Page 9 of Melt For Us, Daddy (Big Daddy Energy #4)

Jacob

H e couldn’t get Cordelia off his mind. Where was she? What was she doing right now? Was she with her… with the other woman she’d been with the other night?

Were they at the ‘club’ Zach had spoken about? What would they do at that club? Zach said it was for people who liked their sex rough, but that didn’t make sense. Sex was an act between a man and a woman, for the purpose of making a baby. How could two women even engage in such an act?

An image came to mind, unbidden, of the hug they’d shared in Braden’s office the night before.

And then it shifted, Cordelia cupping the other woman’s face in her hands, pressing a long, slow kiss to her lips.

He knew about kissing, and the actual act of sex, but he didn’t know much about how to get from one step to the next.

Would they touch each other? Could women feel pleasure the way a man did?

Nobody had ever told him that was the case but?—

“You’re thinking pretty hard over there.”

Zach’s voice jolted him out of his depraved imaginings, and Jacob felt his face heat in response. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to ignore you.”

“You’re fine.” But the teasing, playful look he was so used to seeing in Zach’s eyes had disappeared, replaced by an intensity that had Jacob fighting the urge to squirm in his seat. “Anything you wanna talk about?”

And risk his friend knowing how sinful he truly was? “Not really.”

“Okay.” Just like that, Zach shifted back to his normal smiling self. “Wanna play a game?”

“Games are for children.” The heat in his cheeks grew hotter when Zach’s brows rose. “Sorry. Habit. I just mean, back home we’re not really given time to play games and such once we reach a certain age.”

“How do you spend your free time?”

“Work. Prayer. Bible study. The past year I’ve been studying with the deacons to take over for my father when grandfather passes.

Father will become The Prophet, the leader of the church, and I’ll be expected to step into his current role.

” Or he would have been, until he’d turned his back on everyone and everything he’d ever known.

Would he ever stop feeling those pangs of guilt and loss when he thought of the church?

The people in the show he’d been watching still seemed to be hurting, even years after they’d left.

Was it really worth all the pain and heartache he was putting himself and his family through for some ambiguous sense of freedom?

An image of Sarabeth filled his mind, running toward him with that big, happy laugh she had, throwing herself at him with the full expectation that he would catch her. From the moment she could walk, she’d never seemed to have any doubt that he would be there, right there, whenever she needed him.

Yes. It’s worth it. For her, and the others.

“Okay, well, that all sounds… great. But around here, even adults play games. Way I see it, God wouldn’t have given us such creative minds if he didn’t want us to use them, right?” Slapping a hand on Jacob’s knee, Zach rose from the couch. “Come on. Let’s see what we have.”

He followed Zach to a closet full of bright, colorful boxes. “You ever play any of these?” Zach asked.

“No, sir. Sorry,” Jacob added, ducking his head when Zach turned a bland stare on him.

“No need to apologize. Old habits are hard to break.” One corner of his mouth kicked up in a smile of sorts. “Cordelia likes it when you call her ma’am though.”

Cordelia. His grandfather’s wife, an obviously worldly woman who would lead him straight into temptation if he allowed it. She was everything he’d been taught to hate his entire life.

So why did the thought of doing something that pleased her make him feel so… good?

“Oh, man I love this game!” Reaching for the top shelf, Zach pulled down a white box covered in pictures of cards with drawings of faces on them. “Have you ever played this one?”

“No.”

“It was one of my favorites growing up. Mom had the vintage version from when she was a kid, but I’m sure this isn’t any different. Come on, I’ll show you how to play.”

They sat at the table together, with Zach pulling two trays out of the box and handing one to Jacob. “Flip it over so all the cards stand up straight. Like this.”

He demonstrated and Jacob followed suit. The cards made a fun clacking sound when he flipped the tray over, though they didn’t all flip up. Zach showed him how to fix it, and he set about getting his tray perfect for their game.

“Okay, so how it works is we each get a card. Pick one from the pile, but don’t show me.”

Reaching across the table, Jacob pulled a card from the top of the pile and looked down at it. A picture of a woman with a shock of white hair and funny-shaped glasses stared back up at him.

“See that little like, slot at the very front of your tray? That’s to hold the card.

” Zach demonstrated and again, Jacob mimicked him.

“Now, we’re going to ask questions about each other’s person to try and guess who it is.

Usually you start with the big, obvious questions and work your way down.

