Page 15 of Absolution

“So, tell me…” His mouth skimmed her nose. “Tell me it wasn’t too much.”

Oh God.

When Tucker looked at her that way, it was difficult to breathe, let alone think.

“I don’t think it was too much, sir.”

Time protracted as the admission lingered between them. A part of her couldn’t believe she’d confessed it to him. Tucker—the man who’d charged in and torn up so many things in her life. Yet it was true, and it had been said. There was no taking it back.

“Ella.” He breathed her name against her crown. “You are so incredible.”

Or gullible.

She lowered her gaze at her critical self-analysis. She could hardly complain about the way he treated her when she admitted that she could not only manage his attention but, in all likelihood, enjoy his debauched ministrations.

“I don’t know what’s happening between us, sir, but I do know I can’t imagine going back to a world without you in it.”

“Then let’s not imagine it.” He climbed to his feet, taking her with him. “There is no place I want to live that doesn’t include you, little girl.”

Chapter Six

The Best-laid Plans

Tucker

“You look amazing, Ella.”

Tucker glanced across the Lamborghini at her, once again wowed by how great she looked in the blue outfit he’d purchased. Understandably, she hadn’t had any clothes with her when they’d arrived in the city, save for the attire he’d found her in, so he’d taken the liberty of buying her a few new garments to make leaving the apartment a little easier.

Not that I want her to be dressed too often.

“Thank you, sir.” She tugged at the mid-length skirt, her brows knitting. “It feels odd to be wearing so many clothes again.”

“I bet.” He stifled his laughter as he backed out of his space and eased from the parking lot. “Are you feeling nervous?” He didn’t have to be a psychologist to see she clearly was. Her fidgety movements and shallow breaths, since they’d traveled down the elevator to his car, were a dead giveaway.

“A little.” She managed a small smile. “I want to see Mum, but it’s strange. She’s the first person I’ve interacted with since I met you, and so much has changed since I last saw her.”

“I know.” His hand slid from the gear shifter to encase her delicate fingers.

“And I know she’ll be full of questions I can’t answer.” Ella’s gaze speared the side of his face as they approached the building’s security.

Tucker brought the car to a halt and raised his hand at the guy in the control room. His face wasn’t one Tucker recognized, but after so many months away in the cabin, he’d been forced to delegate a lot of the recruitment to his managers. It only made sense that he no longer knew every person. The unknown guy nodded in their direction and elevated the thin barrier in front of the Lamborghini.

“You can answer some of her questions.” Tucker glanced back at his little girl before he drove the car forward. “Most of them, really. You’re safe, you’re being looked after, and you can give her your new phone number to keep in touch.”

“Yes.” She still sounded uncertain as she dug her hand into the pocket of her jacket and fished out the device. “Thanks for that, sir.”

The phone had been another recent purchase of Tucker’s, and it was a sign of their evolving relationship. It was one thing to hold her in a perpetual state of consensual dominance, but he realized, quite another to cut her off from her friends and family.

If there was to be any tangible future for them, he had to start allowing her regular freedoms and trusting that she wouldn’t abuse them. He accepted exchanges with her mother and friends were not unreasonable. More than that, though, ifhe wanted her life to be joyful, and he honestly did, then he had to welcome the people she cared for into their lives.

“You’ve got it.” His hand returned to the wheel as he steered them up the ramp and out to join the afternoon traffic. “I want you to be happy, little girl.”

Her smile grew, and if he wasn’t mistaken, some of the impending tension eased from her shoulders. He’d enjoyed taking her back to the bathroom and washing her long hair after their bedroom chat. Even though he hadn’t benefited from another orgasm, there was something about the intimacy of that experience that called to him.

The fact she was seemingly so at ease around him now and her willingness to let him wash her—those were things he’d never known with a woman before.

Probably because I never stuck around long enough to find out.

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