Daddy's Girl Ch. 02

Introducing himself he was ticked off on the list and directed out to coach number 6 at the front of the building. After loading his bags, he clambered aboard with Jess and took a seat, smiling briefly to Chloe as she got on the bus with her friends.

"When will we be there daddy?" Jessica asked as the bus pulled away from the airport.

Grinning at the bundle of energy sitting next to him he answered, "When we get there munchkin, but it shouldn't be too long now."

In fact, it was just over forty minutes later that they found themselves checking in at reception and, once they had got the keys, opening the door to their apartment.

"Well, what do you think Jess?" Danny asked his daughter as they stood in the small kitchen cum living space.

Their apartment wasn't especially large but it was clean and tidy with two bedrooms, a bathroom and a small patio with a table and chairs where you could sit during the warm evenings. Excitedly investigating the inside Jessica decided which room was hers and then declared that although it was a bit small it would be ok for the week, making him smile at the way she sounded so much like his mother.

"Let's get unpacked Jess, then we can have a look around."

"I want to go to the swimming pool first daddy."

"Ok. As soon as we're unpacked sweetheart, we'll go and take a look."

That answer seemed to satisfy his daughter even though it took Danny almost an hour to get everything sorted out, especially as Jessica insisted on putting her own clothes away where she wanted them. But finally, they were done and after putting on his own swimming shorts and a t-shirt he did the same for Jess.

Grabbing their beach towels, he took a look at his watch noting it was already way past three o'clock as they made their way down to the pool area.

Finding an empty spot, the two of them spent an hour splashing about in the water before he wrapped his daughter in a towel to head back to their apartment.

With Jessica too excited to take a nap they quickly showered and changed before going out early to eat at a nearby taverna.

They had barely sat down with a drink when Chloe parked herself on the chair next to Danny.

"Hey." She smiled, "Fancy seeing you here."

"Oh, hi Chloe." He replied with surprise while Jess simply looked up and frowned, "How are you settling in?"

"Ok, I guess." The blonde put her hand on his arm and batted her eyelashes suggestively, "You fancy getting that drink then?"

Danny gave her an apathetic smile, "Sorry I can't. Jessica needs to eat and then get to bed, she's exhausted."

"Oh right, maybe later in the week then?" looking disappointed Chloe got up to go.

"Yeah sure, maybe."

With that the blonde went back to join her friends leaving Danny and his daughter to their meal. Then once they were finished, they went straight back to the room so he could get the shattered 3-year-old to bed.

Back at the apartment, with Jess asleep, he made himself a coffee and sat on the patio, listening to cicada's and wondering what he was going to do with his life.

The one thing he was certain of though was that Jessica was his one and only concern from now on.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Gazing out of the plane's window Lucy got her very first view of the Greek island of Crete as they descended over the sea towards Heraklion airport.

It was a new destination for her.

She wasn't much of a traveller, and the idea of going somewhere she hadn't been before filled her with a sense of trepidation. The fact that she was by herself just added to the uncertainty she was feeling about her holiday.

Looking out at the brown sun-baked landscape she found herself trapped in the seat farthest from the aisle while she waited for most of the other passengers to disembark. Then once they had gone, she was able to stand up and retrieve her hand luggage to follow them down the steps and into the terminal building.

However, despite finding herself at the back of the queue at passport control, being one of the last off had one big benefit for Lucy in that it meant the boisterous group of young men were well ahead of her in the line to get through to baggage reclaim.

"It's taking some time, isn't it?" Marjorie, the older woman from the airport complained, "Is it always like this here?"

"Oh I... err... I don't really know." Lucy frowned, "This is my first time here to."

Marjorie sighed wearily, "Well there's not much we can do about it anyway, is there?"

Smiling at her and her husband Lucy silently agreed and shuffled forwards as the queue moved.

It took a while longer but eventually she was able to get her passport stamped and, after collecting her suitcase, make her way out to the coach for the short drive to the apartments.

Climbing up the steps she groaned inwardly when she found the group of young men already seated.

"Come and sit down darlin,"

"There's a seat here."

"Don't be a grouch sweetheart. It's just a bit of fun."

