Page 23 of Daddy Down Under

His finger trailed to my lips, tracing them. “Is that what you want, Cash? Want me to be like every other man in your bed and let you call the shots? Just look pretty, offer you my ass, and shut the fuck up?”

“I don’t know what you want from me.” A strange panic clawed at my throat like it was bubbling up from inside me.

His expression softened, and his touch became a caress of my cheek, setting my skin ablaze. “I’m going too fast, aren’t I? I’m sorry.”

“Too fast for what? I don’t understand.”

He opened his arms, and without even thinking about it, I stepped into his embrace. He held me tight in the best way, one of those close, firm hugs that made me feel seen, heard, and cared for. Almost like my mom used to do when I was a kid and had hurt myself. At first, I stood stiff, as if relaxing would mean surrendering, but then I gave up. Why would I fight a hug?

With a gentle nudge, he encouraged me to put my head on his shoulder. “I know you don’t understand what’s happening,” he said softly. “But can you try to trust me?”

“I barely know you.”

He hummed, slipping under my shirt with his left hand and making circles on my back. “Yet I’m asking you to trust me.”

“Thanks to your father, I don’t give my trust that easily anymore.”

“I’m not Preston.”

No, he wasn’t, and I felt like an asshole for even bringing Preston into this. “Nowhere even close. But trust doesn’t come easy to me, and it doesn’t help when you seem to have an agenda I can’t figure out.”

He took his time answering. “Would you believe me if I told you my agenda is to take care of you?”

“How is telling me to take off my clothes taking care of me?”

“Maybe I wanted to blow you. Maybe I wanted to help you try on your new clothes. Maybe I wanted to look at you naked and tell you how hot you are. Do any of those sound like a possible reason?”

They did, actually. Had I overreacted? Maybe I was still more tired than I had realized and had misinterpreted his actions. “I don’t like being told what to do.”

“So I’m discovering.”

“And you’re quite bossy.”

“I am.”

“So maybe you could…tone it down? And I could try to be more understanding?”

“You don’t want me to leave?”

My heart skipped a beat, and I pushed against his chest, freeing myself from his hold. “Do you want to leave?”

“No, Cash. I want to stay. I very, very much want to stay.”

“Then please stay. Don’t…” I had to swallow again. “Don’t leave me.”

“I promise.”

If I didn’t create some distance between us now, I would say or do something I’d regret later. He had me way too emotional—in itself a rare occurrence as I usually had an iron-clad control over myself—and if I wasn’t careful, I’d reveal much more than he should know. This was an affair, if even that. Four weeks of casual, relaxed fun with a hot guy who was, by his own admission, my boy toy. The last thing I should do was attach more meaning to it.

I stepped farther back, then turned my back toward him as I whipped my T-shirt over my head. “So, which of the possible reasons you offered for wanting me to strip was the correct one?”

He put his hands on my shoulders, startling me. “How about all three? We’ll start with me having a good look at you, and then you can model your new clothes for me and let me gawk at you some more. And who knows, by then, we both may be in the mood for another blowjob.”

CHAPTER NINE

In which Ocean joins me for a business meeting and I end up with a badly timed erection.

I sipped my cappuccino,scrolling through my emails on my phone. I had already texted my parents that I had arrived safely the night before, but I made a mental note to call my mom sometime today. She loved it when I checked in regularly.

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