Page 35 of The Love Obsession (Bloody Desires #11)

ZAYN

“She needs a shower.” Keaton carried Ginny in his arms as if she was a fragile porcelain doll rather than the imp who had dragged us about seven hundred times up a steep flight of wooden steps to go on the one big slide we’d discovered she was tall enough to ride.

With a flourish, I pulled back the blankets on her bed.

Keaton gave me a tiny smile that made my heart skip a beat as he laid her down. Her head flopped to the side and her eyelids didn’t so much as give half a flutter.

“Have you ever seen her wear herself out this way?” I snickered and tweaked her nose.

He brushed her curls back from her forehead, a fondness, so pure it almost made me stop breathing, clear in his eyes. “No. I suppose one night of going to bed without a shower won’t hurt her.”

“Nah, she’s fine.” I dragged the sheet up to cover her.

Was this really my life now? I was still flying high from what he’d said earlier, and my heart melted as he kissed her good night on her tiny temple. Who knew one little I love you would sound so great?

“What?” he asked, touching my cheek. I hadn’t noticed him straightening and moving to stand directly in front of me.

Hell, I’d been grinning as if I’d won a million bucks. I had something even better. “Nothing.”

Shit, he really was sunburned. I ran a finger along the mounds of his bright pink cheeks.

Now that he didn’t have Ginny in his arms, I could tell he was moving gingerly.

The sunset spilled in the windows, dashing brilliant oranges and purples around the room, and he matched.

We’d stayed until the park closed because everyone was having so much fun.

I couldn’t bring myself to regret our day, but I wished I’d been more diligent with him.

Nodding toward the door, I headed out into the hallway. Bernadette followed us and stared with her tail wagging, which had me chuckling.

“Go stay with your girl,” Keaton told her.

Bernadette sat down on her fluffy butt.

As much as Keaton was drawing me in simply by existing, we had left our poor pup home most of the day. That wouldn’t do. “I’ll take her for a walk. Why don’t you shower? Cold water only, okay? Daddy’s orders.”

He flushed, although, the only reason I could tell was because he gazed shyly at the floor, and I kissed his cheek as he nodded in agreement.

“Love you.”

His eyebrows flew upward and his mouth fell open. “Huh?”

I put my hand over my lips to stifle a laugh, even though an entire parade probably could’ve marched through here without waking Ginny.

“Are we saying that all the time now?” His nostrils flared, and I couldn’t quite tell if he loved or hated that idea, but he was definitely having a reaction to it.

“Yep.” I smiled the whole way along the mile loop I took Bernadette on.

Plastic-bag duty couldn’t kill the wind in my sails.

When I got home, Keaton was in the kitchen, probably snacking, since we’d eaten dinner hours ago at the park.

I left him to his own devices and rushed through showering and slipping on my pajama pants.

He’d said I love you .

I couldn’t stop being ecstatic about it, even though they were three little words anyone could say.

Keaton didn’t say them, though. And he’d said them to me .

I did a weird dance that vaguely resembled the Electric Slide in the hallway and almost fell down the stairs because I was in such a rush to get to him.

I found my boyfriend, the one who loved me, tossing pieces of chicken breast to Bernadette in the kitchen and didn’t have an iota of guilt about quietly spying on him. The muscles in his arms rippled in a mouthwatering way as he tossed another piece of meat.

“Who’s a good girl? You are!” he said, grinning when she jumped to catch a wild pitch in midair. She whuffed happily. I’d never seen his smile so big. But I held in a wince. His entire face was brilliant pink. The shower had brought the full burn out.

Damn.

While there had been no weaseling out of redoing the sunscreen for Ginny—neither one of us would stand for her fun day to be ruined by unnecessary pain—a few times Keaton had found somewhere else to be when I’d dragged the bottle out.

It was both adorable and exasperating that a grown man had been having so much fun he didn’t want to stop.