Ignoring the comments Lucy found herself a seat and, staring out of the window, hoped that the lads weren't going to the same apartments as she was.

"So, where you staying then gorgeous?"

As the driver started the engine and pulled away the one called Mark, who had started to pester her at the airport, dropped into the empty seat next to her and leered salaciously at her.

"What....?" She turned to look at him in surprise.

"Where you staying? If I'm gonna take you out for a drink I need to know where you'll be staying."

Thoughts of Annabelle and her advising her to 'get back on the horse' and 'have a holiday fling' sprang to mind and, for a second, she found herself imagining going out with the loud and obnoxious bore next to her.

However, just as quickly, she dismissed the idea from her mind.

"Thank you for the offer but I don't think so." She said politely but firmly.

"Aww don't be like that. You're on holiday, let your hair down and have some fun sweetheart." She could smell the alcohol on his breath as he leaned closer.

"I'm sure I will but not with you, thanks."

"Suit yourself you stuck up tart." He laughed and got up to stumble back to his own seat much to Lucy's relief.

The remainder of the journey was uneventful apart from Mark calling out that he'd see her later in the week when she went to get off at her stop.

Standing at the reception desk Lucy suddenly felt extremely uncomfortable. When she looked around, she could see that she was the only young single girl while all the others waiting for their keys were older couples.

"Don't worry we'll look after you." Her new friend Marjorie winked at her, noticing her obvious discomfort.

She blushed and smiled, "Is it that apparent that I need looking after then?"

Marjorie smiled and nodded, "Afraid so, and don't forget we need to find you a nice young man."

With that unwanted reassurance Lucy collected her keys and made her way through to her apartment. With two bedrooms it would be bigger than she needed but the late availability deal had been too good to turn down.

Looking around her as she walked through, she couldn't help but notice that, like at the check-in desk, there wasn't anyone her own age around the pool. There were a few families with children dotted in amongst the middle-aged couples but that was all.

She smiled to herself, Annabelle's entreaty for her to have a holiday fling and let her hair down certainly wasn't going to happen here.

Taking her time to unpack Lucy decided that once she was done, she would take a quick nap. It had been an early start and, after all the travelling, she was extremely tired.

Sleeping for longer than she intended, it was dark when she woke up and, feeling ravenous, she hurriedly tidied herself up and changed before walking down to the village to find herself something to eat.

Going in to the first taverna she came to Lucy immediately felt very aware that she was by herself.

She was just about to turn around and walk out when a woman's voice caught her attention.

"Lucy, hello sweetie. Over here, come and join us."

At the other side of the restaurant, she spotted Marjorie and Harry at one of the tables and made her way across to them.

"Hello, how are you two? All settled in?"

"Sit yourself down. You're eating with us." Ignoring her question, the older woman insisted she took a seat and joined them, brushing away her protests and calling a waiter over to order Lucy a drink.

"Oh no, it's ok, I don't want to intrude."

"Nonsense, sit yourself down girl." Marjorie insisted, "We don't mind do we Harry?"

"Not at all sweetheart." Her husband agreed.

Despite her reluctance Lucy had enjoyed talking to the couple at the airport and was extremely grateful not to be eating alone.

Fortunately for her, neither Marjorie or Harry were night owls and a still tired Lucy found herself back in her room by a quarter to ten getting ready for bed.

Chapter 5 - Beginnings

Sleeping in late the following morning Lucy woke to bright sunshine and hurried to shower and dress so she could get down to breakfast.

Slipping into her latest purchase, the blue bikini, she pulled on a simple beach dress over the top and gathered up the things she needed; towel, sun cream and book. Dropping them into a bag, she headed straight to the complex's breakfast room hoping she got there before it closed.

Arriving with a good ten minutes to spare she got herself a coffee and two croissants then took a seat and took her first sip of her latte.

Looking around she could see the room was still half full, mostly with older couples still eating, when she noticed them getting up to leave. He was younger, 6' plus and vaguely familiar while the little girl with him was blonde and probably no more than 4 years old.

Eating her pastries Lucy sat and wondered who they were. If she hadn't seen them prior to today then they looked very much like someone else she had met recently.

But for the life of her she had no idea who.

