Playing Around with the Girl Dad

By Kameron Claire

He's a single dad. She his best friend's younger sister and suffers from foot-in-mouth disease. Can they manage their attraction and a precocious six-year-old who wants to play cupid?

Lilly: I can't believe I asked him if he was the DILF!?!?! Anyone who knows me knows I suffer from foot-in-mouth disease, but this gaffe is next level. He's shocked, I'm embarrassed, my sister's mortified, and my brother-in-law is rolling around on the ground laughing his butt off. But the more I get to know Robert—now that I know what a DILF is—I'm thinking my first impression was correct, and he's definitely a dad I'd like to, well, you know.

 

Robert: I can't get involved with a woman when I have an impressionable little girl at home who is my everything. But Lilly isn't only my best friend's sister, she's the first woman I can't seem to resist. Can I risk my heart to her and protect my little girl at the same time?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Snuggle Whore Press, LLC
• Release date: Jun 24, 2021
• ISBN: 9798215275016

Kameron Claire

USA Today Bestselling Author Kameron Claire loves building worlds where heroes and heroines push, pull, and fight their way to the love and happiness they deserve. She writes full length and short, steamy romance with an emphasis on strong female characters—often in male-dominated roles—and the alpha men who know how to love and support kick-ass, take-charge women.  While she may not need him to save her, she wants him to love, support, and most of all, RAVISH her. ** Get up to date information and freebies as a newsletter subscriber: www.kameronclaire.com/newsletter ** Reach out and chat with her anytime on Facebook at www.facebook.com/kameronclaireauthor

Book preview

1

ROBERT

I’m not sure how I got roped into coaching toddler soccer, but this one-hour every Tuesday and Thursday are the highlights of my week. It’s one thing to watch my little girl run with reckless abandon up and down the field, glimpses of her personality shining through as she grows more confident and outgoing with each passing week, but add in the rest of these kids and their crazy antics, and I have the best stories for the water cooler in the morning.

It’s sad, but people at work think I’m a super dad because I like hanging out with my little girl.

I’m not so much a coach in this environment as I am a chaos coordinator. It’s me and my best friend Ryan managing the pack today, and of the dozen four to six-year-old kids on the field, half are chasing after the ball while the other half are involved in a host of other fascinating activities.

Bradley, I call to the goalie who has been alone on his end of the field for most of the hour. Don’t hang on the net, buddy. Remember what happened last time? These nets are not permanent and flip over easily, as the forty-pound five-year-old learned two weeks ago.

Julia, honey, you have to chase after the ball, an enthusiastic mom calls out to her daughter, who is practicing her somersaults in the middle of the field.

My daughter Cara is chasing after the ball, but she’s also dragging Ryan’s son Tyler along with her wherever she goes. She told me last week that Tyler was her boyfriend, and they’re getting married next year. I’ve been meaning to talk to Ryan about this because somehow Cara got the idea that I need time to save up for her wedding. I sure would like to know who is putting these ideas in her head, but I’m betting its Linda, Ryan’s wife.

We’ve known each other since college. Ryan and I were roommates, and we competed for internships at Sarian Technologies, the company we still work for today. Linda was Ryan’s college girlfriend, and she was roommates with my now ex-wife, Madeline.

When we graduated from college, our lives appeared to be picture perfect. The four of us had good-paying jobs—white collar business types—and money was never a problem. Ryan and Linda got married three months after Madeline and I did, bought a house three blocks away from ours, and the four of us hung out every weekend playing golf, having BBQs, hosting game nights, and lounging around the community pool. Together, we took tropical vacations in the spring and ski chateau getaways in the winter.

Simply put, as a couple of dinks—dual income, no kids—the four of us had a blast. And why wouldn’t we? We were two young couples with plenty of money coming in and no responsibilities outside of climbing the corporate ladder, which Madeline was primed to do faster than the rest of us.

She’d always been the most motivated, and in the beginning, I applauded her drive and ambition, supporting everything she wanted to do. Even after she got pregnant, an accident at the time, we agreed that while some adjustments had to be made, having a baby didn’t have to change our career plans.

We agreed we’d figure it out together.

The day Madeline gave birth to Cara was the happiest day of my life. Sure, we were about three years early on our plan, but once I held my little girl in my hands, nothing else mattered. I knew I’d make any sacrifice required to give Cara everything her little heart desires.

Madeline tried at first—I have to believe she tried. She cut her eight weeks of maternity leave short, and we brought a nanny into the house so she could go back to work at the six-week mark. Initially, she pumped during the day, but that didn’t last long because - in her words - it wasn’t worth missing important meetings and at four months old, Cara was old enough to go on formula.

I didn’t agree, but it wasn’t my body to argue about. Still, I should have seen that as the beginning of the end. Slowly, Madeline worked later hours, sometimes not coming home until well after Cara was asleep. And then there was the working over the weekends just this one time to get this or that done to ensure her next promotion. But when Madeline ducked out of Cara’s first birthday party—which mostly included a one-year-old making a mess of her birthday cake as Ryan, a very pregnant Linda, and I cheered her on—it sealed the fate of our relationship.

Few people can believe it—because what mother would walk away from her child—but that’s what happened. Our competitor offered Madeline an executive promotion on the coast and she took it, never once discussing the job or move with me. She filed for divorce, gave me full, uncontested custody of Cara, and never looked back.

It’s been hard at times, but we make it work, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

A whistle blows, signaling break time, and all the kids run to the sideline.

Ryan walks up beside me. Did you hear?

What’s that? I wave to Bradley, who not only didn’t hear the whistle, but is sitting on the ground playing with what I can only hope is a bug and not something a dog left behind.

"We’ve got company. Linda’s sister is in