Page 32 of Wild Daddy

"Next time," I grunt. "We'll have a mattress. A fire. Maybe soundproofing, too."

Her laughter turns into a sharp cry as I angle my hips. Her body bows under me.

"There," she whispers. "Right there. Again."

I oblige. Again. And again.

My control frays. My pace increases. Her name slips from my lips like a litany. Her breath stutters into full-on sobs of pleasure, her fingers leaving crescents in my back.

She breaks first. Comes hard, full-body, trembling and slick, clinging to me like gravity reversed.

Only then do I let go. I drive in deep, finally giving myself over. My groan is ragged, primal, guttural. I shake against her as I come, the pleasure spiking white-hot through every locked muscle.

We collapse together, panting, the storm still howling outside while everything inside is still.

"That was…" Her voice cracks.

"Yeah. It was baby.”

She breathes, smiling against my skin.

We lie there afterward, her curled against my chest while the storm rages outside our tiny shelter. I pull my jacket and another couple blankets I find over both of us, creating a cocoon of warmth in the small space.

"Daddy?" she says after a while and I think my heart is going to burst from my chest.

"Yeah?"

"What happens now?"

It's a good question. What does happen when a mountain man who can’t stand even the idea of school falls in love with a brilliant little girl who's supposed to go to Harvard in the fall?

"Now we figure it out," I say, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. "Together."

Eight

Marley

I wake up to the sound of birds and the realization that I'm completely naked, wrapped around Cade like he's my personal heater. The storm has passed sometime during the night, leaving the air clean and crisp and smelling like pine and rain.

Also, my entire body feels different. Used. Claimed. Like every nerve ending has been rewired to respond to his touch.

"Morning, little girl," he murmurs against my hair.

The endearment sends the same shiver through me it always does, but this time there's something deeper underneath it. Something that makes me want to curl up smaller and let him take care of everything.

"Morning." I try to sit up, but he tightens his arms around me.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"We should probably get dressed. Head back to camp." I gesture vaguely toward the door of the hunting blind. "The storm’s passed."

"The outside world can wait." He rolls us so I'm pinned beneath him, his weight solid and reassuring. "I want to play with my girl first."

"Play?" The word comes out smaller than I intended.

"Play." He brushes a strand of hair away from my face, his touch gentle. "When's the last time you played, Marley?"

I think about it. Really think about it. "I don't know. Maybe when I was six? Before my parents decided I was too smart to waste time on childish things."

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