by Rye Hart
But my wishes were blown to shreds when the bell above the door rang as another customer entered.
I turned around and saw a tall, rugged, muscular man walking in. Clad in a flannel shirt that clung to his chest and worn-down jeans that seemed to fit him just right, I couldn’t help but sense a familiarity about him. The dark brown hair on his head was stuffed underneath a hat, and the thick beard on his face was trimmed close to his square jaw. I couldn’t make out his eyes from, though I watched him, and the way he directed his attention towards me suggested he knew me.
Then, as I approached him and placed a menu in front of him, I realized why he looked so familiar. His piercing blue eyes ripped through me. He was my dark prince from all those years ago.
My hands shook and my eyes widened. I watched as he held my gaze, just as steady as he’d done that night in the city. My palms were sweating as I reached down and grabbed him a coffee cup, looking for something to do while his eyes studied me intently.
Did he know? Was he here to hurt me? To take Ana away from me?
He’d have to fight through me to get to her. That much was certain.
I grabbed the coffee pot and poured him a cup and, all the while, he simply watched me. His menu was left untouched and his body didn’t budge.
My nervous lips broke the silence hanging between us. “What are you doing here?”
I knew it was him. Back then, he had been clean-shaven and he was wearing a mask, but I knew those eyes. I knew that stare. I felt that familiar thrill rush over my body while his eyes followed me. I would’ve known that feeling anywhere, even if he had spotted me from across the street.
I was blown away by how handsome he was without the mask. His strong hands were rough, boasting thick callouses, and his beard suggested he’d been in the area for a little while. He looked like one of the locals. The full beard suited him in a way I would’ve never thought possible and, as I poured him a cup of coffee, all he did was shrug.
That was when fear rushed through me. Did he not remember me?
He stayed silent, not ordering any food, but he didn’t touch his coffee, either. I went about my business, trying to clean up around me so that when he did finally leave, I could get home to my daughter.
Our daughter.
“We’ll be closing in a few minutes,” I said. “Is there anything you’d like, to go?”
“I don’t want to order anything,” he said in that same slight accent. “But I would like to talk to you.”
I felt my body freeze as I slowly panned my gaze over toward him. It was him and he did remember me. That voice was unmistakable and I felt myself growing weak at the knees. Sensations from that night echoed through my system and I had to brace myself against the counter just to keep my balance.
And all the while, he kept staring.
I never once considered telling him about Ana after she was born. Trying to track down a man I knew was dangerous and telling him I was pregnant with his child seemed like a bad idea. I wondered how he found me. After I informed Crystal that I was pregnant, she immediately launched into the rumors she’d heard about him. Rumors of him being tied to the mob, being the head of a ruthless family, having so much blood on his hands he could drown the entire city in the carnage he left behind. The stories shook me to my core and kept me up crying at night, even as I curled up and kept my arms braced around my stomach.
My stomach that carried a child I vowed to protect with all my might.
Plus, he owned a sex club. He wasn’t exactly the stereotype of the perfect “baby daddy.” Sure, he was rich, but that didn’t mean anything if his history put us in danger. Suddenly, a chilling idea crossed my mind. What if he was here to fight me for custody? What if he was here to take her from me? I wasn’t about to let him take my daughter and introduce her to a world filled with blood and criminals. I would have to keep my secret from him. I would have to safeguard Ana with my life, no matter what he wanted to talk about.
I continued to clean the counter while his coffee was left untouched.
I felt a thread of fear winding through my stomach. Why was he here, acting all mysterious? Did he already know about Ana? Surely, if he had me tracked, he knew about her, but I couldn’t be sure. All he was doing was staring at me like he had that night and I had no idea what was going on in his mind. I assumed he would want nothing more to do with me, especially after leaving me the lines of that Yeats poem like he did.
I still had that note, even after all these years. I used it as a bookmark for the books I allowed myself to dive into whenever I did have a little bit of free time on my hands, which wasn’t often.
“I assumed you didn’t want anything to do with me,” I said as I walked back toward him. “You were gone when I woke up.”
“Did you get my note?” he asked.
“I still have it actually.”
I felt his stare burn into me as my eyes rose to meet his.
“Some cryptic Yeats poem about losing innocence, portraying yourself as dangerous. I heard you loud and clear. So, I left. Why are you hunting down a booty call from three years ago?”
I slammed my rag onto the top of the counter and his eyes narrowed. In that very moment, I knew I’d made a fatal mistake. A rush of heat drenched my panties, even as that thread of fear grew into a pulsing tree that spread its limbs throughout my body. As petrified as I was of this situation, he was still so hot. So dominant and self-assured. I knew I’d never find someone who could make me feel the way he did that night. So, I hadn’t bothered to date. Not while I was pregnant and not after Ana was born.
But there was something in his stern stare that told me he already knew. He already knew all of it.
“You’re hiding something from me, songbird,” he said.
I poured all of my energy into my little girl. Being a single mother was tough, especially when you were raising two kids. Your entire life gets put on hold for them. I sacrificed everything to make sure my family stayed together, but the moment those words flew from his mouth, I was hooked.
