by Wyatt, Dani
“Pretty good, I guess.” She answers on a shrug.
I chuckle and mock, “Pretty good, huh?” I ask, mimicking her shrug. “Guess I need to try harder.”
She wraps her arms around my waist, putting her cheek to my chest. “We have more fun now than I think we did even when we first got together. I don’t know how you do it. You’re always happy. I get my moods, but you just keep us level. Keep this family going.”
“Baby.” I lower my lips to the top of her head. “We do that. I think the same thing about you. I wonder how the hell you do it all. Take care of the girls and me. You are always there for a smile and a hug. And a fuck. Of course.”
She giggles. “Yeah, see I worried about that too. That part of us wouldn’t be the same.”
I push her back and look down into her wide eyes. “You’re right though. It’s not the same. Not at all.” I shake my head and see her hesitate. “It’s better.”
The smile spreads over her face. “I know. It’s always getting better.”
“We’re going to be ninety and still rockin’ it, babygirl. We’ll just need to make sure we don’t break a hip.”
The clock over the fireplace chimes twice. We’ve been up wrapping presents for hours.
“Time to put my baby to bed.”
“Yes, Daddy. You’ll give her special Christmas kisses?”
“Of course, I will. Just like every year.”
My balls tingle at the knowledge we’re going to spend the next couple hours giving each other our own special kind of Christmas gifts.
I reach for her hand and we walk up the stairs to our suite in silence. I swear my heart grows bigger every year.
We pause and open the door to the girls’ room. The moon casts a white light across the lavender bedding. The twins are both snuggled into Emily’s bed together, a twist of arms and legs with chocolate brown messy hair around their faces.
“I’m the luckiest man alive,” I whisper, and Brinna smiles as she melts against me.
The twins brought a light into my life I’d never before understood. They completed us. Made us a family. And I provide for my girls and protect them from any and all threats—real or perceived. I am their rock and I will never waiver in my care for them.
“Come on, Daddy.” Brinna runs her hand down my chest, gently pushing me back out into the hallway and quietly closing the door behind us. “I need something from you.”
My heart squeezes in my chest as she takes both my hands, turns and starts gently pulling me as she walks backwards to our suite.
“What do you need, babygirl?” I ask, playing into our traditional closing to Christmas Eve.
“I need my Daddy to kiss me goodnight.”
With that, she guides me into our bedroom and I close and lock the door behind me. I know I’m not just going to kiss her. I’m going to enjoy the best gift I’ve ever received in every filthy way imaginable.
Merry Christmas to me.
Epilogue Two
Brinna
TWENTY YEARS LATER
“You look beautiful.” Ace slides up behind me as I fuss with my dress, looking in the mirror as I try to decide if I need a tummy tuck, a breast lift or a full body something-or-other. “More beautiful than the day I met you if that’s even possible.”
“Sure,” I mock. “You with your man face that ages like a two-hundred-year-old bottle of Scotch. You get better looking every year. Don’t think for a second I don’t notice girls half my age looking at your crotch like it’s the damn Holy Grail.”
He wraps his arms around my waist, and I twist and try to slap them away, but as usual, he’s having none of it.
“You’re never too old to be a brat. And I’m sure you understand by now, after twenty years of marriage and a quarter century of knowing you, that I can tame that brat no problem. You’re never going to be too old for me to bend you over my knee and ripen that ass of yours. I’m still your Daddy, and I’ll do what you need done, and right now it’s very damn likely what you need is an over the knee spanking.”
“Whatever, big man.” I’m annoyed. Not at him, but at time.
Both the girls left for college yesterday. Yale. We dropped them off and flew back home with me crying into Ace’s shoulder the entire way.
Today I just feel old.
Useless.
I had the twins after the miracle of conceiving them and was never able to get pregnant again. Ace was the best father. I stayed home, and our family was—and is—my life.
He’s also the best husband. He’s built his own empire in real estate just like his sister and still never missed a soccer game for Miriam or a ballet performance for Emily.
Today, I just feel like I’m disappearing, and even though I love Ace as much today as I ever have, he’s taking the brunt of my self-pity.
“Just go find yourself two girls half my age and put me out of my misery.” I pout, knowing I’m being mean and Ace would never look at another woman.
“Alright, my little lamb. Daddy knows best.”
I yelp in protest, but he’s got me around the waist, tugging me to the large armchair under the windows of our bedroom. Before I can take my next squealing breath, my dress is up around my waist, and I’m secured over his knees.
I kick and squirm but I know I’m not going anywhere. It’s not the iron-clad grip Ace has on the back of my hair that does it.
It’s not that he outweighs me by three times either.
It’s not that I know he could kill someone with a single hand.
It’s that I’ve learned many things in the last twenty years with my husband.
One big one is that the vast majority of the time, he really does know what I need.
Even when it’s not what I want.
The first stinging slap on my bare behind sends red flashes sparking into my vision, and I squeeze my eyes shut, knowing the next strikes are close behind.
I surrender to the moment.
To the sensations.
