A Forbidden Tryst (A Taboo Tale #1) by Violet Williams

Chapter One
    A Guilty Conscience
     
    “ No car this weekend,”
Davis Kensington snapped, eyeing his stepdaughter with
disappointment.
    Jess barely even flinched as she eased into
the cushy chair beside him, pouring herself a glass of orange
juice.
    “ And I want you home by
eight p.m. Your last class ends at seven and Creighton State is
only fifteen minutes from here.”
    His only response was a perfect eye roll as
she took a sip of juice.
    “ I mean it Jess,” he said
adamantly.
    “ I was only out like, an
hour past curfew,” she said saucily. “It’s not a state of emergency
or anything.”
    “ Just because your mom’s
not around doesn’t mean this is party central,” Davis said through
clenched teeth. “You were supposed to be home at 1am. Not 1:05, and
certainly not 2:30.”
    Jess flipped her blonde hair over her bare
shoulder and let out an annoyed sigh. “You’re so adorable when you
play daddy.”
    Davis’ cheeks were warm as he glanced at
Toshi, the maid that was stocking the dishwasher a few feet away.
If she heard the overtly sexual tone in Jess voice, she had one
hell of a poker face. Toshi just kept her head bowed, continuing to
load the dishes.
    When Davis had brought Claudia and Jess to
the corporate retreat last summer, his associates had barely hidden
their lust as their eyes roamed Jess’s scantily covered curves.
She’d worn a paper thin white linen dress that left very little to
the imagination that day. Davis had fought Claudia tooth and nail,
knowing he’d be in for an earful on how scrumptious his
stepdaughter looked. Claudia had just laughed, her brilliant blue
eyes sparkling as she reminded him that Jess was almost eighteen
and old enough to express herself as she deemed fit.
    And what Jess deemed fit was practically
nothing at all. Davis took a hearty bite of his toast, remembering
the barely there number she’d worn in the ER while they waited to
hear news after Claudia’s wreck. When the doctor came out with a
grave look on her face, he’d had to use his jacket to cover Jess as
she fell to the floor, her sobs echoing through his heart.
    Davis could have walked away from it all with
a clear conscience. He and Claudia had only been married for a year
after all. He’d had no real connection to Claudia seeing as she was
practically an adult when she and her mother moved in. But his
heart just wouldn’t let him…and his head reminded him daily that it
was a mistake.
    Jess was headstrong, and as far as he could
tell, had aspirations to become the next Paris Hilton. She only
went to the classes she felt like when her mother was alive and
now, he was lucky if she went to one a week.
    But whenever he looked into Jess’s eyes,
Claudia's eyes, he knew that as frustrating as she was at times, he
couldn't refuse her a thing.
    He glanced over at her, blonde hair creating
a golden curtain as she typed away on her cell.
    "I'm not kidding about the car," Davis added
futilely. "To school and home and nowhere else."
    Jess didn't look up from
her phone, but a mischievous smirk spread across her face. "What're
you gonna do if I disobey you, daddy ? Spank me?"
    His throat went dry at her brazen statement
and his mind drifted back to that night they’d spent together.
Davis had spent most of the days after Claudia's funeral lumbering
about like a zombie. His usually sleek, tailored face was harried
and in desperate need for a shave. His toned body remembered the
feel of the machines in the gym, but it had been weeks since he'd
even done a crunch. What little work he accomplished for the firm
was done from bed, if at all.
    That night, he'd been just lying in the
tangle of covers, letting his grief keep him warm. He could still
smell Claudia's perfume that hung over the bed in a velvet haze.
He'd closed his eyes and inhaled deep...and when he opened then,
Jess stood at the foot of the bed.
    Her lithe figure was on full display. She
only wore a fire engine red lace bra and panties that left