Page 59 of Melt For Us, Daddy (Big Daddy Energy #4)

Ivy

C urled up on one end of their couch, Ivy ran her fingers through Jacob’s hair as he slept with his head cradled on her lap. Cordelia was on the smaller loveseat, her lips turned down in a frown as she tapped out a message on her phone.

“What’s wrong?” Ivy whispered, keeping her voice low to avoid waking their baby boy. Between the events of the day and the pain meds Dr. Winters had prescribed, he’d crashed hard not too long after they’d gotten home.

“The FBI wants to talk to Jacob. And me.”

A protectiveness she hadn’t even known she possessed welled up inside her. “Now? Can’t it wait?”

“Holden managed to buy us twenty-four hours.” Setting her phone down, Cordelia met Ivy’s gaze, the green of her eyes dark with so much pain and worry it made Ivy’s chest ache just to see it.

“They’re going to put him through hell, Ivy.

And I don’t know that there’s anything we can do to shield him from that. ”

“He could refuse to testify.”

“I think we both know he’s not going to do that. And I wouldn’t ask him to. He has as much right as anyone to tell his story.”

“It’s going to be hard. For both of you.” And it killed her to know there was nothing she could do to stop it from being hard. To keep it from hurting the two people she loved most in the world.

“We’ll be okay. We all have each other.” Holding out a hand, Cordelia silently beckoned Ivy to her. As carefully as she could, Ivy wiggled out from under their boy so she could curl up in her Daddy’s lap.

“Mmm. Much better,” Cordelia murmured, nuzzling at Ivy’s throat. “I’m so sorry you got caught up in all this mess, babygirl.”

“I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.” And it was the truth. If her people were going through hell, she wanted to be right there next to them, loving them through it.

“You understand we’re going to be under a lot of scrutiny. Not just from the Feds but from the general public as well. Reporters, podcasters. Harlan’s arrest is going to make waves, especially with Jacob being the one who helped bring him down.”

“What do we have to hide? Nothing, as far as I’m concerned.”

“It’s not that we have anything to hide. I just… worry. Maybe you should go stay with your parents for a bit. Just until the initial media frenzy dies down.”

Temper sparked in her chest at the suggestion. “Fuck that.”

As expected, her response earned her a narrow-eyed stare. “Excuse me, little girl?”

“You heard me. Fuck that, Cordelia. I’m not going anywhere. I’m sure as hell not going to run and hide and leave you two to face this alone.”

“You will if I say you will, Ivy Mae. It’s bad enough I can’t protect Jacob from the shit storm coming our way. If I can shield you, in any way, I will.”

“And I love you for that.” Lifting a hand to her neck, Ivy gripped the flower nestled there.

“But when you put this on me, it wasn't just you claiming me. It was me promising to love you and support you, no matter what. I told you once that I don’t care if we hadn’t said the vows yet, I’m with you.

Sickness and health, better or worse, the whole nine yards.

The only thing that’s changed is that we’ve added Jacob to that promise.

Please don’t make me choose between submission and love, Dee. ”

“Fuck.” Sliding her hand around the back of Ivy’s neck, Cordelia drew her down, pressing her lips to Ivy’s.

“All right. I won’t send you away. But the same rules as before apply.

If Holden or his men give you an order, you obey without question.

Rules I give you and Jacob for your safety are non-negotiable. Got it?”

“Yes, Daddy.”

“My good girl.” She reached up, brushing a stray lock of hair from Ivy’s face. “What would I do without you?”

“You’d live a full and happy life. Because you’re a fucking survivor, Cordelia Summers. With or without me, you would have carved out the best life for yourself possible. You never would have let yourself settle for less.”

“Maybe. But the life I made for myself is a hell of a lot better than I ever could have imagined, because you’re in it.”

Love swamped her, drowning out everything else. “Ditto. I love you.”

“I love you too, babygirl.”

“For what it’s worth, I’m pretty sure I’m in love with both of you, too.”

