Page 84 of Little Bird
The thought of another man raising his hand against this girl has me ready to commit murder, the thought so easy, so casual, that I almost don’t notice it. The moment I do, though, I realize how right it feels.
I will kill anyone who hurts this girl, because she belongs to us. She’s ours, and if someone is attacking her, they’re attacking me. I will sell my own life to protect her. It’s a ridiculous, overdramatic thought.
I don’t take it back.
“He can’t get you up here,” I tell her quietly. “He can’t.”
She draws back and shakes her head. “He can, though. My mother knows I’m up here. She’s been texting me nonstop, threatening to come get me. But I can’t go home. If I go home, I’ll never get back out again.”
I don’t know what that means or why she’s so certain of it, and I’m furious that Helen is texting her and threatening her, but my anger isn’t going to help her right now. She needs my love and protection, not my anger.
I put a finger to her lips and wait for her to meet my gaze again.
“They can’t get you up here, Taryn. I’ll protect you. They’ll have to go through me to get to you.”
The look that comes across her face is so relieved, so thankful, that it melts my anger away. She looks at me like I’m a god, like I’m the hero she’s been waiting her entire life for, and something inside me shifts. I feel like a part of me that’s been dead for years suddenly wakes up again, stretching until it fills every inch of me. And it feels bright. Hopeful. Sweet and precious and shining, like the most beautiful gift in the world.
Only it’s not a thing that’s lived inside me.
It’s Taryn. And it’s something new, something that moved here with her when she came back. It’s the grownup beauty of her that I noticed on that first night. The way she stands taller and knows who she is. The way she came here and immediately filled an empty space I didn’t think could be filled.
The tension that’s been building between us increases until the world around us disappears, and I realize that I still have a finger on her lips. Her slightly open, very wet lips. I press a bit harder, and she opens her mouth further. Another inch and my finger is inside her mouth, her hot, wet tongue pulling it further until she’s sucking on it up to the middle knuckle.
And my God, this is wrong. This is so wrong. This girl is my stepdaughter, and it’s my job to take care of her. Make sure she’s safe.
But making sure she’s safe suddenly feels a lot like wanting to pin her to the ground and claim her as my own. Cover her with my body and make sure no one else can get to her. Tell the world that she belongs to me. I want to have her. Hold her.
Keep her.
I don’t know how it happens. One moment she’s sitting next to me on the fallen tree, my finger in her mouth, and the next she’s in my lap, her legs wrapped around me and her arms looping around my neck.
“What are you doing?” she gasps.
I realize my hands are on her ass, pulling her down against my stiff cock, and that I scooped her into my lap. I did this. And now I’m rocking up against her, my cock straining against her pussy.
“Should I stop?” I ask, terrified of her answer.
Her lips twitch. “No.”
I nearly roar with relief. Instead, I wrap my hand around the back of her head and bring her face toward me. This time when I kiss her, I know what I’m doing. I kiss to possess, to feed, to devour her. I let my tongue clash with hers and when her teeth bite down on my lip, I don’t draw back. Instead, I tilt her head so I can take her more deeply and feed on her like a man who hasn’t eaten in too long. And gods, she’s sweet. She tastes like coffee with chocolate, cookies, and the bright, fresh morning light around us. She’s everything I’ve wanted for so long, and within seconds that coldness inside me is gone.
She’s bringing me back to life.
I lift her up enough to undo my jeans and jerk them down around my knees, then gasp when she reaches down to take my cock in her hands. Her small fingers wrap around me and start to stroke, moving far too quickly for me to stay calm, and within moments I know I have to have her. Fuck, I need to be buried inside her. I’m going to lose my mind if I don’t feel her around me.
I force her onto her feet and strip her jeans away, hissing with impatience when they get caught on her tennis shoes. She slides out of them, though, then meets my eyes one last time.
One last time before we take that final, forbidden step.
“Are you sure?”
She blows out slowly. “Yes.”
It’s all I need. I grab her by the hips and pull her back into my lap, holding her open above my cock for several seconds as a voice in my head tries to regain control. We shouldn’t be doing this. Anyone could come up here and discover us, and what then? My reputation would be ruined. She might run from me. I might ruin everything.
Or I might finally find a home again.
I close my eyes, pray to a God I don’t know if I’ve ever believed in, and pull her down.
