Page 14 of Wild Daddy

He's talking about wilderness survival. I know he's talking about wilderness survival. But the way he says it, the authority in his voice, makes it sound like a promise of something much more personal.

He goes on, stay with me at all times, if you hurt yourself, you tell me no matter how insignificant it may seem, if you see a bear or a snake before I do, tell me, etc.

I’m so not in Kansas anymore.

"Any questions?" he finally asks, cupping my cheeks in his massive palms.

About a thousand, but none I can ask without admitting how much his rules are affecting me.

"Just one," I say. "Are you always this bossy with your clients?"

His smile is slow and predatory. "Sometimes, but it’s never been this much fun."

Four

Cade

Watching Marley try to act normal while loading gear into my truck is like watching a baby deer try to tango. She keeps sneaking glances at me when she thinks I'm not looking, her cheeks still flushed from the orgasm she graced me with twenty minutes ago.

Her flavor raced through me like liquid fire.

I want that taste with me every fucking day from now on. She’s got me by the balls already and she has no idea what that even means. The sound she made when I slapped her pussy is playing on repeat in my head. And the way she melted against that wall tells me everything I need to know about what this brilliant little girl really needs.

Someone to take control. Someone to make the decisions. Someone to keep her safe while she figures out who she is without the pressure of being the smartest person in every room.

What she doesn't know yet is that I have no intention of letting her go back to her old life when this week is over.

"This truck is huge," she says, running her hand along the side of my F-250 like she's trying to solve a mathematical equation. "What's the fuel efficiency on something this size? It has to be terrible for the environment."

I load the last of the camping gear into the bed and slam the tailgate shut. "It gets me where I need to go."

"But surely there are more sustainable options for—"

"Get in, Marley."

She blinks at the command in my voice, then scrambles to climb into the passenger seat. Even with the running boards, she has to haul herself up, and I can't help but notice how good her round little butt cheeks look in those hiking pants and how much better they’ll look someday with my dick inside her ass.

Mine.

The word pounds through my head like a drum beat as I watch her struggle with the seatbelt. She's mine now, whether she understands it or not.

I climb into the driver's seat, reaching over to buckle her in, tugging on the shoulder strap to make sure it’s locked in place then start the engine. The truck rumbles to life with a sound that probably violates half a dozen noise ordinances, but Ive’ never been one to be quiet about much of anything.

"Where exactly are we going?" Marley asks, tapping the toes on her boots on the floor mat like an excited little girl. “I have a topographical map, but I don’t know our destination so—"

"My mountain.” I cut her off, reaching across to settle one hand at the back of her neck, rubbing little circles right over her pulse point.

"Yourmountain?" She twists in her seat to look at me. "You don't actually own a mountain, do you?"

"Bought and paid for. Hundred and twenty-three acres of wilderness that hasn't seen civilization since my great-grandfather's time. My brother Jack owns about the same bordering mine. My other brothers have some too."

Her eyes go wide. " Do you have any idea what that kind of land is worth? What are the property taxes on something like that? Do you get an agricultural exemption?”

"You ask a lot of questions."

"I'm a journalist. It's what I do." She settles back in her seat, but she’s already pulling out her phone, making notes. I can see her academic brain spinning.

It should annoy me. On some level, itdoesannoy me. Academics are all the same, living in their own world that has nothing to do with the real one. The real one is dangerous and unpredictable, you can’t sort it into neat categories, label it and make a plan how to deal with it.

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