“And how are you going to do that!”
He leaned in, brushing his mouth against her ear. Another shiver raced through her. For an entirely different reason. Her clit throbbed. “You really want to know how I’d stop this budding tantrum?”
“It’s not a tantrum.”
“That’s exactly what it is. Somehow, we went from discussing the mucked-up order to you calling yourself names, claiming I should fire you, which is ridiculous, and then calling yourself my friend and neighbor.”
She stiffened. “I’m sorry you don’t want to be my friend.”
“Sunny, we’re a damn lot more than just friends. At least I thought we were. Was I wrong?” He stared down at her, his anger gone and confusion in its place.
To her horror, a tear dripped down her cheek. “Do you find me attractive?”
“What the fuck?” He shook his head. “Damn, women are confusing. How does you messing up the stock order have anything to do with me finding you attractive?”
“I just. . .I. . .you haven’t done more than kiss me and I was worried that I’m not. . .that you’ve been turned off. . .I just. . .”
He blew out a breath then leaned his head back on the sofa. “Damned if I do, damned if I don’t.”
“What?”
“Baby girl, I was trying to go slow. I wanted you to feel comfortable with me, for your Little to be comfortable with me, before we moved onto anything more. You don’t have a lot of experience and I can be demanding. I didn’t want to scare the fuck out of you.”
“I started worrying that I was doing something wrong.”
He sighed and tucked her in against him, resting his chin on her head. “I’ve never had a relationship like this, babe. Where I need to care for someone else’s emotional needs as well as their physical ones. Get what I’m saying?”
“Sort of.” Not really.
“I’m saying I should have communicated this shit better, but I don’t want to be too fucking blunt and send you running for the hills. I want you, Sunny. I fucking want you so much that I go home every night with a hard-on that doesn’t seem to ease even when I jack off, thinking about you. I want to tie you to my bed and keep you there all night, exploring every inch of you, fucking you into oblivion then starting all over again. I want to bury my face between your legs and stay there for hours, seeing how many times I can make you come. I want you on your knees in front of me, sucking me off. I want to sink my dick into your pussy and claim you. All of you. I want to take you over my knee and spank your butt then plug it before I fuck it. I want all of that and more.” He leaned back and gently grasped hold of her chin, raising her bright red face up so he could stare in to her eyes.
“What I do not want is to do any of that before you’re ready. Because once I get you in my bed, I ain’t fucking letting you go, Sunshine River. Not that I’m planning on letting you go anyway. But because you’re important, I wanted to get the relationship part of this right first. Because you’re important, I didn’t want to just stick my dick in you at the first opportunity. Because I want more with you than I’ve ever wanted with anyone in my life. I could go down to the club now and find pussy, Sunny. What I can’t find is you.”
“I. . .I. . .” Holy shit what did she say to that? His words were raw and honest. And they washed away the insecurities that had been plaguing her.
Tears dripped down her face and he groaned. “Damn it, baby girl. Say something. That wasn’t meant to make you cry. I didn’t mean to upset you.”
“You. . .you didn’t upset me.”
He wiped away her tears. “Where’s a fucking tissue when I need one?”
She snorted out a laugh. “They were probably on the stock order I messed up.”
“Hold that thought about the stock order, because I’m coming back to that. We’re going to have a little chat about you calling yourself names.”
To her surprise, he shifted her slightly on his lap then drew off his T-shirt.
“What are you doing?” she squeaked as he drew her back against his warm chest. Sugar. He was so ripped. She hadn’t realized someone could have abs like that unless you were a professional athlete or gym junkie.
Her hand twitched with the urge to explore. Then he held his T-shirt up to her face, wiping her tears. “Duke, don’t! Your T-shirt.”
“Got others,” he said, sounding unconcerned. He held the shirt to her nose. “Blow.”
“No! I can’t do that. I’ll go to the bathroom.”
“You’re going nowhere until I’m certain we’re both on the same wavelength. Blow. Now, baby girl.”
She knew she was bright red, but she blew her nose into his shirt. Gross.
But he just balled it up and threw it on the ground.
“I’ll take it home and wash it.”
He sighed. “Sunny, I’m not worried about the damn shirt. Tell me you understand why it seemed like I pulled back from you.”
“I get it now. You were going slow because I. . .because I mean something to you. I guess I got tearful because no one has ever treated me like I’m important. Like I really mean something to them.”
“Well, you do. You need me to tell you that every day, I fucking will.” He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “I want all of you, Sunny. Not just the parts of you that you think I might want. You understand me?”
“Yeah. I’m sorry. I guess I’m still a bit shy about letting completely go. Worried about getting hurt or rejected.”
“I’ll get all your trust once you see that you can be yourself completely. That I don’t want to change you because you’re already fucking perfect.”
“You say the nicest things,” she said with a sigh of pleasure.
His chest moved as he laughed. “You might not say that in a moment.” He twisted his fingers in hers. She stared down at his darker tan. The rough calluses rubbing against her smoother skin. Made her think about his fingers touching her in other places.
“I think I might like where your mind just went, but we’re still taking this as slow as I think you need.”
