Page 16 of Daddy in Disguise

“Okay, if that’s the answer you’re going with, fine.” I spread my hands out in front of me, as if to lay all my cards on the table. “I’m never going to hurt Sparrow. I’ll concede I should have talked to you first, but I’m never going to apologize for claiming what’s mine. I have wanted your sister for years and I was done waiting for my turn, for the right moment to make my move. Honestly, that’s not how I live my life, but I kept my distance out of respect for you.”

“Gee, thanks,” Thatcher says with a roll of his eyes.

I slap my hand down on the table, frustrated by his attitude. The sound causes him to jump and for several other patrons to turn and look at us. “Goddammit, you’re not listening to a word I’m saying! You have some stupid stereotype stuck in your head. You think I get off on pain? I don’t. I get off on Sparrow’s control over me. I get off on her trust. I make sure her needs are met before my own because my job is to take care of her. What is so hard to understand about that?”

His eyes close and when they open back up, I see a man ready to listen to his friend. “Can you blame me for wanting to protect her, Carter? We practically raised ourselves in a city that will eat you up and spit you out. Something bad already happened to her and while I was there to help her through it, I wasn’t there to protect her, to prevent her from making mistakes like I did.”

“So now you’re finally honest with me, but you hurt her when you called her a whore.”

“I know, and I’m sorry about that.”

“Don’t apologize to me. You have to say it to her.”

“Well, I haven’t been able to see her in a few days.”

“When she’s ready, she’ll call.” I finish the last of my beer because it’s time to go. I stand and lean over the table. “And just so we’re clear, I’m going to marry Sparrow, and I’m not going to ask your permission.”

I turn on my heel, leave the bar, and quickly check my phone to see if Sparrow responded to my text.

She didn’t.

Hmm. I decide to call her, but it goes to voicemail.

My hands shake with nervous energy as I start heading toward my car, hoping nothing happened to her. Other than a lingering headache, she’s seemed fine since we left the emergency room. My pace starts to quicken and once I’m inside my car, I race out of the parking lot toward home.

A thousand different scenarios play in my thoughts as I drive through the city toward my house, and every one of them makes me physically ill.

My foot keeps the gas pedal pressed to the floorboard the entire way home and when I catch a glimpse of my house, it appears dark.

What the fuck is happening?

Speeding up the driveway, I quickly put the car into park and hurry out of it.

“Sparrow,” I shout as I push open the front door. “Sparrow!”

I skid to a stop when I see the candles and the trail of . . . rose petals? I follow them, stopping just outside my bedroom. The door is closed but there’s a soft flickering of light coming from under it. My hand grasps the doorknob, twisting it until it swings open.

The sight of Sparrow, wearing a black lace body suit, her hair curled in glossy waves, and her lips painted red, takes my breath away. She sits on the floor, her legs tucked under her, and her palms flat on her thighs. A smile spreads across my lips as I step forward.

“You scared me, little bird,” I tell her, running my fingers along her jaw and chin, which I tilt up. “What do you have to say for yourself?”

“I’m sorry, Daddy,” she murmurs, the white of her teeth flashing against the red of her lips.

“Stand up.” I step away, giving her space, and watch, enthralled by the way her body looks wrapped in black lace. “This is not necessary.” I sweep my hand around the room, gesturing to the candles and the rose petals. Her mouth immediately turns down into a frown. “I appreciate the gesture, but you are more than enough for me. And I never, ever want to see you down on your knees, waiting for me like this. That’s not the kind of dynamic I want for us.”

“But I thought—”

“I know what you thought. Am I dominant? Yes. Will you be submissive? Yes. But you are my equal in every way and I only want you on your knees when you’re begging for my cock. Are we clear?”

“Yes.”

“I didn’t hear you.”

“Yes, Daddy.”

I breathe in deeply because there’s one more thing we need to address. “How are you feeling, little bird? You must be getting better if you went to all this trouble for me, but I want to hear you say it.”

“I’m feeling much better today.”