Page 20

Myles

I have to carry my girl from the car up the two flights of stairs to our bedroom. Yes, ours. From now on, she will be sleeping in our room. Never again will I spend a night without her in my arms.

She whimpers, barely waking as I lower her to our bed and gently push the sexy silver dress up her body and off. I love this dress. It’s one of the best things I’ve ever purchased. I might decide to have her wear it around the house. Sure. She’d go for that, right?

I rain kisses all over her body because I can’t keep my mouth off her. She slides her hand around my neck but doesn’t open her eyes.

When I reach for the clasp of the necklace, she pushes my hand away and mutters, “Leave it.”

I need to let her sleep. She’s exhausted, and she has a paper to write tomorrow. I don’t want to be the cause of her ending her senior year without the same perfect grades she’s had all through school.

She’s too limp to take off her makeup or brush her teeth. She’ll have to tackle that in the morning, but I do reach for her hair and pull out the remaining pins before manhandling her to the middle of the bed and pulling the covers over her.

I love the way she rolls to her side and curls up, pulling her knees toward her chest. It’s hard to break away from her to turn off the lights and strip down, but I manage.

And soon, I’m right where I want to be for the rest of my life—in bed with my woman, spooning her fucking sexy body so tightly that she can’t get away from me.

My mind won’t shut down, though. It’s racing.

I go through the events of the day and night.

We covered a lot of ground today, more than I anticipated.

I didn’t get up this morning imagining my cock would be inside her tonight.

I hadn’t wanted to pressure her into having sex. Nor had I wanted to hurt her.

I know she was in pain for a few minutes, and it nearly broke me. I’m not a fool. I know most women experience pain the first time they have sex. It’s normal, but for a minute, I was afraid she might tell me she never wanted to do it again. A lot of women probably think that, too.

I think she had a good birthday. I wanted it to be special. I hope we checked several items off her bucket list.

She has two more weeks of classes and then finals. Her father will be here for her graduation. I need to figure out how I’m going to tell him about us. I can’t imagine how he’s going to react. I cringe as I picture the possibilities. It’s hard to say what his response will be.

If I were him, I would shoot first and ask questions later. He’s not going to understand. There’s no way to freeze time long enough for me to explain the situation before he loses his shit. I need to be prepared for a fight.

What I won’t do is apologize for loving his daughter and claiming her as mine. It just…happened. I didn’t plan this. It’s not like I’ve been lusting after her since she was five, lying in wait for her to become an adult.

Hell, it’s a miracle I waited as long as I did to claim her. I kept my distance for the last few years to avoid any possibility of looking at her the way I wanted to and her finding out how I felt.

I had no idea Madison had the same feelings about me. I’m not sure if knowing that would have changed anything. I shouldn’t have touched her any sooner than I did.

Sure, she’s been legally an adult for three years, but I’m far too old to have approached her before now. Hell, I’m still worried about our age difference. When I’m eighty, she’ll be fifty-eight.

I’m a greedy fucking bastard, though. I won’t give her up. Too late now. Not on my own, at least. I would have to honor her wishes if she changed her mind about me, but unless she looks me in the eye and tells me she doesn’t want to be with an old geezer like me, she’s mine.

I hate that I might cause a rift between Madison and her father.

The two of them have always been close. I don’t want her to become estranged from her only blood relative.

But the truth is, he’s just her father. He’s not the man she will spend her life sleeping with.

He’s not the man who will move heaven and earth to make her smile every day like I will until I take my last breath.

He’s not the man who will give her children and hold her at night.

He’s not the man who will love her the way I will.

All I can do is pray he comes around, even if it takes a while.

I hope we don’t ruin her graduation. I’ve considered not telling him about us until after the ceremony to ensure there’s no unrest that day, but I hate maintaining a lie any longer than necessary.

I’ve already been deceiving him for a week.

I won’t tell him about us over the phone.

It will be much better in person. But fuck, I’m not looking forward to telling my best friend I’m sleeping with his daughter.

There are things I need to do. I need to move more of her stuff into my house. Our house. I need to put a ring on her finger. Because fuck if I’m going to wait years for her to take my name.

Is she too young to get married? Will I be rushing her? Maybe it would be better if I gave her time to be more certain. A year? Time to settle in and learn what it means to be my submissive and my lover.

I can’t do it, though. I want everything. I want it yesterday. Now that I’ve been inside her sweet body, I’m never going to be chivalrous and suggest she take her time again.

