Page 44 of Melt For Us, Daddy
“That door just to your right, ma’am.”
“Thank you.”
“Dee! Let me go!”
She didn’t let go, not until they’d stepped into the spacious, surprisingly well-decorated bathroom. There, she spun around, pressing Ivy up against the wall behind them. Wrapping her fingers around her girl’s slender throat, she looked down into those round, terrified eyes.
You did that. Look what you’ve done to her.
Shoving aside the guilt she didn’t have time to indulge, she put every ounce of authority she could manage into her next words. “Who am I, Ivy?”
She could feel Ivy’s throat working beneath her palm, and even with everything falling apart around her, it gave her that same dark thrill she always felt when she had her babygirl so completely at her mercy.
“Cordelia,” Ivy whispered.
Tightening her grip, she leaned in, dropped her voice. “Who am I, Ivy Mae?”
“My-my woman.”
“Damn straight. And you’re my girl. Which means there is nothing, nothing in this world that matters to me more than your safety. You hear me, little girl?”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
Her eyes were still too big, too dark, but her breathing had calmed and the pulse beating beneath Cordelia’s fingertips had slowed. “Good girl. I know this is hard. The hardest fucking thing I’ve ever asked of you. But I need you to trust me enough to believe that I wouldn’t ask it if it wasn’t absolutely necessary. Do you trust me, baby?”
It felt like an eternity, waiting there, feeling her girl’s heartbeat beneath her fingers as Ivy struggled.
Until, at last, she gave a small nod. “I trust you.”
Thank god. Leaning in, she captured Ivy’s lips with her own, letting herself drown in the taste of her for just a moment, until her own heart stopped its frantic galloping.
“I’m so sorry, baby. I never wanted you to be a part of this. Never wanted them to even know your name.”
“Don’t you dare apologize to me.” Ivy’s eyes, so soft and scared before, now blazed with righteous fury. “This isn’t your fault. It’s theirs. They think because they have dicks swinging between their legs that they have some kind of claim to you? That they can take you from me just because they’re men? Fuck them.”
“It’s my fault for bringing you into this.”
“Oh, fuck y?—”
“Careful, blossom. I’m not feeling quite guilty enough to overlook that level of disrespect.”
Pink rose to Ivy’s cheeks, but the rebuke did nothing to douse the fire in her eyes. “You didn’t bring me into anything, Cordelia. I chose to be with you. Because I love you. We may not have said the vows yet, but I’m with you. For better or worse, Dee, I’m with you.”
Love, pure and bright enough to burn away the sickness that had coated her stomach ever since her run-in with Harlan, filled her. Closing her eyes, she dropped her forehead to Ivy’s and for a moment they just stayed there in that simple connection. “I love you. So fucking much. I promise I’ll make this up to you when it’s all over. I’ll pull some money from our savings, take you to Paris or something, I don’t know. The guys are good at that big romantic stuff, I’m sure they’ll have some ideas.”
“A house.”
Lifting her head, she stared down at her girl. “What?”
“When this is done, I want us to get serious about buying a house. I don’t need those big, expensive gestures, Dee. I just need you and the life we’re going to build together.”
“All right. If my baby wants a house, then she’ll have a house.”
“A house, and a kitten.”
“A kitten?”
“Mmhmm. I gave up on trying to convince you to let me have a snake. But I think a cute little kitten would be perfect for us. Between our regular jobs and the club we don’t have time for a dog, but we could make time for a kitten.”