Hooked on him again, just like I was that night.
My pulse sped up with the rough turn of his accent. His voice had dropped into that octave that sent my knees quaking. I looked away from him, not wanting to say the words that were sitting on the tip of my tongue.
But I didn’t have any choice. I knew he knew.
I walked away from him and came out from around the counter. I had to continue cleaning up so I could close this place down. My boss had already left, and the cook had slipped out the back, leaving me alone with this beautiful, petrifying man while I swept the floor. His eyes were hard on my body as I came closer to him and, when I was within arm’s reach, he yanked me from the floor and pulled me onto his lap.
I squealed as his hands pinned my arms behind my back, thrusting my chest out to him. Without any warning or any words spoken, he kissed me harshly. My lips automatically swelled underneath his touch while our tongues danced a familiar tango and I felt myself short of breath by the time he pulled away. All this time had passed and his kiss could still render me speechless.
The attraction between us was so strong, I could feel it electrifying the stale air of the diner.
“Tell me what you’re hiding,” he said.
I turned my head away to try and disconnect what I knew was brewing between us.
“Now,” he said darkly.
I tried to fight the animal magnetism between the two of us. I could feel my entire body trembling as he tugged harder on my arms. My chest wrenched out toward him and his lips descended to my skin, pressing his barely-there kisses while he watched the whole of my skin pucker at his touch.
But the soft moment was soon gone. He grabbed my ponytail and forced me to look him square in his eyes.
Those beautiful, icy eyes that brought both hope and fear into my life.
“You’ll tell me, or I’ll punish you,” he said.
His words made me hot and I started to squirm in his lap.
I remembered how his spanking made me feel last time. How his finger had slipped effortlessly into my virginal hole. He forced me to bend farther, my back threatening to snap as his free hand wrenched my work shirt over my face. He pulled it so high that it covered my eyes while exposing the lower portion of my face and that’s when I felt it.
His lips pressed once again into mine, and I whimpered softly at his touch.
He bit my bottom lip, pulling a moan from my throat that caused him to growl. I started grinding down into his lap, feeling his erection swell in his pants while his hands traveled to my bra. I started to backtrack from him, trying to get off his lap as his grasp held me in his lap.
I knew the moment he saw the stretch marks that trailed up the sides of my breasts that he would know.
He pulled my bra down, and my breathing sped up. For a moment, my nipples were bared to the warm air of the diner. I could feel them puckering underneath the dark prince’s gaze, hardening as I spilled into my panties. His fingertips rose to the side of my breast, tracing every lightened stretch mark he could find as I visibly quaked in his lap.
I was panting with fear while my pussy was growing wet with desire.
Suddenly, his lips dipped to my pert nipples. He licked and sucked, the sensations driving me crazy while I continued to moan. The electricity that shot through my body could’ve powered the entire town and, as I bucked wildly in his lap, I could feel the vibrations of his voice echo off the corners of my mind.
“Tell me your secret,” he said.
He ground against me, causing me to gasp for air. I wanted him and I knew he could tell. But I hadn’t told him what he wanted to know. I hadn’t told him that we had a daughter. A beautiful daughter who looked just like him. My nipple fell from between his lips and his knee pressed against my clit, causing me to lose myself in his body again while he moved me back and forth.
My arms stayed taut, and his hand stayed wound in my hair as my body shook with the pleasure coursing through my veins. He rocked me to my precipice, my clit swelling with lust and wanton passion as my body started to shiver. My body jolted and darted with my orgasm as he rocked my body faster and faster against his leg, his lips wrapping around my nipples and riding me through the wetness pouring out from between my legs.
I shook helplessly on his lap as my orgasm barreled over my body and, once I collapsed, I felt him readjust my bra and pull my shirt down.
My hazy gaze found his stern eyes, and even though I was flushed with the pleasure he’d just given my body, he still wouldn’t let me go. I stared back at him, truly afraid of what was coming next, but something inside of me chanted a very familiar tune.
You can trust him. You can trust him. You can trust him.
Chapter Twelve – Camillo
I’d left my nephew with the nanny I had my private detective check out. I kept her on speed dial and monetarily comfortable, so I could have her at the drop of a hat. I knew this would be the night I’d go to see Rose. The night I would take in her luscious body with my eyes again and devour her essence with my lips. I called the nanny up and told her to come over before I kissed my nephew goodbye and told him he could play games until he fell asleep if it helped him to sleep better.
From the moment I walked into the diner, I was speechless. It was as if the past three years hadn’t aged her at all. The halo of innocence that surrounded her didn’t seem tainted at all by her circumstances. The way she continued to glide around the floor, cleaning up after people who probably had no respect for her, was astounding to me.
It stunned me into a silence as I made my way to the counter and sat down.
