by Skye Darrel
The sheriff takes a step closer. “It’s like this, big man. Rose was in perfect health, as the mayor said. Then one day she just keels over dead. It looks odd, is all. We have to rule out every possibility, especially after the coroner found poison in Rose’s bloodwork.”
Tension threads down my spine. “Poison?”
“Yes,” the sheriff says. He trades a glance with Elijah. “Could be food poisoning. Or something else.”
“What does that have to do with Lily?”
“This house here looks rundown, but the land it’s sitting on has serious value. With her grandmother gone, her parents gone, Lily Duchamp stands to inherit everything.” The sheriff clears his throat. “That’s a motive.”
I bark out a laugh. “You think Lily killed her parents too?”
“That was a tragedy. It doesn’t mean what happened this time is also a tragedy. Fate doesn’t work like that.”
Fate—that damn word again.
“Only a formality,” Elijah adds. “She’s not under any real suspicion.”
My blood runs cold. The sheriff sounds like a reasonable man, and that alone makes me more furious. Fate—I never believed in fate, except cruel fate. I never believed love could be real—until I saw my Lily again. But even now, I can’t bring myself to say I love her. Protect her, yes, but how can I feel something that doesn’t exist?
A sneaky voice in my head asks, how much do you really know about Lily?
I haven’t seen her in three years, and all of a sudden, I’m falling for her.
What if she’s playing you? What if she’s been planning this? What if—I look aside to see Lily staring up at me, and right away guilt hammers my chest.
No.
I know her heart and soul. Lily is innocent, an angel. She would never do such a thing. “It’s gonna be okay, baby.”
But my words come too late, because she caught the doubt in my face. I wavered for only an instant, but she caught it.
She squirms out of my arm and faces the two men. “I’ll talk with you. Come inside.”
Chapter Five
Lily
I fidget my fingers over my lap, doing my best to answer their questions as Dalton sits beside me in the living room. I try not to show my emotions, which is easy since I don’t know what I feel anymore.
There’s a storm behind my chest.
For a moment at the door, he looked at me like I was a stranger. For a moment, he believed I’d done something to Grandma, I saw it in his eyes.
I can’t think about that. I can’t let anyone see me cry.
Elijah and Sheriff Hess ask me every question under the sun, and I tell them the same story again. Grandma Rose went to that church picnic and came back with a bad headache. The next morning, I found her in bed cold. I knew right away she was gone and burst into tears before I called for help. Willowbrook has a small hospital with two doctors, and they told me it was food poisoning.
That day, Elijah was there for me. He made sure the doctors did everything properly. He drove me home and asked if I had anyone to take care of me, and that’s when I called Dalton for help.
Maybe I should’ve gone with Elijah instead.
I can’t believe anyone would think I’d hurt my grandmother.
She was all I had.
I thought Dalton would save me. I thought he was the one. But who is he, really?
Elijah gives me comforting looks as the sheriff asks his questions. Elijah was the only one who stayed by my side when my world came apart.
After three long hours, the men finish with their questions, and we walk out to the front porch. Sheriff Hess says he’ll be back later if anything comes up. Dalton doesn’t look happy about that and tells them he’s staying with me.
“Sure,” Elijah says. “I’ll check on her too.”
“Thank you,” I say before Dalton can answer.
“It’s my pleasure, sweetheart. I know you didn’t harm your grandmother. It’s all a formality.” He turns to Dalton and offers his hand again. “Nice meeting you.”
“Likewise,” Dalton says, not taking it.
The sheriff turns to me. “Lily, I’m asking you to remain in Willowbrook until our investigation concludes. You don’t have to, but it would look better if you stayed. Leaving now seems like you’re running away.”
“Yes,” Elijah says gently.
“Is she under arrest?” Dalton cuts in.
“I’m not going anywhere,” I say quickly.
“Good,” Elijah says. “That’s settled then.”
