Page 16 of Cook

Maddie walked to the other side of the bed and started to strip.

I looked away quickly. “Maddie? What the fuck?”

She gasped, and I peeked through my eyelashes just to check if she had finished changing, but she hadn’t. Scars creating a red and white web over her bare body drew my full, appalled attention. Goose bumps erupted across her skin as she reached for a pair of pajamas on the bed.

Her body, though marred and too thin, was... gorgeous. The scars told her story, a map of her history—the good, the bad, and the horribly ugly. Every line on her skin, a chapter. Every mark, a tale of survival.

How was she still standing so tall and confident after what happened to her? Her breath was even. Her shoulders were rolled back, head held high. Her copper hair cascaded over the bones that protruded from her skin.

Blood rushed to my cock, and I commanded myself,Look away, perv.

After all that had happened to her, I wasn’t going to be the motherfucker to bring up anything sexual.Just remember what she called you, Cook!

It was enough to calm my dick.

Maddie just needed someone to hold her and keep her safe until she went to sleep. There were many nights as a kid that I’d needed the same and had crawled into bed with Mom. To be honest, I was surprised she was seeking even that much from me. The last time someone held her was probably just them holding her down while she screamed for them to stop.

With her reaction to others, why was she like this with me?

Maddie faced me, sliding her arms into the sleeves. With an impish smile, she dragged her eyes up my body in the same way people said men weren’t supposed to look at a woman.

I finally looked away, no matter how hard it was, and suppressed the words on the tip of my tongue:I’ll strip if you wanna devour me with those eyes... or those pouty lips.

“Are you tired?” I asked instead, motioning to the bed.

Leaning down, she brushed her hand over the quilt and comforter. “You’re staying, right?”

“I said I would.” But I sure as shit was regretting that now. “I’llstay until you fall asleep.”

“Not after?” she asked.

What did she want me to say? I couldn’t stay here all night. But her big doe eyes stared up at me, burrowing into my body. I was her captive now, and I’d suffer through this if that’s what she needed. I lay down on the bed, on top of the blankets. I still wore my jeans and boots as I rolled over and lifted the blankets on the other side of the bed. Maddie slid underneath, and my hand grazed her chest when I lowered the blanket.

Yanking back, I swore under my breath. Thankfully, she didn’t comment. “Are you comfortable?”

“Yeah.” She curled the blankets under her chin. “Can you hold me?”

Fuck, she was making this difficult. Backing up on the bed, she wiggled her ass. The blankets pulled tighter around her body where she lay in the center of the bed. She either meant to push me off the bed or make sure I had nowhere else to go. I wasn’t sleeping on the floor. Then again, there wouldn’t be sleep for me at all in this bed.

Sucking it up, I slung my arm around her shoulders. My groin tightened at her nearness, at her how back arched, how she smelled, how she felt under my body. Shit.

“Is this good?” I asked.

“Yes, Daddy,” said Maddie in a sleepy haze.

My body went rigid, every muscle locking down. There was so much hurt tied up in that word, so why did a current of desire rush through my veins when it slipped from her lips?

The fuck was happening to me? I had more control than this. Or I used to. But every breath she took also moved me.

“Why do you keep calling that?” I asked through clenched teeth.

Her breathing halted.

My voice had been too harsh. “Maybe I should go.”

I started to pull away, but she latched onto my arm.

Finally, I said in a resigned voice, “Maddie, I’m not anyone’s daddy. Daddy is... isn’t... well, it’s just not right.”

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