Page 89 of The Rogue and His Flower

“This isn’t enough. Not for me,” I reply, gripping the vanity unit so I don’t reach for her. “I want more. I want to fuck you, Daisy. I want to fuck you now.”

“But you’ve just…”

“Come? Yes, I have, and yet I’m still hard. Look at me. Look what you’re doing to me. I’m aching for you,” I say, my fucking voice cracking as I drop my gaze to my cock, the tip shiny andwet from my release. “I’m still hard, and if I don’t leave now, I’ll do something we both might regret later…”

“Then stay,” she whispers, reaching for her towel, and pulling it free.

It drops to the floor in a puddle at her feet. My eyes widen, my mouth parts as I stare at her naked beside me. Unable to help myself I turn to face her, reaching up to trace my fingers down the centre of her chest, mesmerised by the way her nipples peak from my touch.

“You don’t want this,” I protest, even though her body tells me otherwise, her eyes flaring with more heat.

“I want this,” she says firmly. “I want you.”

“Daisy, I’m still that man you once hated. Nothing’s changed,” I say, my hand falling away, balling into fists at my side.

“You’re wrong. Everything’s changed,” she whispers, her hand pressing against my chest, branding me with her touch. I wonder if she feels how my heart thumps for her? “Idon’thate you. Iwantthis.”

“But I can’t make love to you,” I add, hoping that my honesty will put her off. I wish I could give her that. She deserves to be loved, to be made love to, but I can’t give her that. I’ve never been able to give that to anyone.

“I don’t need you to make love to me. I need you to fuck me,” she says, reaching for my hand and placing it over her breast, holding it there.

My throat bobs as I swallow, and my cock gets impossibly hard at the feel of her softness beneath my palm, the heat radiating from her skin. She’s so warm, so tempting.

“Daisy,” I warn, trying to pull my hand away, but her grip tightens, holding me in place.

“I thought that this would be enough too, but it isn’t. I’ve been telling myself that I can live without sex, but I need it justas much as you do. I want more. People have sex all the time and they’re not in love, so why can’t we?”

“But I thought you said…” I murmur, stepping closer, my feet moving of their own accord.

“I know what I said, and in an ideal world we’d make a baby by making love. But I’m not asking you to love me. This is just sex. We both want it. So why can't we just take what we want?” she asks softly, the confidence of her words belies her nervousness as her fingertips tremble against my skin.

“And yet when I asked to kiss you that night of our engagement party, and I said it didn’t have to mean anything, you said that itshouldmean something. Why is this any different?”

“Back then I didn’t…”

“Didn’t what?”

“I didn’t know you as well as I do now. I like you Dalton. You like me. Our relationship has evolved. We’re going to be married soon.”

“We are,” I agree.

“We both want sex…” Her voice trails off as she chews on her lip, no doubt considering what to say next. “And I want you to know that having sex with youdoesmean something to me.”

“What does it mean to you?” I ask, my hand gently massaging her breast. The way she feels in my palm, the way her body presses into my hold. Fuck, it’s…

“It means mutual pleasure. It means release,relieffor the both of us. But more than that, regardless of whether we love each other or not, it means the possibility of conceiving a child,ourchild. That means so much to me,” she replies, her fingers coasting over my skin, feathering against the trail of hair leading to my cock.

“Our child,” I whisper, my fucking heart squeezing at the thought.

I know that’s what Daisy wants, what my father wants, and before this whole situation came about, being a father wasn’t something I’d ever truly considered, but since Daisy agreed to marry me, to bare my child, I knew I wanted to be a part of that child’s life in a way my father and mother have never been for me. It could be my opportunity to make things right.

“Yes. No matter what, we’ll have a child together, Dalton.”

“We will,”I agree, “But I still need you to be sure that you want to have sex with me, Daisy, because even though it would be difficult for me, I’m willing to jack off into a jar to protect your heart. I don’t want to put your emotions at risk by having sex with you. This is sex for the purpose of mutual pleasure, to conceive, but we’re not making love, okay?”

“I know that. I’m okay with that,” she insists.

I nod, searching her gaze for any hint of uncertainty. “There’s no going back after this,” I warn, reaching for her, my palm sliding into her hair as I tug on the strands, arching her neck back.

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