7. Chapter 7
Chapter seven
Gideon
If I could have rewound time I would have. By the time some nervous sub gave me a message that sent Maddox and me racing to the women’s locker room, Abby was coming around. Rachel—thank fuck—had been there when Abby passed out or she could have hit her head or… a million disasters raced through my mind.
If this was due to anxiety like I’d been told, then taking her to a busy ER wasn’t going to help. Even if I could get her into a private room afterwards, there would still be a crazy situation to go through and as I wasn’t Abby’s next of kin, so technically I could be denied entry. Then Max helpfully pointed out that getting arrested by insisting I was present as a doctor examined her wouldn’t help Abby either .
I sent him a look that should have incinerated him on the spot as I gently bent and picked Abby up, despite her insistence that she felt okay and she really could walk .
Her muttered I don’t want to give you any trouble, and finally, I can catch the bus nearly had me growling like some caged animal. After wrapping her in one of the softest blankets we had, I stalked outside to my car. Max took my keys and opened the back door for us to get in.
Okay, so the look I sent him that time wasn’t quite as feral, and I ordered him to call the doc. Our Doc.
I cuddled Abby close and tried to control my temper. It had been idiotic taking her to the club less than twenty-four hours after we met, and I deserved a whipping.
And not the good kind.
I took a slow, deep breath and lowered my gaze to her face. She wouldn‘t know that all my recriminations were directed at myself not her. I took in the wide, frightened eyes, pale face, and nervous lip-chewing and before I’d thought about it, I pried her abused lip away from her teeth and stuck the tip of my thumb in her mouth. I cuddled her close and dropped a kiss on her forehead. “You did nothing wrong, baby girl. Just relax.”
And miraculously, her lips closed tighter around my thumb and after a moment she gave it a tentative suck. I hummed encouragingly and she sucked harder, each pull going straight to my heart, and other places I had no business thinking of that moment. We weren’t even halfway home before her eyes drooped, a few minutes after that the sucking stopped and she relaxed into my arms. Exactly where she was meant to be.
If this afternoon was an example of what might happen when she was out of my sight, then that shit had to stop. I contemplated installing a military-grade tracker on her. I needed eyes on her at all times. I met Max’s gaze in the mirror.
“How’s she doing?” he murmured.
I looked down at her closed eyes. Her long, fair lashes fanned over her cheek, but not enough to keep me from seeing the dark shadows under them. She needed a lot of care, and one good night wouldn’t make up for her exhaustion. She’d clearly run herself ragged and that would stop as well.
“I shouldn’t have taken her out so soon.”
Maddox shrugged. “You couldn’t have known.”
But I should have. What sort of Daddy was I that I didn’t know what was best for my baby girl?
Max’s cell beeped and he glanced at the screen on the dash. “Doc got your message. He’ll meet us there.”
We reached my house and I’d barely had time to slip a sleepy girl into one of my shirts and tuck her in bed when the knock on the bedroom door heralded Doc Atkins. We’d met during my first tour, and when he retired and got discharged, he soon realized he didn’t like retirement and became our employees’ doc for all the clubs and businesses. It had never occurred to me to call him first like I would with one of us until Max pointed out the problems with an ER, because I wanted gentle not Army gruff, but the man surprised me.
Abby woke up a little and flushed as she gave a halfhearted explanation of her low blood pressure. Good thing he already had the medical file I’d sent because she was barely saying jack.
But the doc was patient and kind with her, and she was soon smiling. I walked him out when he finished .
“I take it with her being here she isn’t just an employee?” Doc Atkins paused as he was writing something and looked over his wire-rimmed glasses at me.
I just returned his stare. He hummed but I could see a smile teasing the corner of his mouth. “About time.”
“Well?” I interrupted, wanting to get back upstairs.
“I’ll go over her medical records properly and see what the blood tests show. But rest, good food, small, frequent meals and plenty of water, and above all no stress would be my recommendation.”
I nodded and managed to get in a thank you before Max snorted and told me to get my ass back upstairs. I didn’t to be told twice.
Abigail
I doubted my low blood pressure would ever kill me, but right that moment I was convinced I was about to die of embarrassment, and I couldn’t hold in the whine when Gideon walked back into the bedroom. I shrank under the covers when he sat down and barely restrained the flinch when he cupped my cheek, which made him hesitate, and knowing that wasn’t fair when he treated me so well, I rushed out words before I’d thought through what I was going to say. “I’m not frightened of you, but you need someone that looks good in high-heels.”
Gideon’s smile made my heart go all thumpy, but not in a bad way. “I actually prefer white Tinkerbell sneakers.”
“No, you don’t.” I shook my head for emphasis.
“Baby girl, I bought you those sneakers. If I’d wanted you in high-heels don’t you think I would have gotten you some of those instead?”
“But you’re a Dom with twenty years’ experience,” I repeated solemnly.
His eyebrows rose. “Very true. Who told you that?”
I squirmed and suddenly found the comforter very interesting.
“Because I know,” he continued mildly, “that Mistress Rachel, for example, as a Dom of over ten years’ experience herself, would never dream of saying such a thing.”
My lips parted and I let out a squeaky surprised noise. “She’s a… I wiggled my fingers. “One of you?”
“Yes, Abby,” he confirmed. “We’re close because I mentored her for a long time, but sexually we aren’t attracted to each other.”
“Oh,” I said, completely stunned, but that still didn’t alter what skank one and skank two had said.
“I asked you a question, Abigail,” he repeated sternly.
Oops. Sunday name , as one of my social workers used to say. “You did?” I hedged and squirmed some more. “I don’t remember.” I left it to Gideon to decide whether I was saying I didn’t remember the question or I didn’t remember who’d said it.