Ace brings his hand down, over and over. Alternating the placement of each slap with a precision I’ve come to trust and admire. He knows how to give me exactly the right amount of pain, pushing me until I don’t think I can take another swat. Then he moves the location of the connection, igniting a warmth and desire that to this day I could not explain to anyone.
“Who do you belong to?” he demands, laying a full palm on my heated flesh, digging his fingernails into the sore skin.
“You.” The simplest answer is the best, I’ve also learned. Tears edge over my lower lids and a wash of relief floods my entire being.
“That’s right. And do I take care of what’s mine?”
I nod, letting the sobs take me now as Ace’s arms shift and he pulls my dress down, sitting me up and gathering me into his lap in a warm embrace.
“That’s right. My babygirl. My lamb. My love. My life. Now tell me, what’s the problem? It’s not me, I know that. Remember, it’s you and me versus the problem—never you and me versus each other.”
I bury my face into the nape of his neck, drawing in his spicy, natural scent and feeling the protective, nurturing side of him pinch my heart.
“I’m old. I’m useless.”
“Baby.” His embrace tightens as he starts to rock me back and forth. “You are the hottest thing I’ve ever seen. You still make Daddy’s dick as hard as your underage sixteen-year-old self did all those years ago. Harder in fact. And you’ll figure out what you want to do next. I still need you. The girls still need you. But you can do anything you want. And I’ll never stop wanting you.”
“You’re just saying that.”
“Oh really?” His voice thickens, and he takes my hand, shifts me forward and places it on his crotch. “What’s that?”
An enormous erection is pushing out on the front of his trousers.
“A boner.” I can’t help but giggle at the word.
He lets my hand go and shoves his up my dress, straight into my drenched pussy. “And this?” He flicks at my clit,
making me draw a sharp breath. “This cunt is apparently as interested in me as it always has been. You do know I’ve aged right along with you, Lamb? I’ve changed. And do you look at me and see an old man? Not want me anymore?”
I shake my head. “No. If anything, I want you more than ever.”
“See?” He widens his eyes and pushes a finger inside me. “Same with me.”
My ass throbs and the welts from his hand make it feel like it’s been baking in the oven.
“Spread your legs,” he orders, and I comply immediately.
He has two fingers inside me now. Relentless. Holding me up with his other hand at the back of my neck. Pounding in and out of me until I’m gasping and pleading. His fingers are magic, and within a minute I’m at the edge.
“Please, please, please, Daddy. Now. Now—”
I wait for him to set me free. He’s making me suffer a bit, and it’s deserved.
“Oh, you want to cum? My Lamb wants to cum, huh? Beg. Beg some more.”
“Daddy—” The pained word is met with Ace’s fingers curling inside of me, pressing on the button only he can push. “God damn it, Daddy, I said please! Please.” My voice cracks. “Please—”
He relents on a smile. “Now, babygirl. Now.”
The orgasm sends me gushing onto his hand. Lights spark in my vision and a sound tears from my throat, leaving me raw and trembling. The orgasms lap over one another until I’m uttering the one word that means the most to me in the world.
“Daddy! Daddy!” My hands grip the back of Ace’s neck as my thighs shake and liquid arousal soaks my dress, along with his pants and probably the chair where we sit as well.
“Oh, now you remember who I am.”
“You’ve always been Daddy to me. Remember that first day we met? I called you Daddy that day.”
“I remember. Fuck, I remember. You were trying to kill me right then and there. The irony is, that day I was fairly sure I wanted to die. Well, I wasn’t exactly sure I wanted to live, I guess is a better way of putting it. Then, that door opened, and everything changed. You nearly killed me, but I decided I wanted to live. I felt alive. I have you to thank for that, my lamb. You changed everything for me. Still, do. So please, for the love of all things holy, just stop with the getting old crap. Okay?”
I sigh, knowing he’s right. Self-pity has never worn well on me. “Okay.”
“Great. Now, that’s settled. You need a new dress. We’re going to be late.”
Ace has a special night planned. Dinner, dancing, and then a suite at the Royal Park Hotel.
“Daddy?” I run my fingers through his beard, turning his face to mine.
“Yes, baby?”
“What if I hadn’t asked you that night what else you wanted for your birthday? What would have happened?”
He takes a long breath and holds onto it until he closes his eyes for a moment and lets it go, slowly releasing the tension.
“I’m not sure. But the one thing I do know is this: I would have never let you go. Kiss goodnight or not, you belonged to me, and we were destined to be together.”
“Twenty years later, we would still be celebrating your birthday and our other anniversary. Scratching lottery tickets and wondering who was going to make the first move.”
“Let’s just say, I would have pressed the issue sooner or later. It was just perfect how it began. How every day I wake up and wonder how a fuck like me got so lucky. To be allowed to kiss you goodnight every night...wake up next to you, fucking miracle, babygirl. You are my miracle. You are still my sweet, little girl.”
I flatten my hand on his chest tapping it lightly over his heart. “And you are my Daddy.” I push up and give him a peck on the nose then add, “I think, maybe, I’ll adopt a hedgehog. Maybe start that hedgehog rescue. People are idiots, right? They get a pet then think they are disposable. We have the space, the money...I can build a giant habitat. Give them a better life. Offer anyone who wants to rehome one free transport to get them here somehow, and I’ll take it from there. Is that stupid?” I scrunch up my face wondering if I’m being a child.
