Page 121 of Cook

“How’s the ice?”

“Cold,” I replied in all honesty. Goose bumps were starting to break out across my skin.

“Good. I’ll be right back.”

A drawer opened and closed in the other room, followed by the rustling sounds of getting dressed. When he emerged, he had on jeans and a new T-shirt.

“Let’s get you dressed for Serenity,” he said.

That combined with the saying on his shirt—I don’t wanna look back and think, “I should’ve eaten that,”—made me grin.

I started to stand, and he barked, “No,” just before he grabbed the panties and bent down in front of me, pulling them up to just above my knees.

Next, he bunched up the dress. “Hold your arms straight up,” he said and then slipped the dress over my head. “Now, you may stand and put the veggies back in the freezer.”

He grabbed his riding boots and sat on the couch to lace them up. “Yours are by the door,” he said, not looking up.

I found a bag with a pair of heavy black boots and sat next to him with them in my lap.

“You like them?” he asked when I slipped one out.

“Yes.” I grinned, but when I stood up in the dress, lacy under things, and combat boots, it felt weird...

Until Cook whistled and winked as he looked me up and down. “You sure you wanna drive all the way back to Phoenix tonight?”

I latched my fingers in front of myself, kicked one heel out so my knees came together and tilted my head. “Yes. Can we stay with Vivi after though?”

“Sure.” He grabbed my hand. “Let’s go. Daylight’s burnin’.”

Chapter 20

Cook

Riding my bike while havinga hard-on was, well, fucking hard, but I was getting used to it. It seemed like I always had a hard on with Maddie glued to my back. I had been driving or riding back and forth between the Ridge and Phoenix most of my life, but I didn’t expect to be returning to Serenity in the span of twenty-four hours.

As I opened up the throttle and the vehicle vibrated under us, Maddie whooped and threw her hands up into the air. The wind set her voice free and carried it up against the cliffs at our tail. When her hands fell back around my waist, she squeezed herself into me, and I released my left hand to cover hers where they were clasped just below my belly button.

A smile played on my lips as her fingers tickled the small hairs leading downward. I wanted this Maddie always. The feral version of Maddie scared the fuck outta me, and I wasn’t sure I’d handled it correctly this time. But she’d begged me for more. At Serenity, she asked me to chase away her demons. To replace them.

Could that spanking have been erasing something for her?

Fear of the truth held my tongue. Being a weak SOB didn’t help me at all, and becoming her Dom muddled things in my brain. A caveman-like need came over me when I put myself in Dom mode. Something that compelled me to care for her while releasing her from her trauma and owning her pleasure all at the same time.

There were too many instincts and emotions to be counted. And these sessions or scenes always resulted in needing her body melded with mine.

She had asked to go to Serenity. I needed it as much as she did, though for different reasons. Daddy, I was getting comfortable with, but someone needed to assure me that what just happened was okay. After Lanie’s unexpected arrival, the drawing, the baring of her teeth like a rabid animal, the spanking—I feared she needed more than I could give her. I wasn’t sure if what Ihadgiven her had been the right answer either. Maybe I should have left her alone to calm herself.

But what if her scratching on that paper had gone bigger? What if she’d destroyed the room and hurt herself in the process? Though I’d been making progress, that shit was above my pay grade.

Regardless, I would figure out a way to serve her the world on a fucking silver platter, but Serenity and the weasel Mercer needed to help us play it safe. His methods worked where the gentle methods and the doctors’ approaches hadn’t. Maddie couldn’t be coddled because that triggered her.

The real fucked up part... my past shaped me too. The beatings I’d taken from my daddy as well as the ones I witnessed him dole out to Mom made me capable of shit I didn’t want to acknowledge.

If I had to,Iwas capable of hurting her too. And more.

I would give her any pain or punishment she needed, but only with a better plan.

Pulling my motorcycle into a parking space outside of Serenity, I cut the engine. Maddie gingerly got off. She was wearing the cherry-print dress I bought her, which wasn’t good for the motorcycle, but it made my cock turn into a fucking rocket and gave me good access to her. Her long legs stretched out, and the hem rode up her thighs.

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