He walks down the porch with Sheriff Hess, gets in their car, and they drive off.
Dalton slams the door shut and spins around to glare at me. Then he shuts his eyes, and when he opens them, the anger is gone. “I’m so sorry.”
“You thought I poisoned her didn’t you?”
He holds my chin. “I was surprised, Lily, I wasn’t expecting this. It’s been a long day.”
“That’s what I am to you? A long day?”
He grits his teeth and straightens his shoulders. Stepping into me, he dips his hand under the waist of my shorts and cups my pussy, rubbing me through my panties as I whimper. He backs me into the wall and pulls my hands overhead. My body lights on fire, and I can’t deny how he makes me feel as the heel of his palm presses on my clit.
“You’re everything to me, angel. Everything.”
I turn my head, letting his hot breaths wash over my neck. “You don’t care. You’ll leave me just like everyone else. Only Elijah ever—”
Dalton cuts me off with a fierce kiss that sucks the air from my lungs. Then he pulls back, his handsome face torn with fury, and he walls me in with his massive shoulders as he squeezes my pussy. “I know what he wants. And he’ll never touch what’s mine.”
My face blooms with heat and I force myself to meet his gaze. “Elijah doesn’t want me like that. H-He . . .”
But Dalton is right.
Deep down, I’ve always sensed Elijah had more than kindness in his heart. He wants me like a lover, but I never had feelings for Eli like I do for Dalton Cormac. I don’t know why. Grandma used to talk about women’s intuition being a compass, pointing us to the right person, guiding us from the wrong one. But there’s nothing wrong about Elijah that I could see. Only—the right feeling was never there.
Not like when I’m with Dalton.
Even now, when I want to be cold and angry, my body betrays me, melting against his demanding hand as I moan for him.
“He wants to take you from me,” he growls. “That won’t happen.”
“You don’t care about me,” I say with a sneer, provoking him, but hoping and hoping he will never leave me alone.
Dalton lets go and takes one step back, glaring hotly at me. “You’re being bratty.”
Heart in my throat, I wait for what comes next, my body humming with heat. I need all his attention.
“Hands behind you,” he growls. “Time for discipline.”
I obey.
He kneels and pulls down my shorts, then rips my panties to my ankles.
“Spread your feet.”
He kisses my pussy and his tongue flicks on my clit. My body shakes as wetness slicks down my inner thighs.
Holding my gaze, he smacks my pussy once, twice, again and again, his palm clapping wetly as the slaps come faster and harder. I cry out, my whole body buzzing with heat. Then he stops and licks up the juices coating his palm.
Slowly Dalton opens his shirt, button by button this time, showing me those delicious muscles. He pulls out his hard cock and strokes himself, his eyes dark and brooding.
I wet my lips and my eyes fall to his veined length, the intoxicating motion of his fist around it, and the cum that beads at his tip.
Standing, he pulls up my top to bare my breasts. He squeezes them and kisses me hard and holds my throat. “Ask for permission to suck my cock.”
Heat clogs my throat. I gulp a few times before my tongue will work. “M-May I suck your cock?”
I close my thighs around his ankle, smearing my juices over his shin as I grind up and down, desperate to relieve the pulsing in my clit.
With one hand wrapped in my hair, he slides his thick cock into my mouth. “Good girl.”
I lose myself in the moment, breathing his male musk as his tip nudges the back of my throat. He glares down and tells me what to do, how to please him and where to lick him and stroke him, his voice thick and raspy. I have to pull off and catch my breath.
Dalton tips my chin up, his thickness glistening with my saliva. “You’ll practice more later, little girl.”
“Yes, Daddy.”
His eyes blaze with heat when I call him that. “Stand up and go to the sofa. Bend over so I can see your ass.”
I shuffle over in tiny steps, panties around my ankles, as he follows on my heels, and every few seconds he’d ripple my buttocks with a stinging slap.
“Turn around and sit. I want to see your pussy.”
