Crushing On My Dad's Best Friend: A Steamy Standalone Instalove Romance Read online

  CONTENTS

  Crushing on My Dad's Best Friend

  NEWSLETTER

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Epilogue

  Extended Epilogue

  Extended Epilogue

  NEWSLETTER

  A MAN WHO KNOWS WHAT HE WANTS

  BRATVA BEAR SHIFTERS

  LAIRDS & LADIES

  RUSSIAN UNDERWORLD

  IRISH WOLF SHIFTERS

  INKED BY LOVE

  Collaborations

  About the Author

  CRUSHING ON MY DAD'S BEST FRIEND

  AN OLDER MAN YOUNGER WOMAN ROMANCE

  _______________________

  A MAN WHO KNOWS WHAT HE WANTS, 304

  FLORA FERRARI

  Copyright © 2022 by Flora Ferrari

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  The following story contains mature themes, strong language and sexual situations. It is intended for mature readers.

  CRUSHING ON MY DAD'S BEST FRIEND

  May

  How could something that feels so right be so wrong?

  My Dad’s best friend.

  I mean. I don’t think it’s wrong, but I don’t know if he feels the same way.

  I guess I should start at the beginning….

  Before graduation, I thought the funny feelings I got whenever I thought about my Dad’s bestie were just a crush.

  Innocent enough and no surprise if you’ve ever seen Brandon.

  The man’s a god.

  But what I think I hear him tell me the day I graduate shocks me to the core. And my little crush turns into a maddening obsession as I begin to wonder.

  Did he really say what I think he said as he hugged me in congratulations?

  Six months later, and today will be the first time he lays eyes on me since that day. And I just know I didn’t imagine things.

  At least, I hope I didn’t.

  He’s gonna be coming to town, staying for a bit. I can’t wait, and neither can my Dad.

  But both of us want to see Brandon, but for very different reasons.

  I mean, a crush on my Dad’s best friend is one thing. But actually, falling for him?

  It’s okay, I tell myself.

  It’ll only be for a day or two. It’s not like the guy’s moving next door or anything.

  Right?

  Brandon

  Steve’s only daughter graduated from college. My god, how time flies.

  I used to bounce her on my knee, but with my growing security business, I moved away from the sleepy little town we both grew up in.

  I only saw him and his daughter whenever I wasn’t working, which wasn’t very often, and when we did catch up, May usually stayed with friends.

  So when I make a point of being there for her college graduation, for Steve’s and May’s sake, I have to pick my jaw up off the floor.

  Little May’s all grown up now.

  And that dress she wears under her gown shows me that she’s not a kid anymore.

  It’s like she’s a totally different person.

  An adult, even though she is half my age.

  But Jesus. That figure and that dress.

  And when it’s my turn to give her a congratulatory hug.

  I can’t help myself.

  I tell her something I probably shouldn’t. But the way she looks and feels when I do say it.

  I just know that she’s gotta be mine.

  I don’t know how and I definitely don’t know when. But I’d crawl on broken glass for a year just to have her in my arms one more time.

  So when the place right next door to my best buddy Steve is up for sale, it’s a no-brainer.

  I’m moving cross country.

  Simple.

  Right?

  It all just happens so fast. My original plan to go slow and take my time with May is blown right out of the water.

  It catches both of us by surprise but in the best possible way.

  And to make matters more complicated, it means I’ll have to keep everything from the only person I’ve ever really trusted.

  My best friend. May’s dad, Steve, my best friend.

  I don’t want to have to choose between them, because it’d be the easiest decision I’d ever have to make.

  Sorry, Steve.

  But I think that daughter of yours belongs to me now.

  * Crushing on My Dad's Best Friend is an insta-everything standalone instalove romance with a HEA, no cheating, and no cliffhanger.

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  CHAPTER ONE

  May

  Passing the house next to ours, I notice the real estate agent carefully pressing the ‘SOLD’ banner over the for sale sign.

  The sign looks almost as weathered as the house by now, and I feel myself frown. My brows are raised with a weird satisfaction that someone’s finally bought the old place.

  Letting myself in the front door of our own house, I toss my keys and bag on the table in the hall and open my mouth to call out to my Dad.

  I let him know I’m home and tell him what I’ve just seen. But my mouth hangs open, silent.

  I’m unable to make a sound once I hear a familiar voice and my Dad’s coming from his home office.

  Dad’s on a video call with his best friend, Brandon.

  And before I even crane my neck around the door to catch a glimpse of his perfect body filling the big screen I know Dad uses, I feel an equally familiar shiver deep inside me.

