Chapter 12
Jonnas
Jonnas was trying very hard to keep control, which was becoming increasingly difficult when Dani looked up at him with flushed cheeks and soft eyes and called him daddy like she belonged there.
The sound hit him straight in the chest, not because it was sexual, but because she trusted him, and that mattered more.
Jonnas rested his forehead briefly against hers while forcing himself to breathe through the sudden possessive rush clawing through him. “You have any idea what that does to me?” he murmured roughly.
Dani shook her head slightly against the pillow.
God, she was beautiful like this. Her oversized shirt had ridden high against her thighs while she curled beneath him, hair spread across his pillows, her cheeks pink from kisses, emotion, and vulnerability.
She was in his bed and was quickly becoming his girl, and he wasn’t sure how he was going to calm those thoughts.
“You still okay?” he asked quietly.
“Yes.”
“Need anything?”
“You.” The immediate answer nearly destroyed him. Jonnas kissed her slowly again, pouring every ounce of care he felt into it. Dani melted beneath him instantly, her hands sliding into his hair while a soft, needy sound escaped her throat. She was so damn responsive.
“You feel that?” he murmured against her lips.
“How your body reacts when you stop fighting yourself?” Dani whimpered softly, and Jonnas’s control slipped another inch.
He kept touching her gently, deliberately, making sure every movement grounded her instead of overwhelming her.
His hand slid slowly along her thigh beneath the shirt again, fingertips tracing warm skin while Dani trembled beneath him.
“You’re beautiful when you let yourself feel things,” he said softly.
Jonnas kissed down her jaw carefully while his hand settled at her hip.
“Look at you,” he murmured. “Taking care of everybody else all the time, but getting shy the second someone takes care of you.” Dani let out a weak, embarrassed sound and buried her face against his shoulder.
He smiled against her skin. “Baby girl.”
“I’m sorry,” she breathed, “I feel like I’m doing this all wrong.” Dani covered her face with her hands.
“No.” He tipped her chin up gently again. “You don’t get to hide from me, and you’re not doing anything wrong.” The soft authority in his voice made her shiver beneath him. Jonnas kept one hand steady against her waist while the other stroked slowly through her hair.
“You know what I like?” he asked quietly.
“What?” she asked.
“The way you relax every time I tell you it’s okay.” Emotion flickered across her face immediately.
“You make it easy to relax,” she whispered.
That confession hit him harder than it should have, because Jonnas had spent most of his adult life avoiding emotional intimacy completely.
Casual hookups were easy, but this felt terrifyingly important.
And yet holding her like this already felt more natural than anything else ever had.
Dani’s fingers curled lightly against his chest. “You’re thinking too hard again.”
A surprised laugh escaped him. “You notice that now, too?”
“You get this look on your face.”
“What look?” he asked.
“Like you’re trying to carry the entire world on your shoulders.” Nobody had ever paid attention to him like this before, either. Jonnas kissed her forehead softly before pulling back just enough to really look at her.
“I need you to understand something.”
Dani’s eyes searched his immediately. “Okay.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” he promised. Her breath caught instantly, and Jonnas brushed his thumb slowly across her cheek.
“I know this is new for you.” His voice softened. “Trusting somebody like this.” Dani swallowed hard but nodded. “But you don’t have to earn softness from me.” He held her gaze steadily. “You already have it.” Tears filled her eyes again immediately. “Hey,” he murmured gently.
“No one’s ever said things like that to me before.
” Rage flickered low and sharp in his chest at the idea.
How had no one loved her correctly before?
How had nobody looked at this woman and immediately wanted to protect every soft piece of her?
Jonnas kissed her again, slowly, deeper this time, until she melted against him with a quiet sound that nearly undid him completely.
“That’s it,” he praised softly. “Just let go for me.” Dani shivered beneath him, and that was what finally broke the last of his restraint—not lust, not need, but the overwhelming trust in her expression when she looked up at him like she was handing him something fragile—something precious.
Jonnas held her carefully through every kiss, every touch, every whispered reassurance, making sure she felt cherished instead of consumed. Because this wasn’t about taking from her, it was about giving her a place soft enough to land.
