She didn’t retreat when she felt my body’s resistance—I had tensed up, unsure about returning her affections. She rubbed herself boldly against me, and I let out a groan, letting go of her waist to cup her ass and bring her more tightly against me.
“You’re trying to destroy me. You’re dangerous. You’re a wicked witch. A formidable enemy. You’re no Tinkerbell… You’re really just a little bitch,” I hissed, pulling back slightly, but she just rubbed the nape of my neck and kissed me again, even more passionately this time, like she was trying to get me to take her right there on the kitchen counter. I opened my mouth, indulging her and merging our desires.
Who had told her she could kiss me like that?
No one. And yet, here she was, boldly laying claim to me as if she had every right to do so.
I couldn’t bring myself to push her away, though, and kept succumbing to the frustrating urge to taste her, to steal her breath, to invade her with my tongue and leave her stunned.
I reciprocated her gesture with violent desperation, and she began to struggle for breath. She tightened her hand on my shoulder, signaling that I should slow down a bit, but like the huge bastard I was, I refused to stop.
This was what she wanted—me—and I was going to do it my way.
“Good God!”
I pulled away from Selene when I heard a masculine voice bouncing off the pool house’s walls. Reluctantly, I turned to see who our heckler was, onlyto find Matt Anderson standing motionless in the doorway. He’d just barged in without knocking or calling out, and now he was staring slack-jawed at me and his daughter. He had most assuredly gotten an eyeful already, and I still hadn’t bothered to take my hands off Selene’s ass cheeks.
“Anna was right. She said she saw a girl come in here, but she wasn’t sure if it was you. I guess…” he said, his voice uncertain, and only then did I decide to move away from Babygirl, hoping that would help Matt process the situation. He turned his dark eyes on me and looked at me with such hate that anyone else in my shoes probably would have been afraid.
“You really don’t have any shame, do you, Neil? You keep on making the same mistakes,” he said in a wrathful hiss while a frightened Selene inched closer to me, grasping my arm nervously. Her nails dug into my bare flesh. I glanced quickly at her and saw that she was scared. I couldn’t stand seeing her like that. I pulled back from her touch, and she looked lost, so I rested a reassuring arm around her shoulders. Tinkerbell rested her head on my chest, holding me tight.
“I keep on wanting your daughter. What of it? This shouldn’t come as a surprise,” I admitted, sounding indifferent, and Selene sucked in a breath. She obviously hadn’t expected that kind of statement from me and certainly not in front of Matt, who let out a bitter laugh.
“The way you want her is sick!” he shouted. “You’ve even turned her against me!” he added accusingly.
Did he seriously believe all the blame for this situation could be laid at my feet? I had come between them, yes, even if that was never what I wanted, but I was hardly the only problem the two of them had. He needed to stop being such a coward and quit blaming me exclusively.
He should have just focused on fixing the already damaged relationship he had with his daughter instead of obsessing over who she was seeing or screwing.
“Selene, I called. I went out to Detroit. You refused to talk to me. Your mother and I are both worried about you.” He turned to Selene, his affect changing completely. He moved closer to his daughter at a cautious pace, ignoring me entirely. I struggled to hold back my laughter because MattAnderson really knew how to make an ass of himself. Still, Babygirl was holding tightly to me, a tacit plea that I not let her go.
I wasn’t going to. Not right then, at least.
“Look at you,” Matt said, scrutinizing her from head to toe. “You’ve lost weight. You look exhausted…” he went on, frowning as he looked at her throat. I knew what he was frowning at—the marks I’d left on her with my excessive passion in bed. When it came to Tinkerbell, I couldn’t control myself. That was what my sexual partners liked about me—how I pushed the boundaries. I was confident that Selene, likewise, appreciated my more intense nature, but it was different for a parent. I would never be the guy anyone brought home to Mom and Dad.
“He is draining the life out of you, Selene. He’s going to keep doing it for as long as he can, as long as you continue to let him. He did it before with Scarlett, and now it’s your turn.”
That goddamned name was enough to cloud my reason. I squeezed Babygirl closer to me and stared Matt down, bristling to fight back. But Matt was, in addition to being my mother’s partner, the father of the woman who had somehow managed to worm her way into my soul. For her sake, I restrained myself. It wasn’t easy, though.
“You can’t understand. No one can understand why this is so important to me,” Selene answered, speaking for the first time since Matt had barged into the pool house. “Maybe I sound like a crazy kid with my head in the clouds. But I would rather take the risk and follow my heart because I know that it will be worth it,” she added, sounding even more determined. My gaze softened, and for just a moment, I wondered what I had done to deserve someone like her.
I had always thought of my life as a cursed pendulum that swung between pain and pleasure. Tinkerbell seemed to want to stop that pendulum, boot the Boy out on his ass, and force me into a better reality.
“He’s brainwashed you. You’re addicted to him. Maybe only sexually…but that’s what it is.” The sound of Matt’s voice pulled me from my thoughts.
Had he really just said that?
I burst into laughter.
If anything, it was the other way around: I was the one who was sexually dependent on his daughter, especially in recent days.
Selene looked up at me, puzzled, while her father glowered at me. He would have happily murdered me.
“Trust me, Matt, you don’t know shit,” I answered, brushing off the remnants of my inopportune laughing fit.
“So you say,” he scoffed indignantly at me. “But we both know you’ve got problems. There’s no reasoning or communicating with you. You steamroll your way through the world like we all owe you something. I know you’re probably treating my daughter like a doll, like some servile doormat who exists just for your pleasure!” he lashed out at me. “You’re twisted, and just the thought of you putting your hands on her makes me sick!” he yelled with all the breath in his lungs. Selene clutched me tighter. She hated it when people raised their voices and trembled when she felt like she was in danger. It was insane that I now had to protect her from her father when I really should have been protecting her from me first.
Matt wasn’t wrong about everything: I was twisted.