  See, anything to do with Dad’s bestie, Brandon, drives me wild. The sight or sound of him or the simple mention of his name.

  I just turn into a wet freaking puddle.

  Like, literally and instantly.

  The man’s a god.

  Gripping the doorway for support, I swallow hard when I hear Brandon’s deep, confident tone in conversation with my Dad long before I set eyes on him.

  Taking a second, I do my best to pull myself together, forcing my mouth into a tight smile. I swing my head into the room and try extra hard to sound normal.

  “Hey, Dad. Hey… Brandon,” I squeak, stifling a sigh at the sound of his name on my lips.

  So quiet, I’m sure neither of them really hears me. But before my Dad even turns in his seat, Brandon’s eyes have already locked onto me.

  Whatever he was in the middle of saying to my Dad is suddenly interrupted by yours truly.

  I feel my face getting hot as I flush deep red
, Brandon’s dark and penetrating eyes settling on my chest before he grunts a low sound of greeting.

  I try to look down out of habit. But it’s like trying not to look at the most beautiful, perfect thing in the whole world.

  Jesus, I swear he gets hotter every time I see him.

  It’s the same brooding look he gave me the last time I saw him, the day I graduated from college late last year.

  And it’s the same look from Brandon that sees my Dad have the same reaction he had that day, too.

  He does a quick double-take, sidelong glance at his best friend before swinging himself around in his seat.

  “Hiya, sweetie, just talking to Brandon,” he begins, but noticing my undeniable reaction, Dad asks me if I’m okay.

  “Honey?” he asks me a second time when I get tongue-tied for the third time in as many seconds.

  Brandon’s eyes narrow, and his jaw tightens when that seemingly endless gaze of his starts to scan me, head to toe.

  I feel my fingers scratching at the door frame, watching Brandon’s huge Adam’s apple bob and pulse as he swallows hard, too.

  Dad’s nervous chuckle breaks the long silence, and figuring I must just be in another of my ‘moods,’ he swings back around to Brandon, commenting on his best friend’s expression.

  “What is it with you two?” he asks his bestie, forcing a dry laugh.

  “Seems like you two gotta dirty secret or something,” Dad adds, his tone shifting from half-joking to serious in a second.

  Brandon doesn’t even seem to hear my Dad, and with his eyes still on me, I watch his perfect mouth curl into a smile.

  His perfect gleaming white teeth peek through those lips, and that dimple he gets on his stubbled cheek whenever he smiles is still adorable.

  His whole expression shifts once he senses my Dad’s suspicion, but I still can’t join the dots myself about how or even why Brandon’s been giving me the look since graduation.

  It was supposed to be the most important day of my life because I had finished college.

  But with Brandon there, the way he looked at me. And finally, when he hugged me in congratulations….

  Well. That day is etched in my mind forever for a whole bunch of other reasons now. And all of them put together spell one word.

  Brandon.

  He’s a huge guy and all muscle. At the time, I thought him grabbing me so hard after I got my diploma was just him being caught up in the moment.

  But when I felt his whole hard body pressing right into mine as he leaned down, I knew it wasn’t your regular type of hug.

  “I’m so proud of you, May,” he whispered in my ear. And although I didn’t hear what he said next as clearly, I’m certain he said something else that day.

  “…You feel so fucking good….”

  At least, that’s what I’ve been telling myself he said.

  I remember looking up into those big brown eyes, the same look he’s giving me now, and thinking the same thing.

  How on god’s green earth could an older, dangerously hot guy like Brandon be remotely interested in someone like me?

  Apart from being my dad’s best friend, he’s more than twice my age and lives on the other side of the country.

  Plus, there’s the small matter of me not exactly being ‘catch’ material.

  I’m five-one, and I don’t even wanna say how many pounds heavier than even the plainest, thick-looking girls I am.

  But I have replayed that scene in my mind every day since, and try as I might, there’s just no denying my secret crush on the man.

  That all started way before I even went to college. But at the time, I had no idea what I felt for Brandon.

  I just knew it felt good, and I still feel the same way now. As nervous and shy as being around him makes me, there’s no denying the other effect he has on me either.

  Like, wanting to lay back and beg him to do things to me that his best friend’s daughter probably really shouldn’t.

  I haven’t seen Brandon since that day, but he still looks just as handsome and more in shape than ever.

  And once I get the same look from him today, once my dad even voices his suspicions jokingly, I know that Brandon remembers that day too. That look in his eyes is the same as it was that moment he grabbed me.

