“Ember, I don’t think there is any other way I would know how to be with you.” My heart pounded against my chest.
“And we know this…” I swallowed hard.
“What is this, Ember?” he asked, brushing the hair off my face before setting his nose against mine.
“Is temporary.” The words tasted bitter on my tongue.
“Why?”
“Why?” I repeated, trying to remember, but good lord, every reason faded away as I stared into his eyes.
“What else?” he asked, moving the conversation forward. If I had been paying attention, I would have noticed he didn’t promise to follow that rule.
“Else?” I asked, my eyes now back on his mouth. God, it wasn’t fair for a man to have such perfect lips.
“Rules?” he repeated. His chocolate gaze softened. “Anything else you want to put in place?”
“Oh, umm… I’m not sure, just… we need to be honest with each other and… anything you can think of?” His hands neverstopped stroking my back and shoulders. I didn’t care if it made me a little slutty, but I wanted so much more with him. I didn’t care that we’d just met or I didn’t know all that much about him. Or that this was possibly my first and only one-night stand.
“You let me take care of you. Within these walls, daddy’s in charge.” I blinked. “Within these walls, daddy’s in charge,” he repeated. Wetness coated my thighs. So much I wondered if he could feel it.
“Let you?—“
“You asked for honesty, Ember, and you’re going to get it, baby girl. I’ve never done this before.”
“This?”
“The daddy/baby girl play,” he laid out plainly and without embarrassment.
“Oh.” My face felt hot, and I was probably cherry red. Thank goodness the lights hadn’t kicked back on. “I haven’t, either,” I confessed.
“But you called me?—"
“It’s just how I thought of you. From when I first saw you. I do-don’t know—“ I stuttered, tripping over my own words. “There’s something about you where this just… feels easy to do. Only with you.”
“There’s something about you, too,” he said, and the way he did combined with the way he stared at me made me believe him. “I like the idea of exploring that dynamic with you.”
“You do?” Hope burst to life inside of me.
“I do. You make me want to…” He swallowed, tempering down an animal-like groan coming from inside chest.
“What?” I pressed, needing to know as I felt his lips press against my cheek.
“Take care of you. Protect you,” he murmured. “Cherish and worship you. Build you up so you know I have your back no matter what.”
“In this cabin?”
“Any time. Any place,” he vowed. Fuck, I wanted that.
“You just met me.”
“It doesn’t matter.” The confidence in his tone made me relax further. “Tell me you don’t feel this with me. That you don’t feel like you could just let go and not think for a moment because you know daddy’s got you and is going to take care of you no matter what.” My nipples felt like they could cut glass.
He wasn’t wrong.
“Asher,” I whispered. My breathing changed.
“For as long as you want this,” he laid out, “let me take care of you. Let me be the one you can lean on after holding on to so much for so long. Tell me that, and I promise, princess, I won’t let you regret it. Not even for a split second.” His tone was so serious, part of me started to think he might be talking about more than the course of the blizzard howling outside the cabin’s walls.
