by Jane Henry
Because it makes me focus on the moment. Takes my mind off of everything else. It makes anticipation grow in my chest for what’s to come.
I need this release.
Making our way to the penthouse is a hazy dream. It's like I’ve blinked and we’ve gone from the ballroom to his bedroom. His hands are on me. Lifting the dress from my body. Unclasping the bra from my back.
“I want to fuck you with the plug still inside of you.”
His words send a thrill through me. I think of the deeper intensity of the orgasm he gave me in the private room downstairs. How it felt rocking through my body, my ass clenching around it as I came. I think of how full I will feel with both him and the plug buried within me. “Yes, daddy.”
His smile is wicked. His eyes are filled with dark desires. His hands are flames as they smooth over my body, caressing my breasts. He burns me with his kisses, lighting flames within my belly. Heat travels between my thighs, creating a pool of molten lava.
I’m on fire.
I kiss him back. In my kiss is everything I want from this moment. I tell him with my hands, my lips—I need him to take me. To be in total control. To cage my body, command my pleasure, and free my mind.
At this moment, I want to only think of him.
He turns my naked body so my bare back is pressed against the cool cotton of his shirt. His right hand rises, smoothing over my belly, cupping my aching breast. His left reaches down, down, down, parting the slick lips of my pussy. As he touches me, he finds that delicate flesh at the base of my neck. Licking and sucking. Making sure I’ll wear his mark when I leave here. As he kisses, his finger slides inside of me.
My head lulls back, my eyes close. “Mhh. That feels so… good.”
His breath is hot against my ear. “Daddy makes it feel so good.” He takes my right nipple prisoner between his forefinger and thumb as his slick fingertip sweeps over my throbbing clit. “Here.”
“And here. I love how wet your pussy gets when I kiss you here.” I give a gasp as he nips at the curve of my neck, the spot he knows his attention makes me drip with arousal. As he kisses, he thrusts his fingers inside me, adding a second to the first.
Stretching me, filling me.
My ass clenches around the plug as my pussy vise-grips his fingers. My head lulls back further, resting on his shoulder. I love the way his body curves around mine as he holds me from behind. Fingering me, squeezing my breasts, teasing my nipples.
I forget everything that stresses me, any thought other than the feel of his touch burns to ashes, piling at the base of the flames of the fire he’s set.
His words confirm what I already know. “You are mine.”
I am his.
His and his alone. This passion, this obsession, it’s madness and in his arms, it consumes me. I need him inside me. Now. He reads my body, reads my mind, his hands leaving me only long enough to rid himself of his clothing and free his cock. He knows I need him, but I tell him anyway. “I have to have you. Now.”
“And I have to have you, always. Tell me you’ll always be my babygirl.”
Always?
The word almost takes me out of the moment. It’s one I’ve not used before, with anyone. But with him… he seems to make the impossible, possible in every way.
Can he work his magic on me? Can he make me believe in always?
He spins me around and his mouth is on mine before I can answer. He holds me to him, our tongues intertwining. His hands slide down, cupping underneath my ass. He lifts me from the ground, my body weightless in his strong embrace. The head of his cock presses against my slick, wanting entrance. I push my legs further apart, welcoming him.
He thrusts forward and stretches me with a burning heat. It’s tight. So fucking tight with the plug in my ass. His cock feels massive, more than I can take.
And yet, as he rolls those hips in that killer way he’s perfected, I take him. Deeper and deeper he goes until he’s all the way inside me. He slides back slowly, then enters again fully with one hard push.
And I’m gone.
A whine rises in the back of my throat. More, more, more. My arms tighten around his neck. He moves faster. In and out, in and out, and I’m bucking, riding him up in the air, my legs holding on to his torso.
I’m going to come. “Yes, yes. Keep going.”
“I want to take you from behind.” He stops his delicious rhythm, carrying me over to the bed, untangling my arms from his neck.
“No! Keep going. I want to come, now.” His cock is still inside me and I wriggle against him, trying to get back that friction that I so desperately need.
“Naughty girl. Do what daddy says.” He rips me from his body. Pushes me over the edge of the bed. Slaps my ass. “Daddy wants you from the back, baby. Now be a good girl and spread those pretty legs.” His dominance makes my heart slam against my rib cage, heat flooding through me at the feel of the sting on my skin.
My ass stings and he smacks it again in the exact same spot. A warning. I quickly obey, spreading my legs, remembering the plug. How will it feel to have him enter me from the back with the plug still inside?
He enters me with unforgiving force. Pushing himself inside my slick heat. It’s tight and full like before but now, from this angle, the head of his cock is hitting a different spot. One that makes an animal-like growl rise from my chest. “Holy mother of—”
He leans to the side to slap my ass. He pulls back his cock until only the head remains inside me, and spanks me. “Watch that mouth, babygirl.” His hands go to my hips and he fills me again.
And again. And again.
Perspiration dots my brow. My mind feels hazy, cloudy. My pussy locks down on his cock, my ass clenching around that damned plug and— “I’m coming. Oh—”
“Come for daddy, babygirl.” He holds my hips, pulling me back hard into him, his cock slamming inside of me, hitting that spot and annihilating me.
