Chapter 22
Chapter twenty-two
Penelope
Iwrap my arms around Daniel, holding him close to my body, but as I run my hands up and down his back, I realize he’s still fully clothed. I frown. I don’t like that.
I press his shoulders up and tug at his button-down shirt.
“Take this off. I want you naked with me,” I pout. I want warm skin on warm skin. I want the feel of his chest against mine. I want to be able to touch him the same way he touched me.
He wiggles his eyebrows suggestively at me as he leans up and kneels on either side of my hips.
My skin tingles and sets off bursts of pleasure wherever it rubs against the sheets.
My brain is a happy haze of lust and satisfaction as I watch his long fingers undo the buttons on his shirt and his shoulder muscles flex as he shrugs out of it and lets it fall to the floor.
He’s wearing a tank top that he peels off, too.
That night years ago, I didn’t get nearly enough time to watch him and take in his body entirely.
He’s put on some muscle with his age, and it looks incredible on him.
Soft brown hair peppers between his pecs and peaks up from the top of his slacks, and it makes me want to run my tongue along it.
He unbuttons his slacks slowly, dragging the zipper down, and I realize he’s enjoying my torture. I’m thoroughly wrung out from orgasms, but my eyes still drink him in hungrily.
Impatient, I reach out to tug his boxer briefs down so I can take what I want, but he simply chuckles and sidesteps me. Daniel reaches out and drags his thumb along my pouting lower lip.
“You keep looking at me like that and I’m going to put that mouth to good use,” he says, his voice so low and sexy it sends a shiver through me.
I nod eagerly, swiping my tongue across my lip.
His cock springs out of his boxer briefs, hard, hot, with a bead of precum already smeared across the head of it.
I want more than anything to give him half the pleasure he’s given me tonight, but my body is also exhausted.
The thumb that earlier caressed my lip moves to my cheek, and his hungry gaze softens.
“Not tonight, sweetheart. I think you’ve hit your limit. I’m so proud of you.”
My eyes pinch shut as his praise washes over me like a warm blanket. Has anyone ever told me they were proud of me? Has anyone looked at me with the adoration and heat that Daniel looks at me?
My brain is pleasantly foggy, but my first instinct is no.
My eyes open again as I hear him move. He straddles my waist again, his hand gripping his cock hard.
“I’m not going to last long, baby. You look so fucking good when you take me.”
Christ. The mouth on this man.
His hand shuttles up and down his cock, tugging at it, and in my lust-filled haze, I open my mouth and stick out my tongue. His eyes dart from his cock to my hard nipples to my tongue before he drops his head back and groans.
I know he doesn’t want me to have to work for it, but I slide my hand down my belly until I can slide it under his balls to squeeze and massage them.
He sucks in a breath, and I love the way his stomach hollows at my touch.
He shifts forward onto his knees as the first rope of cum erupts from him, painting my breasts and chest. The second spurt lands across my face and mouth, the next on my neck, and the final one on my belly.
I hope I look as sexy as I feel right now.
Watching such a confident, sexual man lose his control gives me a heady feeling of power.
But instead of bliss, heat and maybe a little sweat on Daniel’s face, there’s a fierce expression. His jaw is clenched, and he speaks through gritted teeth. “Tell me you’re mine,” he says, his eyes taking me in.
I run my hands up his thighs in a caress and say without hesitation, “I’m yours.”
His fierce brown eyes soften as his breathing slows.
“Mine,” he whispers again. His large hands rest on my waist, and for a moment I realize I should have been self-conscious of my stretch marks and the softness of my belly, but Daniel never gave me a moment to let those insecurities creep in.
I haven’t been with anyone since him, so the issue of a partner seeing the less than flattering parts of me has never come up.
As if reading my mind, Daniel rests back on the tops of my thighs and his eyes drop to my stomach. He drags his thumb across a stretch mark under my belly button, but the wonder in his gaze keeps any insecurity I might have at bay.
“Wow...” he whispers, his thumb exploring this part of me. “You grew our daughter...” he whispers again, wonder and intimacy lacing his voice.
I nod. “I did.”
His hands slide up my waist then and he rubs his cum into the skin across my sternum and breasts.
“And now you’re all mine.”
I smile. Gone is the teasing, arrogant, cocky man I’ve fallen in love with. He seems like an innocent child, marveling at Christmas morning. I slide my hands into his, lacing our fingers together, ignoring the squish of cum between them.
“All yours,” I reassure him. Bright eyes crinkle beneath a brilliant smile.
It seems to shake him out of his revelry.
He steps off the bed and pulls the comforter back over me as he walks to the small wet bar each room is equipped with.
He runs the water a second before coming back to the bed and wiping the cum off of me with a warm washcloth.
I remember restocking the piles of washcloths in each room, but never spent a lot of time thinking about what they were used for.
A blush creeps up my cheeks at the realization that I’m not a cleaner anymore, but participating.
When he’s satisfied that I’m clean, and has washed his own hands, he grabs a water bottle from the mini fridge and situates us so he’s leaning against the headboard and I’m leaning against him, my back to his front.
He brings the straw to my mouth, and I take a few grateful swallows. I didn’t realize how much gasping and screaming dehydrated me.
When I’ve signaled I’ve had enough, he sets it on the side table and proceeds to run his fingers through my hair. I’m sure my curls are a mess, even if the sheets are satin. He’s so tender and so gentle, though, that I begin to enjoy it.
“Aftercare is important after a scene, but what each partner needs can be different. The more time we play together, the more things we can try out and see if you enjoy.”
“Aftercare?”
“Yeah. Kink play or power dynamics is a very vulnerable situation to put yourself in. Aftercare makes sure the sub gets what they need to recover. Water, food, touch, a moment of reconnection, silence, talk, whatever it is. Do you like this?”
I practically purr my reply as I snuggle into him further.
I don’t know how long we stay like that; me wrapped in a warm, safe cocoon of skin and muscle, the scent of Daniel surrounding me.
I float in and out of consciousness, and maybe for the first time in a long time, maybe ever, I don’t have a care in the world.
I know Danny’s safe and happy with Cara.
The outside pressures of my sisters and stepmom can’t touch me here, in this space between awake and asleep.
When he stirs, though, my eyes blink open.
“Do we have to go?” I haven’t heard any noise from outside this room in a long time, and I have no sense of what time it is.
Daniel picks up his phone from the side table. “We can spend the night here if you like, or go back to my place?” Daniel offers, his hand now resting on the back of my neck, massaging it there.
The idea of leaving this cocoon of warms, of getting dressed, of driving across town sounds awful.
“Here, please.”
“I’ll just tell Antonio to lock up on his way out and to have the cleaners leave this room. We can do it in the morning,” he says, while typing away on his phone. I blush again at the knowledge that a few months ago I would have been the one leaving room twelve for its guests.
I grumble unhappily as he lays me to the side so he can turn off the lights.
When he does, the light from the attached bathroom bathes our room in a soft sort of ambiance.
Daniel settles under the comforter next to me, pulling me against his side, tucking me under his arm.
I go happily, resting my cheek on his pec, and my hand on his stomach.
And like that, I fall into the most peaceful sleep of my life.