I leaned against the counter near him and crossed my arms. “Boy, you’re in trouble, you know that, right?”

He shivered and gaped at me. He was also in a pair of pajama pants. The black cotton clung to his solid thighs and made me want to stare forever at his crotch. While his naked chest was fantastic, it was as pink as his face, and I suspected his shoulders and back would be in the same condition.

“Uh.” He ran a hand down his face and flinched. “Why, Daddy?”

I went past him to the fridge and grabbed a clean mug off the rack on the counter. The ice was loud as it clinked into the mug from the dispenser.

He drew his bottom lip between his teeth as I stalked closer, and my dick went on red alert.

I wanted to fuck that mouth tonight, along with his perfect ass.

I wanted inside him in every way possible.

He whimpered when I ran an ice cube along his right shoulder, several expressions dancing across his face before he closed his eyes in bliss and hummed.

The tent that pushed out the front of his pants in real time had me feeling on top of the world.

Was there anything more satisfying than watching him get hard for me?

Perhaps a few things, but this was definitely in the top three.

“Because you disobeyed me today. And then—” I dragged the ice down his chest to his burned nipple, and he jolted away, but I followed him until he stopped.

“—you got hurt.” He whimpered and twisted his torso, but he didn’t move his feet or really try to escape as I danced the ice around his tight bud.

“Does it hurt?”

He nodded, bottom lip trembling.

“Do you enjoy it?” I whispered into his ear, then sucked on the pink lobe.

“Fuck. Fuck, yes. Daddy, yes.” A tear rolled down his cheek, and some twisted part of me was delighted to have caused it.

“If this hurts too much, say red light. What will you do if it hurts too much?” I drew back the ice.

He blinked down at me as if he was coming out of a wonderful dream. “Red light, Daddy.”

“Good. What do you think you say if everything is fine?” I tapped the ice cube on his nipple, and his eyelashes fluttered.

“Green light, Daddy.” He gasped as I put a fresh cube on his ignored nipple and squirmed in place, fingers flexing in midair. I hadn’t told him he couldn’t touch me, but he seemed to have an instinctive understanding of the game.

I melted a cube by taking it on a meandering path up his bicep, then walked around to his back, tracing it over his shoulders, then around again to tease his nipples once more.

My gut tightened with a sizzle of electricity that had my cock on fire. He was rock fucking hard. I wrapped my hand around his cloth-covered hard-on, and he grasped my shoulder to stay upright.

Adrenaline surged through me, the kind I didn’t get unless I was slicing open a victim. I almost felt delirious with the power of having such a strong man ready to fall on his knees for me.

“Bedroom, boy.”

“Yes, Daddy.” He stumbled toward the stairs.

My heart leaped, this time with a tinge of worry.

I set down the mug and followed him with my hands out in case he actually did fall.

There was no way I was allowing anything bad to happen to him.

As soon as we were in my room, I bit back a grin because my eager boy shoved down his pants and kicked them away.

Fuck, I loved that he considered boxers a suggestion.

“I didn’t tell you to do that, boy.”

“Please, Daddy.” A shiny thread of precum leaked to the floor from his cock, which was straining toward the ceiling. It was mesmerizing.

“Go lie on the bed on your belly. Boys who don’t listen get punished.”

His eyes practically sparkled as he went over to the bed and flopped on his front. I didn’t have the heart to punish him too harshly after we’d had such a nice day, but a little waiting never hurt anyone.

“Daddy!” he cried out, sounding more vulnerable than I’d ever heard him as I made my way toward the door. “Don’t go.” The sad wobble in his words tugged on my heartstrings.

“Stay still, boy. Since you didn’t obey me earlier, you have to wait to feel good. I need to take care of your sunburn first. And I will always take care of you. That’s a Daddy’s prerogative.”

A small furrow formed on his brow.

“It means that’s my chosen duty to you. Keeping you happy and safe and well cared for.”

He moaned and ground his cock against the bed. “Thank you, Daddy.”

