Page 18 of Melt For Us, Daddy (Big Daddy Energy #4)

Jacob

T he house they brought him to was in the middle of the woods, and it felt like hours they’d been driving before they finally pulled onto the long gravel drive that led up to the pretty blue house. He reached for the door handle to climb out, but a barked order from Holden froze him in place.

“You don’t go anywhere until we say. Understood?”

“Yes, sir. Sorry.”

In the mirror, Holden’s expression softened. “Don’t apologize. You didn’t know.”

“Yes, sir.”

Falcon, as he’d heard Holden refer to the woman in the front seat, was talking into one of those things in her ear like Holden had. “Yup. Thanks, Merlin.”

“All clear?” Holden asked.

“All clear. Merlin and Kes are inside, they’ve done the full sweep, secured everything.”

“Good. Jacob, stay put and I’ll come let you out.”

He stayed, though it rankled a bit. Despite the danger, he was getting a little tired of being bossed around all the time. At least by Holden and the others. He didn’t mind it so much when it was Cordelia, but he was trying very hard not to think about what that might mean.

The side door swung open a second later and Holden ushered him out and up the front steps into the house. Falcon followed closely behind, a large black bag slung over her shoulder.

Two men, both nearly as large as Holden, greeted them inside. “Jacob, this is Merlin and Kestrel. They’ll be your security team while you’re here.”

“You aren’t staying? What about Zach?”

“I need Zach back in the city. But you’re in good hands, I promise.”

Before he could protest again, the sound of tires crunching over gravel reached them and everyone in the room went on alert.

One of the men who’d been inside already, the one with long sideburns and the bushiest mustache Jacob had ever seen, moved to the window, speaking low into one of those ear things everyone seemed to have.

“It’s Blaze and Hawk. Let them know it’s clear, they’re bringing the women inside.”

Cordelia. And Ivy. Some of the knots in his stomach loosened at the thought of seeing them again.

Behind him, the door opened and he turned just as they stepped inside. His heart skipped a beat—he hadn’t known that was a thing that could really happen—at the sight of them. Cordelia, her head high and her sharp eyes scanning their surroundings until they locked on him.

And Ivy beside her, clutching a pink toy to her chest with one hand and Cordelia’s hand with the other. A fierce, possessive need rose up in him. The need to protect, to defend, similar to what he felt for his sisters but also completely different at the same time.

“Ivy. Cordelia.” Holden nodded in greeting. “This is Merlin and Kestrel. They’ll be staying here at the house with you until further notice.”

“How long is ‘until further notice’?” Ivy asked, her lips turning down into a frown.

“Until the threat has been removed or I have decided that it’s safe enough for you to return.”

“But how long do you think that will take? I can’t just abandon my students, Holden.”

Crossing his arms over his massive chest, Holden glared down at her. “I’m going to do everything in my power to get you home as soon as possible, Ivy. But until the danger is removed, you are staying here with my men. You will listen to them, and you will follow their rules. Understood?”

Why the hell was he being so mean to her? Stepping between them, Jacob folded his arms, matching Holden’s stance. Unlike Ivy, he was tall enough to meet Holden’s gaze without looking up, and it gave him a boost of confidence. “Lay off her. Can’t you see how scared she is?”

“It’s okay, Jacob. I’m not scared of Holden.”

The giant in front of him raised one gray brow as he shifted his attention from Jacob back down to Ivy. “Is that so?”

“It is so. We’re not at the club, so you can’t just go bossing me around, Holden.”

“I, on the other hand, can.”

Jacob turned to find Cordelia lifting a hand to the back of Ivy’s neck, her lips curving up in a wicked smile. “Apologize to Holden, Ivy Mae. He’s just trying to keep us safe and you’re being very rude.”

The color in Ivy’s cheeks darkened to a deep rose. “Sorry, Holden.”

“Apology accepted. And just so we’re all on the same page, I selected the team I did specifically because they share our… interests . So nobody here is going to blink twice at the sound of a naughty little girl getting her bottom spanked if necessary.”

Cordelia’s smile took on an even more wicked edge. “That is good to know, Holden. Thank you.”

“Hey! Jacob might mind!” Ivy protested with a pout.

