Page 10 of My Fantasy Daddies

Malcolm

Orange blossoms.

Esme smelled like orange blossoms.Citrus and floral wrapped up in one scent that raced through my body, setting my nerve endings on fire while calming the noise that was always in my head.Everything but her faded from existence for the first time since I’d enlisted.

Twenty-two years of having the sound of guns blasting, crying women and children, pained groans, the dripping of blood from tortured bodies onto concrete.It all disappeared the moment I touched her, breathed in that beautiful scent, held her against me.

Peace was something I’d taken for granted before I joined the army.I’d grown up wanting for nothing.Sports.Girls.School.There had been no challenges.No excitement.Boring.All I’d wanted was something more.

What I’d gotten was the kind of nightmares that caused lesser men to eat a bullet.Those memories of war-torn countries, starving children, women with destroyed spirits…they played through my head as if from a projector.

But it was always the noises that haunted me the most.They swirled together, meshing into a soundtrack that echoed through my mind.Those cries and screams, gunshots and bombs exploding all around my two best friends and me, the blood dripping…dripping…dripping.That was what woke me in the middle of the night, heart pounding, body covered in sweat, trying to escape from the memories that had become my nightmares.

And as soon as I pressed my nose to Esme’s hair, it all faded.

Her skin was so fucking soft beneath my fingers, her hair like silk.Her pulse raced beneath my thumb as I tightened my hand around her delicate throat.Possessiveness raged through me.Obsession.Thinking of my Esme fucking anyone but me or Benson or Parker did something to my head.

For a minute, she leaned into me, sinking further into my system, imprinting herself on my soul.Her breath hitched, but she tried to cover it up by clearing her throat and tipping her head away from me.Mischievousness glittered in her pretty blue eyes, her luscious, sassy mouth tipping up in a smile that stole any part of my heart that hadn’t already pledged itself to her.

“Have you sniffed me enough yet, Mr.Bear?”she teased, taking the glass of water Parker pushed into her hands as soon as the bartender placed it in front of us.

“He gets an animal name?”Benson asked with a pout.

“I named all three of you the moment I saw you,” she confessed, sipping her water.I couldn’t take my eyes off her lips as she licked a droplet from the plump bottom one.“You reminded me of a grumpy bear as soon as I set eyes on you.”

She didn’t look at Benson as she spoke, and I could feel how tense he became.Esme answered his question without once looking at him.And the fire in her eyes suggested she knew she was upsetting him and doing it on purpose.But I was getting all of her attention, and that was all I cared about.

“She got you good, Mal,” Parker laughed, combing his fingers through her thick, dark tresses.“What animal am I, little vixen?”

Taking another drink from her glass, she lowered her lashes before turning to him.“You’re my Mr.Panther.Sleek and powerful, mysterious.You stand so still, but I can see your thoughts stalking back and forth through your eyes.Is it exhausting?”

Parker’s smile faded, his breath expelling in a harsh release of air.“Are you a witch, Esme?”

“Uh-oh, someone’s scared of the overly perceptive girl,” she huffed.“Sorry to disappoint you, but I’m not a creature of the supernatural.I’m just me.”

He brushed her hair back from her neck.Lowering his head, he grazed his lips over her ear.“I fucking love that you’re perceptive, beautiful.Now quit playing with Benson and tell him what animal you think he is.”

Rolling her eyes, she lifted them to Benson for a moment before they narrowed and she looked back to me.“Your friend Benson is Mr.Golden Lion, but I’m thinking of amending that to Mr.Cowardly Lion.”

Benson released a hiss through his teeth.“Ouch.”

“The truth hurts.”She put the water glass on the bar top and turned so her back was to Parker, her front practically molded to mine.As soon as she felt how hard I was for her, she whined.

Ah fuck, that was a pretty sound.

“Why do you think Benson is a coward?”Parker asked, his brows pulling together.

Esme danced her fingers up my chest until she reached the knot of my tie and began to adjust it.“I saw you three a few weeks ago, you know.Right next door in Ignite.”

“We saw you too, baby girl,” I assured her.

“I know you did.I felt it right here.”She released my tie and flattened her hand to my chest.“You, Mr.Bear… You wanted to come to me that night.Didn’t you?”

“Yes,” I rasped.

“But you didn’t.Because Mr.Golden Lion stopped you.”A flare of anger brightened her eyes, but it was only attempting to mask her true feelings.Hurt.I could see it flickering just behind the heat of her anger.

Feeling gut-punched, I pressed my forehead to hers.“I’m sorry.”

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