A week goes by in a blur. For the first two days, I’m in the hospital, recovering from smoke inhalation. My aunt and cousins arrive to take care of the funeral arrangements, dropping flowers off in my hospital room, crying into tissues. People visit. Voices, facial features, comforting touches all feel the same.I don’t know how to feel. Sad, yes. Lonely? That’s really nothing new. My father was increasingly absent leading up to the fire, coming home late at night, leaving before I woke. The meager time we spent together, he seemed nervous, chain smoking in our backyard while I watched television or did housework. We weren’t close even before my mother left, but we respected each other. He cared about me in his own way and made an effort on my birthday and Christmas. My father wasn’t a bad man, he just didn’t know how to be a dad.Laughter echoes in my head every time I close my eyes now. Did someone want to hurt my father? Was there something he didn’t tell me?In the hospital, every
My fist pounds the steering wheel at the sight of Dasha climbing out the window, oxygen seeming to fill my lungs for the first time since she left the hospital. She’s beautiful beyond words, with her white-blonde hair and big, green eyes, moving with grace and innocence, especially in the simple nightshirt she wears. I didn’t want the aunt to take her—she belongs with me—but I had no choice. People tend to frown on a forty-year-old confirmed bachelor moving an eighteen-year-old girl into his house.Hell, they should frown on it. I shouldn’t be dreaming of my hands slowly parting her knees and kissing her pretty pink underwear top to bottom while she squirms. She’s been through a trauma, for the love of God. Lost her father. I have no right wanting to take a dead man’s place as Dasha’s provider…and more.A lot more.I married young and divorced just as fast. My ex-wife didn’t want to be dominated…and hell, I was only half interested in dominating her. Since then, my only relationship h
God. Damn.As an ex-Army brat, I’ve been all over this planet—from Tokyo to Russia to the Florida damn Keys—and I can confirm, there’s nothing hotter or sweeter than Dasha. The night I swore to be her protector, I deleted every female’s number on my contact list. I’m done. Not looking any further. She’s everything I was too young and too wild to know even existed. When I look back at my life, it’s just a sea of faces that changed every time I moved. Even my own parents had faded right into that sea, seeing as how they booted me out when I turned eighteen. I don’t know a commitment from a hole in the wall. But the first time I laid eyes on Dasha, I knew I wouldn’t budge from her side until this world stopped turning.I’ve held her and guarded her as she slept. She’s looked up at me like I’m her superhero. And if it means I have to kidnap, steal and murder, I’m not letting her get away. This girl is mine for life.If this old fucker Clement would take a hint, I could bring Dasha back to
I expected it to take a little more convincing, but once I issued the ultimatum, Clement and Nicholas nodded—stiffly, of course—and boosted me back into the house so I could pack my bags and leave a goodbye note for my aunt. It’s a cop out. I really should speak to her face to face. But my father put distance between him and his sister, same way he created a divide between us, so she’ll probably be relieved not to have a virtual stranger in her house anymore. Most of my things are either smoke damaged or in storage now, so it didn’t take long to collect my meager wardrobe, my fashion portfolio and school books.We flipped a coin to decide whose truck I would ride in—Clement won—and after a silent but charged ride, we’ve arrived at Clement’s house.As I walk up the stone path leading to the front door, flanked by Clement and Nicholas, the spontaneity of what I’m doing begins to hit me. I’ve just snuck out of my aunt’s house to be with men I’ve only known a week. I’ve been living with m
“She’s a good girl, isn’t she?” Clement’s hand moves in my peripheral vision, sliding up and down his swollen girth. “Can’t be easy to stretch that little mouth, but she’s trying for our sake.”“Fuck yeah,” Nicholas rasps, holding my head steady and thrusting deep. “Trying real hard. Sucking on it like she’s already got a taste for come.”“She will.” Clement guides himself to my lips and Nicholas pops out with a groan, allowing himself to be replaced. “Motherfucker,” groans Clement, sliding into my mouth until he hits my throat, making me choke. “Call me sick, but I love the way those wisdom teeth scrape on my cock a little.”“Hell, I’m sick then, too,” Nicholas says, reaching down to capture my breasts. “Paired up with these B-cup titties, we’re going straight to hell.”“Not before I come down her throat.”Nicholas groans, his hand blurring on his arousal. “You close, man?”“Christ, yes. She’s sucking on my cock like a champ.”I sense a solid wall of reluctance in Nicholas, but the f
It’s a good thing Dasha sleeps like the dead. Otherwise, I don’t think either of us would feel comfortable working night shifts while the other was home alone with the girl. If we were ravenous for her before, that hunger has only escalated. We stand over her bed for an hour after the pleasure, watching the rise and fall of her chest, tracing the curve of her ass with single-minded possession.Mine.That word beats in my veins like a snare drum, never ceasing. But I have to find a way to come to terms with Dasha being…ours. I don’t question her determination. Her bravery in the hospital told me all about her metal spine. Not to mention the way she issues ultimatums to two males twice her size. The sweet, sexy fairy I’m living for has nerve—and if she says she’ll leave if we don’t get on board, I believe her.Last night, Nicholas and I couldn’t decide who would sleep beside her, so she ended up in the guest bedroom, at an equal distance between the other two bedrooms. I ached to hold h
During the drive to school, I want her to get some food in her stomach, so I focus on the road, content to watch her fiddle with the stereo controls. I’m in a good mood because I won the pants battle and she’s got leggings clinging to her incredible legs now. Legs I want to pry apart, so I can sink into the tight hole in between. But I do my damnedest to ignore the erection pressed to the steering wheel and get her to campus. I park in the lot, turn off the ignition and cross to the passenger side, giving her a pleased grunt when she waits, letting me open the door for her.“Such a gentleman,” she whispers, climbing out. “Are you going to walk me to class next?”Again, her father’s words invade my thoughts. Not an accident. “Damn right, sweetheart.” I take the book bag from her hand and toss it over my shoulder. “And then I’m going to wait outside.”Am I imagining the relief that dances across her features? “Well, if you’re going to be around anyway…” She floats backwards toward the t
I rushed to pick up Dasha, because I didn’t go straight to the school after my shift at the firehouse. Nah, I’ve been thinking nonstop about her father’s final words and I’m not leaving her safety to chance. Best I can tell, he wasn’t close to many of his family members, but his sister—Dasha’s aunt—seemed uneasy while visiting Dasha in the hospital. So I went to her first, hoping to get some information about who would want to hurt Dasha’s father. I’m not a cop, but I’ve watched a fuck ton of Law & Order , so possible grudges seemed like the best place to start.“He came to me for money,” she said, blowing cigarette smoke out the kitchen window. “Our father liked to play the ponies. Figures he’d fall into the same trap. His wife probably saw it coming and got the hell out.”Thinking of Dasha losing her mother, I wanted to go find my girl and kiss her until she smiled. But I kept going with the questions. “Did you lend him the money?”She snorted. “Nope. It looks like I’ve got stacks o