Page 12 of Gideon

“Of course, but in this instance, I want to be able to worship your body like the good royal subject I am.”

“I prefer pink,” I murmured and not even he seemed to be able to understand my jump in thoughts this time. “Blue is royal,” I added helpfully as he slid lower with his kisses. “Can I be a pink princess?”

His lips were on my belly, but I felt the smile as they widened. “You’re perfect,” he murmured.

I was? But then all my thoughts scattered even more because his nose was nuzzling my pussy hair, and his tongue seemed to find places I didn’t even know existed.

“I’m going to shave you,” he whispered then licked and blew air on my clit. It was a good thing he was holding me still.

“Daddy,” I gasped, arching up.

“Good girl,” he murmured, but his talented tongue seemed intent on sending me higher until I screamed out his name over and over as thoughts and feelings seemed to coalesce inside me, then explode in a maelstrom of ecstasy that left me boneless in his arms.

Chapter six

Abigail

When I came down to earth, Daddy tucked me into his side and just let me breathe for a moment. And because I wanted him to have as much pleasure as he’d given me, I snaked my hand lower. He caught it and chuckled. “Later,” he promised, kissing my forehead. “Tell me what growing up was like?”

I stared at him, shocked at the abrupt question. “Not like this.” I wasn’t sure what to say. Had I blurted out something before?

But he smiled and smoothed my hair back. “My dad was career army. I was a typical army brat. Moved a lot. Then we had practically two back-to-back moves and Dad went on special assignment, and it was like Mom reached her limit.”

“You didn’t blame her,” I said, because I knew he hadn’t.

He shook his head. “Everyone always says how brave the guys are, well, women now as well, but they don’t ever acknowledge how amazing the families are. The spouses. The kids. They don’t get the public glory. They just get the hard work and are left for months on end. The last one broke my mom, and she just about checked out of their marriage.”

I turned and snuggled into him, giving him my warmth. I wanted to give him everything.

“I could have coped with the men. Dad was never there, and as a kid I didn’t understand anyway, but when she left my dad, she left me as well. That I never understood.” My heart ached. I could hear the hurt and the bewilderment in his voice and in that moment, I knew we weren’t that much different. “I want to see the room again.”

He carefully cleaned me then dressed me in one of his shirts that fit me like a short dress. “How about you explore the playroom and see if there’s anything you might like to look at, to play with?”

The room I’d seen was what I’d always imagined heaven would look like when I was a child. I’d never owned anything. Each foster home had their own set of toys that all the children could share, but they were never just mine. The only thing I’d ever had that was mine was admittedly a very worn blue teddy bear called Panda. He wasn’t a panda. I doubted if I even knew what a panda was at that age, but I fiercely adored him. I had no idea where he had come from but I was never without him, until the first day of elementary school when my foster mom had put her foot down and said I wasn’t a baby and couldn’t take Panda to school with me.

So, reluctantly, I’d tucked him under my quilt in the small room I shared with another foster child called Emma who was four years older. Emma had nothing just like me, but she could be very prickly and tried to play favorites. When I got home, I rushed upstairs to tell Panda about my day, but he was gone. Heartbroken, I searched for him for hours. Even my foster mom helped until it was time for dinner, and it was only when it was bedtime, and I plucked up the courage to ask Emma if she’d seen him that I found out where he’d gone.

She’d thrown him away.

She refused to say why or where. My foster dad searched the trash but couldn’t find him. Emma left about a week after that, and I never saw her or Panda again.

“Is it what you hoped?" Daddy asked.

It was perfect. Perfectly dangerous. “But—” This was too risky. “But I’m not…” I cleared my throat. “I have a job,” I finished weakly, knowing that had nothing to do with his question, and all the time wanting to scream and jump up and down or burst into tears. It wasn’t real. This sort of thing never happened to me. I was never this lucky. I was silly, and spoke before I thought about what I should say, and I was scatterbrained, and my mind could never… But Gideon—Daddy—just gazed at me with those big brown eyes I could fall into. I wanted this so much I could taste it. In fact, I’d never wanted anything like it so much in my entire life.

Even all those nights I’d lain in strange bed after strange bed, and desperately wished for a family of my very own. Someone that would want to keep me.

He smiled again. “I know this is all new and while it’s exciting, it’s very scary as well. You don’t know me wellenough to trust me, and I understand that. So, we’ll take it a step at a time. I want to understand what growing up was like for you. Tell me.”

So, I did. Random memories. I told him about Panda. I told him about Davey, a little boy that seemed to love the same things I did, but his mom turned up and even though I could tell he didn’t want to go with her, he was forced to go back with her.

I told him my biggest fear growing up. That I was jealous. That somehow the kids that had been picked would be brought back and the parents would choose me instead. How could I be so cruel?

But Daddy hushed me and held me and told me that I had been a little girl trying to soothe a great hurt that I shouldn’t have had to manage on my own, because adults should have been there to help me and it was their fault, not mine.

And somehow, as he took my hand and led me farther into the playroom, I felt better than I had in a long time.

My mind whirled as I took everything in. I had no idea where to start. He grunted almost as if I’d asked a question. “Let’s start with the bookcase.” He took my hand and walked over. He pulled out some coloring books and crayons. Then his hand fell on a box of jigsaw puzzles and my eyes widened. There was one with a whole heap of puppies on it, and my fingers itched to grab it.

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