“That’s the best thing I’ve heard all day, Lamb. Tomorrow, we will start planning. A website, an enclosure. Whatever you need. We can convert the old barn.”
My cheeks warm and he never fails to astonish me.
“Thank you, Daddy. I love you more than the sky loves the sea.”
His lips are on my forehead, then he looks down into my face. Those eyes that look like polished turquoise taking my breath away.
He rubs a finger down my nose then presses it to my lips. “You are my world babygirl. My fucking world.”
With that, we are up, and he picks out a new dress for me and helps me change. We hold hands and are on our way out into the night. Even now, twenty years into our marriage, every night Ace comes to me, puts his hands on my cheeks, and I know exactly what’s coming.
Kiss me goodnight, he says, and I know all is right with the world.
H I S R U L E S
Chapter One
Rueger
“I KNOW WHAT you want,” Lexi half shouts as she approaches me, pointing her order pad in my direction with a smile that lights up my very soul.
You have no fucking idea what I want. If you did, you’d be probably be running.
But I’d be chasing you.
Moe’s is busier than usual today, but even when it’s quiet, it’s loud. Customers shout orders, counter workers shout right back.
I nod and watch the pencil slip from behind her ear to between her fingers, flicking a loose tendril of hair so that it glints in the sunlight. She scribbles down my usual order before spinning on her heel, and without another word, she’s heading toward the kitchen.
The shouting is part of the shtick here.
Moe’s Loud Vegan Deli. The name says it all.
I shift a bit in the hard, wooden chair, trying to keep my growing erection from getting too painful inside my boxers. The lunch line trails right out the door, disappearing beyond the long expanse of windows that cross the front of Moe’s.
My venture capital will do well here. It will be my last handpicked baby before I turn over the reins of my company completely. I’ve got zero worries about making sure our return on our investment pans out on this one.
Even without me to handhold things from here on out, it’s a solid play for a few million and the guidance from my team on the expansion. Fuck, the first time I took a bite of Moe’s portabella and tofu chipotle burger two months ago, I knew I would invest in this little chain of vegan delis, and nothing I’ve seen since has changed my mind.
The day I came here was the day I was sent to meet the young lady who was to be my newest individual sponsorship through my Count On program for low-risk offenders on probation. For each sponsorship, I pick a new state from an old hat that belonged to someone special to me, which I keep in my office. Inside are the remainder of the fifty states I’d written down on folded scraps of yellow legal paper six years ago when I started this.
New geography for each mentee immerses me in their world. Allows me to focus on them and to see life from another perspective. Every city has a soul and a vibe of its own.
My program has been successful for years, with over six thousand mentors across the country. It’s another baby of mine, and that day I was here to meet her.
Little did I know how much my life would change that day.
Lexi Chase.
Female. Portland, Oregon. Three arrests, all for petty theft. What caught my eye was what she had stolen.
First offense was for stealing a stuffed sloth toy from some swanky gift shop.
Second offense was for lifting three of those candy necklaces from a drugstore.
Third, and this one still has me shaking my head, a package of adult diapers.
Since we’ve been spending time together, I found out the story on that last one.
Turns out a care worker for an older woman in a previous apartment building mention
ed them to Lexi and also mentioned the woman’s monthly check hadn’t arrived, so she wouldn’t have the money to buy them until it came. Lexi had balls enough to stuff a package of them under her T-shirt at the grocery store and try to pretend she was pregnant and walk out. When I asked her about it, she said she’d had four dollars, but when she got to the store, she saw they were far more expensive than what she thought, and no way was she letting the poor woman go without until her check came.
My program helps give current or former foster kids now on probation a mentor. Someone to count on. Someone to help keep track of their employment. Secure, decent housing for them. Give them a new vision of what their lives could be.
But it’s not my financial investment or merely checking up on my sponsorship that brings me here; that’s just the pretense under which I sit here in the center of this chaos twice a week.
No, I consider her my investment. My most precious one ever. I want to invest my knowledge. My wisdom. My care. My everything. I want to invest my very soul.
In her.
And I want to invest copious amounts of time with my mouth on her pussy. And with her pussy taking my cock.
That pussy was made to be mine.
I’ve known it since the first moment I laid eyes on her. Her pussy exists solely for my pleasure. And the rest of her exists to be under my care. To receive my love.
I’m just not sure she will understand the enormity of what that means. So, here I sit. For the sixteenth time since I first saw her. Ordering a triple espresso and pie-sized cinnamon roll, contemplating how she will ever understand who I am to her.
Who we were meant to be together.
I watch her through the window of her studio apartment, watch her coming and going, watch her bringing in her groceries, or just taking out her fucking trash.
I rented a place directly across from hers for the sole purpose of watching her. I also bought a house. That same day. Cash on the spot because something in my gut told me someday this would be home.
That’s how fucking gone I am over this girl.
Is that wrong? Maybe. Am I a sick fuck for watching her like I do?