“It’ll hurt, sometimes. But I suspect you liked that as much as the way I made you feel good that first time, didn't you?” My hands slide down to her exquisite ass without any conscious thought from me, pulling her against me again, enjoying her little, rapturous gasp.
“I’ll be your Dom, your Daddy, your Sir. I’ll fuck you and tear you apart and build you back up, because you are much stronger than you think. But when we’re in public, I’ll treat you with the utmost respect and care. Because you deserve it. It is what is due to you.”
“There was- I had a feeling you were like that. One of the servers at the wedding reception told the bartender that you, and I quote, had this super-hot alpha Daddy thing going on.”
This surprises me into boisterous laughter. I don’t laugh like that. It’s either a polite chuckle in public or a dark snicker at my cousin’s foolishness.
“Perhaps it was just as well you stayed in the guest room to get used to living here. If you’d opened the wrong cabinet, it might have sent you screaming out of the house.” Ah, maybe too soon to joke, since her eyes bulge with alarm. “No need to worry, my wife.” My lips slide down her cheek, kissing her jaw, her stubborn little chin, that pulse fluttering in her neck. “We’ll talk about it. You will always have a safe word and I expect you to use it if you need to stop.”
I give into the impulse, stroking my thumb over her mouth. “But first, you will have to say yes.”
Chapter Twenty
In which there is one rule: “Don’t call me Good Girl.”
Afton…
Mason’s speech was like nothing I’d heard before.
He was honest.Painfullyhonest, in fact, but I’d rather have that than a pretty lie. My mother’s world hinged on the pretty lies, that everything was just fine when it wasn’t.
This man, who is so gorgeous that it’s almost obscene, will never love me. He would probably find me loving him distasteful.
He’s offering me a choice.
“We stop? Whenever I say the word?”
He nods. “Instantly.”
His big, rough hands are sliding over my hips and my heart speeds up. It’s whiplash, wanting him and hating him and now finding out I can have exactly what I want. Just with no emotion.
I’ll take what he can give me.
My heart gives a painful little thump, but I ignore it.
“One thing. You have to honor this,” I try to sound firm.
“What’s that, my wife?”
“You can never call me-” my mouth twists. “Don't ever call me a good girl.” The taste of the words in my mouth is nasty.
“Pity,” he murmurs, “because you are such averygood one sometimes.” He’s close enough that I can feel his breath on my skin. “Anything else before I kiss you?”
“I… think that’s everything.” It’s taking everything in me to maintain eye contact. His jade eyes are swirling, turning lighter, the color of grass.
Now, he cups my face in his hands and kisses me. Not the all-consuming one we had at the altar, or the greedy ones when he took my virginity. I can see the change, the lightning quick shadow that spreads over his face.
Hunger.
Want.
Barely contained savagery and this should terrify me and all I can think is…Good. He’s not as cold as he thinks he is.
In the time it takes to blink, Mason’s hauled me up and carried me into the living room, bending me over the arm of his fancy white sofa.
He flips my skirt up over my head and strokes my ass for a moment. “These have to go.” It’s a moment of horrified realization as I remember I’m wearing my body shaper. He’s pulled the tight, stretchy thing down and off me before I can wonder if that’s cooling his interest any.
Apparently, it did not.