I come with the force of a wildfire, every emotion rising to the heavens like ash from the burning wood.
He comes with me, his seed a flash of heat, filling me and spilling over, escaping me and running down my leg.
He moves out of me, leaving me shuddering. His fingers trail to the cleft in my ass, finding the handle of the plug. He pulls it out, slowly. The sensation is strange, like something leaving me. It’s out and my body finally relaxes completely, collapsing onto the bed.
I lie there, basking in the afterglow. Thinking of him. Wondering how it is I got to be this lucky, to be with him.
Wondering… if it can last.
Perfection isn’t real. Tom wasn’t real. Can he be real?
Or is this just a mirage? Our initial meeting, our first date, our two-week contract… when it's all over will I be left wondering what possessed me to think for a moment that any of it was real. That it could last?
And yet, in this moment, I can’t imagine my life without him.
He comes to me, lying beside me. He kisses my cheek, my lips, the top of my head.
My eyes close and I begin to drift off. I don’t know if he thinks I’m awake or asleep, but he speaks and his voice is a whisper, so low I almost can’t hear it.
“Always my babygirl. Always. No matter what.”
A breeze blows in through the open window. A shiver runs down my spine.
Chapter Fifteen
Gabriel
I wake up the next day and reach for Miranda. I pat the bed beside me. Empty. I sit up, scrubbing a hand across my brow and look for her.
“Miranda?”
Nothing. Now I’m fully awake.
After last night, finding out about her sister’s situation, the memory of my own troubles with past relationships came to haunt me. I brought her back to the room to claim her, to remind her who she belonged to. The thought of infidelity—fucking infidelity—made my need to own her stronger than ever. I wanted her to know exactly whose babygirl she was.
I swing my legs over the side of the bed and call for her again.
“Miranda?”
Did she leave me? She’s begun to get suspicious about a few things. I fucked up and let it slip I knew more about her than I should. Will she think I’m some kind of sicko creeper? I’m not, I know I’m not, but I can’t deny the fact that I’m more than a little obsessed.
I open the bathroom door, but it’s empty. Desperation begins to claw its way across my chest, the need to find her burning in me so hard and fast I can hardly think straight.
How could I have missed her leaving? Was I that fucking dead to the world that I didn’t even hear a door open? Where did she go?
My thoughts come to a screeching halt when the door to the balcony opens and she steps inside. She sweeps in, wearing nothing but a robe, her hair adorably mussed up and clipped to the top of her head with some kinda butterfly thing. She carries her phone in one hand and a mug of coffee in the other.
She beams when she sees me. “Good morning!”
“Morning.”
She pauses, her smile freezing. “Gabriel. Daddy? What’s wrong?”
I shake my head, trying to dispel my fears and concerns, my head still trapped in the worries I gave voice to just seconds ago. It’s like I’m caught somewhere between waking and dreaming.
Maybe I am too obsessed. Maybe I do need to give her a little freedom, if I’m this affected by the mere thought of losing her.
“Nothing’s wrong,” I say, my voice husky and affected. I sit with a sigh on the edge of the bed. “C’mere.” I pat my knee.
She tips her head to the side curiously for a moment before walking over to me. When she reaches me, I take her coffee mug, place it on the bedside table, then take her phone and toss it on the bed. I tug her onto my lap and pull her to my chest.
Her arms encircle my neck and she places her head on my shoulder.
“Seriously, though. What’s wrong, daddy?”
I swallow. Will she think I’m fucked up if I admit the truth? I, of all people, should know how important honesty is in a relationship, and Jesus, I can’t hold anything more back from her…
“Couldn’t find you,” I finally say. “And I thought for a moment you left.”
She sighs. “Gosh, I’m sorry you felt that way,” she says, shaking her head. “I hate that you did. But I can see why. I mean, last night was pretty messed up. I think it affected me, too. I had a dream that I found you with another woman.”
My body stiffens. “Oh?”
She laughs, unaware of the tension rippling through me.
“It was silly. I’m sure it was only because of dealing with Lexi last night, you know?”
I nod.
“And I woke up so troubled, and it was super early, so I just made some coffee and sat out on the balcony catching up on some work.”
I nod mutely. There are things she doesn’t know about me. I know everything about her. The disparity between us mocks me.
It’s time I told her some more of my past. I’ve taken care of it. I’ve made sure that I’m free and clear, without anything hindering my ability to be fully present for her. With her. I’ve made sure that the two of us can pursue a lifetime together.
But still, she needs to know.
“I would never be unfaithful to you, Miranda. Never.”
She looks up at me in surprise, her beautiful blue eyes wide. “Of course you wouldn’t.”
“I’ll write it in our contract if you need to see it. I’ll make sure you know that there’s nothing in the world more important to me than you.”
She shakes her head slowly. “I don’t need to see that, daddy.” Her voice is soft. “I don’t need it in a contract. I believe you.”
I kiss her forehead fiercely, and her hand grips my wrist.
“In fact, it’s that very thing that troubles me sometimes.”
“What?”
“Just exactly how devoted you are.”
