Chapter 16
Chapter Sixteen
Stafford opened the passenger door of his truck. Grabbing Blakely around the waist, he lifted her in.
He drew her seatbelt over her and buckled her in. Just like the other time she’d ridden in his truck. Only it felt different this time.
“What’s happening?” she muttered as he tugged at the seatbelt, checking it.
“I’m driving you back home. Where you belong.”
Where she belonged? But it wasn’t her home.
He situated the seatbelt between her breasts, his hand brushing against her nipple. A shiver of arousal ran through her.
“Is something wrong with the seatbelt?” she asked in a slightly breathless voice.
“Just making sure it’s safe,” he said gruffly. “Special cargo.” He shut the door before she could comment.
Special cargo?
She really, really didn’t know what was going on.
Why would he call himself her boyfriend? Why follow her to The Wishing Well and carry her out after threatening Aiden like that?
Had he changed his mind about them being together?
Blakely snuck glances at him as he got in and started up his truck. She couldn’t help but watch his hands as he drove. They were strong and tanned.
Sexy.
“What about my car?” she asked. “Shouldn’t I drive it home?”
“I’ll send someone to get it tomorrow. I don’t want you driving at night.”
Oh.
“You’ve gone quiet. I thought you’d have more questions,” he said. “Or arguments.”
“I don’t really know what to say. I don’t know what’s going on.”
And she was afraid that she’d gotten this all wrong.
Maybe he wanted her back at the ranch because Grandpa Jack needed her.
“Is Grandpa Jack okay?” she asked worriedly. “Should you have left him alone? Does he need me?”
“Grandpa is fine,” he said. “He can stay by himself for a while. That’s not why I came after you.”
“It’s not? Then why?”
“I deserve that,” he said, shaking his head.
“Deserve what?”
“I didn’t come for you for Grandpa Jack. I came for you.”
Stafford could still see that asshole’s hand on hers.
Anger, unlike anything he’d felt before, had filled him and if she hadn’t been sitting right there, he’d likely have punched the other guy.
Fuck. He needed to calm down.
He couldn’t afford to get arrested right now.
But Blakely needed to learn who she belonged to. And belonging to him meant that no other man got to touch her.
Or look at her.
Talk to her.
All right. Perhaps he needed to rein his possessiveness in a bit. He’d make exceptions for some men.
Like Grandpa Jack.
Yeah, Grandpa Jack could talk to her.
“For me?” she whispered.
“Yes. For you. I came to get you because you have no business going to some damn speed-dating night. What were you thinking? You could have met some creep.”
“I could meet a creep anywhere,” she said. “There might have been a creep in the bar or the grocery store. It’s not easy out there, meeting people. Especially when you’re looking for a Daddy. A kind, caring Daddy is hard to find. Although, there’s an unusual number of Daddies here. Must be something in the water. It would be nice to find someone to love me, to put me first, who will take care of me and who I can look after too. Is that wrong?”
Fuck, no.
It wasn’t wrong.
“Do they have to be a Daddy Dom?” he asked.
She sucked in a breath. “I guess not.”
Hmm.
He wasn’t so sure about that. Maybe she’d be happy with someone who wasn’t a Daddy Dom to begin with, but it could become hard to suppress her needs and desires.
Even if she could, it didn’t seem fair to ask her to do that.
Especially when he was starting to wonder if he might enjoy being a Daddy Dom.
He’d been doing some research online and everything he’d read resonated with him.
Stafford hadn’t been certain he could be kind and nurturing enough. That he’d enjoy taking care of a babygirl.
Until Blakely.
He wanted to do all of that with her. To look after her. To dress her. Play with her. Punish her when she was naughty.
Lift her up. Ensure that she knew she was precious and wonderful.
Loved.
“What about a Daddy Dom who is just learning who he really is at the age of forty-two? Would you want to be with someone like that? Someone who can be grouchy and blind. Who can sometimes say the wrong thing because he doesn’t want to be hurt? Who wants to do what is best for you but might not always manage it because he could make mistakes and he’s fucking terrified of making a mistake with you and you leaving.”
Shit.
Fuck.
That might be the most vulnerable he’d ever been in his life, and part of him couldn’t really believe that he’d just said all of that.
Worst of all, Blakely was silent.
Completely still.
He drove up to the house and parked. Sitting there, he breathed in and out heavily.
“Or has that guy already ruined things?” he whispered.
To his shock, she quickly undid her seatbelt and then climbed over into his lap. With a grunt, he pushed his seat back and undid his own belt.