Holden blinked, then frowned at him. “Sorry, kid. Been taking you to the club so often I forgot you aren’t actually part of the, ah, club .”

The thought of listening to Ivy get spanked didn’t affect him the way he’d expected. There was anger there, a hint of fear as well, but more than either of those was that feeling he so often had around them. The feeling he wasn’t supposed to have for anyone but his wife.

He was still trying to sort it out for himself when Ivy reached for him, giving his arm one of those reassuring squeezes.

“It’s okay to say you don’t consent to being exposed to our kink, honey.

But if you’re worrying about me, just remember, I do this because I like it.

Cordelia would never hurt me, not the way you’re used to. Okay?”

Consent. They’d told him a little bit about what that meant, though it was still a bit of a foreign concept to him. Meeting her dark eyes, though, he felt that same sense of calm he always seemed to have around her. “Um, then I guess… I’d rather not hear you being spanked, if that’s okay.”

Cordelia’s eyes flashed, not with anger but with something that almost looked like pride. “Good for you, sticking up for yourself. We’ll keep the noise down as much as possible, and lucky for all of us, Ivy is a good girl.”

He didn’t want to feel the glow that spread through his chest when she praised him for sticking up for himself. But he did, and he wasn’t sure what to do about it. “Sure. Okay.”

“Now that we’ve gotten that settled…” Holden crouched down in front of Ivy. “I know this sucks. And I’m so fucking sorry it’s necessary. I promise I’ll do whatever it takes to get you home and back to normal as soon as possible. Okay?”

Sighing quietly, Ivy nodded. “I know. I’m sorry I snapped at you. This whole thing just has me a little rattled, Sir.”

“Yeah, I get that. But you’ve got Dee with you and I’ll have you out of here as soon as I fucking can. I promise. I have to get going now, but you’re all in good hands here with Merlin and Kestrel. I’ll keep them updated as much as possible.”

He rose again, and made to leave, but Jacob lunged forward, grabbing hold of his arm. “Wait! What about my sisters? If my father is attacking people on the street, how do I know he hasn’t done something to them?”

Holden shared a look with Cordelia. “We’re doing everything we can to get them out. That's part of why I need Zach to stay in the city with me, to see if we can’t get him inside. Otherwise, we’re operating blind.”

“Maybe I should go back. I could be your inside person.”

“Absolutely fucking not,” Cordelia snarled. “That’s what he wants. You go back, they’re more likely to just lock you in a room or ship you off somewhere you can’t make trouble. You go back, and we lose what little bit of edge we have.”

“She’s right.” Gripping Jacob’s shoulder, Holden looked him square in the eye. “We need you here, safe. Knowing that we have you and your sisters as potential witnesses is the only way we can have any hope of putting your father behind bars where he belongs.”

Cordelia’s expression softened. “You wouldn't have left if you didn’t think it was the best thing for your sisters. You just have to trust that. And trust us.”

Although everything in him wanted to tell them they were wrong, that he had to go back, he knew they were right. If he went back now, his father was likely to beat every single one of his sisters in front of him just to teach him a lesson. Especially after the way Cordelia publicly humiliated him.

So he’d have to wait. And trust in his guardian angel.

“All right. I’ll stay.”

Ivy

Their first evening in the safe house was…

weird. It wasn’t just that she didn’t have her usual routine to rely on, she didn’t have anything .

They were in a strange house with strange people and strange everything.

Normally when they were on vacation and such, Cordelia would set up a new routine for her to follow, to give her some semblance of normalcy, but they hadn’t really had the time or space to talk about it.

And Ivy was hesitant to bring it up when Cordelia had so much else on her mind.

On top of all of that, there was Jacob. Sweet, innocent Jacob who just watched them with those big gray eyes of his.

He looked so lost, so wounded, and he’d spent the entire night lost in his own little world.

Probably worrying about his sisters, and who could blame him?

It had to be killing him to be so far from them, even farther than before, and so completely helpless to do anything but wait.

But now, Jacob was tucked away in his own room and it was just her and Cordelia.

Stepping out of the en-suite bathroom in the primary bedroom everyone had insisted they take, she took in the sight of Cordelia perched on the edge of the bed, all those soft, warm curves she couldn’t wait to snuggle into, and everything inside her relaxed.