Once she had finished breakfast Lucy made her way out to the pool and found an empty sunbed. Feeling very self-conscious of being by herself in her skimpy swimwear Lucy took off her dress and laid herself out on her towel. If anyone was watching she was unaware of it as she kept her head down and, as soon as she had retrieved her book, she buried her nose in its pages.

"Hello."

Unaware of how long she had been reading for and oblivious of what was happening around her, she was taken by surprise when a small voice made her jump. Startled she looked up from her book and found herself staring into a pair of big round deep-blue eyes.

"Hello..... what's your name sweetheart?" She sat up and smiled at the cute blonde child she had noticed in the breakfast room, glancing around to look for her parents as she spoke.

"I'm Jessica." The little girl stated seriously, "I'm three and three quarters."

"Well hello Jessica. I'm Lucy. You know three and three quarters is quite grown up."

"Are you on holiday to?"

Lucy laughed and glanced around slightly concerned no one was coming to collect the little girl, "Yes, I'm on holiday to. Are your mummy and daddy around?"

"I don't have a mummy. She's gone to heaven."

"Oh!" Lucy felt a lump tighten in her throat at Jessica's matter-of-fact reply, "What about your daddy poppet?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jessica was up early the next morning and, full of excitement, she was ready to start the day. However, it took Danny a little longer to raise himself, struggling out of bed he took a quick shower and then got the pair of them dressed so they could go to the pool immediately after they had had breakfast.

Settling the two of them at a side table he got himself a coffee and a pastry while Jess decided she wanted an orange juice and a muffin.

Studying the other diners, he was a little disappointed to see that they were mostly older couples, with the occasional family group scattered amongst them. He had hoped there might be other younger children that his daughter could make friends with and he immediately began to wonder if he had made the right choice for Jessica.

"Can we go to the pool now daddy?"

"Mmhhmm.... Just as soon as you finish your breakfast munchkin."

With that Jessica focused her attention on the remains of her muffin eager to finish and get onto the next exciting part of the holiday.

"Good girl," he told her as she drank the last of her juice, "We just have to go back to the room to get our things."

They were on their way back towards the kid's pool when he first noticed her.

The simple fact that she was alone, female and wearing a skimpy blue bikini would have been enough to get his attention. Add to that the fact that she was absolutely stunning only made him stare a second or to longer as he couldn't help but think he knew her from somewhere.

Tearing his eyes away from her he laid out their towels and taking off his t-shirt and Jessica's sundress he settled down to search for her water wings.

"We'll put some sun cream on you and you'll have to wear these whenever you're in the pool...." He started to tell her as he rummaged in the bag.

There was no answer.

Looking around he immediately panicked when he realised his daughter was no longer sitting next to him.

"Jess!"

Jumping up he frantically scanned the area around him, his heart racing, before spotting her standing by the brunette in the blue bikini.

Breathing a sigh of relief, he hurried across to her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Hi I'm sorry if she's....."

Halfway through his apology Danny stopped and stared into the prettiest brownest eyes that he knew he had seen once before.

"It's ok....." looking up at him Lucy returned his gaze, forgetting what she was going to say as her heart rate went through the ceiling.

The pair just stared at each other for several seconds, both unaware of anyone else around them, while Jessica looked between the two of them.

To Danny she was perfection, slim and athletic with long legs. Her long brunette hair framed a pretty face and, even in a pony tail, it obviously hung down to her modest breasts.

Staring back at him Lucy shivered, he was probably the cutest guy she had met in a very long time, Tall, not to muscular and the tattoos on his arms suggested something military to her.

"I'm Danny.... Have we.... met?" he finally managed to speak again.

"Err... maybe...." She answered cautiously, certain they had but not wanting to admit it immediately, "And I'm Lucy."

"Daddy... I want to go in the water." His daughter's voice broke into the moment dragging their attention to her.

"Oh yeah... of course sweetheart but we need to go back and get your water wings. I forgot them."

"Nooooo... I want to stay here." Jessica protested.

"You can't stay here by yourself Jess."

Pouting with annoyance she avoided his offered hand and stepped away.

"I'll keep an eye on her if you like." Lucy interjected, "As long as you don't mind."

"Oh no it's...." Danny started to answer but had barely got out a couple of words before his daughter interrupted him.

