Page 3 of His Precious Secret

The way he speaks—it’s like his word is gospel. I know he’s a CEO, a type-A personality, but having never met him before, I didn’t know what to expect. But now I see he’s a man who’s used to getting what he wants. The world moves when he says it does, and if he says my mom has to be out by tomorrow, he means it.

“Why, Rick? What…did something happen?”

My skin is hot, almost tingling, and my heart is racing. “Your mom cheated on me, Taylor. I’m sorry to have be blunt about it, but that’s what happened.”

Shit.

“Oh…” I say sadly. “I’m so sorry, Rick. I…I understand why you would want her out then. I just…you pay for my school. My mom can’t afford to send me to college…”

I hang my head in shame—my mother’s shame. Then I feel Rick’s index finger beneath my chin. He lifts my eyes to his, and it’s like a full blast of heat to my face. His eyes are filled with burning, unmistakable passion. This is a man who will not be denied, and although I may be a virgin, I can read a man’s look, and I know what he wants right now.

And I know what I want too.

It happened in an instant. One minute I was Taylor, the happy high-school-graduate on her way home to see Mom and meet her husband, and now I’m a drooling little puppy dog trapped in the gaze of her gorgeous stepdad.

This is so wrong. Forbidden. Maybe even illegal?

No. That would only be if we were actually related.

“Jesus,” he growls. “The boys at your school must have all wanted you. Which one made you his?”

The intensity is almost too much to bear. I feel my knees begin to quiver and a pulsing sensation rise between my thighs. “I… None of them,” I admit.

“What does that mean?” he asks.

“I never had a boyfriend, Rick.”

He frowns at me. Does he think I’m lying? Does he really think a girl who doesn’t drink, doesn’t sneak out and party, and prefers to spend her time alone writing and drawing in her room is the kind of girl the boys would be fawning over?

“Bullshit,” he says roughly. “You’re telling me you’re a virgin?”

Wow. Way to just come right out and say it! I don’t know why, but I feel suddenly embarrassed. I just met this man—my stepdad—and he’s confronting me about something so personal. So raw. I don’t even know what to say, so I simply shake my head, expecting him to shake his back. But he doesn’t.

He smiles.

“You know, I think I may have thought of a way to make this work. Are you a good student, Taylor?”

“Yes,” I say softly.

“You want to go to college, right?”

“Yes.”

He moves closer to me, so close I can feel the heat from his body. I smell his deodorant, similar to men’s cologne, masked by the smell of something related to cars. Mom told me he had a shop at the house. That must have been what he was doing when I arrived.

His strong, rough hand slides around my body and settles on my lower back. I feel his hot breath on my cheeks as he pulls me closer, and instinctively, I let my lips fall open.

His presence is hypnotic. I feel as though a spell has been cast on me, like I’ve stepped into the presence of a god.

Rick’s lips close in on mine.

Is this going to be my first kiss?

“I haven’t had sex in a long time,” Rick purrs, his words buzzing up my spine. “And you haven’t had sex at all. See where I’m going with this, Taylor?”

“Rick, I—”

“Call me Daddy, beautiful.”

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