Page 10 of Claimed By Daddy

I think it's him. He's the ache I never could satisfy, the hole I couldn't fill. I need him to fix it. No one else can do it. Just him. I'm not sure why I'm so sure of that, but I am. I feel the truth singing in my freaking veins like an aria.

This man is my missing piece.

"I see you staring at me, little angel," he says abruptly, taking a step toward me.

"I…I'm not," I lie, blushing from head to toe again.

He chuckles again, clearly not believing me. I'm not a very good liar. "You worried I'm going to hurt you, Lena?"

"No," I whisper. The thought didn't even cross my mind, actually. Well, maybe when he first burst into the cabin like a crazy man, but not since. I've been too busy thinking things I probably shouldn't. Besides, I'm pretty sure he meant it when he promised that I was safe with him.

"Good," he grunts, glancing around the room. It looks a little like a hurricane hit it, honestly. My stuff is everywhere. "Why a cabin?"

"I had to escape my cousin and my grandfather," I huff. "They were getting on my nerves."

"Oh yeah?" His lips twitch with amusement. What would they feel like pressed to mine? I bet he'd kiss me like he was starving for my taste.

"Y-Yes." I bob my head, trying desperately not to think about his lips on mine. "They argue all the time. It's exhausting."

"So you rented a cabin, huh?"

"I tried." My shoulders drop at the reminder that this place isn't actually mine for the week. It's his. "I guess I'm going home tomorrow, though."

Dalton will love that. He's already called twice today to check on me. Gramps called this evening, too, demanding I come home. But I told him the same thing I told Dalton—that I wasn't coming home until they learned to get along. I guess the universe is going to make me eat my words, though. I'm not ready to wade back into the war zone, but I don't have a choice.

"You know you don't have to leave at all," Carver says. His back is to me, a broad canvas painted with vivid artwork. "You can stay right here with me."

"W-what?" I blink, startled by the deep rasp of his voice. There's something in it…something dark and delicious. Something dangerously hypnotic and tempting.

"You don't have to leave at all." He turns to face me again as he repeats the words. That same darkness reflects in his eyes, daring me to step closer to the edge of something forbidden. "You can stay as long as you like."

"I can?"

"Yes. But it's going to cost you."

My breath catches, my mind snagging on the edge of curiosity. What price would he exact? What cost would he demand?

I hesitate for a full five-count, the possibilities rushing through me in a dizzying parade, before I can't stand the curiosity anymore. I have to know what he wants. The need to know is almost a compulsion.

"W-what will it cost me?"

The fire in his gunmetal gray eyes ignites an answering blaze inside me as he takes a step toward me. His hands clench and unclench as if he's trying to convince himself to keep them away from the flames.

"You on your knees, begging Daddy to fuck you, little girl," he snarls like a man pushed too far to the edge, one desperate for a single ounce of softness.

A wordless sob tears from somewhere deep in my chest. I press my legs together as the ache between them grows to a fever pitch.

He just called himself Daddy.

I shouldn't like that name, and yet…judging by the mess in my panties, I like it all too well. Hearing him say it flips a switch inside me, and all those foreign desires come roaring to the surface, all those secret things I've tried so, so hard never to think about. It's an awakening, a need that's been dormant, waiting for this man who embodies every fantasy I never knew how to explain.

With one word, he sets them free. I ache for him, for his control, to be the one he desires above all things. And this man, my God, this man would be the best damn Daddy.

But we can't do this…can we?

"I…I…"

He closes the distance between us in a single, purposeful stride, his shadow enveloping me in a way that sends heat searing through me. "If you agree to be my little girl for the week, you can have whatever you want," he says, his raw, wild gaze piercing through me.