I’ll go first. Is your person a man or a woman? ”

“A woman.”

“Okay, so now I know that I can flip all the men on my tray down.” One by one, Zach flipped nearly half the cards down. “Your turn. Ask me a question.”

“Can I ask the same question?”

“Yup.”

“Is your person a man or a woman?”

“A man.”

Scanning the tray in front of him, Jacob carefully flipped all of the women face down. When he was done, he looked up at Zach who grinned with approval.

“Perfect. Next question. Ah… does your woman wear glasses?”

“She does.”

Several more of Zach’s cards went down. They continued on for a few more rounds, before Zach triumphantly guessed correctly.

“Wanna play again?”

“Yes. That was fun.”

“Awesome. I’m gonna grab myself another donut. Want one?”

He did, actually. The first one he’d had was rather tasty, but Cordelia had warned him off eating too much sugar. “Cordelia said I shouldn’t.”

Again, Zach gave him that crooked sort of smile that seemed like it meant something, but Jacob wasn’t sure what it meant. “She’ll be happy to hear you’re following her orders even when she’s not around.”

“It wasn’t an order.” Was it?

“Okay, more like a suggestion, I guess. Still, she’ll like it.”

“Why?”

Plucking a donut coated in chocolate and what Jacob thought might be chopped up nuts from the box, Zach sat back in his seat. “Just the way she is. I don’t know her that well, but Holden gave us all a rundown on her when he briefed us for the job at the club. Her and her girl, Ivy.”

A knot formed in Jacob’s stomach. “So she and Ivy are…”

“Very much in love, from what I’ve heard. Still, if you like the idea of following her orders, there are other women like her out there.”

“I never said I liked it.”

“Uh-huh. So you want a donut, then?”

Eyeing the open box, Jacob hesitated. Would Cordelia be upset with him if he over-indulged?

Did he care?

He shouldn’t. Everything he’d been taught his entire life told him it was a woman’s job to submit.

Men were the ones meant to give orders and be the head of the household.

Even his mothers had begun to defer to him when he’d reached a certain age.

It was the natural order of things. Which meant he could have a dang donut if he wanted to, no matter what Cordelia said.

Ignoring the little pit in his stomach as he did so, he reached into the box and plucked out another donut.

Ivy

They rode home in silence. She’d tried to protest when Cordelia had insisted Ivy leave her car behind and they’d pick it up in the morning, but a single look from her furious Domme had turned those protests to ash on her tongue.

She was in trouble. So much fucking trouble. Yelling at her Domme was bad enough, but she had a feeling Cordelia would have let that pass under the circumstances.

But swearing at her like that? In front of the entire club? That was a level of disrespect Cordelia would never let pass.

By the time they got to their apartment, Ivy could barely breathe. Somewhere beneath the fear over what came next, she was still angry, so fucking angry, but that would have to wait.

“I’m going to change.” Cordelia’s voice was firm, commanding in a way that had Ivy’s knees going weak with fear. “When I return, I expect to find you kneeling beside the couch, with your hands behind your back. You know the position.”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

Without waiting to see if Ivy would obey, Cordelia turned on her heel and headed for their bedroom.

Letting out a shaky breath, Ivy walked slowly over to the couch, lowering herself onto her knees and clasping her arms behind her back.

And she waited.

With every passing second, a little more of the fear left her, replaced by the calm certainty that no matter what happened, no matter how bad this punishment was, she would be forgiven when it was all over.

There was peace in that, in knowing that there was nothing she could do that couldn’t be forgiven.

Determined to prove she was still Cordelia’s good girl, no matter how angry she was, she didn’t look up when the bedroom door opened again. Or when Cordelia placed a short, thick strip of leather right in her line of vision.

Fuck.

“Eyes on me, Ivy Mae.”

At that soft command, she finally raised her head to meet her woman’s surprisingly tender gaze. “I’m sorry,” she whispered, her voice thick with tears.

“I know you are, baby. I also know this is very much my fault.”

“That doesn’t excuse what I did.”

“No, it doesn’t. But it does provide some nuance, and I want you to know I’m not ignoring that.

So here’s what’s going to happen. We are going to talk.

You are free to yell, cry, whatever you need to do to feel better.

You are not free to swear at me. You will show me the same respect you always have. Am I understood?”

Guilt joined the maelstrom of emotions churning in Ivy’s stomach. “Yes, Ma’am.”