Chapter 27
CHAPTER 27
D eke shot to his feet and put Suzi behind him. The fucking nerve Terri Daily had to show up after what she’d done was, well, it was completely in character for the woman she was.
He shouldn’t have waited to tell Suzi. Call him crazy but having her almost die in his arms knocked “mommy dearest” right out of his mind until just a few minutes ago. There was no way he was letting the woman anywhere near his Little girl.
Holding out one hand to stop Terri, he reached behind him with the other to reassure Suzi. What a fucking shitshow.
“I’m going to have to stop you right there, Terri,” he said. He tried to keep his voice civil, at least for now. “Suzi has had enough excitement for one day. She isn’t going to deal with you. Go check into a hotel, and she can call you when and if she wants to talk.”
Terri stopped mid-stride. She schooled her face in a shocked and wounded expression, but if you looked into her eyes… they told a different story. Oh, she didn’t like being told no, now did she? Well, that was too bad.
“I already have a hotel, Mr. Winters. And I’m hardly here to hurt her,” Terri said stiffly. She crossed her arms over her chest. He’d think it was to protect her heart if she had one.”
“Lady, you’ve been hurting her for twenty-three years. Now go back to your hotel and wait for Suzi to call you.”
“I don’t follow orders, Mr. Winters. Especially not one leveled at me by a neandertal with an obvious steroid addiction. Step aside and let me talk to my daughter. I want to make sure she is uninjured.”
Suzi bumped against his arm trying to get around him. Not happening. He squeezed her hip and held her in place.
“Don’t talk to him like. He saved my life today. And what do you mean you broke the story?”
He glared at her over his shoulder. Giving her his sternest daddy look, he muttered. “Quiet, Rosebud.” She nodded and nibbled her lip.
She only did that when she was worried, and that was the last thing he wanted. He turned to her, giving Terri his back, and cupped her cheek. With a wink, he said, “Daddy’s got this, Rosebud.”
She searched his face and must have gotten the reassurance she needed. The lip nibbling stopped as she nodded back and smiled. He had no idea how he’d been lucky enough to gain her trust and become her Daddy, but he was going to prove himself worthy of the faith she had in him.
“I do have other things to do today,” Terri called from the doorway. “I demand to see my daughter.”
Right.
Facing her again, he shook his head. “I’ve already told you that isn’t going to happen. And you insisting on adding more stress to her life than you’ve already caused is not going to change my mind.”
Flags of irritation waved over Terri’s cheeks as sparks flashed in her eyes. She needed more practice dealing with people standing up to her. He hadn’t even started yet.
“Suzanna, I raised you better than this. I’ve come a long way to check on you, and this is how you repay me? By hiding behind some man?”
Hell, no. She was not going to manipulate his Little girl with guilt. “I’m sorry, I must have gotten my facts wrong. I thought you put Suzi in preschool at the age of two moved away when she was ten, and stopped coming to Darling altogether by the time she was fourteen. So, when was it you did all this raising you keep talking about?”
Suzi gasped behind him, but he wasn’t done. “Suzi is so far from being a coward it isn’t funny. Since I’ve been getting to know her, she has taken on an outlaw MC and reported on the growing drug problem in Darling. She wrote about a cult that is deeply involved in human trafficking and also managed to run a newspaper with a higher percentage of circulation per capita than almost any other paper in Tennessee, including The Tennessee Gazette . And she didn’t do it by throwing her friends to the wolves. Wolves like you, Terri. She has standards, and she values people over prestige. So, I think you can see the last thing she needs to do is hide behind me, or anyone else.”
Suzi gripped the back of his shirt, twisting the cloth in her hand. He wasn’t about to let the likes of Terri Daily get her claws into his rosebud.
He was pretty sure he knew why Terri was here. And if there was a way to protect her from it, that’s what he was going to do.
She could yell at him later, and then he could spank her ass and help her release all the emotion the trembling of her hand at his back proved to him she was holding in. And give her so many orgasms she collapsed into an endorphin coma. Yeah, he liked that plan. The sooner he could get Terri gone, the sooner he could focus on making his babygirl all better.
Suzi stared at Deke’s broad back in shocked silence. His rippling muscles were the only sign of just how angry he was. But that wasn’t what shocked her.