I know she’s uncertain about what she might want to do for a job, but now she has options. One of those is to not work at all. She could take up a hobby for all I care. I have enough money to keep her beyond comfortable for the rest of her life.

Which reminds me, I need to update my will.

As it stands, the beneficiary was always inevitably her since I left everything to Hendrix.

He’s my best friend, and I have no relatives.

Madison would have ended up with my wealth in the end, anyway.

But I’ll change it so she’s listed first. I’ll do it before we’re married.

God forbid, if anything happened to me even next week, I would want her taken care of.

Madison startles me when she sighs and turns in my arms. Her eyes are wide as though she’s been awake for a while. She wiggles her sexy body closer to mine so we’re lined up from head to toe. She brings her hand to my cheek. “Myles, you need to sleep.”

I smile. “How did you know I wasn’t sleeping?”

“I could hear you thinking,” she teases.

I chuckle. “That’s not a thing, sweetheart.”

“Sure it is. You kept sighing and stiffening. You were gripping me so tightly I couldn’t breathe.” She kisses me to soften the words.

“I’m sorry.”

“You’re worrying about my dad, aren’t you?”

“Are you psychic?”

“No. It doesn’t take rocket science, big guy.” She runs her sweet hand down to my bicep. “I want you to know that I’m solidly in your court—if that’s one of your concerns.”

I frown and bring her fingers to my lips to kiss them. “I hate you being in a position like this where you may have to choose. I won’t make you choose me over him. Family is important. You and your dad have always been close.”

Lord knows I understand their bond. The reason Hendrix and I became friends in the first place was because we had a common bond: neither of us had any other family. When Madison unexpectedly entered the picture and her mother took off, our friendship didn’t waver.

“There is no choosing, Myles. It doesn’t work like that.

I’m yours. He can either get on board or not.

That’s his choice. If he freaks out, hopefully he’ll come around eventually.

He loves me. He loves you, too. I don’t think he will lose his shit and disown both of us, even if that’s his initial reaction.

I believe he’ll come to his senses in time.

He’ll be awfully lonely if he cuts off the two most important people in his life simply because they decided to sleep together. ”

I kiss her palm. “How did you get so wise?”

She shrugs. “I’m just being realistic. Besides, I’m an old soul. That’s why you’re attracted to me. If I were the kind of girl who spent all her time running around giggling and making poor choices, you wouldn’t see me the same.”

“If I recall”—I squeeze her fingers—“that’s exactly what you were doing last week when I picked your naughty self up from that bar—giggling and running around making poor choices.”

She rolls her eyes. “It was one time,” she quips. “ One time. Jeez. Are you ever going to let it go?”

“No.” I push her onto her back and hover over her.

“Because if you hadn’t gone to that bar, had your car stolen, and called your dad, you wouldn’t have ended up puking while I held your hair back.

You never would have told me about your fantasies about submitting to me as a naughty girl if you’d been sober. ”

“You wouldn’t have approached me one day?”

I shrug. “I doubt it. Not without a clue from you that the feelings were mutual. I may have pined after your sexy body and gorgeous mind, but I’m way too old for you, sweetheart.”

She groans. “Not this again. Enough with the age. It’s just a number. Do you have doubts about me? Am I too immature for you? Does my innocence and naivete exasperate you?”

“Fuck no,” I retort with force. “Your innocence is refreshing. I love that you’re a blank slate.

That I’ll be the one to introduce you to damn near everything regarding sex and kink.

I don’t have any doubts about you, and I never will.

I’m so fucking certain about us that I’ll fight for you.

And I’m not just talking about your dad.

I’m talking about you, too. Would I let you walk away if you changed your mind—yes—but, sweetheart, not without a fight.

I’m the Dom in this relationship, but if you want to see me on my knees instead of the other way around, try to leave me. ”

Her slow smile warms me to the core. Her voice is soft and breathy when she responds, “If you’re going to get on your knees, old guy, it better be to eat my pussy. And as for my dad, he’s not sleeping with you. I am.”

I shudder. “Thank fuck.”

She giggles. “Can you maybe sleep now? I’ll be right here in your arms when you wake up.”

“Okay, but I gotta say, just for the record, you on your knees earlier tonight was one of the hottest moments of my life. I’d be elated if you made that a regular routine.”

She sighs contentedly as she closes her eyes. “Duly noted, Sir.”