"Can I stay with Lucy, please daddy." Jessica pleaded climbing on the sunbed to sit with the young woman.

"Well, there's no one else so if Lucy really doesn't mind...."

"Jessica told me about... her...mother..." Lucy put her hand to her mouth blushing with embarrassment, confessing what the child had told her, she realised she might have said to much.

"No, no... please it's ok. We weren't together, we divorced just after Jess was born." He said matter-of-factly to reassure her.

"But Jessica... her mother...."

"They weren't that close really. Stephanie wasn't the maternal type so Jess spent most of her time with me." For some reason he found himself explaining their situation to a complete stranger.

"Oh, I see." Lucy was saddened by the story about Jessica's mother but at the same time she couldn't help but feel just a little excited by the fact that Danny was, as far as she could tell, single.

"So... if you're sure you don't mind keeping an eye on her Lucy...."

She grinned "I'd love to as long as Jessica doesn't mind."

"Jess?" he looked at his daughter as she smiled and clambered onto Lucy's lap.

"Guess I'll see you in a minute." He shrugged and headed back to get the missing water wings.

Returning a few minutes later Danny began to panic again when he saw the empty sunbed, albeit that Lucy's towel and book were still on it. Glancing worriedly around he found the pair of them almost immediately, standing in the paddling pool where Jessica was talking excitedly to Lucy as they held hands.

For a moment he stood and just watched as the two of them splashed and laughed, savouring the sight of his daughter enjoying herself.

"Water wings." He called as he joined them, blowing them up before putting them on her arms.

"Sorry." Lucy apologised, "We were just making friends."

"No problem."

Leaving Jessica to play in the water the two adults sat on the edge to keep an eye on her.

"The department store. That's where I saw you." Danny suddenly blurted out making Lucy chuckle.

"Took you a while to realise." She laughed, throwing her head back, her smile sending a tremor of desire through Danny.

"Sorry." He gave her a sheepish grin, "But you didn't have a blue bikini then."

"No, I didn't." Lucy giggled girlishly, "I'm glad to see you were obviously paying attention."

Chatting easily, they sat for around an hour, occasionally getting up to play with Jess, before Danny called his daughter over and announced they would have to go.

"I need to go for a bit. I need to get some stuff at the supermarket, for Jess."

"Noooo.... daddy I want to stay." She immediately protested with an annoyed expression on her face.

"Jess could stay with me. If you trust me to look after her, that is?" Lucy suggested.

"I wanna stay with Lucy." Jessica went to stand next to the brunette, taking hold of her hand, and they both looked at him with big pleading eyes.

"Ok, ok." He laughed and immediately surrendered knowing he wasn't going to win, "I give in but she needs some sun cream on her."

"I can do that." Lucy affirmed.

"It's in our bag." Danny informed her before turning to his daughter, "And you be a good girl, ok?"

Jess nodded seriously, "I promise I will daddy."

Looking at the pair of them for a moment he paused and then, as if finally reaching a decision, he got up and went off to the local shop.

It took a bit longer than he originally thought and nearly an hour had gone by when he finally got back, taking his supermarket purchases back to the room before returning to the pool. He immediately found his daughter, with Lucy, playing happily in the paddling pool.

"Thanks for that." He announced his return, sitting down next to her, "Has she been ok?"

"She's been an angel." Lucy said and then blushed at the reference to heaven.

"Can I buy you a drink as a reward."

His offer made her heart skip a beat as she shyly accepted and, recovering Jess from her watery playground, they headed off to the pool bar.

"What can I get you?" He asked the skimpily dressed brunette.

"Just a cold beer would be fine."

Lowering her lashes, she gazed at him with more than a hint of interest while he kept glancing back at her.

Ordering two beers and a juice for Jessica the three of them found a table where, much to Danny's surprise, Jess climbed straight up onto Lucy's lap.

"Jess." Her father looked disapprovingly at her.

"She's fine, I really don't mind." Lucy told him giving an unprotesting child a cuddle.

Spending the remainder of the day together seemed so natural to both of them. They got on really well and it was obvious to Danny that his daughter absolutely adored Lucy. He even found that she had insisted on moving their sunbed's together while he had been gone.