This taboo romance read is perfect for some back to school fantasizing. Have you noticed a fine single dad you’d like to slide your number to? Then you’ll love this story about the hot book boyfriend we didn’t know we needed…
You’ll want to read the controversial first chapter of this story early and sign up to my mailing list so you can be the first to know about the launch.
FREE ROMANCE NOVEL EXCERPTS: Hired For The Single Dad
Chapter One
Baby Girl’s Off To College
“Don’t worry, dad,” Minnie assured me, “Jazzlyn can handle babysitting Ryan whenever you need help.”
I hugged my little girl goodbye as she clutched her suitcase. Harvard University. I couldn’t have been prouder of her, but I didn’t want to let her go. Hell, Minnie had been in my life since I was a kid myself. I was only 17 when I had her. She was my reason for everything. As proud as I was, I didn’t want to let her go.
“I’m sure Jazzy is a capable young lady. You’re right. I just… What am I supposed to do without my little girl?”
Minnie shrugged.
“Maybe you could get a girlfriend.”
“Minnie…”
My throat tightened, and my cheeks burned hot. My daughter, like everyone else I knew, had one hell of a problem with me being 35 and single. After what Minnie’s mom put me through, I wasn’t looking for another woman.
“Sorry but someone had to say it. You need to get out there.”
“You need to focus on school. You’re here to play lacrosse, so play lacrosse. And no boys.”
“Daddy, I’m eighteen. You can’t tell me not to date.”
“Like hell I can. I know what it’s like to become a young parent and I don’t want that for you.”
“Geez, you act like I ruined your life.”
“You know I love you, Minnie.”
“Ewwww. Just kidding. I love you too, daddy.”
Minnie hugged me again and lingered this time. I would miss the hell out of my little girl.
“Go out and get ’em champ.”
“Bye!”
I got back in the car and gripped the steering wheel tight. Fuck. I did it. I had a kid at 17 years old and now that little girl would go to college. I liked to think if Crystal could put down the needle for over 6 months at a time, she’d be proud too. Not just of Minnie, but Ryan too. He was already so smart for a five-year-old. The last time Crystal had been clean, she was pregnant with him. Two days after he was born, she disappeared. When she came back five months later, I filed for divorce and never looked back.
She spent eighteen months in prison, then I got full custody, and now she was out and last I heard, somewhere in Los Angeles, thousands of miles away. Luckily, I only lived about an hour’s drive away from Minnie in Boxboro. If she needed me, I’d be there. I’d never let my kids down the way their mom did.
I thought about Crystal and Minnie and how messed up my life turned out until I got to the house. Jazzy’s beat up Honda sat parked in my spot, so I parked curbside at the end of the culdesac and knocked on the door. Jazzy had Ryan sitting on her hip as she opened the door.
“Hey Mister Pickworth!”
Ryan scrambled off her and ran into my arms, hugging me tightly.
“Hey Jazzy, how was he?”
“No problem at all. He just majorly kicked my butt in Candy Land.”
“That’s my boy.”
“Daddy, can I have ice-cream?”
“Not right now, kid. Why don’t you get ready for bath time upstairs? I’ll be right up.”
Ryan ran off and Jazzy leaned in the doorframe. Minnie met her best friend through their school dance team, before she gave up dance to play lacrosse full time. Jazzlyn Rice was a couple years older than my daughter, and she hadn’t gone to college. It wasn’t typical for the kids around here. But what do I know?
“Now be honest, Jazzy, was he good?”
“I love kids, Mister Pickworth. He was great.”
“Uh, please Jazzy, call me Kody.”
“How was Minnie? Did she seem scared?”
“I thought she would push me off campus the second we got there. She’s fine.”
“I’m so happy for her. She deserves to go to Harvard.”
“Yeah. She worked her ass off to get her ACTs high enough. What about you? No college?”
Jazzy snickered.
“No. I… um… I don’t need to go to college. I already have a superb job.”
“Babysitting?”
Jazzy mumbled something indecipherable.
“Jazzy? C’mon. You’re my daughter’s best friend. Talk to me. Every kid your age around here is going to Harvard or Yale, Boston University. Aren’t you even a little interested in college? I know you had the second highest GPA in your year.”
“Mister Pickworth — ”
“Kody. Call me Kody.”
“Kody… I… Can I stay here tonight?”
“What?”
“My parents are super mad at me and they told me I can’t stay at home tonight.”
“Are you serious?”
“Yeah.”
What kind of parents would leave their twenty-year-old daughter out on the streets with nowhere to sleep? What did they expect? For her to sleep in her car?
“What happened? Why could they possibly get so mad?”
“I… I can’t tell you that. You’re Minnie’s dad. It would be weird.”
“C’mon. You can trust me. I’m not a regular dad, I’m a cool dad.”
I felt embarrassed after making that shitty dad joke, but Jazzy laughed. She had those long, waist-length braids, and she pushed them out of her face and walked over to the kitchen counter, leaning over it and pressing her face into her hands. I approached her and put a hand on her back, trying to be supportive. Hey, I was a dad, that shit is in the job description.
“I’m so stupid,” Jazzy whispered, “I’m totally gonna lose this job.”
“What’s wrong? Trust me, Jazzy. You will not lose this job. I need all the help I can get now that Minnie’s away in college.”
“My parents are mad because they found out… I made a sex tape.”
Okay. I didn’t see that coming. Not in a million years. I mean, Jazzlyn’s twenty years old. I know she’s an adult, a legal adult, and she’s… well, fuck. I’ve never thought of her that way before, but if I had to look at her, she’s pretty. She’s a beautiful young lady. And… I’ve been quiet way too long.
“I know… I know… It’s slutty but… I’m still a virgin!”
“Wait… what?”
“It wasn’t like a sex tape with sex. I had these toys and I… well… I performed. For my fans.”
I had to have been beet red by then.
“Jazzy…”
“I’m one of the platform’s top creators. I just hit $15k this month and I never did full nudity before, but I knew I could make a killing so I did it and… someone snitched because my parents found out.”
It was like getting hit by a bus. What the hell were kids up to these days? When I was 20, I was changing diapers and working the night shift so I could afford to keep Minnie in daycare while her mom bled my savings dry to buy more coke and meth.
“Jazzy… Um… I… I shouldn’t have pried into your personal business.”
“Great. You think I’m a slut, don’t you?”
“No! You’re Minnie’s best friend. I don’t think so at all. It’s… uh… it’s not my place to judge.”
“The jig’s up. I’m out of a house to sleep tonight.”
“You can stay here,” I blurted.
“Really?”
“Yeah. You can sleep in Minnie’s room. You’re… you’re like a daughter to me, Jazzlyn. You can stay the night.”
“Wow. I wish my parents were as cool as you, Kody.”
She wrapped her arms around me, but I couldn’t hug her back. I edged away from her quickly and stormed off down the hall to see what the hell was taking Ryan so long. I couldn’t hug Jazzlyn back or stay there a second longer because I was hard. Rock hard.
* * *