I plop down, and he pulls my panties off and lifts my legs over his shoulders, bringing my pussy to his mouth. I arch as his tongue slides into me, swirling around before he lashes my clit until I explode, riding waves of pleasure and gushing on his mouth.
“Did I give you permission to cum?”
My eyelids flutter, and I barely hear him over the blood pounding in my ears. I shake my head.
“Cum for me one more time. Ask for permission properly.”
I slump down and pant for breath as he hovers over me, stroking his huge cock. Then he grabs my waist and thrusts into me fully, plunging his cock to the base in one swing of his hips.
“Daddy!”
“Good girl, that’s a good little princess. You may cum.”
My pleasure swells, my channel clenching his pumping cock as my juices flick out with each thrust. He stamps me with his ownership and ruts against my body as heat blazes over my skin.
“Mine,” he growls.
I feel that sweet tugging in my belly as his thick cock slides over my secret spot and my orgasm explodes. Dalton kisses my throat as he shudders against me, his cock twitching between my walls to flood me with cum.
A hot bath has washed the day away, but he wants to mark me with his cum before I sleep. But he knows I’m too sore to take his cock again. With one hand planted on the bed, he strokes his cock at my entrance without entering.
I hold my hands under my chin, my body throbbing with need.
“Play with your pussy, angel.”
I reach down and roll my fingers over my clit, moaning as jolts shoot up my body. I can’t take my eyes off his cock. He’s cum so many times already, but it looks hard as the first time I saw him.
Dalton tenses, and he shoots out a rope of cum that splashes my folds. He pulls my hand away. Latching onto my clit with his mouth, he suckles me until I jerk up, the spike of pleasure making me scream.
Then he climbs up beside me and holds me in his arm. “Sleep now, baby.”
For the first time in a long time, I close my eyes, and there’s no ache behind my chest, no longing for someone to keep me safe and warm.
I won’t be lonely tonight.
Just when I’m about to drift off, he startles at something on the window.
I raise my head and spot Lady resting on her haunches on my windowsill. She gives us a slight snarl before she licks her paws, her tail flicking on the air. But I notice her pointy ears aren’t flattened like she’s ready to pounce.
“Mom’s cat. I think she likes you.”
He holds me tighter. “I have a thing about cats.”
I look into his eyes, his big, strong body like a shield against mine, and I giggle when I realize this powerful man who’d do anything to keep me safe is afraid of cats. “She’s harmless!”
“I doubt that.”
“Oh stop it.” I snuggle up to him. “Maybe she senses you’re here to protect me. Or she would’ve clawed off your face or something.”
Dalton growls, his eyes locked with Lady’s.
Chapter Six
Dalton
I dreamed about Lily. A bad dream, the kind I haven’t had since I was a teenager. When I wake up, I don’t remember the half of it, except the fear in her eyes as she slipped out of my hand. I was losing her and there was nothing I could do stop it.
My mind clears of fog as the day grows brighter. I’m a grown-ass man, and I fear nothing.
Not Elijah, not that sheriff.
No one.
That cat is gone from the windowsill. Lady is probably why I had the nightmare. Cats have made me nervous since one bit me in middle school.
I hold Lily’s soft body in my arms, and even though she’s still sleeping, the feel of her makes my cock stand.
Her eyes open and she smiles. “Dalton?”
She yawns before she sees the urgency of my need.
I run my hand down her belly and feel the heat between her thighs. She’s wet herself, my dirty little girl.
Rubbing my cock between her thighs, I make her moan as I drag my tongue down her throat, my hands busy on the rump of her ass.
“We just woke up,” she whines.
“You just woke up, Lily. I’ve been up for an hour.” And it’s true, I’ve been holding her since dawn, sniffing her wild hair and fighting the urge to thrust my cock into her. “Is your pussy sore, baby?”
She licks her lip before she taps the head of my cock. “A bit, but I don’t think you can wait, you big beast.”
