Read Online Unmasked (New Adult Romance) (The Unmasked Series) by Anya Karin - Free Book Online Page B

stared straight ahead. A thousand questions circled in
his head, but the most important of them revolved around how Preston Webb could
have known anything about his daughter at all, and what he might want with her.
    He shook his head to clear his thoughts and then
called up to Alyssa.
    "Hey, what's up?" She said, sticking her head
around the opening of the stairwell. "Did you call me? You look like you
saw...er...Dracula."
    "Actually, I kinda feel like I did. I hope you
don't mind, Lyssie, but I think I just made a date for you."
    "You did what? Does anyone know I'm in town
besides the people at the school and the gym? Does anyone my age even live
around here anymore?" She laughed, thinking about it and realizing no, probably
not.
    Her dad opened his mouth, and it just hung there.
    "Well, not the same age. I think he's a few years
older. Five maybe? Ten? I'm not sure, exactly."
    "What did you do, daddy?" Lys stepped out of the
stairwell into the living room and crossed to the couch where her father lay.
"What aren't you telling me?"
    "Nothing dear. It was all really sudden."
    "Well who is it? Who have you got me blind dating?
Last time I did one of these, I ended up with the guy for a year and a half."
    "Blind date is actually a pretty apt way to
describe it. I don't know how to tell you this Lyssie, but I think I just set
you up with Preston Webb."
    Her eyes got so big that a doe would say she had
Alyssa eyes.
    "I...thanks!"
    By the time he turned to respond, Alyssa had
vanished back up the stairs.
    ––––––––
    "Is he here? Is that what that noise is outside? Was
that the car?" Alyssa was absolutely jiggling with excitement.
    When she popped downstairs for the eighteenth time
in three hours, her dad was seated on the couch with a beer and a bag of
popcorn and had turned his chair to the stairwell.
    "What are you doing?"
    "This is better than any TV show I've ever seen,"
he said, grinning.
    "Oh shut up!" she tossed one of her rolled up
socks at him, which bounced squarely off his head.
    "Hey!"
    "So was it? Was that his car?"
    "No, no, he'll be here at exactly eight. And when
I say exactly, I mean it. He's never once been early, never once been late.
What are you so excited for? You don't even know the guy."
    "I can't really say to be totally honest. But – oh
boy this is gonna sound stupid."
    "Out with it, woman," he laughed, "I've admitted
all manner of horrible things to you over the years. Hell, just last night I
wept at you about your letter. There's no need for getting all ashamed of
something with me."
    "I know. It's just kinda weird to say out loud
what's been running through my head."
    "Don't feel like you have to say something if you
don't want to, just know that if you want, I'll listen to anything."
    "That's why you're the best daddy ever," Lys said
as she crossed the room and sat down on the couch next to her dad. "Well, okay
here goes." She took a deep breath. "I've never been pursued before. A – And
I'm really, really lonely. Ever since Bret and I broke it off, it's like
there's been this hole in my chest."
    "Pursued? Like by a man? You? What about Bret?"
    "Nope," she shook her head. "Not even Bret. He was
so shy when we got together that I made all the moves. Well most of them
anyway. He would barely hold my hand unless I grabbed his first. Then back in
high school it was the same thing. I had a couple boyfriends – Drake and Paul –
but yeah, I made all the moves."
    "Why do you think that is? Do ya scare 'em?" He
laughed, but only a little.
    "I don't know. Maybe." She looked at her arms, her
legs. They were big. Not huge, but still, she was a strong girl and always had
been. The first order of business she took up when she moved back was getting
set up at the gym. "Do you think that's it? I don't think I'm big enough to be
scary or anything."
    "You know how boys are, right? Easy to intimidate
and everything? If they perceive anything as even the remotest of remote
threats, they shut down no