She heard his questions, but her mind kept replaying the flecks and streaks of gold in his eyes that melted into molten gold lava. She wanted to run her hand along his square jaw to see if his five o’clock shadow would prickle her fingers. The imagined sensations stole her breath.
“Well?”
Since she’d never been put in the corner, she didn’t realize she should guard against sinking into her Little headspace. She was there before she realized it was happening.
He seemed to want an answer, so, as usual, she blurted out the first thing that popped into her head. “You’re beautiful when you’re angry.” Because he was. Fierce and blazing and alive. And no one had ever burned for her safety before.
Yep. Those were the words that came out of her mouth. Her cheeks burned all the way to the tips of her toes. Not that it wasn’t true. He was incredible. How would he taste if she licked him and made him hers? That was it. He was the incredible edible Daddy.
The thought tickled her so much she almost laughed. But she shouldn’t want to laugh. She’d just said something stupid. Again.
Maybe she could press herself into the corner so hard that she would pass through the wall into the next room. Or maybe into another dimension. She wanted to disappear. Maybe.
What would it be like to have a Daddy? Especially one like Connor, who would get that upset if she put herself in danger. No one had ever cared about her like that. He wouldn’t be upset if he didn’t care, right? Maybe his anger meant she mattered.
Still, she wished she’d given a different answer because now she worried his head might explode. If it did, she would probably still think he was the most beautiful man she’d ever seen.
CHAPTER THREE
Connor bided his time as Bliss stood with her nose in the corner. One day, she’d be doing it naked. But that would come later. When she was his in every way that mattered. When she chose him, the way he’d already chosen her.
The thought settled deep in his chest, but Connor wasn’t a man who rushed what mattered. Some things had to be built slow. And Bliss… Bliss was the kind of woman who would bolt if pushed too hard, too fast.
He’d have tracked Bliss whether Winnie asked him to or not. But somewhere in the months he watched from a distance, he’d come to care about her. He couldn’t tell Bliss that because it made him sound like a stalker.
He never wanted to be the kind of man she feared. Only the kind she ran to.
He wanted to be the kind of man she looked to when her world turned upside down. The kind she looked for without realizing she was looking.
What was it about her that pulled at him, at his inner Daddy, from the first time he’d seen her? He’d gone out of his way to be in Darling when he knew she’d be there. He wanted her, not justher body. He wanted her trust. Her surrender. Her stubborn, skittish heart.
She’d sealed her fate when she told him he was beautiful when he was angry. When Connor found the truck empty, every worst-case scenario he’d ever heard of played through his mind. He would never have forgiven himself if she’d been hurt because he’d left her unprotected.
From now on, he was treating her like a China doll wrapped in bubble wrap. Locking her behind steel doors? Done. Posting himself at the entrance like a feral guard dog? Every time. Hell, he’d probably install cameras, alarms, motion sensors, and a damn moat if it meant she stayed safe.
Those thoughts lasted right up to the second he spotted her standing at the entrance to the parking lot, talking to a couple of complete fucking strangers. He’d almost had an aneurysm when she leaned over and rested against their car door. Hell, she’d even been on the man’s side of the car.
He could have grabbed her, stuffed her in their car, driven away, and there would have been nothing he could have done to stop it. The image sliced through him with surgical precision. The way she’d leaned there, trusting, oblivious to how quickly things could go wrong…
Yeah, at that point, he’d lost his mind. What. The. Fuck. His pulse had thundered in his ears, and every protective instinct he possessed had slammed into overdrive.
When he’d gotten his hands on her, he’d wanted to wring her neck. He’d settled for smacking her ass three good times when she wouldn’t mind him. The feel of her beneath his palm had branded him.
She had a great ass. Firm, with just the right amount of bounce when spanked.
The swats had surprised her, but otherwise they hadn’t seemed to make much of an impression. He could see the guiltand regret she felt for her actions and the flicker of something she didn’t yet understand.
But he did. He understood she wanted the relief of someone else being in control. She wanted the knowledge that someone stronger was standing between her and whatever might try to harm her. She needed a Daddy.
What he needed to do was make sure she wouldn’t sit comfortably for the rest of the ride back to Darling. Besides, he couldn’t keep her safe if she didn’t listen to him and do as he said.
Obedience wasn’t about his control. It was about her survival. And survival was one lesson Connor had learned the hard way years ago.
A voice in the back of his mind told him he shouldn’t have spanked her. She wasn’t his to spank.
But she was his to protect.
She was drawn to him the same way he was drawn to her. It had been the same in the chemistry-filled conversations they’d shared in Darling. That, and the way her breath hitched whenever he stepped too close. That little hitch of breath hadn’t escaped him once. Not a single time.
