Chapter 4
CHAPTER FOUR
The words were a vow to be Connor’s, at least for now. Her declaration settled deep in his bones. Connor wasn’t a man who claimed a Little casually. If someone fell under his protection, he carried that responsibility like armor.
And Connor never walked away from someone who was his. Not ever.
He ran his thumb down her cheek and along her jaw before leaning closer and pressing his lips to the pulse fluttering in her neck. Her gasp went straight to his cock.
The sound wasn’t just a breath of surprise—it was a surrendering. It branded him, staking a claim on the most primitive parts of him, the parts that had already decided she was his.
“I would be honored to be your Daddy. Here’s what that means to me.
I am in charge until you tell me you no longer want that.
Period, end of statement.” Before she could protest, he continued.
“I’m not a dictator. I will discuss everything with you, but as your Daddy, I have the final say.
If we get back to Darling and want to continue our relationship, we’ll talk through that then. Does that sound good to you?”
He forced himself to stay measured, steady.
This wasn’t about lust. It was about structure.
Safety. About building something that wouldn’t collapse the first time she panicked.
Because Bliss had lived too much of her life in chaos.
If he was stepping into her world, he intended to give her something solid to stand on.
Her face scrunched into the cutest expression of concentration. Her eyes were fixed over his head, darting back and forth as if she were reading something he couldn’t see. He knew the second her choices became overwhelming, so he broke into the conversation she was apparently having with herself.
He’d seen that look before. It was the spiral of too many options, too much freedom. Littles didn’t always need more choices. Sometimes they needed fewer. And sometimes they needed someone to hold the line when their own thoughts ran in circles.
This wasn’t his first rodeo, and he knew better than to move forward without her consent.
He placed a finger over her lips. She deserved clarity.
So did he. “The next word out of your mouth needs to be either yes or no. No wiggling. No maybes.” Hopefully, the gentle pressure of his finger would draw her focus back to him.
Her eyes rounded. It took a minute, but her shoulders slowly relaxed, and she smiled.
She was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen, whether she smiled, frowned, or cried.
Hell, even her breathing did things to him at this point.
And that realization alone should be enough to make a sane man nervous.
“Yes, I would like that very much,” she said.
Relief swelled his chest and then dropped to his cock. Injecting sternness back into his voice, he prompted, “You would like that very much, who?” He needed to hear the title from her lips because titles meant something.
The rose-tinted flush on her face would never get old.
He never said he didn’t have a bit of a sadist in him, and he’d be willing to bet if he ran a finger along the slit of her pussy, he’d find his girl was enjoying this, too.
Because that blush wasn’t embarrassment alone.
It was arousal. He recognized the signs.
She couldn’t hold his gaze, but she still said the words he wanted to hear. “I would like that very much, Daddy.”
“That’s my good girl.” The words settled over both of them like a promise.
She beamed at him. It was too much. He had ached to taste those pouty lips for hours. He wouldn’t take it too far. Just one quick kiss to formalize their verbal contract, to seal it. But not enough to lose himself.
He curled both hands around her jaw, framing her face.
Her eyes widened. Threading his fingers through her hair, he stepped into her space and slowly lowered his mouth to take hers.
The kiss was electric from the start. He needed more than the chaste brush of lips he’d planned.
His control slipped a notch. Then another.
Gentle yet insistent, he traced his tongue along the seam of her lips, teasing and enticing her. With a moan, she parted her lips for him, her eyes darkening to a deep teal. She moaned, filling his mouth, and he was lost. Fuck. She tasted like heat and innocence and temptation.
Need blazed through him, setting him on fire. His tongue swept into her mouth, tasting her. He knew he should stop, pull back so he didn’t frighten her, but he was swept up in a tidal wave of desire. He hadn’t felt this untethered in years.
He wanted to devour her. To own her. He wanted to give her so much pleasure she wouldn’t be able to think. Every shadow that had ever touched her, he wanted erased.
A voice in the back of his mind warned him that his lizard brain was taking control, and reptiles rarely made sound decisions. This was moving too fast. It was too soon, and she wasn’t ready.