She turned her head to protest and he gave her a stern look. “We’re not hurrying into anything, Sunny. Not until I’m certain you’re sure.”
She was sure. But she knew she wasn’t going to win this argument. Not quite yet.
“You’re in trouble, little rebel.”
“Me? Why?”
He snorted. “Where shall we start? For calling yourself an idiot? A fuckup? For trying to tell me I should fire you? For not coming to me, even when I gave you a count. For future reference, Daddy expects you to come immediately when he counts.”
Uh-oh.
“Well, I don’t think I should get in trouble for calling myself an idiot and fuckup because clearly I’m both of those things.”
She squeaked as he turned her over his lap. This time, she was facedown. Not a good position for her to be in.
“Duke! We’re at work! You can’t do this here.”
He sighed and rubbed her ass through her pants. “I can’t spank you at work, while there are people here. However, I think this is a good position for you to be in while you listen to me.”
“I really should get back to the front desk.”
His hand rested on her ass. God, she hoped no one came in. Why hadn’t she locked the door?
Because you thought he was pulling you in here to scold or fire you and you figured a quick getaway was vital.
“First of all, you are not an idiot or fuckup. You messed something up. It is not the end of the world. We all do it.”
Sunny didn’t. She hated making mistakes.
“I know it’s hard on you because you like to get everything right and you obsess if you don’t. We need to work on getting you to be less hard on yourself. You’re allowed to make mistakes, Sunny. No one ever died because of a messed-up stock order. You need to stop punishing yourself. Especially since that’s my job now.”
She shot a look over her shoulder at him, to find him grinning
. He thought he was so smart.
He rubbed her ass. “Talking or thinking about yourself like that is never going to be something I’ll tolerate, little rebel. That’s earned you a trip over my knee when we get home.”
She sucked in a breath.
“I want you to think about everything you’re good at because tomorrow you’re going to write me a list of everything positive about Sunshine River Bright.”
She groaned. “Can’t the spanking be enough?”
“Nope.”
“I don’t like homework.”
“Don’t like the time, don’t do the crime. I don’t like hearing you talk about yourself like that, because my Sunny isn’t an idiot or a fuckup. So she messes up from time to time. Isn’t one of us that doesn’t do that. Just means you’re human.”
“Greg always wanted me to be perfect.”
“Well, we both know what Greg was, don’t we?”
“A self-involved douchebag whose opinions and thoughts mean nothing.”
“That’s right. Greg wanted his version of perfect Sunny. Me, I just want Sunny. All of her.” He helped her stand, placing her on the floor between his open legs, staring at her.
“Trust me?”
“Yes,” she replied without hesitation.
“Good. Tonight, I want you to spend the night at my place. Nothing is going to happen so don’t even think about trying to jump my bones,” he warned.
She rolled her eyes even though that thought may have occurred to her.
“But I want to wake up with you in the morning. I want Saturday morning cartoons and breakfast and doing your hair.”
Yeah. There, she wanted that as well.
“Of course, there’s no cartoons until your homework is done. And you might be lying on your tummy to watch cartoons rather than sitting.”
She groaned. Awesome.
He stood and hugged her tight. “You mean so much to me, Sunny. I know I’m not the best with emotions and crap, but if you’re thinking negative thoughts, if you’re worried about anything, tell me. Can’t fix what I don’t know about.”
“I’ll try,” she whispered back. He then turned her and slapped her ass. “Good. Now get back to work before your boss gets grumpy.”
“He’s always grumpy,” she said seriously. “I think he needs to get laid.”
She dived out of there as he took a threatening step towards her, giggling. She stepped into the break room to get some coffee, coming to a stop as she saw Rory there.
“There’s no creamer,” he barked.
“There should be. I restocked it a few days ago.”
“Not the kind I drink.”
Great. Awesome.
She forced herself to smile at him. “All right, I’ll get you some.” She’d pick up some of the stuff she’d messed up on the stock order and pay for it herself. That would make her feel better.
“Good. I’m tired of having to tell you all this, Sunny. I mean, I know this is all hard for you to learn so maybe you should write it down or something.”
His voice was condescending. Such a jerk. But he never did anything so bad that she felt she should say anything to Duke. Rory was a good tattoo artist, he brought in a lot of business.
Whereas she did not.
Rory walked away and she strode out to reception to check the bookings. She spent the next thirty minutes answering emails and welcoming Rory’s customer before she had a block of time where she could get away.
It would soon get dark, so she knew she better go now. She strode towards Duke’s office and knocked lightly.
“Come in,” he growled.
She put her head around the door, noticing he was on the phone. “Can I borrow your truck? I need to get some stuff for the break room.”
He frowned, but she wasn’t sure if it was at her request or from whatever someone on the call was saying. She stepped forward and snatched up his keys. He put his hand over the receiver of his phone.
“Give me ten and I’ll take you.”
She gave him an exasperated look. “I’ll be fine, Duke. Unless you don’t trust me driving your baby? I promise to bring it back scratch-free.”
He narrowed his gaze. She’d never driven his truck. As he’d told her, if his ass was in the vehicle, he was driving it. But she was pretty sure she could get it down to Walmart and back safely. She was starting to think she might as well get rid of her car as it never seemed to leave her garage anymore.