An emotion I couldn’t identify clogged my throat. My dick ached as I strode over and slapped his ass once, leaving a vivid red mark in the shape of my hand, branding him as mine. Would I ever get tired of seeing my handprints on him?

“Did I say you could do that?” I made my words gruff, but inside I was close to losing it and fucking him right here and now.

“No, Daddy.” He held so still he might’ve been asleep if I didn’t know better, eyes squeezed shut and chest heaving.

“Don’t move,” I growled.

The small sound that left him made me want to drape my body over his back and pound his P-spot until he spurted on our sheets.

But, no. As his Daddy, I also had to show restraint and do what was best for both of us.

I left him there, a delicious quivering mess stretched out on my bed.

I ran for the bathroom the second I was in the hallway because I couldn’t stand the idea of being away from him longer than necessary.

I grabbed the aloe with lidocaine in it—along with some pink nitrile gloves—from the closet, then bolted back to him, only slowing to compose myself right outside the door.

Sweat gleamed on his skin as I shut and locked the door. He quivered. The battle to stay still was taking its toll.

“I fucking love seeing you this way.” My breath caught. I could never lose this or I might finally go completely crazy. I shook off the thought.

“Daddy.” His fingers flexed, digging them deep into the comforter.

“Shh, Daddy’s got you.” I slipped on the gloves and dumped the cool gel directly onto his muscled back. He jumped and moaned. I took my time spreading the gel, making him shine for a whole new reason. “This is your punishment. Waiting for Daddy’s cock.”

He whimpered and pleaded with his eyes, but I massaged all the way down to his ass, taking my time.

“Roll over, boy,” I whispered.

He shifted onto his back, and I drizzled gel onto his chest, running my hand through it to tease his nipples. I stopped long enough to carefully apply the gel to his face, then continued my journey downward across his abs.

When I was done, I grabbed the bottle a final time. Yeah, his red, needy cock needed a good coating, too.

“Did you know lidocaine is used to stop premature ejaculation, boy?”

His eyes flew wide open and he fucked my gloved fist like a demon. We couldn’t have him getting off that way, so I unclenched my fingers one by one, and his face contorted into something like pain as he was left pumping into nothing but air.

“Daddy says you’re not coming unless it’s on my cock. Do you understand, sweet boy?” I smirked at him.

He was so far gone I wasn’t entirely sure the words had filtered past the clear signs of sub space. His gaze was on my face, but it was more worshipful than anything else. After several heartbeats, he nodded. “Yes, Daddy.”

I stripped off the gloves while he watched and casually tossed them onto the floor.

I felt ten feet tall with his focus glued to me.

I kept my back straight as I walked to the dresser.

I drew things out on purpose. Opened one drawer.

Then another. Finally, I went to the one where I stashed a few toys and pulled out a flat hairbrush I’d bought the last time we went grocery shopping.

There was nothing special about the black plastic and cheap bristles, but it was as wide across as my palm.

I raised the brush as if I were inspecting it, but I couldn’t care less about it.

No, every molecule of my body was focused fully on Keaton.

“Put that ass in the air for Daddy.” My words were more a rasp than anything.

He rolled over and those perfect round cheeks were high in the air in no time flat.

I didn’t remember moving, but I felt the vibration of the brush impacting all the way up to my shoulder, and my cock flexed, sending a heady rush of ecstasy swirling through my body. I’d left a red welt on his pale skin.

A dazzling mark to claim him as mine.

He cried out softly, the sound an undeniable temptation to continue.

“Count for Daddy. This isn’t your punishment, by the way. This is a reward because I know you’re a filthy boy who loves a good, hard spanking. Say thank you , Daddy each time you count.”

“One. Th-thank you, Daddy.” He sobbed and his hips shook. I didn’t think he knew what he wanted at this point. To be filled? To be spanked? Both?

Excitement thrilled through my body. “Fuck, Daddy loves you, boy.”