“I need you,” she whispered.
“You have me,” he breathed. That was the truth, because she owned him now—body, mind, and soul. She just didn’t know it yet.
Jonnas tugged the T-shirt up her body and stilled when he realized that she was wearing nothing underneath it.
“Fuck,” he breathed. Their first night together was about getting her naked and taking what he wanted from her.
But now, he was going to take his time with her and memorize every last one of her curves.
“What?” she asked, trying to look down her body.
“You’re so fucking beautiful, baby girl,” he praised. She gifted him with her shy smile and lay back.
Jonnas rolled her on top of his body, and she squealed. “What are you doing?” she asked.
“I’m going to watch you while you ride my cock, baby girl,” he breathed.
“Jonnas,” she whispered, lifting her arm to cover her breasts.
He shook his head, tugging her arm down. “Don’t hide from me, baby girl,” he ordered. “You’re gorgeous, and I want to see you.” Dani nodded and straddled his body, seeming to relax a bit.
“Okay, but first, you need to be naked,” she insisted.
He sat up and pulled off his t-shirt. Dani ran her hands over his torso, and he nearly lost himself before they even got started.
When she dipped her hands into his sweatpants, he hissed out his breath.
His cock didn’t get the memo that he was in charge.
Hell, he couldn’t think straight with her touching him the way that she was.
Jonnas wrapped his arms around her body and thrust into her hands. “I need to be inside of you, baby girl,” he said. God, he sounded like he was begging, and not just asking her for what he wanted from her.
Dani tugged his sweatpants down his thighs and carefully seated herself over his cock, taking him inch by excruciating inch until she was fully seated on his lap. His breathing was shallow, and when she started to move for him, he nearly swallowed his damn tongue.
“Is this okay?” she asked.
“More than okay,” he admitted. He snaked his hand down between their bodies and rubbed the pad of his thumb over her clit, making her cry out his name. God, she was perfect for him. The way that she responded to his every touch was a complete turn-on.
“I’m going to come,” she shouted.
“Then come for me, baby girl,” he ordered.
“Daddy,” she breathed as she rode his cock. Jonnas knew that if she kept it up, he wasn’t going to last much longer. “Please,” she begged as his thumb ran over her clit again.
Her entire core spasmed around his cock, and he knew that he was a goner. Jonnas quickly followed her over, spilling himself deep inside of her as Dani collapsed on top of him. He wrapped his arms around her, protectively, not wanting to let her go.
“That was amazing,” she whispered against his neck. She sounded wrecked, and he felt like an ass for not letting her get the rest that she needed.
“Shit,” he breathed. “Wait here.” He lifted her off his body and gently laid her in his bed. She looked right in his space and in his bed. So right that he didn’t want to ever let her out of it again, but he was sure that she’d have something to say about that.
“Where are you going?” she asked as he got up.
“I’ll be right back,” he promised. “I just want to take care of you so you can get some sleep.”
He returned with a warm, wet washrag and found her practically asleep. “What are you going to do with that?” she asked.
“I’m going to clean you up. Then, I want to hold you while you sleep.”
“You don’t have to do that,” she insisted. “I can take care of that myself.”
“No,” he said. “You’re mine, and I want to take care of you, baby girl.” The way that she looked at him was nearly his undoing. He could see the conflict in her eyes. She wanted his care, but wasn’t sure how to let him take care of her.
“Okay,” she said. He quickly cleaned her up, and when he finished, he pulled her into his body, loving the way that she seemed to fit there.
He never imagined that taking care of Dani would feel so intimate, but it did.
Jonnas had a feeling that he’d never get enough of her, and that thought was terrifying, because he wasn’t falling for Dani anymore—he was already gone.
Jonnas woke sometime after midnight to Dani curled against his chest like she’d belonged there her entire life.
For a long moment, he just lay there staring at the ceiling while her soft breathing filled the room.
His arm was wrapped securely around her waist beneath the blankets, one of her thighs tangled with his, her head resting directly over his heart.
It all felt dangerously domestic, and Christ, he liked it way too much.
