“I do.”
“Really? Enlighten me, then.” Her tone of voice clearly said it was a challenge. And it was one he was more than happy to meet.
“A Daddy is a type of Dominant. Generally one who takes on a caregiver role with his submissive.” He waited a beat, his heart hammering at his chest as he prepared to drop the real bomb. “Or his Little.”
There it was again, that slight widening of her eyes, the catch in her breathing. “Interesting.”
Of all the responses he’d prepared himself for, that casual, deliberately uninterested tone hadn’t been one of them, and he had to fight back a wave of frustration that she wasn’t playing along as he’d hoped. “I happen to find it incredibly interesting, yes.”
“And why is that?”
Finally. The opening he’d been looking for. “Because I very much want to be your Daddy, Samantha.”
Sam
There was no way she’d heard him correctly. Zero. Zilch.
Nada.
“What did you say?” Even to her own ears her voice seemed too breathless, too full of the painful hope beating at her chest.
“I said, I very much want to be your Daddy, Samantha.”
Okay, so she had heard him correctly. Unless she was actually passed out on her kitchen floor and this was some weird ass dream.
Thank god she hadn’t yet turned the mixer on, because if this wasn’t a dream, she was fairly certain they’d both be covered in chunks of potato by now. “Why?”
“Why, what?”
“Why do you want to be my Daddy? No, wait, back up. What makes you think I’d even beinterestedin that kind of relationship?”
One corner of his mouth kicked up in a knowing smirk that made her wish she had actually covered him in chunks of potato. “I already told you why. I want to take care of you, Sam. I’ve been wanting to for a really long time.”
“Well, I appreciate the sentiment, but I don’t need or want a Daddy.” The lie rolled easily off her tongue, but left her stomach in knots. Maybe she didn’tneedone, but she wanted one so badly she physically ached with it at times.
That didn’t mean she was going to confess all of that to a man nearly half her age. A man who happened to be her son’s best friend.
A woman needed some dignity, after all.
“Fair warning, once you agree to be my Little girl, lies like that will get you a clothespin on the tongue.”
There had to be something fundamentally wrong with her that her clit throbbed at his threat. “First of all, I’m not lying. Second of all, why would I agree to let anyone, let alone you, put a fucking clothespin on my tongue?”
“Because you crave it.” Pushing away from the sink, he moved behind her, boxing her in with both of his hands on the counter on either side of her, his chest pressed to her back. Even through the thick denim of his jeans, she could feel the hard ridge of his erection pressing against her ass. “You want to be able to let go, to let someone else be in charge for a little while. To let someone else,anyoneelse make all the decisions you’ve been making all by yourself for the past twenty-four years.”
He wasn’t wrong. But there was no possible way she could go there with him. “Even if that were true, I wouldn’t want that with you.”
“Why not? Because I’m a few years younger than you?”
“A few? Try almost seventeen years younger than me. I’m literally old enough to be your mother, Dylan. And in case you’ve forgotten, Iamyour best friend’s mother. Which is the main reason why what you want can never happen.”
“Ethan will understand. Eventually.” Lifting his hands from the counter, he gently pulled the mixer from her hands and set it off to the side before turning her to face him. The earnestness, thehungerin his gaze nearly stole her breath away. “Sam. Just give me a chance. I promise you won’t regret it.”
Without giving her a chance to answer, he bowed his head, capturing her lips with his own in a kiss so tender she actually sighed as the sweetness rolled through her. As far as first kisses went, it was really rather nice.
And then he pressed her back against the counter, his fingers digging into her hips, and everything changed.
In a lightning strike, he deepened the kiss, and she swore she could taste his need and frustration as he forced her to open for him. Her hands came up, clinging to his shirt for dear life as he swept her up in a torrent of want and need and promised decadence.