“Blakely? Baby? What’s wrong?”
She was shaking. Was she upset at what he’d said?
Fuck.
What had he done?
“Sorry . . . I just . . . I . . . I appreciate that you want to give me what I need, but I can’t force you into being something you’re not. You’d be miserable with me. It’s not right. And that’s so hard to say since I want it so much,” she wailed as she wrapped herself around him tight. “No one has ever offered to do something so nice for me.”
This wasn’t really about him being nice.
Had she already forgotten that he’d just carried her out of a bar over his shoulder?
She should be mad at him. Instead, she was sitting here, thinking that he was being nice?
And he fucking hated that no one had ever done something kind for her. Him, included, if he was honest. What had he done for her? Given her an orgasm?
Right after he’d spanked her.
That was going to stop.
Not the spanking. No. He’d enjoyed that, and it wasn’t stopping since he knew she needed some boundaries and discipline.
But he was going to start doing so many nice things for her that she forgot there was a time she hadn’t experienced kindness.
“I want you to listen to me, Blakely. And listen carefully.” He drew her back so he could look down at her. Not that he could see her very clearly in the dark.
However, he could see that her face was tilted toward him.
“I am not a nice man?—”
She shook her head. “That’s not true.”
“Blakely,” he said sternly. “You’re going to let me finish what I have to say without interrupting. Or I’m going to be having this conversation with my dick in your mouth.”
Her breath hitched.
“Still think I’m a nice man?” he growled.
What are you doing? You want her to be yours.
Actually, he didn’t really intend to give her a choice. Being nice could start after she knew that she belonged to him.
“I, um, well, now all I can think about is having your, uh, you know, in my mouth.” She was squirming around on his lap.
Was she turned on?
He liked that. He also found it cute that she couldn’t say cock or dick or pussy.
He’d planned to teach her to talk dirty, but now he’d decided it was too much fun watching her get all flustered and embarrassed over ‘naughty’ words.
Leaning in, he licked lightly across her lips. “You’re so fucking cute. And you’re mine. You hear me? I’m not doing this because of you. Well, not just because of you. I’ve been doing some research.”
“What sort of research? Eek, sorry! I didn’t mean to interrupt.”
Stafford slid two of his fingers into her mouth. “Next time it’s my dick.” Trouble was, he wasn’t certain he’d have all of her attention if she was sucking on his dick.
“I’ve been doing some research on Daddy Doms and a lot of what I read . . . well, I guess it resonated with me. I want you, Blakely. You know that. But I was hiding my true needs behind excuses. I needed to push you away because I thought it was better for both of us. However, I’ve had it pointed out what an idiot I was being. I know I’m not an easy guy. I can be grumpy. I can work too much. I can be demanding and overprotective. But if you give me a chance, I’ll do whatever I have to in order to make you happy. And no, I’m not changing myself for you. I’m embracing a part of myself I suppressed for us. Got me? We get one life. And I deserve to be happy and so do you.”
Wow.
Just wow.
When he’d first put his fingers into her mouth, she’d started to lightly suck on them. But when he started talking, she’d become so riveted that she hadn’t been able to concentrate on anything but him.
He’d really been doing research because he thought that he might be a Daddy Dom?
She pulled back, letting his fingers slip from her mouth. “Are you sure? I don’t want you to do anything you don’t want.” Blakely tried to keep the hope from her voice, but she was pretty certain she failed.
He grasped her around the back of her head, holding her still. “I wouldn’t have said it if I didn’t mean it. Give me a chance to show you how much you mean to me, Blakely. Give me the opportunity to take care of you. To shower you with affection, love, and kindness.”
She sniffled. Shit. She knew she was about to start crying soon. “There’ll be orgasms, too, right?”
“Lots of orgasms,” he promised.
“And cuddles? Lots of cuddles?”
“So many cuddles,” he said warmly.
“And I can stay here? With you and Grandpa Jack?”
“Babygirl, this is your home. No matter what, you can always stay here. Understand me?”
“I’m scared too,” she whispered. “That I’ll wake up and it will all be a dream. That something will happen and you won’t want to be with me anymore. That I’ll lose all this. I know it’s not mine and I haven’t been here long, but I love it here and I love Grandpa Jack.”
“I know you do. And I know that it’s scary to risk that. But if you give me a chance, I promise I’m going to do all that I can to make this work.”
“You only live one life,” she whispered.
“And I want to spend that one life with you.”