Page 15 of Before He Was Her Headmaster

Which is how she ends up pressed against the inside of the door, me leaning over her. Somehow. She smells like apples and looks like sin. I like her as much without the lipstick as with it. Bare, her lips are a gorgeous shade of pale pink, vulnerable and soft.

“Sebastian,” she whispers.

“You can’t call me that.”

“You get to call me Lily,” she whispers. “What should I call you? Headmaster Craig?”

That sounds wrong, too. “No.”

“Stacey’s dad?” That drips too innocently off her lips. “Is that better than Sebastian? Do you want to beDaddy?”

A jolt of something forbidden punches the inside of my chest. It’s a physical feeling that drives me right against her, our bodies hot and pressed together. “I’m not your dad.”

“I know,” she whispers, her breath fast and eyes wide. “I have a father. And he’s a terrible man. Are you secretly terrible, too,Daddy?”

“Fuck no.” I force myself to soften against her, to brush my fingertips against her cheek, then back up. This is important. “Lily, you need to believe me. I am nothing like your father.”

“What do you know about him?”

Not enough. “I know you need to get away from your family.”

Her brow furrows in surprise. “You do?”

“Yes. And I promise you’re safe here.”

“I’m never safe somewhere my father has paid a lot of money to lock me up.”

“Is that what happened at the other schools?”

Her eyes glitter with the threat of tears as she searches my face. But she doesn’t answer me. No, she won’t give up her secrets that quickly.

“It’s okay,” I murmur.

She shrugs and changes the subject. “I wish things were different, though. Because I like you. I like Stacey’s dad.”

We’re back to that. Sex is a safe topic for her. A new, exciting space that is all ours, where she knows she has safety and control. Her challenging gaze warns me I should end this conversation now, but I can’t.

Her voice drops, husky and sweet. “I’m glad you’re not a bad man. I like the hot guy on the motorcycle who cares that I’m a virgin.”

Memories from last night slam into me. “I do care.”

She nods. “I know. You knew I needed to get off and walked that fine line to make it good for me.”

Lily might be an innocent girl in many ways, but she knows more about me than most people do. Nobody else has ever seen me so keenly.

“I wish I could take care of you again.” The truth finally spills out of me like a forbidden firehose. “I see you, sweet girl. I see what you need. But we can’t.”

“I know.” She licks her lips. “I know we can’t.”

“We had last night. Nobody can take that from us.”

Her voice is quieter than a whisper now, a sultry purr, dragging me way the fuck down a path I shouldn’t even be on. “I’ll always have that memory of you making me feel good. I’ll think about it tonight.”

Fuck me. I stroke her cheek. “Good. I want you to think about it often. And when you do….” I lean all the way in and brush my lips against her ear. “Daddy wants you to touch yourself and remember when he was a stranger.”

She shudders against the door, and I step back, just enough to put space between us.

Her gaze immediately drops to my obvious erection.

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