Chapter 44
NICK
She’s so small in my arms. Her dainty little limbs holding me so tight. Her hair smells of apples, nestled under my chin as she snuggles under the bedcovers.
Her breathing is so even. A sweet calmness I’ve not seen in her before.
I guess three orgasms do that to a girl.
The beauty of this… this tenderness I feel with her beside me, goes someway to disarming the uneasy feeling in my stomach.
I’ve crossed a line. A big line. A line that makes me feel like a depraved excuse for a man.
And yet little Laine rests so peacefully, presses her body to mine with a devotion I’ve missed for so long.
She moves, and her hair tickles my chin. I feel her eyes on me in the darkness.
“You should be asleep,” I tell her.
She sighs, and her little fingers stroke my arm. “Was I ok?”
I hold her tight. “You were more than ok, you were perfect.”
She presses her lips to my collarbone. “You were perfect, too. You were everything.”
Everything.
I’ve waited so long to be someone’s everything.
I stretch out my legs, her toes rub against them and she sighs a sweet little sigh, and there’s a part of me that wants to draw a line under this murky half-light between lover and father. A part of me that wants to pick her up and carry her through to my actual bedroom, with its big double bed, and its neutral decor, and close the door to Jane’s room forever.
But I can’t. The need to love her as the captivating, innocent little soul in pink is far too strong.
“Daddy…” she whispers. “I’ve always wanted a daddy.”
A thrill of lust ripples through me, more than enough to counter my self-revulsion.
“I’ll take care of you like any good father should,” I tell her. “You’re safe here. You’ll always be safe with me.”
“I know,” she says. “I like it… I like calling you that…”
I’m done for, my dick twitching at the desire to hear her say it again.
“Daddy.” Her voice is nothing but a breath. “Can I call you that?”
“Do you want to?”
She nods, and I feel her smile against my skin. “Yes.” She pulls away enough to search my face in the darkness. “As long as that doesn’t… change anything… because I want… I want…”
“Shh,” I say and brush my fingers through her hair. “Nothing will change anything. We’re just…” I struggle to find the words. “Different,Property of Nô)(velDr(a)ma.Org.
Laine. We’re different. Two people who find what they need in each other.
In the most… unusual of circumstances.”
“Fate,” she says, and it sounds so simple. “It’s fate. I know it is.” “Fate,” I repeat.
I want to believe her. I find no fate in numbers, balancing books, or managing a business. I find nothing but cold hard logic behind every aspect of my life. Apart from her. In her beautiful innocence. In her wide eyes, and her sweet smile.
I find fate here, in my arms.
“Daddy,” she whispers so softly. “Yes, sweetheart?”
“When will we… you know…”
I seek out her lips and kiss her gently. Tasting her breath. Breathing in apples and innocence.
“Soon,” I say. “Now go to sleep, like a good girl.” She wriggles against me with a contented sigh.
“Yes, Daddy.”
LAINE
I wake to an empty bed, but it smells of him, all woody and dark and musky. I pull the covers to my nose and breathe him in, and there’s a thrill to my toes.
Daddy. Daddy Nick. And he loves me.
I can still feel his hands on me, and his mouth, the way it felt so good.
The way he made it feel. He makes everything feel good.
“Wake up, sleepyhead! Breakfast’s up!”
His voice is so loud from downstairs. It makes me smile, and I can’t move fast enough, jumping out of bed and throwing on my dressing gown. I laugh to myself as I realize I’ve still got silly socks on. Toasty feet.
He’s dressed for work as I join him at the table, and he’s smiling his serious smile again, looking so dapper and fine with his hair so slick.
“Bacon and eggs. Yummy.” I take my knife and fork, and his eyes burn my cheeks.
“You look cute,” he says. “Like a disheveled little elf.”
I brush my hair down with my fingers. “You look like a Rolex advert.”
He laughs. “I do, do I?”
I nod. “I like it.” I can’t stop looking at him, and my clit feels tingly, wanting more, wanting his cock inside me for the first time, wanting to stay in bed and do it all over again, all day long.
He must be able to tell, because his smile turns dark, his eyes stern.
“Eat your breakfast all up, little Laine,” he says, “never any waste in this household.”
“Ok.” I smile as I cut up my bacon, and he’s still staring as I take a swig of juice.
“Ok, what?”
My heart flutters. And I don’t know. I don’t know if I’ve got it right but I say it anyway.
“Ok, Daddy.”
I got it right. His smile tells me so.
“That’s my good girl,” he says.
It feels the best thing in the world to be his good girl.
I eat my breakfast all up, just like Daddy wants me to.