Hell, neither of them was ready. Yeah, he needed to step away. Being her Daddy meant protecting her… from others, from herself, and from him.
Especially from him.
But then she nipped his bottom lip with her sharp teeth. And damn if he didn’t love a little bite. His reason fractured, and his lizard brain took over. Lifting her in his arms, he carried her to the bed.
She fit against him as if she’d been built for that exact purpose… small, warm, and entirely too right in his arms.
She clung to him. “Connor?” Her voice trembled with uncertainty.
But it was too late for questions. He was a fucking Tarzan. There was a cosmic symmetry to it, since her middle name was Jayne. The breathiness in her voice stoked the flames already consuming him. If she kept saying his name like that, he’d never recover.
“Who am I, Trouble?” His voice was deep and raw with need.
“Wh-what?” Confusion flickered across her face.
“What do you call me?” He needed to hear her say it again because this wasn’t just sex. The word mattered.
“Oh. Daddy.” Embarrassed, she nuzzled her face into his neck like a kitten.
That was good. He’d have her purring soon. Not yet, though. Right now, he needed her lips again. When he took them, fire streaked through him like lightning, straight to his cock. His entire body ached for her. He’d never been this close to losing control.
He traced the line of her jaw with his tongue. “Tell Daddy what you need, babygirl.” Her gasps and whimpers were killing him. He’d give her everything she asked for. Every single thing.
She blinked slowly and tried to obey him. “Daddy, I need… I need… I don’t know what I need, but I…”
His teeth, scoring her neck, silenced her. “That's all right, babygirl. Daddy knows what you need.”
His reason made one more attempt. He should stop this.
She was Winnie’s sister. For all intents and purposes, she was the fucking client.
The cardinal rule was that you never slept with the client.
And he never had. Never even been tempted.
What was it about this girl? She wasn’t a temptation. She was an inevitability.
Time to slow things down. To give her time to think and make sure this was what she wanted, before they crossed a line neither of them could uncross.
Growling in frustration, Connor rolled off her. “We need to hit pause here. I need to make sure you know what you’re doing so you can say yes and mean it.” Even if it killed him.
He stood and drew the covers down, turning her toward the back wall and pulling them all the way up to her chin. They needed the distance because his body wasn’t listening to reason.
Struggling to turn over, she said, “I do know what we’re doing.”
The rasp of desire in her voice almost had him snatch the covers back down, knowledgeable consent be damned. But he’d never been that kind of guy, and he damn sure wasn’t going to start with Bliss.
With a glare, she added, “Just because I can’t say it doesn’t mean I don’t want it. Want you.”
She was killing him.
Just one more kiss to say goodnight. That’s what any good Daddy would do, right? This time, his kiss was light, the chaste kiss he’d meant to give her before. “Go to sleep, Trouble. We’ll talk in the morning.”
He forced himself to pull away before temptation dragged him back under. The cold light of morning would bring logic, he hoped.
He rolled to the other side of the mattress. Lying as close to the edge as he could, he willed his cock to settle down. When Bliss fell asleep, maybe he’d take a shower and give himself some relief. Anything to keep from turning back to her.
His body went rigid as soft fingers combed through his hair.
It thrummed with the need to turn to her and finish what they’d started.
“What are you doing, Trouble? Turn back over and go to sleep. We’re still going to have a discussion in the morning.
Don’t make it worse by disobeying me again.
” His voice came out rougher than intended.
But he needed her obedience. He wanted her defiance. God help him. He sucked in a deep breath. Calm. He needed to find his calm.
Not likely when she was feeding his craving for her with her tentative touch.
Instead of moving away, she pressed her body against his.
The thin hotel sheet did nothing to shield him from the pressure of her breasts against his back or the heat of her pussy pressing into his ass. Sweet torture designed to break him.
“Daddy?” she whispered softly. The word slid through him like silk.
He closed his eyes and mentally searched for the strap that held his resolve in place so he could tighten it. Sighing, he rolled onto his back. If he was going to break, he’d at least face her when he did. Cowardice had never been his style.
One look in her eyes and he knew facing her was a mistake. Where the fuck was his resolve?
Apparently hiding under the bed.