Page 55 of Big Daddy

She licks her lips, her eyes sloping nervously to her shoes for a moment before she summons the courage to look at me again. “You don’t even know me. It’s just physical.”

There’s a ton about Winnie that isn’t familiar to me. How she takes her coffee, what happened to her parents, what she was like as a kid, what her dreams and aspirations are. But that can be fleshed out over time. Details, that’s all those things are. Feelings. What happens between my ribs, that electric vibration that pierces my veins and infiltrates my brain. That undeniable pull to put a ring on her finger and have her by my side for the rest of my life.

That’s what matters. Because I’ve only felt that one other time. Ever.

“I understand why you think that’s true. But I don’t need to know your favorite color to know I want you.”

Winnie says nothing, only blinks those wide mossy eyes at me, glistening with emotion.

“I need to work on my relationship with Brielle,” I admit, adding quickly, “but I don’t want to put things on hold with you, Winnie. I know it’s complicated.” I take one step toward her and pause, giving her time to acclimate. “I know Brielle will be upset.” Another step, her scent infiltrating my senses. Vanilla and sex warm my veins. “But she’ll come around.” Another step.

Reaching out, I slip my fingers into hers and bring her hand to my lips, placing a soft kiss along her knuckles.

“You just kissed me tenderly and spoke to me rationally,” she says, her lips tugging into a smile. “You’re not always an asshole.”

I shake my head. “I’ve told you in so many ways, Winnie. It’s you.” My heartbeat echoes through my ears, the words on mytongue so foreign yet brutally honest, speaking them feels like speaking French. Utterly foreign, but fucking beautiful. “You’re everything.”

Her eyes search mine, wide and full of hope. “It seems so fast to feel this way.”

“At my age, identifying, accepting and chasing your desires is more potent than dating someone for weeks without knowing who you are and what you want.” Her slender hand grips mine a bit harder, and heat diffuses in my chest. It’s that type of shit. That’s how I know.

“Blue.”

I shake my head. “Blue?”

“That’s my favorite color.”

I pull her into me, wrapping my arms around her body, solace overwhelming me at the feel of us together. “Noted.” I stack my chin on top of her head, relishing the warmth of her cheek against my chest as she snuggles in. “I fucked you bare, Winnie.”

“I’m on the pill.”

I waste no time in telling her what’s what. “I don’t want you to be.” She struggles in my arms, trying to push back, no doubt trying to give me a shocked, bratty face. “When my cock is buried inside you, I’m not just saying things that get me off. I’m telling you what I want when I fuck you, Winnie.”

She doesn’t say anything but a moment later, my phone rings and our intimate moment dissolves.

I lift the handset, annoyed to discover it’s not Brielle. I am still tasting my own fucking medicine and receiving the silent treatment. We didn’t even get into an argument. There are just large gaps of time when she doesn’t fuss with communicating with me, the exact way I treated her when she was in her formidable high school years. It hurts me, and I know I deserve it.

“Dinner with Lex tonight, she’s confirming,” Kennedy questions through the phone. I nod, my eyes staying on Winnie, who stares back at me with more confusion than I’d like.

“Yes. Email me the details. I’ll be there.” I clear my throat. After I replace the phone, I cut to the chase. “I want to tell Brielle.”

Winnie gasps. “You just decided you’re telling Brielle without talking to me?” she assumes her favorite stance, putting her hands on her hips, turbulence roaring in her eyes. “Tell her what, even? That we have the hots for each other? That we love fucking? What is there to tell?”

My impatience and anger merge, an impressive growl rattling my chest. “Why do you do that? Why do you act like this isn’t real?” I grab her wrist and jerk her toward me. “I know you feel it. Iknowyou do.”

Her voice is merely a whisper, yet it aches with insecurity and disbelief. “I just can’t believe you want me for more than this,” she says, tipping her head to the messy desk which she was just bent over.

My brow furrows. “You’re shielding insecurities you have no reason to feel, brat.”

“Don’t call me a brat,” she retorts, a dark curl falling over her forehead.

“I’m talking to her tonight. I’m going to her place. I’m breaking this childish silent streak, and I want you to be there.” Why wait? Why put off the hard part? “The sooner she explodes, the sooner we put the pieces together.”

Winnie’s eyes slide to the wall of windows, the San Francisco sun mirrored in her shining eyes. “It’s not a good time for her. This news is huge and she’s… she’s got a lot going on.” Those words are pregnant with secrets, and my chest squeezes at the fact that I don’t know them.

My spine straightens. “The apprenticeship is going well. She’s fine. She’s sorted through that.”

Winnie nibbles her lip in the universal female speak forI know something you don’t and I’m not supposed to tell.With a hand on her hip, I spin her around and push her over my desk again, grinding myself into her from behind. “Don’t you do that. Don’t you keep secrets from me.” Leaning down, I bring my lips behind her ear, feeding her what she loves most. A taste of her own, futile, erotic medicine. “I need the truth, Winnie, or I’m gonna fuck your tight asshole right here and leave both of your holes abused and dripping.”

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