“Yeah,” Tilde said. “But not just any granola bars. These are Ruby’s homemade granola bars. They’re the best!”
Once everyone finished, Trace got serious. “Now, General Trace is on deck!” His bark was the best gravelly voice Kip had ever heard. He crawled further into the bunker. The girls saluted with sticky fingers. “Mission brief, Captain Kip.”
Kip announced, tapping the map. “Monsters have been reported in the Laundry Room Badlands, General. Our objective is to drive off the monsters and secure the cookie jar before Ruby notices.”
“Understood. Right then. Private Joy, flank left, secure the pillow perimeter. Corporal Tildi, you deploy Sir Fluffington to the east tunnel. Sergeant Kenzie, your job is to complete a flashlight sweep, three-second intervals! And ladies… we are securing the cookie jar, not sampling. Understood?”
“Wait, what’s my job?” Kip demanded. “I have to have a job.”
“You do, Captain Kip.” Trace winked and, with a wiggle of his brows, added, “Your job is to monitor everyone’s progress from here in the bunker with me.”
At his words, a tingle started in Kip’s tummy then shifted to someplace lower. Much lower. Being alone in a tent with Trace was the most dangerous mission she’d ever had. Still, they all saluted again and gave a reluctant, “Aye-aye, Sir.”
Trace’s lips quirked. “That’sroger, ladies.” As the girls cleared the bunker, Trace lost no time pulling Kip onto his lap.
“Daddy!” Kip wiggled, doing her best to escape. The last thing she needed was to be this close to the man of her dreams.Everything in her wanted to fling her arms around his neck and kiss him silly. Kissing Trace would be the most dangerous thing she could possibly do because if she started, she wouldn't want to stop. “Let go, Daddy. I need to monitor my post.”
“You need to do what Daddy tells you to do. All I want right now is to give you a kiss, but if you keep wiggling like that, I'm gonna want a lot more.”
She froze on the spot. Kissing Trace would be bad enough… and absolutely glorious. Anything more would be disastrous.
With a sigh, she closed her eyes and pursed her lips, giving her best impression of a sucker fish. Rough, calloused fingers traced along the line of her forehead and brushed her hair out of her face. The tips of his fingers left a trail of fire on her skin. And that was all it took to pucker her nipples.
When nothing happened, she opened her eyes. He was staring at her like he’d never seen her before. Like he was intent on memorizing every eyelash and freckle.
His gaze probed deep, wandering down her neck. He blinked several times, his chest moving with a harsh intake of breath. “I love your hair. I want to kiss every beautiful freckle on your face.” His voice was a low, rumbling whisper.
His gaze wandered down her neck and paused. Fire lit his already heated eyes. She should have gone with her first instinct and worn a turtleneck sweater. The scooped neck of the one she’d chosen now put the tops of her breasts on full display.
“Daddy, I don’t—” she began, but then lost herself in the seductive burn in his eyes.
“You don’t what, Foxy?” He drew his gaze back up as far as her lips. A different, even more intense light shimmered in his eyes. She recognized that look. She saw it in the mirror every morning when she thought of him as she readied for work. A heat she’d never experienced lit her body and softened her thighs. She’d feelguilty about that later. Right now, she wanted to commit every second of this moment to memory.
He was every bit as affected as she if the hard length of his cock pressing against her thigh was any indication. She bit her lip to hold back her groan.
This was such a bad idea. And she wasn’t going to do anything to stop it.
“Now for that kiss, babygirl. I’ve been wanting to do this for six months.”
And, God help her, she wanted it, too.
Her eyes widened to let in more light. “It’s not a good idea,” she whispered, not trusting her voice. One of his hands held her face, the other pressed her closer. Thank goodness.
She should stop this. Leaving would be so much harder if he kissed her. No matter how much she wanted it to happen. It was such a bad idea.
She didn’t realize she’d spoken aloud until he answered. “It’s not.”
His lips met hers so slowly, she thought they’d never touch. There was no hesitation, no second-guessing—as if they were meant to be right here in this moment. His tongue was wild and demanding. I was as if he dared her to resist. Resistance was the furthest thing from her mind.
She couldn’t have held anything back if she’d wanted to. And she didn’t. He tasted of time wasted, power, and desire. It was the intense, burning,demandingdesire she’d always wanted a Daddy to have for her.
Her mind cautioned her the girls could interrupt them at any moment, but her body didn’t care. He had lit a flame inside of her that could not be denied or ignored.
The heartbeat pulsing in her ears wouldn’t let her hear her friends. So, she surrendered to the heat growing inside. Being discovered became a distant memory.
His arms enfolded her, his hard body holding her so close she could barely breathe. And she loved it. To be so desired was a heady thing. And when his tongue caressed hers, she didn’t hold back, mirroring his every move. Pleasure so fierce it burned lit her ablaze.
The bunker slipped from her mind. As did all her thoughts of leaving or danger or anything except her desperate need. Not just for a Daddy. No, her need was forhim.