  The most favorite moment of my entire life so far, by the way.

  “Well, I guess I do kinda have a surprise,” Brandon rasps, keeping his eyes on mine and letting out a low laugh for my dad’s benefit.

  Dad doesn’t see, but Brandon shoots me a sly little wink, and I watch dad’s shoulders relax.

  He’s happy to hear he’s not imagining things, and probably double-happy once he hears Brandon’s news.

  “I’m coming to town,” he announces enthusiastically, and I feel the pit of my stomach drop.

  Brandon…here? Oh my god.

  Dad whoops loudly, raising both his hands in the air, “About time, buddy! I knew you were keeping something from me,” he adds, turning to look at me again.

  “You knew about this?” he asks me, creasing his brow with a little confusion.

  “You knew Big B was coming to town, didn’t you?” Dad asks me again, finally grinning like a kid at the news.

  Smiling like a dad who’s put the idea of his best friend eyeing his only daughter right out of his mind.

  And I catch a sly grin on Brandon’s face as he saves me.

  “Oh, I said I might be visiting, May didn’t know exactly when I was coming for sure,” he explains to my dad.

  But once Brandon fibs to my dad, telling him I knew he was coming to town, even though I had no idea he was, he winks at me with his deep brown eyes. I know I’m in more trouble than I thought. And it’s the best kind of trouble.

  An instant and secret pact between Brandon and me was sealed in a second with a single glance. One little wink from him, and I get a flutter in my chest, and a freaking tidal wave in my panties as the thought of seeing him again registers in my brain.

  I’m committed now. Brandon’s lying to his best friend to cover us both, but at least it’s taking the focus off the way he’s been looking at me.

  “Brandon called last week,” I lie. Figuring if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.

  “…Must’ve slipped my mind to tell you,” I explain to my dad.

  Brandon’s low growl of contentment as he leans back, making his leather chair creak, tells me that he approves of my little white lie.

  Dad’s so over the moon to hear his best friend is finally coming to town, it’s enough for him to forget about even scolding me for not telling him Brandon called.

  But he didn’t call. And why is Brandon being so secretive?

  A surprise visit’s one thing, but the way he’s looking at me? The way he’s making me feel is giving my crush on the man a run for its money.

  “When ya coming out?” My dad asks all his attention on Brandon.

  “Uh…. Tomorrow. In the morning,” Brandon says quickly after thinking for a moment, shifting his eyes from my dad back to me.

  “Tomorrow?” My dad groans but then chuckles. “Some notice might’ve been good, but hell, it’ll be good to see ya, buddy.”

  “Listen. I’ve got something booked I can’t put off tomorrow, maybe May could pick you up?” Dad suggests, craning his neck toward me.

  I hear a strange sound somewhere behind me, but it is me.

  A kind of mewing sound that I know Brandon catches, making him smile wider.

  “Sounds perfect,” he says before I even have time to think about it.

  “Sweetie?” My dad asks, tilting his head. Looking a little sheepish now that he’s spoken for me without even asking if I’m free.

  But I can only watch as the room starts to jump up and down, moving in time with the furious pumping of my head as I nod.

  “Of course!” I practically squeal, sounding like I know what I’m doing. As if I really did know Brandon was coming.

  “Perfect!” Dad sighs, and after
promising him again that they’ll have plenty of time to catch up, he ends his conversation, vowing to see his best friend tomorrow.

  “I’ll be there in the morning,” Brandon says in his trademark deep voice, making sure he locks eyes on me one last time before he goes.

  “I’ll text you my flight’s ETA when I have it, Steve, and you might just be seeing a lot more of me too from now on,” he adds cryptically before ending the call.

  Dad gives me a quizzing look, and I can only shrug. I assure him I really have no idea what Brandon means because I don’t.

  The idea of seeing Brandon again, though. Seeing ‘a lot more’ of Brandon is enough to make my knees weak, and I have to excuse myself to go to my room.

  I need to change my underwear first before I get lost in sorting through my meager wardrobe, trying to decide what to wear for tomorrow.

  As nervous as it all makes me and as confused as I am about how Brandon feels about me, tomorrow can’t come fast enough.

  And I forgot to tell Dad about the house next door being sold too.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Brandon

  I can’t believe it's been almost six months since I saw May last. It’s definitely been the longest six months of my life.

  The day she graduated, that was the first time I’d seen May in person for over three years before that, and Jesus, it was really like seeing her for the first time.

  Like, she really is all grown up now.