Lily yelps as I roll on top and push her thighs apart, lining up my cock at her puffy pink slit. “I’ll be gentle.”
My balls boil as I breathe in her scent. I need to nut off in her, put my seed in her womb again, and remind her who she belongs to. I know she needs it too. Last night she begged me to fuck her one last time, but I made her cum with my mouth instead. She enjoys both ways, my naughty princess.
Testing her, I push a finger into her cunt and rub around her walls until she arches when I touch her secret place.
“Oh.”
“You like it when Daddy touches your secret spot?”
“Yes.” A gasp.
Lily moans as I slide my cock into her, going balls deep on the first go, her silky little cunt tight and hot, clenching around me until I bottom out. She shuts her eyes. She feels so wet, and I wonder if some of that hot cream is my cum from yesterday. Knowing my seed was inside her all night, breeding her and binding her to me, makes me want to empty my balls faster so I can fill her with more.
She cries out and claws my shoulders.
“You feel like a dream, angel.”
Her thighs clamp against me as I hasten, my cock pumping harder and faster, and I watch her so I know she’s not hurting. I need my little one to enjoy every moment, and she is, moaning and panting as her body trembles and her legs slide up and down against my sides. Her heat chokes my cock, her juices squishing as I take what’s mine and give her what’s hers. My balls ache for release, but I won’t cum until she does.
Putting one hand on her breast, I reach down with the other and grab her ass firmly, and I tighten my buttocks as I slam into her pussy and she cries out her pleasure.”
“Cum for me, angel. Cum on my cock.”
I’m ruining her innocence, but I don’t care about that as long as she’s mine and mine alone. I already belong to her.
Her walls tighten with every word. “I love you,” she gasps.
I thrust one more time and feel her walls ripple, her legs wrapped around my ass. “Cum for me.”
She lets out a gasp and squeezes me so tightly my cock jumps as my balls draw up, and I fill her with my seed as she writhes under me.
“Good girl.”
I hold her close until our bodies subside, and only then do I pull out of her soaked pussy.
“Dalton?”
“Yes, baby.”
“Y
ou didn’t say love you back.”
“Of course I love you, Lily. You know that.”
She gives me a frown before I kiss her again. I’ll tell her whatever she needs to hear, but the truth is I can’t say love is a real thing. Love and fate and all that sentimental BS Joseph used to talk about. What was it he said? That I’d find my true love someday. Perhaps I’ve found it. Perhaps. But I don’t trust things I can’t see. Feelings and emotions. The Army taught me that much, and the battlefield confirmed it. It’s better to rely on what’s solid and dependable, and I’ll always be that for my Lily.
I don’t need to love her. I’m here for her.
Mine. Mine.
Is it wrong?
I can’t bring myself to call it wrong. No, Lily is my everything. My angel. How can that be wrong?
“I love you,” I tell her again and hope I sound more convincing.
“Okay,” she whispers.
I pull out of her embrace, and it’s the hardest thing I’ve done in years. But I have to get dressed and go see Elijah. Get to the bottom of what the hell is going on in this town. What happened to Lily’s grandmother.
My girl looks at me with sadness in her eyes.
“What’s wrong, angel?”
“You’re not just here because of that promise you made to my father, right? Your oath and all. I mean, I don’t want to be a burden.”
Her voice sounds so old it startles me. So do her words. “You can never be a burden, I’m here for you.”
“You mean it?”
I climb back on the bed and rub her pussy. Pushing two fingers into her, I kiss her savagely before I lean back. “I mean it. I made you mine so you’d be mine forever. I came inside you because I want you pregnant. After I take care of everything here, you’re going to move back with me and we’ll spend the rest of our lives together.” I pull my fingers out and lick her juices off. “You’ll be my angel forever. Understand?”
“Yes.”
I hold her for a while longer, then put on my borrowed shirt. “Are you hungry?”
Her eyes light up. “Yep. And so is Lady.”