I pause. “Oh?”
She nods slowly. “Sometimes you seem almost… almost obsessed.”
I nod. “I am.”
She bites her lip in that way she does. “I just don’t know if it’s healthy.”
I’ve come on too strong, I know it.
I nod. “What can I do to make it better?”
“Well, that’s just it. You’re always trying to make things better.” She pushes herself off my lap. “And it’s not that I don’t respect and even admire that, so much as it worries me.”
“Why?”
She shakes her head. “Because I’m not perfect. I have my flaws. But it seems as if you’ve put me on a pedestal.”
I shrug. “Everyone’s human. I know that.”
Her phone rings, and her eyes go to it. I nod. “Take it.”
I need a moment to think anyway.
She answers the phone and steps out toward the kitchenette, chatting work and answering questions about payroll. A few moments later she comes back in. I reach for her, and she comes to me, but she seems distant this time.
I kiss her, and she kisses me back. Something is missing. She’s... too far. My stomach starts to sink, but I tame my mind. She’s troubled about her sister. She’s preoccupied. That’s all there is to it.
It’s nothing.
“I need a shower,” she says.
I nod. “Go.” I point to the bathroom and give her a teasing smack to the rear when she’s on her way. She giggles, and keeps walking to the bathroom.
I call Shane. “You find anything else out?”
“About her sister’s ex? What a douche, Gabe, seriously. That motherfucker’s been engaged to four different women, and every damn time they catch him cheating on them before the wedding.”
“What the fuck is that about?”
“Seems he’s got a thing for it, who the hell knows. But he lied about who he was, and Lexi’s finding out the hard way you can’t always trust what someone tells you.”
My conscience pricks me.
“And there’s something else, boss.”
“Yeah?”
He sighs. “There’s some talk in the media today about your ex.”
I stifle a groan. Jesus.
“Are you kidding me?”
“Nope. Seems she saw the little photo shoot last night. Press released some early photos and they’re killer photos, man. But someone’s jealous, and she’s playing hardball.”
Christ.
“How so?” He fills me in, telling me everything I need to know.
Excellent. Just what I need right now.
I pace the room, my mind on what I just found out as Shane fills me in on my latest business trades and sales. I’m vaguely aware of him spouting off numbers and the like when the door to the bathroom opens. Miranda walks out wearing her robe, her hair slung up on her head in a towel.
“I’ll deal with this later,” I tell Shane. I turn my back to Miranda and speak in a low voice. “Keep it quiet.”
I hang up the phone.
“What is it?” she asks.
I shake my head. “Nothing to worry about.” But her brow is furrowed and her lips are pursed while she gets dressed for the day. I watch her, enamored with the simplicity of watching her put her makeup on, tug on a pair of leggings, tousle her hair while she dries it.
“Gorgeous,” I say, shaking my head as I watch her. “Should be illegal.”
She smiles, but the smile doesn’t reach her eyes.
“How’s Lexi this morning?”
Miranda’s eyes flash, and she bares her teeth. She looks like a little rabid terrier and I hold up my hands in surrender. “Whoa, babe. Easy, now. I know you’re not happy about what happened, but you can’t—”
“Castrate him with my bare hands?” she says, her eyes flashing at me. “Beat the ever living life out of him?” Her voice is rising in pitch, nearing an almost hysterical octave. “Ruin him?”
I nod, stroking my chin. “I’d bet he earned every bit of your wrath, but we’re not going to solve everything by committing a felony. And I don’t think you’ll feel any better if you did
any of those things.”
She heaves out a breath while she steps into a pair of ballet flats. “Speak for yourself.”
Now, this is a side of my girl I haven’t seen before. She’s spiraling out of control and needs her daddy to step in. I watch her carefully, folding my arms across my chest.
“Come here.”
She eyes me curiously, and her brows knit together.
“Why?”
Why?
“Did you forget our agreement?”
She huffs out a breath. “I know, it’s just that—”
“Just that what? It’s okay for a babygirl to disobey her daddy?”
She opens her mouth to protest, then slams it shut. I can tell her guard is up, and I’m not sure why. Is it her sister’s situation? The dream she had the night before?
Or something else?
“Unless you want to find yourself over daddy’s knee…”
She sighs. “Gabriel, I—listen,” she says, her voice softening. “I’ve enjoyed my time with you, I really have.”
Oh God no. We aren’t having this conversation.
“I just can’t…” she places her head in her hands. “I can’t think about my sister and my mom and everything I have to do, and play these games at the same time.”
“Games? You think this is a game?”
Jesus.
She sighs, and almost looks apologetic for a minute. “I run a business, Gabriel.”
“I know that.”
“And I can’t… well, how am I supposed to do this whole submission thing and still be in charge?”
I shake my head, my tone softer this time. “Miranda. Come here.”
This time she obeys, walking to me tentatively, but her eyes never leaving mine. “Yes?”
I wrap my arm around her shoulders and hold her to me. “None of this means that you don’t still follow your life. That you don’t still run your business. Part of what attracts me to you so much is how kick-ass you are.”
She sighs, and I think I’m getting somewhere. “Really?”