The fact that this woman was my daughter’s mother made my heart pound hard within my chest. I’d been able to keep part of the vow I made to myself that night. I followed it so fervently, in fact, that I couldn’t fuck any other subs after her. I was disgusted by their inferiority to the perfect submissive I’d found in her that night. They were all just pathetic copies of the one true princess I’d found in her that evening.
That perfect evening three whole years ago.
When I saw that first picture of my daughter, I’d almost lost my mind right there in the cabin. After losing both of my parents to such senseless violence, I couldn’t live without my family, now that I knew they existed. I couldn't allow my daughter to grow up thinking her father didn’t want her. Didn’t love her. Didn’t care for her or her mother.
But I was also eager to see Rose. To see this beautiful princess again for the first time since that night. I was ready to be in her presence again and feel the tension that naturally thrummed between us. As I sat down at the counter and watched her pour me a cup of coffee, I couldn’t help but hide a smirk at how the words burst forth from her lips.
She wanted to know what I was doing here but pretty soon, I would show her.
I watched her drift around the diner, cleaning up and tending to her own business. I could see the slight sheen of sweat on her brow, denoting the long day she must’ve had. A twinge of guilt slithered through my body as I watched her hunch her back over that damn broom.
The mother of my child shouldn’t have to work nearly as hard as she was in order to provide for our child.
I knew she recognized me from the moment she looked into my eyes. When she asked me what I was doing here, I no longer wanted to tell her. Anger bubbled up in my throat as she defied me and bucked up against me with the strength I knew she possessed. She’d kept my child from me. She’d kept our beautiful daughter a secret. I’d missed precious years of her development because of her unwillingness to reach out to me.
She needed to be punished like the bad little princess she’d been.
Now, I had her in my grasp. I could see the fear behind her eyes, but she made no move to get away. There was still an innate trust vibrating throughout her entire body, pressing her into me in a movement I don’t even think she registered. I bent my lips down to her ear and heard her gasp, kissing the shell of her ear before she continued to writhe in my lap.
“My truck’s out back,” I said. “You’ve got twenty minutes to close down and get out there.”
Then, I released her and made my leave. I threw a few bills onto the counter to pay for the coffee, striding out back as I made my way to my truck. I watched her while she flew around and cleaned, making haste in everything she did as I sat back and smiled. She was trying her best to prove to me she could still listen, even after committing the ultimate betrayal.
It was that innocence in her rising to the top and I felt my cock pressing hard against my pants.
Twenty minutes later, she cut off all the lights and locked up the building. She came outside and spotted my car, and she approached it without hesitation. I kept the motor running so she could climb into its warmth, and the moment she sat down in the seat next to me, I could hear her teeth chattering.
“What do you want?” she asked as her gaze whipped over to me.
“Why didn’t you contact me?” I asked.
Her eyes widened in surprise and her lips parted in shock. I watched her eyes narrow as that fierce spirit of hers flooded back to the surface and I prepared myself for a fight.
“Why in the world should I have tried to contact you?” she asked.
“You’re really not going to tell me on your own, are you?” I asked.
I watched her swallow hard, but her gaze stayed intense. I had to applaud her for her strength. I was finally getting the full understanding of how the note I’d left her had affected her. She straightened up her back, with one hand on the door handle of the truck, ready to escape should the slightest thing go wrong.
I decided to keep the door unlocked, just to let her know I wasn’t going to cage her.
Not without her permission. “I guess I’m just going to have to drag it out of you,” I said, grinning.
My cock was hardening against my pants as I thought about all the ways I could torture the information out of her. I could spank her until she cried out
for mercy.
All the while, she sat there, sturdy and strong, but still with that little glimmer of innocence in her eyes.
“Drag out what?” she asked.
She wasn’t going to tell me, but I couldn’t punish her in the car like I needed to. Like I’d intended to the moment I stepped out of my cabin to venture into town. My eyes scanned her body, taking in every dip and valley that was still so beautiful, yet just a bit different from the last time I’d taken her. I wondered if any other man had touched her body since, defiling her while she was pregnant with my child. The thought awoke anger inside me and as my eyes bored into hers, I saw her scoot back just a bit from me.
Her fear was beginning to take over, but all I wanted to do was taste her coming on my tongue. All I could think about was her legs clamping down around my head. I thought about her hands tugging at the tendrils of my hair. I thought about her juices getting trapped in my beard while my hands pinned her arms, rendering her silent and immovable while her tits arched into the air for me.
I scooted closer to her and, in an instant, the door was open and she was out in the cold once again.
I took a deep breath as she stood there, staring at me. She was different now. She was special. She was the mother of my child and we had to find a way to forge our family together. We had to find a way to navigate these new and uncharted waters side by side. I had to find a way to learn softness. My hardness and my cruelty were no longer appropriate. No longer necessary.
No longer what she needed.
I realized, then, why she was keeping her secret. Why she wasn’t telling me about our daughter. I settled back down into my seat and drew in a deep breath, trying to settle my cock while she trembled out in the cold. I clenched my hands onto the steering wheel of my truck, feeling the animal she brought out in me quiet down as a sigh ripped from between my lips.