Ivy crossed the room slowly, sinking to her knees beside the bed, and the familiarity of what little bit of their routine she could cling to settled her further.

“My beautiful little blossom,” Cordelia murmured, running a hand over Ivy’s hair. “How are you feeling, baby?”

“Okay, I guess.”

“Hey.” Gripping Ivy’s chin, Cordelia forced her head up. “No more secrets, remember?”

“I’m not keeping secrets. You’ve just got enough to worry about without me being pouty.”

“Hmm. Stand up.”

Another deviation from their routine, but Ivy swallowed her annoyance as she rose to her feet. The next thing she knew, she was tumbling forward, over Cordelia’s lap with a shocked squeak.

“Dee! Someone will hear you!”

“I’ll keep it down. But my babygirl obviously needs to let off some steam, so that’s exactly what we’re going to do.”

A swift tug brought Ivy’s pajama shorts to her knees, along with her panties, and she tensed as the cool air brushed over her naked skin.

“Such a pretty little bottom,” Cordelia crooned, rubbing her hand over Ivy’s bare backside, infusing it with a lovely warmth that had Ivy relaxing bit by bit.

“I know how hard this has been for you, with all the big changes and everything feeling so out of control. But you’re handling it so well, baby. I’m so proud of you.”

“Really?” She didn’t think she’d been handling things very well at all.

“Mmhmm. And I think you deserve a reward for being such a good, brave girl.”

The first swat made Ivy jump, but she realized quickly it didn’t sting as much as she’d expected. This was very definitely a ‘good girl’ spanking, her favorite kind, and she sighed as she melted over Cordelia’s lap with every gentle swat.

When she was nice and warm and relaxed, the swats grew harder, but even those she welcomed. The pain melded together into a lovely burn that covered her entire bottom. And as that burn grew, so did the aching need between her thighs.

“My good girl,” Cordelia praised softly as she spanked. “You did exactly what I told you to do when I called. You were so good for me, baby, even though you were upset and anxious. I was so proud of you, all day.”

“Even when I was being a brat to Holden?” she asked, wincing a bit as a particularly hard swat landed on her sit-spot.

“Yes.” Cordelia chuckled, her soft stomach vibrating with laughter.

“God knows he needs to be put in his place sometimes. But mostly I was proud of you for asking questions, and for standing up for yourself. I know that isn’t easy for you.

And when you needed to, you backed down.

You obeyed me and that's all I could ask for.”

Happiness bloomed in her chest, filling her with a warmth to match the heat in her backside. “I needed to hear that. I was feeling kind of bad for giving him such a hard time when he's just trying to keep us safe.”

“You don’t need to feel bad, baby.”

Closing her eyes, she let herself float away a bit on a cloud of happiness as her woman worked her over. She could stay here forever, stretched out over Cordelia’s knee as she told her what a good girl she was over and over.

And even when the spanking stopped, that happy, floaty feeling remained. Questing fingers drifted down between her thighs, and she parted her legs immediately, welcoming her woman in.

“All this for me, sweet girl?” Another of those low, wicked laughs from Cordelia as she brushed her fingers through Ivy’s wetness. “What a good girl you are.”

Those slender fingers pushed inside her, stretching her, and Ivy whimpered softly as pleasure coiled tightly in her core. “Please, Dee…”

“Shh, baby. You don't need to beg me tonight. You’ve already earned your pleasure. Come whenever you’re ready.”

And with that, Ivy surrendered. Gave herself over to the pleasure her woman stoked inside her.

Let her mind go blank as it washed over her, steady lapping waves of it as Cordelia’s fingers circled her throbbing clit.

Until all she knew was her and the need growing more and more insistent inside her.

“Oh, god. Oh, god. Dee .”

“That’s my good girl. Come for me, baby. Let me feel that pretty little cunt squeezing my fingers when you shatter for me.”

Shatter, she did, with the fractured pieces of her pleasure threatening to slice her open as she sobbed and bucked over her woman’s lap.

When it was done, and she was finally drained, Cordelia helped her into bed and removed her necklace, placing it carefully on the table beside their bed. Cocooned in the pillowy softness that was the woman she loved, Ivy dropped into sleep like a stone.