Page 65 of Daddy, Sir

His eyes had closed then and for a moment, I thought this was just some huge misunderstanding. That he’d open them and pull me into his arms and tell me he loved me too. Instead, the sound of his bark of laughter was so unexpected, my stomach clenched and I feared I was going to get sick.

“Don’t you get it? The thought of being tied down to this place makes my skin crawl. The moment we walk across the stage tomorrow, I’m going to keep right on walking—straight out of town.”

“How can you say that? You can’t… you wouldn’t just… just leave me! You’re more than my boyfriend. You’re my Dom.” The dynamic we’d begun experimenting with was almost too new to be mentioned, but I’d already learned the trust the roles demanded wasn’t given frivolously.

“Forget all about that shit. I should never have introduced you to such things.”

“But you did, and I like it. I know you do as well. I don’t know why you’re doing this. Did I do something wrong?”

My question had him looking away. Looking toward the sky where the full moon bathed his face in light.

I blinked thinking I saw a shimmer in his eyes. “I’m sorry if I did. I promise?—”

“You didn’t do anything wrong, Fee. This isn’t about you, it’s about me.”

“Please, please don’t do this,” I begged, not caring how pitiful I sounded.

Landon took a single step toward me and my heart actually leapt inside my chest when his hand reached out. I lifted my hand to clasp his but instead of wrapping his fingers around my flesh, he grabbed the collar of the jacket he’d draped over my shoulders. The letter jacket he’d earned as a freshman in high school and had asked me to wear when my parents had finally allowed me to start dating. I was seldom without it since then. Until he took it back. As I stared up at him, too shocked for words, he shrugged into it.

“Life isn’t like those fairy tales you read, Fee. Sometimes it just fucking sucks.”

And with those parting words, Landon Westerly had walked out of my life.

Opening my eyes, I still didn’t move. I didn’t know if I was afraid he’d not let me up, or feared he would. I took a deep breath, reminding myself I wasn’t a lovestruck teen any longer. I was a grown-ass woman. That didn’t mean I was going to assure him I’d not been hurt as that would be a lie, and his hand splayed across my backside was a physical reminder of what happened when he caught me in a lie.

Suddenly, I had an epiphany that had me no longer afraid. “Just to be clear, are you saying what you said that night wasn’t true?”

“That’s not exactly what I meant, but I guess you could?—”

“There’s no guessing, Major. It’s a simple yes or no question?”

“Why do I think that despite your words, thisisa trick question?”

“How should I know? Maybe it’s not the question. Perhaps it’s your guilty conscience that has you refusing to answer with a simple yes or no.”

This time when Landon chuckled, it didn’t scare me. It made me smile and my blood heat. Or maybe that heat came from the fact he was running his fingertips back and forth across the divide of my butt.

“I’ve missed this more than you’ll ever know,” he said.

“Missed what? Playing with my ass?” I snarked because I really had no clue what else to do as my body continued to betray me with my sex clenching in anticipation when his fingers began to drift lower.

“I was thinking more along the lines of how you’re the only person I’ve ever known whose sarcasm is part of what makes you so damn attractive, but yes, I miss this too.”

“See? Was that so hard for you?”

“What’s with you and questions about my being hard?”

Snark might be one of my talents, but he was pretty darn good at it too.

A simple roll had me on the floor at his feet. Granted, the position wasn’t one normally associated with power, but I knew this man, probably better than he knew himself. I slid my knees beneath me, used my hands to push his legs apart and scooted up between them. Lifting my head, and pointedly ignoring his crotch, I met his gaze.

“While I would much rather be playing, I’m afraid before we do, I’m going to need an answer. Yes or No? Did you or did you not lie to me that night before graduation?”

“Yes.”

“Which parts?”

“All of it. Well, except for the part where I said you didn’t do anything wrong. You were the only part of my life that felt right.”

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