He didn’t repeat it or clarify, just waited patiently. As a torture technique it was very effective, and I caved. “I don’t know who they were,” I whispered, “but that doesn’t make them wrong.” I sat up and crossed my arms. If I hadn’t been in bed, I might have stamped my foot. He nodded and my heart took a dive. “So, I’ll leave.” I didn’t want to, even if I knew I would have to go home tomorrow. I badly wanted a cuddle, which was a mistake. One of my foster mothers had always said I was too clingy.
Gideon toed off his shoes and then took off his jacket. My eyes widened when his shirt followed it, then my lungs seemed to stop working when his pants and socks were next. He kept his sexy briefs on though and I was divided over whether that was another bad thing or the exact opposite. Then he pulled the covers back and, giving me no choice, sat with his back to the headboard and lifted me, depositing me on his lap. I was held very securely, and once I’d gotten over the shock, I realized that not only did I like this position, but that Gideon really really must like it as well because his firm erection was obvious under my bottom.
“Baby girl. I’m pretty sure I know who you heard that nonsense from since Rachel told me who was in the locker room when she came in. What you have to realize is that unfortunately some people are just plain mean, and while I don’t advertise it, my money can attract the wrong sort of person.”
It wasn’t just his money , I thought, and moved a little experimentally until his grip tightened. Then I thought over what he’d said. Then I thought again, and I froze. He didn’t—
“No, before you say it. I know that isn’t why you’re here.”
Then he leaned down, tipped my face a little with his finger, and kissed me. And this wasn’t a brush of his lips, or a comforting touch to my head, this was a full-on Dom of twenty years’ experience kiss, and I had a brief thought that I wasn’t surprised that skank one or skank two wanted him, but that he was mine. Even if that was just for right now.
I sank into his kiss. I imagined Gideon kissed like he did everything else. His way. He was in charge. Totally and completely. His tongue swept into my mouth and dominated mine. I tried to stifle a moan, and he broke off. “I love your noises, baby girl. Give me all of them. Let me hear your pleasure. ”
Then his mouth moved onto my neck, and I shivered, arching back as much as I could to give him all the access he needed. One arm stayed around my back like a tether, but the other fell on my waist, and after a second, he slid his hand under my top and I gasped at the feel of his hand on my bare skin. His fingers were calloused, firm, and the scrape of them set off delicious shivers up and down my side. Up he moved, and slid two fingers under my breast, his thumb brushing the sensitive skin to the side of my breast, sending more shivers right to the other places that I wanted him to touch. His thumb brushed over my nipple, but it wasn’t quite as good. It wasn’t exactly bad but it just wasn’t as good. The one and only time a guy had sucked my nipples it had just felt uncomfortable.
He paused and I opened my eyes, not realizing they had closed, and flushed under his intense gaze.
Deliberately, he brushed a finger on the side of my breast, and I gasped. His eyes still laser focused, he repeated the movement on my nipple, and I knew he’d seen I didn’t react as much. Guilt pulled at me and my insides that had been heating up cooled slightly. Ashamed, I looked down. He would stop.
I opened my mouth to apologize, something, but he just bent and swallowed the word before I got the chance to utter a sound, and then his hand moved lower. He teased my mouth, sucked on my lip, and then his fingers slid over my mound, and I made some sort of sound in the back of my throat that made him break off and hum in approval.
Hearing that was like the sun coming out and my left arm lifted of its own accord and wound around his neck. Another low hum, and his fingers moved, sliding over my clit and barely parting my folds. His lips moved to the skin on my neck just under my ear and I moaned. “Ohh,” that was…he chuckled softly then trapped my earlobe in his teeth and bit. I jerked but he was licking the hurt better before I’d barely registered the pain and the one-two action seemed to shoot need straight to my clit, and I wriggled helplessly over his hard length, wanting more. He broke off again and slid down, taking me with him and moving me to his side. I’d barely registered what I was doing before his fingers were back in my folds, and this time I felt them slide easily through my slickness. He hummed again and I echoed the noise. Why did knowing he thought I’d done something to please him make his touch even hotter?
But then he slid down, somehow managing to take my shirt with him, and cool air hit my sensitive skin, pebbling the flesh. In one smooth move he sat up and seemed to tower over me, moving my legs apart as he knelt in between, one hand on each knee to push them up. “Gideon,” I gasped. No one had ever.
“Daddy,” he ordered and paused, waiting for me. Could I call him that out loud? I wanted to, desperately wanted to, but if I named him and he left, threw me away like everyone else had done, it would kill me. If I leaped off this ledge, what if he wasn’t there to catch me? I would fall. I’d given away my trust so many times and promised myself never again.
“Daddy,” I whispered, unable to keep the word contained, even if it was barely audible. He smiled his good-girl smile and then he bent his head. The first scrape of his beard, the first touch of his tongue, and I soared. I might have hit heaven. I certainly went somewhere I’d never been before. But even as pleasure seemed to spiral me higher, Daddy’s firm hands on my hips kept me grounded. Kept me safe .
Then his tongue slid lower, and the tip teased my insides briefly before returning to my clit. He licked and laved, each second, each exquisite touch making my insides both tighten and melt at the same time. Then he raised his hand and, keeping his tongue on my clit, scraped his nail around my other hole.
And that was it. Fireworks burst inside me, a pulsing ache of need seemed to explode in every cell, and for an incredibly long moment my world was full of brilliant light. Then the next thing I knew I was being held and cuddled close.
“What do you call me?”
I sighed in contentment. “Daddy.”