Twisting around on her Daddy’s lap, Ivy stared at their baby boy as he pushed himself up on the couch and rubbed the sleep from his eyes.

“What did you say?” Cordelia’s voice was a bit hollow, a bit strained, and Ivy wondered idly if her heart was beating as fast and hard as her own.

“I love you. Both of you.” His cheeks, already flushed with sleep, turned even pinker as his gaze flicked between them.

“I know it’s probably not the right time to tell you, but I’ve been wanting to for a while.

Since the safe house, really. And, well, I was kind of hoping maybe you’d want to… keep me.”

Everything in her wanted to leap into his arms, to hold him tight and promise him they’d never let go. But this wasn’t a decision that could be made by only one of them, so Ivy turned back to Cordelia. To her Daddy. “What do you say, Dee? Should we keep him?”

Cordelia’s gaze remained locked on their boy. “That’s really what you want, Jacob? There’s so much of the world you haven’t seen, haven’t experienced yet.”

Rising from the couch, Jacob crossed the short distance to the loveseat and sank to his knees in front of them, his expression so open and full of love Ivy had to blink back tears.

“Then let’s experience it together. I-I know there’s a lot I don’t know, a lot I’ve been sheltered from.

But I know what love is, Cordelia. And I know that I love you, and Ivy, and I want you both by my side while I figure out my place in this world. ”

This time when Cordelia spoke, her voice was thick with tears. Reaching out, she ran a hand through their boy’s hair. “I think you’ve already found it, baby.”

Everything about him lit up at her words. “Really? I can stay?”

“I think you’d have a fight on your hands with our Ivy girl if you tried to leave.”

“Damn straight you would.” Laughing wildly, Ivy reached for him, tugging on his shirt until he climbed up onto the couch, sandwiching Cordelia between the two of them. “You’re ours and we’re yours. Right, Daddy?”

“Absolutely, babygirl.” Blowing out a shaky breath, Cordelia dropped her head onto his shoulder. “I swear the only thing that would make this day better would be knowing that Silas Redding is finally in hell where he belongs.”

“Then your day is about to get a lot better.”

Between them, Cordelia froze, her face going carefully blank as she twisted around to stare up at him. “You better not be fucking with me, Jacob.”

“I’m not. My father told me, but I think it was an accident. He said my grandfather ‘was’ a great man and that I needed to honor his memory. Holden could probably confirm it for you if you called him.”

One look at Cordelia’s face told Ivy she was in no way prepared to make that call. “On it,” Ivy said as she slid from her Daddy’s lap and hurried across the room to grab her phone from her purse.

Pulling up Holden’s number, she put the phone on speaker and crawled back onto Cordelia’s lap as it rang.

“Ivy. Everything okay?”

“Yeah. We just wanted to ask you something. Dee?”

“Is it true?” Cordelia’s voice shook with the question. “Is Silas Redding dead?”

“You didn’t know? Yeah. Yeah, the asshole is dead.”

Though she held the phone in her hand, Ivy only had eyes for her woman. And the conflicting storm of emotions that passed over her face as she absorbed the news.

But the one that stood out at the end was simply…

relief. To Ivy, it looked as though the weight of every painful memory, every forced touch, every night spent screaming herself awake lifted from Cordelia’s shoulders in that moment.

Her own heart skipped a beat as she watched the woman she loved heal a little bit more right in front of her.

And when those emerald eyes locked on hers, Ivy’s breath caught in her throat at the raw, aching need in them.

“Thanks for telling me, Holden. We’ll talk to you tomorrow.” Plucking the phone from Ivy’s hand, Cordelia tossed it aside. “Bedroom. Both of you. Now .”

Yes, Daddy.

Cordelia

Free. She was finally fucking free .

Even though she hadn’t laid eyes on Silas Redding in over a decade, he’d still haunted her memories, her dreams.

Her future.

But now, with him gone and Harlan behind bars, the church would splinter.

It likely wouldn’t dissolve completely, but it would be weakened.

