“Dom.”
His eyes flashed. “Good. ‘Yes, Daddy’ iskor, adar.”
I tried it quietly. “Kor adar.”
He made a low sound that did alarming things to me. “That’s going to ruin me later.”
Owning me through language. Teaching me how to sayI love youandDaddyin his tongue before I’d even agreed to forgive him. Only Vince would consider linguistic imprinting a problem-solving strategy.
“Possessive,” I muttered. “And adorable. I hate that it’s adorable.”
“Get used to it.” He rose, his hands sliding up my sides as he stood. “You’re going to be fluent.”
“Bossy.”
“Dom.” His mouth brushed my temple. “Sit on Daddy and we’ll talk through our problems.”
I didn’t get the chance to argue before he turned, guiding me toward a wide armchair facing the ocean. He dropped into it and tugged me down, arranging me across his lap like it had always been meant for this.
His chest was solid under my back, tank soft against my shoulder blades. One arm wrapped around my waist, the other draped across my thighs, hand curling over my knee. Every point of contact felt deliberate.
My body started to exhale before my brain decided if that was allowed.
“You’re staying right here. On Daddy’s lap.We’ll talk through our problems. Later, I’ll feed you later. We’ll shower, then sleep. If you’re ready and not mad at me anymore, I’ll remind you how good you melt for me. I’ll come in you, you’ll hold it, and I’ll fall asleep inside you where you belong.”
The picture came too easily.
I hated that my whole nervous system lit up at the idea. My fingers found his jaw, tracing the faint roughness of stubble.
“I wish we weren’t so complicated.”
“I know baby,”
“Later, I’d like that. The connection. I’ve been… emotional. All over the place.”
“I know, baby.” He pressed a kiss to my knuckles. “You scared the shit out of me.”
“Sorry.”
“You will never scare Daddy like that again.”he kissed my hair, my temple, jaw. “I mean it. My heart hasn’t stopped racing since the DePout’s concierge told me my girl had vanished from my city.” He kissed my cheekbone, “It didn’t slow down until you were back on my chest. You’re everything to me.”
I tucked myself closer, hand resting over his heart. The beat under my palm hammered, not nearly as calm as his voice. I felt the confession coming. The part I’d been holding back. I was taught silence. No one speaker weakness,
“I feel dependent on you.” The confession came out small. “It scares me. When you ignore me, if I’m enough.”
His arm tightened around my waist, his hand flattening over my stomach like he wanted to wrap around all of it.
“Dom check-in. What’s your primary fear?”
“That you’ll decide I’m too much. And flip that fuse off. One day I’ll walk into a hall and you’ll look through me and this time it won’t be an act. It’ll be permanent.”
“That will never happen. There are walls right now. You know that. I’m not pretending they don’t exist. But walls can fall.”
“Not without explosions.”
“You’re talking to a man whose biggest enemy has his own last name. In my family, love is a weakness. Wives are weapons.A Crow doesn’t get to keep a woman unless he’s willing to start a war to do it. We don’t get nice things. We claim, threaten, blackmail, force the world to accept what we chose.”
“That’s bleak.”
