“You have a driver’s license,” he pointed out.
She nodded. “Yes, but...”
“So, you can take him to the store, to the doctor, to pick up his prescriptions at the pharmacy.”
“Well, yes, but...”
“You can make sure he eats and drinks when he needs to, and that it won’t just be junk food.”
“Yes, but... but...”
Brock thought about it. “He likes you, which is the one thing I can say about you that I can’t at all say about any of the othersI’ve interviewed. And I’ve got a long list of very stupid reasons to prove it.”
“I don’t want to impose,” she hedged.
“That aside, if I were to offer you the job would you take it?”
She would, in a heartbeat, just to be close to him. “Yes, but not for any reason you’d want your newly hired companion to confess to.”
Both corners of his mouth curled. “No? What’s your reason?”
“I don’t think I know you well enough to want to answer that.”
“Does it have something to do with dad, Lily, you or me?” he pressed.
She rubbed her face with both hands. “I definitely don’t know you well enough to answer that.”
“Is it because I kissed you in the kitchen, or because you kissed me?”
She touched her tummy again, pressing in to still the butterflies. Exhaling slowly, she blew out the air she was holding onto and did her best to let go of the guilt that already had her wishing they were kissing right now.
He drew shivers from her when he tapped the nape of her neck with the tip of his fingers, tracing the curve from one shoulder to the other. “Or, is it because you know, given half a chance, I would kiss you again. And you’re right, we don’t know one another well enough for this. I’ve never felt so strongly drawn toward anyone after so short a time, Stace. I swear, it feels like I’m in a fast-flowing river. No matter how hard I kick, there is no bottom. Just the current, whisking me helplessly away, and it’s not slowing down.”
She looked to him.
“How fast is your river flowing?” he asked.
She knew she ought to keep her mouth shut, but she couldn’t stop herself. “Fast.”
“Stace,” he said somberly, then waited until she gave up staring at her twisting hands and met his gaze again. “Have you ever had a Daddy Dom before?”
To be honest, she really hadn’t heard the phrase before. But it didn’t take a genius to know he was talking about the way he called himself her Daddy, and the way he spanked her when she didn’t do what he told her to. It might even have something to do with the way he’d swept her off her feet in the kitchen, sitting her on the counter while he kissed her senseless.
She shook her head. “My ex sometimes called himself Daddy, but not until I got pregnant and only when we were talking about Lily.” She thought about it. “O-one time, he kind of called himself my Daddy too, and he smacked my bottom, but only the one time and it was more of a joke than anything else.” Her chest was tight as a knot when she finally got the courage to ask, “H-how do you mean it when you say it?”
“Baby,” he shook his head. “You trip every one of my Daddy triggers. You have practically from the moment I saw you. When I find a special person, like you—”
Her face flushed. It had been a long time since she’d felt special in anyone’s eyes.
“—it makes the part of me I call my inner Daddy Dom go crazy. I want to protect you, defend you, shelter you—from your ex, your in-laws, not to mention that jackass of a truck driver who tried to hit you. My Daddy half aches to comfort and care for you. I can be stern; I will paddle your little bottom every time you earn it, but I’ll do other things too. I can also be nurturing. I enjoy cooking, cuddling, and being a provider. And I feel it’s important that you know this about me, because since I’ve met you there’s nothing I’ve wanted to do more than nurture, cuddle, spank and provide for you. My river is carrying me to a place where I long to do nothing but. If that’s not how you feel, I need you to say so. Just say so, and I’ll back off.”
Her heart jumped, all but choking her as she said, “What if I don’t want you to, um... back off?”
“What do you want?”
It was too dangerous, this horribly improper discussion they were having. She lied, unable to help it, already burying herself in untruths because being honest right now was just too hard. “I don’t know.” She made herself laugh, giving him all the outs he could ever need if he wasn’t being serious. “This is all happening so fast. I can’t think.”
“Stace,” he said, the grim tone of his voice stopping her mid-protest. “Tell me what you want.”