Shameless

They say we should be careful what we wish for.

When the town falls asleep and I have my dogs and the yawning silence of the big house for company, I dare to dream.

I imagine the impossible — a beautiful woman and children to share my world with.

A promise. A woman at the bar. She looks expensive, skies above my league.

I take the first step. We end up at the back of the bar.

The night is the perfect backdrop.

Her sucking sounds the fitting soundtrack.

The last time I saw Olivia Lee-Sterling she was six years old and the cutest little thing with her gap-toothed smile and the pink bow in her hair.

Now? She has mouth-watering curves and hauntingly beautiful eyes..

My attraction to her sidles through the cracks in the wall of ice around my heart — dark, unexpected and powerful.

I’ve made a career out of being alone. I didn’t want to fall in love with her.

I am twenty years her senior, and she is my ex-stepdaughter.