Seductive Scientist Daddy by Scott Wylder
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Lily
The next few days were wonderful. During the day, we would put up the boom barrier and at night, I would cuddle with my Daddy, while he read me a story. I had never considered calling a significant other my Daddy before, but I enjoyed it. Evan made me feel safe and protected and the term just fit him.
The night after we finished putting up the boom barrier, I collapsed in front of the campfire, exhausted. Evan knelt beside me and pulled me into his lap. “How are you feeling, Little One?”
“My arms feel dead,” I said. “Like super-dead.”
His strong hands went to my arms and he started massaging my sore muscles. I moaned and slowly relaxed. He kissed the top of my head. “Good girl.”
I smiled. “What are we going to do when we go back?”
“Luckily, we don’t have to worry about that for another week, but, it’s up to you. As your Daddy, it’s my job to make you feel safe and comfy. I understand if you want to end things and keep it professional. Or if you want to leave your internship and never see me again.”
The thought of that was unbearable. “No, I want to stay with you. Please, Daddy. I want to be yours.”
He rubbed my back and kissed me. “Shh, Little One. You are mine and I’m yours. I’m not going anywhere. I just want you to know I understand if you wanted to end things.”
I shook my head. “I want to stay with you forever, Daddy.”
He smiled. “Good. I want to stay with you forever too, Little One.” He stood up and picked me up. “Come on, we should both get some sleep.”
I pouted. “I wanted more of the story.”
“We have a big day tomorrow, Little One. We’re going to start cleaning the lake. We both need a good night’s sleep.”
“Okay, Daddy.”
He set me gently into the sleeping bag in my tent before getting in himself. We had zipped our sleeping bags together so we could cuddle at night. He grabbed one of my stuffies and placed it in my arms. I hugged it to my chest and he smiled as he wrapped his arms around me. “Good night, Little One,” he said.
“Goodnight, Daddy.” I love you.
The next morning, Evan pulled the canoe out of the trailer and hooked up the trash skimmers. They looked like two trash cans with fine metal netting on the end. They were designed to strain trash and debris out of polluted lakes. We had determined that even though there was some plant life, the water was too polluted for fish, so we didn’t have to worry about them getting caught in the contraptions. “These are a lot smaller than the trash skimmers I saw in my textbook,” I said as I watched him hook them up to the canoe.
“They are small,” he said. “But, if they were any bigger, we’d need a bigger boat. Luckily the lake is small, so it’s doable.”
I smiled and nodded. I was excited finally to be cleaning up Crystal Lake. Taking samples and isolating the pollution was important, but this was going to be satisfying, even if it was just the beginning of restoring Crystal Lake to its former glory.
Together, the two of us got into the canoe and paddled out into the lake with the skimmers trailing behind us in the water. The stench of the lake wafted up and I wrinkled my nose. Even after spending a week here, I couldn’t get used to the smell.
Evan taught me how to wield the paddles. Despite the dirty lake, it was a lot of fun to canoe for the first time. My arms burned. They were so sore from setting up the boom and canoeing was just making them worse.
After a couple of hours, the sky started getting dark and the wind picked up. I shivered.
Evan looked up at the overcast sky. “It looks like it might rain. We should head back.”
We were in the middle of the lake and we needed to turn back in the direction of the campsite. “Okay,” he said. “Put the paddle on your right side while I do it on my left. That’ll turn us around to go to the campsite.”
I nodded. “Okay.” With the wind moving the water, the boat was a lot more unsteady. Anxiety hit me as it jolted back and forth. I tried to put the paddle into the water as he told me to, but I put it back too far and it hit one of the trash skimmers. The canoe started wobbling back and forth.
Evan’s eyes widened. “Steady, steady—”
Suddenly, the canoe flipped over and his words were lost.
Panic seized me as I was plunged into the disgusting water. I kicked upwards, trying to get above the water, but the canoe was in the way. Water was filling my nose and my arms were burning as I thrashed around, trying to get up. Then one of the trash skimmers hit me in the head and everything went black.
