Chapter 4 #2
Dressed in nothing but his flannel shirt, she looked fragile and young. So much younger than him. Seven years might not seem like a lot, but in life experience, they were decades apart.
He’d fucked up. He never should have kissed her. Now he had to protect her from making a decision she’d probably regret. He shook his head. Pushing as much resolve and authority as he could muster, he said, “Roll back over to where I put you, naughty girl. You need sleep.”
She didn’t move. Her resolve seemed to be doing fine. “I don’t want to go to sleep. I want to keep doing what we were doing before.” Honesty glowed in her eyes.
Well, she could be honest when she wanted to be, now couldn’t she? He locked his muscles down before he did something very, very reckless.
“Listen to me, Trouble. You need to roll your sweet ass back over to your side of the bed. Now. The past few days have been rough for you. What you need is sleep. Now move.” He poured every ounce of command he could muster into the words.
She moved at his command, all right, only not in the direction he’d told her to. Before he could react, she rolled on top of him, her thighs straddling him and pressing into the sides of his hips. But she didn’t stop there. Bracing herself on his chest, she kissed him.
At the taste of her lips on his, the last fragile thread of his control snapped.
He rolled her to his side but couldn’t pull away from her kiss. Physically, he could, but her lips were tender and sweet as honey. He never wanted to move again. He’d been starving and hadn’t known it until now.
Once he decided not to stop her, he let her explore. He was a Daddy and a Dom, for shit’s sake. He could control his stronger urges. But would he?
Yes, damn it. He would. If it killed him, and it might.
He gritted his teeth and tried to recite the periodic table he’d had to memorize in high school. But high school had been a long time ago. Hydrogen. Helium. Her. Her mouth on his neck. Fuck!
Her lips pressing kisses on his cheek and neck almost had him coming in his jeans. He tunneled his fingers deep into her hair and pulled her away. “Bliss, you need to stop.”
Everything noble in him hoped she’d listen to him and do what he said. He just wasn’t sure that part of him could override the overwhelming urge to take her and make her his.
He was hanging by a thread, and she was holding the scissors. And she was entirely too curious about cutting it.
She strained against his hold, wincing. “But why? I don’t want to stop.”
Fuck him.
This girl.
What she lacked in na?veté was more than offset by her determination.
“Look, Bliss. This isn’t just some ‘work off the stress’ thing.
Not for me. And you’ll have to trust me, babygirl, when I say it won’t be that for you, either.
I know you don’t have much experience with sex.
That innocence isn’t something to throw away because you get caught up in the moment.
You’ve never made love before, have you?
” He needed her to understand the weight of what she was offering.
Her gaze wavered for a moment, then returned to his. “No, but that doesn’t mean I don’t know what I want.”
“That may be true, but for me, that’s a big deal. I’d want a lot more from you than two days, babygirl. It would mean I think we have a future.” He’d never felt that way about a woman before, but Bliss was different.
She didn’t even blink. “I know. But you’ve cared for me more today than anyone else in my life since Winnie left.
Do you have any idea what kind of man I’ll wind up with when the Society catches me?
Because they will. Or those Russians? I’m not throwing anything away, Daddy.
I want my first time to be with you. And if we have more than that, I want that, too. ”
He couldn’t move. His body was on lockdown, on fire for the brave woman beside him.
He was seconds away from losing every ounce of control he had left.
He had a fleeting thought that if Bliss were in his life, his control might be a thing of the past. And for the first time in years, that thought didn’t terrify him.
When he spoke, his voice came out savage. “I’m trying to do the right thing here, babygirl. You aren’t making it easy.”
She was asking him to choose his heart over his rules, and he didn’t do that. Except he already had.
She smiled, running her soft hands up his ribs and over his pecs, burning his flesh as she went. Her eyes met his again, and she smiled. “No. I don’t guess I am.” Little minx.
Grabbing his shoulders, she pulled herself up and ran her lips along his jaw, just as he had done to her earlier. Instead of whispering sweet nothings in his ear, her teeth sank into his earlobe.
Need pulsed through him in waves. “Last warning, babygirl—”
With her hand over his mouth, cutting off his words, she said, “No, Daddy. I know what I want. I want you.” The certainty in her voice burned away the last of his resistance.
He rolled on top of her, pinning her hands above her head. “There’s no escape if we do this. Be sure, because I can be one possessive, controlling son of a bitch. There won’t be any changing your mind in the morning. So, again, be sure. Do you understand?”
This was the line. Once they crossed it, there was no going back. His gaze searched hers for even the smallest hint of doubt.
She didn’t miss a beat. “I understand you, Daddy. I’m sure.”
He fought his instincts for a minute more, looking into her eyes. She wasn’t lying. She wanted this. And, god help him, he wanted it, too.
Finally giving in, he lowered his mouth to hers and kissed her the way he’d longed to all day. The kiss was deep, hard, and wet. She kissed him back the same way, and the world outside their room ceased to exist.
And just that fast, he was lost.