“Fine. Go. But don’t be long and drive carefully. I don’t want any scratches on you.”
Warmth filled her and she smiled at him before retrieving her wallet from her locker and rushing out. They’d parked around the corner. Duke preferred to leave the spaces out front for customers, although she’d noticed Rory always took one right out front.
The ass.
As she came around the corner, she peered at Duke’s truck in confusion. Why was it lopsided? Then she noticed a dark figure crouched next to the truck on the pavement. Dressed in a black hoodie and dark jeans, he almost blended into the shadows.
Then a loud scratching noise hit her ears and she gasped as she realized he was running something along the side of Duke’s truck, leaving a deep gouge in the paintwork.
“Hey! What do you think you’re doing? Stop that!” she yelled. Without thinking, she raced towards him. “Get away!”
The figure turned, but instead of racing off as she’d half-expected, he grabbed hold of her and shoved her back into the alley. He pressed her against the wall and that’s when she saw the knife that he held up high in the air. He was going to stab her! She screamed in fear.
Then to her shock, the person in the hoodie was suddenly pulled away from her.
She gasped in a breath, marveling as Marv stood there, glaring down at her assailant. The other man quickly stood, still holding his knife. His face was hidden in the depths of his hood.
“Marv, run!” she yelled, terrified.
She was grateful for his help, but she didn’t want him getting hurt.
“Sunny! Sunny, where are you?” a voice roared.
The guy in the hoodie seemed to freeze for a second, before turning and racing out of the alley just seconds before Duke reached the entrance.
“What the fuck? Sunny!”
“I’m here!” she managed to call out. Duke raced into the alley, his face filled with worry and rage.
“Get away from her,” he yelled at Marv.
She jumped in front of Marv, holding her arms out to her side to protect him.
“Duke, stop! It wasn’t Marv! He didn’t hurt me. He helped me!”
Duke reached for her. “What the fuck happened? I was coming after you and saw the truck damaged, your bag on the ground and you gone.”
“I’m all right. I promise.” She stepped forward and pressed into him, craving the comfort of his arms around her. Fuck. She was trembling so bad; she could barely stand up.
“What. Happened?” he gritted out, but he pulled her carefully against him, holding her tight.
“There was a guy crouched by your truck when I came out. He was dressed all in black. I noticed your truck was on a lean and then I saw him start to scratch your truck. I yelled at him to scare him off, but he just grabbed me and shoved me into the alley. That’s when I spotted the knife. He was looming over me. I think he was going to stab me when Marv dragged him away from me. I thought he would hurt us both but he heard you yell and took off.”
He started swearing loudly and colorfully. “You’re sure you’re not hurt?” He drew back to run his hands over her. “Did he get you with the knife?”
“No, no, I promise I’m fine,” she reassured him. “Marv, are you all right?” She looked around Duke to the other man.
“I’m fine, but you should have run away from that guy rather than at him,” Marv said in a scratchy voice.
“You ran towards him? Jesus, Sunny, what the fuck were you thinking?”
“I was thinking that I’d scare him away, not that he�
��d turn on me,” she replied, glaring at Marv.
“Got little sense of self-preservation. She needs more watching over, boy,” Marv told Duke.
“Marv! You’re meant to be on my side.”
“I am, sweet girl. I’m trying to keep you safe and alive. I won’t always be around to rescue you. And not sure this old body could have done much more to protect you.”
“You did a great job, Marv. Thank you.” She tried to step away from Duke to hug the old man, but Duke wouldn’t let her go.
She nudged him in his side and he glared down at her. “Can you let me go?”
“No,” he snapped.
She sighed.
Marv chuckled. “Quite right, too. You were mine, sweet girl, I wouldn’t be letting you out of my sight for a long while. I’d also make sure you didn’t sit down for a week.”
She groaned. “Don’t give him ideas.”
“I don’t need them, but I do agree,” Duke said. “Come on, I want to get you inside where I can check you over properly.”
She sighed. “Thanks again, Marv.”
Duke gave him a short nod and guided her out of the alley. She shuddered as they passed his truck. The scratch down the side was deep and the two tires were fully deflated.
“We need to call the police. That guy will be long gone by now, though and I didn’t see his face. It was hidden by his hood. I’m so sorry.”
He simply grunted and led her into the shop. Thankfully there was no one in the front room, she wasn’t feeling up to dealing with anyone right then. He led her into his office and over to the sofa.
He sat down and pulled her onto his lap, just holding her. She held him back, her arms around his neck.
“Fuck. Fuck,” he muttered in a low, shaken voice. “He had a goddamn motherfucking knife.”
“I know,” she whispered.
“And you ran toward him. You ran towards a man holding a goddamn knife.” His voice had grown harder. Sharper.
Uh-oh.
He drew her back so he could look at her. She dropped her gaze from the rage blazing in his eyes.
“What the fuck were you thinking, Sunny! You don’t ever, ever run towards the person holding a weapon.”
Motorcycle Daddy (MC Daddies Book 1) Page 14