He’d looked into her childhood and learned more than she’d ever wanted him to know. It was humiliating for him to know how expendable she’d been to her mother. At least, she’d thought it would be.
But he hadn’t been repulsed. It sounded like he admired her. He’d stood up for her. To her mother. No one had ever done that before. Pride in Suzi and her accomplishments had shone through every word, leaving her blinded by his love.
He knew everything about her, past and present, and he loved her. Not in spite of what she’d been through but because of who she’d become. He had faith in her. He respected her.
He loved her, just as she was. She didn’t have to change anything to earn it. He gave it to her, just like she’d given her heart to him. It was like he’d been saying before her mother had ruined it by barging in unannounced and refusing to leave when asked.
She’d always thought if she could just be… be, be what? Quiet enough, good enough, smart enough, ambitious enough? There was always a finish line to cross with her mother. Only when Suzi got close Terri moved it further away.
Suzi was tired of trying to prove herself to the one person in the world who should love her for who she was. That’s what Deke did. And Deke was enough.
She stepped out from behind her Daddy. He looked down at her. Whatever he saw made him smile. “You don’t have to do or say anything, Rosebud. But if it’s what you need, I’m right here by your side.”
Love so deep she feared she might drown flooded her. He was there, and he always would be.
She faced her mother. “I know why you’re here,” she stated, and she did. The crew her mother had brought with her was set up on the front lawn, waiting and ready to give Terri Daily another opportunity to be the face of the news.
She’d studied the interviews her mother had done the way the coach for the underdog team watched scouting videos of the opposing team. Her mother did not avoid the truth, but she didn’t seek it either. What she did do was use whoever she needed to in order to climb the ladder to the position she held. No exception. Not ever her daughter.
“I’m not going to talk to you about Darling, Mom. Not about recent events, not about people, not about anything. I want you to leave. And if you ever get the courage to come back without an agenda and a microphone, call my Daddy and see if it’s okay.”
Deke smiled down at her still. She didn’t have time to waste on her mom when she had all she needed standing by her side.
Deke ran his hand along the sensitive underside of her breast, and her nipples pebbled, begging for attention. She shifted, attempting to show him what she needed without words.
His gaze lifted from her breast to her eyes, one brow raised. Grr! He knew exactly what he was doing to her. He’d been tracing his finger over almost every inch of her body forever, avoiding only those places where she needed his touch the most.
It had taken a while to clear the house after he’d taken her upstairs to rest. She’d wanted him to stay with her. But he wanted to make sure everyone, okay her mother and the crew she’d brought, were gone and knew not to come back without an invitation.
That she’d closed the door on her relationship with her mother should make her sad. But when trying to verbalize what she felt, the only word she could think of was relieved. She still had her real family. The ones who had been there for her all her life. And that was more than enough.
What was not enough was what her Daddy was doing to her right now. She was so wet it would have been embarrassing if not for the raging desire in his eyes. Not to mention his rock hard cock pressed against her thigh.
“Daddy, please,” she begged for the third time. It wasn’t a good sign she was begging so soon. Though it was probably a tortuous, wanton, freaking fantastic hint of what was to come.
“Who’s in control of your pleasure, babygirl?”
The rough edge to his voice spiked her need. A shiver of anticipation tickled down her spine and settled deep inside, creating a longing that had her pussy pulsing.
“You are Daddy,” she said. “But?—”
Pressing a finger to her lips, he cut her off. “That’s right. Daddy will take care of you. You need to be patient.”
Just before they touched, he stopped lowering his mouth to hers. “Daddy is going to devour you here,” he whispered, breathing erotic patterns on her needy lips.
Still keeping that frustrating distance between his lips and her skin, He moved down her jawline to the place her neck flared to her shoulder. “I’m going tease this neck with my tongue.”
She gasped in quick succession as he moved lower.
Hovering so close to her breasts his breath teased her already aching nipples, he whispered, “I’m going to suck these luscious nips and capture them with my teeth.”
Her hips bucked of their own accord.
A wicked, delicious smile appeared on Deke’s face. “I see you approve of my plan.”
She tried to speak, but all that came out was a whimper. She needed him with every fiber of her being. But honestly, how much was she supposed to take?
Two could play his game.
She ran her hand down his muscled abs and wrapped her hand around his rigid cock. Turnabout is fair play, after all.