And she and Jacob were going to do whatever it took to ensure that what had happened to her didn’t happen to any more of the women and children trapped within those walls.

For the first time in her life, she could see her future clearly, the years stretching out before her toward that endless horizon.

She’d always known she wanted to marry Ivy someday, but now she could see it clearly, her babygirl dressed in a flowing white gown as she walked down the aisle toward Cordelia and Jacob.

Could see their friends from the club cheering them on as they said their vows, the three of them uniting as a family forever.

Right now, though, was just about them. About connection and love and all the things she’d never imagined having for herself when she’d fled the church at the tender age of sixteen.

In their room, she stood at the end of the bed, raking her gaze over her lovers. Her boy and her girl, so very different and yet both so perfect for her she feared she might wake up and find this was all just a dream.

“How are you feeling, Jacob?”

Despite everything he’d been through, hunger flashed in his eyes. “Fine, Ma’am.”

“You’ll tell me if you need a break.”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

“Then both of you, on the bed. I want to watch you touch each other.”

Her subs shared a look and twin smiles stretched across their faces as they clambered into bed.

Ivy took the lead, as she tended to with Jacob, and Cordelia couldn’t help but grin as she shoved a man twice her size onto his back.

It was so much fun watching Ivy embrace her switchy side, and she was very much looking forward to teaching her babygirl how to properly torment their boy.

Not that Ivy wasn’t doing a fantastic job of it on her own. Fingers tangled in Jacob’s hair, she ran her free hand over his stomach, beneath the waistband of his joggers.

“All this for us, baby boy?” she asked with a low, wicked chuckle that had Cordelia’s clit throbbing.

Yeah. She was definitely enjoying her babygirl’s newfound dominance. As long as she kept it directed at their boy.

Then again, if she tried to get bossy with her Daddy, Cordelia would have a lot of fun reminding her of her place.

“Show me.” As she issued the command, Cordelia popped open the top button of her dress shirt, her eyes locked on her beautiful subs as they touched and tasted each other.

Grinning, Ivy pushed Jacob’s pants down over his hips, exposing the long, thick length of him. And again, Cordelia’s pussy spasmed at the thought of sinking down onto that beautiful cock. For the first time in her entire life, she wanted a man inside her.

And that was another freedom, another celebration.

“Finish getting each other undressed and then I want to watch you suck our boy’s cock. But not enough to make him come. Just enough for him to beg.”

“Fuck,” Jacob muttered, but he did as he was instructed, making quick work of Ivy’s pretty yellow sundress and matching underwear.

For him, it was simply a matter of shucking off his sweatpants and t-shirt.

And then both of her submissives were bare before her, and every inch of her body hummed in response.

Wiggling down the bed, Ivy did as she was told, running her tongue over Jacob’s twitching cock. Flat on his back, their boy fisted his hands in the sheets, his soft whimpers and moans filling the room as Cordelia finished unbuttoning her shirt, tossing it off to the side to be dealt with later.

She didn’t think she’d ever tire of the sight of them together, her boy and her girl, their hands gliding over bare skin as they worked each other into a frenzy just for her.

To her delighted surprise, Jacob managed to hold out until she was nearly naked before the begging started. “Ma’am, please. Please.”

Stripping away her panties, Cordelia knelt on the bed beside his head, threading her fingers through his hair, staring down into those wide, pale eyes full of need.

The bruise on his cheek was a stark reminder of how close they’d come to losing him, and it only drove her need to connect, to claim higher.

“Please, what, baby boy? Tell Daddy what you need.”

At the word ‘Daddy’, his pupils darkened and another of those soft, needy whimpers slipped from his lips. “I-I need to come… Daddy.”

Fuck . Gripping his hair even tighter, she crushed her lips to his, drinking in his low moan as he bucked beneath her. “Good fucking boy,” she whispered against his mouth. “Do you want to feel Daddy’s pussy on your cock when you come, baby?”

“God, yes.”

“Then beg me for it.”