"Thank you for telling me," he says, thumb stroking my lower lip. "For trusting me with that."
"You didn't really give me a choice about trusting you," I remind him, but there's no bite in the words. "Kidnapped me, remember?"
A smile tugs at the corner of his mouth. "Protected you."
"Stalked me."
"Watched over you."
"Semantic differences."
His smile widens into something genuine that transforms his harsh features. "Smart mouth." But he says it like it's a compliment, like my sass delights rather than annoys him.
The fire pops and crackles, throwing golden light across his face. In this moment, with the rain drumming on the roof and his body warm against mine, I can almost forget how we got here. Almost pretend this is normal. That we met like regular people. That he didn't carry me to this cabin and claim me as his own.
I reach up, tracing the line of his bearded jaw with my fingertips. He turns his head, catching my fingers with his lips, pressing a kiss to my palm.
"No one's ever cared what happened to me before," I whisper, the admission painful in its truth.
Something flashes in his eyes—fierce, protective. "I care." He shifts, gathering me into his lap so I'm straddling his thighs, his hands spanning my waist. "I care about everything that happens to you. Everything that has happened. Everything that will."
His lips find mine, the kiss achingly tender compared to the bruising possession of earlier. I melt against him, opening to his tongue when it traces the seam of my lips. He tastes like the whiskey he was sipping earlier—smoky and warm.
"My sweet baby girl," he murmurs against my mouth, the endearment sending shivers down my spine. "So brave. So perfect."
His hands slide under the flannel shirt, finding bare skin. I hadn't bothered with underwear after our shower earlier—a habit I'm quickly developing under his influence. His palms are rough with calluses as they trail up my ribs to cup my breasts, thumbs circling my nipples until they harden to sensitive peaks.
"Gray," I sigh as he lowers his head to take one nipple into the wet heat of his mouth.
"Daddy," he corrects, teeth grazing the sensitive bud.
"Daddy," I whisper, the name no longer feeling strange on my tongue. Instead, it feels right—a surrender that brings freedom rather than confinement.
He growls his approval, hands moving to my hips to lift me slightly as he works his jeans open one-handed. His cock springs free, already hard and ready. I've learned his body this week, learned how quickly he responds to my surrender, how insatiable his appetite for me is.
"Want to feel you," he says, positioning me over him. "Want to be inside you. Where I belong."
I sink down onto him slowly, taking my time, savoring the delicious stretch as he fills me completely. His hands guide my hips, setting a languid pace that's different from our usual frantic coupling.
"That's it," he praises as I rock against him. "Taking Daddy so well."
The firelight plays across our joined bodies as I move on top of him, his hands alternately guiding and caressing. This doesn't feel like the claiming of the past week. This feels like...making love.
"So beautiful," he murmurs, one hand coming up to cup my face. "Riding Daddy's cock like you were made for it."
I lean into his touch, eyes fluttering closed as pleasure builds slow and steady at the base of my spine. "Please," I whisper, though I'm not sure what I'm begging for.
Gray knows. Gray always knows what I need.
"I've got you, baby girl." His hips thrust up to meet mine, hitting a spot deep inside that makes me gasp. "Daddy's going to take such good care of you."
His thumb finds my clit, circling with just the right pressure as I continue to ride him. My rhythm falters as tension builds, my movements becoming erratic.
"Look at me," he commands softly. I open my eyes to find his gaze locked on mine, raw and open in a way I haven't seen before. "Want to see your face when I knock you up."
The filthy words contrast with the tenderness of his touch, the gentleness of our pace. My inner walls clench around him at the thought—him filling me with his seed, making me swell with his child.
"You'd like that, wouldn't you?" he continues, voice hypnotic. "Me breeding you right here by the fire. Filling you with my baby."