Jonnas looked down carefully at her. Even asleep, Dani looked exhausted, like she’d spent years carrying tension in her bones and only now was finally letting some of it go. That realization hit him hard enough to make his chest ache.
Slowly, Dani shifted against him with a sleepy little sound, and his entire body tightened instantly. Jonnas brushed a strand of hair away from her face gently, trying not to wake her. Unfortunately, Dani blinked sleepily at him anyway.
“You’re staring again,” she mumbled.
His mouth twitched. “Go back to sleep.”
“What time is it?”
“Late,” he breathed.
“That’s not helpful.” He laughed softly under his breath. Dani looked up at him then, eyes heavy with sleep and cheeks pink from warmth and embarrassment and everything that had happened between them earlier. And something inside him went terrifyingly soft.
“You okay?” he asked quietly. She nodded slowly before pressing closer instinctively. The movement nearly wrecked him because she did it automatically, like she already trusted him enough to seek comfort without overthinking it first. Jonnas tightened his arm around her carefully.
“There she is,” he murmured.
Dani made a sleepy sound against his chest. “You say that a lot.”
“Because I like it when you relax around me. I get to see the real you,” he admitted.
She went quiet for a second before whispering, “I don’t usually sleep next to anyone.”
That pulled his attention immediately. “No?”
Dani shook her head slightly against him. “I leave before anyone has the chance to fall asleep.” Something sharp twisted in his chest because she had trained herself not to stay long enough to need anyone. Jonnas tipped her chin up gently until she looked at him.
“You don’t have to run from me.” Emotion flickered instantly across her face, even half asleep.
“I know,” she whispered. And the terrifying thing was that she sounded like she meant it.
Jonnas brushed his thumb slowly across her cheek while studying her quietly. “You know what I realized tonight?”
“What?” she asked.
“I’m gonna spoil the hell out of you,” he admitted.
A sleepy laugh escaped her. “That sounds like it could get expensive.”
“I can afford it,” he insisted.
“I don’t mean money.” His chest tightened because she understood exactly what he meant already. Jonnas leaned down and kissed her forehead softly.
“You know what I saw tonight?” he murmured.
“What?” she asked.
“A woman so starved for gentleness that being cared for makes her emotional.” Dani looked away immediately. Her instinctive embarrassment kicked in again, but Jonnas wasn’t having it.
“Hey,” he breathed. Her eyes came back to his instantly. “You don’t get to be ashamed of needing comfort.”
Her throat bobbed slightly. “I’m trying not to be.”
“No.” His voice softened. “You’re trying to deserve it, and I told you that my giving you comfort isn’t something that you have to earn.
” The truth of it settled heavily between them.
Dani’s eyes shimmered immediately. Every time she looked at him like that, something fierce and protective came alive inside him.
“I don’t know how to stop,” she admitted quietly.
Jonnas pulled her a little closer. “You don’t have to fix everything tonight, baby girl.” He felt the tiny shiver move through her body as her fingers curled lightly against his chest, and somehow, that small gesture hit him harder than anything else she had done that night.
“You know what I want?” she whispered after a long silence.
“What?” he asked.
“More of this.” The honesty in her voice nearly stopped his heart, because he wanted that too. He wanted more nights with her curled against him, more sleepy conversations, and more moments where she stopped carrying the weight of the world alone. Hell, he wanted all of it.
Jonnas tilted her face toward his carefully. “Then, that’s what you’ll have.”
Her breath caught softly. “You say things like that so easily.”
“Only because they’re true,” he admitted.
Dani stared at him for a long moment like she still couldn’t fully understand why he meant the things he said to her.
That uncertainty was becoming harder and harder for him to tolerate, not because he was frustrated with her, but because somebody should’ve loved her properly long before now.
“You should sleep,” he murmured finally.
“You first,” she challenged.
Jonnas huffed out a laugh. “Bossy.”
“You like it,” she breathed. Unfortunately, she wasn’t wrong.
He kissed her softly once more before settling back against the pillows, keeping her tucked tightly against his chest the entire time.
And sometime before sleep finally dragged him under, Jonnas realized something that should’ve terrified him.
He couldn’t remember what his life felt like before Dani anymore.