Wrapping her finger around him, holding him loosely but tight enough for him to feel it she pressed into him. Inexplicably, he somehow became even harder while she stroked his cock up and down, over and over and over.
“Careful, babygirl,” he growled, that dangerous smile still curving his lips. “You think you want to be in control?”
Suddenly, he flipped onto his back and swung her on top to straddle him. His cock pressed into the crack of her ass, stirring longings she had never considered before. Not until Deke had shown her just how pleasurable it could be.
Fire blazed through her from her core to her nipples and back. She pressed her sex against his coarse hair, moaning from the small relief it gave.
His fingers came to her, circling her clit, and raw need consumed her.
Pulling her down to him, he fulfilled his promise and sucked her nipples, first one, then the other. Hard.
Her climax swept through her like a tidal wave. Unable to stop herself, she ground into the muscles above his cock and rode him. She came so hard she cried. As she came down, she could do nothing but collapse on top of him, waiting for some semblance of reality to return.
“That was the sexiest damn thing I’ve ever seen,” Deke growled. “Looks like someone likes to be in charge every once in a while.”
She snorted because she didn’t have the energy to laugh. She may be the one sitting on top, but only because he put her there. Neither of them thought she had been the one in charge.
But she did have something she wanted. Desperately.
With a wicked smile of her own, she slid down his body, making sure to rub her soaked pussy over his cock. Settling on her knees between his thighs. She wrapped her hand around his dick, this time more firmly, and began stroking him slowly.
His eyes rolled back in his head before he returned his gaze to her, eyes heavy lidded and burning with desire.
She leaned forward and pressed her lips to the tip of his shaft. He tasted salty and tangy, and her need, impossibly, started to grow again. She worked her tongue around the head of his cock, paying attention to the underside where he was most sensitive.
“Jesus, Rosebud. I’m not going to last if you keep that up.” His voice was guttural. It made her feel heady, and sexy, and powerful. She was giving him that.
His face was deeply flushed, and dots of sweat beaded his upper lip. Oh yeah, her Daddy liked to have his cock sucked. His thighs were rigid, and he quivered with need.
“Come here, babygirl. Daddy wants to be inside you now.”
She smiled and sucked his cock harder.
“My babygirl likes to play with fire,” he rumbled. “Be careful you don’t start something you can’t finish.”
She hummed with his cock seated deep in her mouth. He grew taut, clenching his teeth. “Rosebud.” His tone warned her he was done with her teasing.
Watching her through half closed lids, he growled, “Little girls who don’t mind their Daddies have to suffer the consequences.”
“Oh, really,” she infused a touch of disbelief in her tone.
Quicker than she could follow his movements, he knifed up and grabbed her arms, dragging her up his body.
Wicked smile still in place, he growled, “I think someone needs proof.”
“Well, the code of a good reporter is to always verify quotes by the person in charge.
He pulsed his cock inside her, and her internal walls clamped down on him in response. Once again, spirals of need overwhelmed her.
Her moans of pleasure must have spurred him on. Nostrils flaring, he ground against her harder.
There was no pretext of her being in charge now. He moved her as he wanted, lifting her in the rhythm he wanted. God, he was good at this. She opened her legs wider to take him even deeper.
He increased the speed and power of his thrusts, and she took everything he gave her. Greedy for him. Greedy for what he was giving her.
He changed his angle so his movement hit her clit, and she broke. The world faded away, and all she could do was feel the exquisite pleasure he gave her. He pumped into her faster and harder, chasing his own pleasure after giving her everything.
After what felt like an eternity, they came down together. Aftershocks of bliss cascaded through her.
She fought for breath. Her Daddy had thoroughly claimed her.
He pulled her to his side and cradled her in his arms. She relaxed against him as sleep tugged at her, trying to pull her under.
Pressing kisses into her hair, Deke once again rocked her world. “I love you, Rosebud. Now and forever. You’re my Little girl, and I will do whatever it takes to make you happy. Whatever that looks like, we can work it out. You are my world. I promise I will support you and protect you to the best of my ability every day of my life.”
What had she ever done to deserve this man?
“I love you, too, Daddy. Now and forever. I love being your Little girl. I love that I have a Little now because of you. And the only thing I need to be happy is you.”
As sleep pulled her under, she settled into the knowledge that Deke was hers, and she was his.
Now and forever.