then it was something more serious like a broken knob. But regardless of the issue, I had always volunteered to go over and fix things. It was nice to see that some things never really change.
A chuckle rumbled through my chest. “Yeah, I’ll be right there,” I told her.
I heard another aggravated huff before the call ended. With my shoes still on my feet, all I needed was to grab my toolbox and keys.
I make sure to lock the door behind before heading across the path between our homes. Heading up to the front door, I stopped for a brief moment to find that the door was completely unlocked.
I hissed under my breath at such a careless misstep. How could she possibly forget to lock the door once she walked inside?
Nonetheless, I pushed my irritation aside and walked through the door, making sure to close the door and turn the lock over. I quietly headed up the stairs and turned in the direction of the bathroom. I heard muffled shuffling on the landing up ahead while keeping my head down.
“You really need to lock the door behind you,” I said firmly.
A soft, feminine voice spoke out. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
I slowly lifted my head up from the floor to find Caterina standing at the end of the hallway. She was dripping wet. Her hair still had some suds bubbling through. And all that covered her was a skimpy towel.
As all the blood in my body headed toward one direct place, my mind was wiped blank. The air was torn from my lungs and there were only two words that repeated brokenly in my head.
Holy. Shit.
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*Caterina*
I heard Elio before I watched him ascend the staircase. The sound of his heavy footsteps hitting the floor caused my nerves to coil. With each step he took, my stomach clenched and my heart slammed in my ribcage.
His hair was still slightly slicked back from before. Now it was just a tad more relaxed, and his clothes were a bit rumpled.
He looked relatively relaxed and perhaps a little amused….
The corner of his mouth was curved upward. No doubt he was secretly pleased at the fact that I chose to call him to help me with my shower. After the unexpected—and slightly embarrassing—moment at the club, it irked me beyond comprehension that I was the one who needed to reach out to him.
Oh, how my anger was still fizzling throughout my body. My hands were tingling from having clenched them so tightly before.
My head was killing me as my mind continuously jumped between two different moments.
One was Elio looking fierce and borderline pissed off at the club. And the second was the indescribable way Elio had looked at me before I went into the house. Those smoldering eyes of his had changed from intense vexation to absolute carnality.
‘Stop it, Cat,’ I thought to myself. ‘There’s no way in hell that Elio would ever think of you that way.’
“Oh, believe me. I am fully aware of just how grown up you’ve become….”
Elio’s words paired with that rousing look in his eyes had sent my mind reeling in several different directions. It was as though I could feel his eyes raking over my body, and not in a bad way.
Then again, it was most likely that I was overthinking the situation. Granted, I could have asked what he meant by that remark, but my feet had already made the decision to take me back into the house.
Good god, all I wanted was a hot shower to loosen up my tense muscles and allow me to wash away the aggravation of the evening. But no, life seemed to have other plans in mind.
Anna had been currently chilling out in my room when I tried to turn the handle of my shower on. At first nothing happened. But thankfully the water eventually turned on and I was able to lather up my loofah with fresh smelling shower gel and work the muscles in my arms and legs.
But after about ten minutes, just when I’d gotten to adding shampoo in my hair, the water was no longer coming out of the showerhead but rather the hose it was attached to.
Water was getting everywhere, so I quickly turned the handle to stop the shower and carefully stepped around the small puddles on the floor, my hair still full of suds.
“Great,” I muttered bitterly, “just great.”
Against my better judgment, and my stubborn pride, I had made the call and asked Elio to come over and see if he could fix the problem.
It hadn’t even occurred to me to try to cover myself up better.
And now, Elio was standing at the head of the stairs with his toolbox ready in his hand. He muttered something under his breath about remembering to lock the door, or something.
And I, without a single thought, answered him back.
“I’ll keep that in mind,” I said softly.
Elio’s eyes immediately locked on me. His lips parted as if to speak, but he said nothing. Instead, the man just stood there staring at me.
A million goosebumps broke out over my skin as I watched Elio’s eyes travel down the various curves of my body. My brows raised in disbelief at the earth-shattering thought.
Was Elio attracted to me?
My heart leaped into my throat as I watched his chest continue to expand with large bouts of air. The man was panting.
His lust-blown pupils were partially dilated in shock along with an unanticipated sight of longing… for me?
No. That couldn’t be. There was no possible way that Elio found me even remotely desirable. I was still seen as a child in his eyes. His actions tonight had made that perfectly clear.
Also, I wasn’t exactly in my best state right then. I still had those suds bubbling in my hair and there wasn’t a scratch of makeup on me. I must’ve looked like a total sight.
Denial was hanging heavily in my mind, but I knew what it looked like when a man wanted me. And that was exactly what Elio’s face was telling me.
If that notion were true, I would have taken a few brave steps forward and reached out to him. But a cool, chilly breeze of reality washed over me and snapped me back to my senses.
This was Elio.
I cleared my throat and pulled both of us out of the haze we’d slipped into. Elio snapped back to the present and blinked his eyes a few times while nonchalantly shaking his head. I’d have been lying if I’d said that my heart didn’t skip a beat when I noticed his face turn red for a brief second.
“Uh, yeah. Um… show me what the problem is,” he said roughly.
