“Is he a bad man, my real father?”
Mason’s arms tightened around me.
“He might be the worst.”
I wanted to pound on his chest and demand he tell me everything, but I knew that would only lead to more frustration.
“I’m not a little girl anymore,” I said. “It’s not your job to protect me.”
“You’ll always be my little girl, so yes, it is my job to protect you.” He kissed my forehead, his warm breath washing over my face. “Only you can decide if this secret is something you can live with, Jett. If it were up to me, you’d never leave my bed. But it’s not up to me. Can you be happy pretending to be my daughter in public?”
If it meant I could still be his dirty little girl in private, I could pretend to be anything.
“I just want to be with you,” I said. “I don’t care about the rest.”
“Then promise me one thing, Jetty. If you decide to stay, you give up the search for answers. No more questions about your real father, no more spying on me in dark hallways.”
My cheeks burned from embarrassment. He smoothed his hand up and down my back to soothe me.
“You have to promise to leave the past where it belongs,” he continued. “Let go of this obsession and focus on what’s in front of you.”
What was in front of me was the man I loved more than anything, offering me the world in exchange for giving up my struggle for the truth about myself. It didn’t seem fair. I gazed down at our laps, at his cock resting dormant against his thigh. I’d only touched him once, but already I felt like I’d die if I didn’t touch him again.
If I stayed, it would be with the understanding that I’d never find out why he left. There would always be a part of me that remained a mystery, but in return, I’d have a chance to get to know my daddy all over again.
Perhaps I’d regret setting aside the search for my real father someday. But for now, I had found the only daddy I needed.
“No more questions,” I said. “Promise.”
Mason breathed a sigh of relief. “Trust me, sweetheart. It’s better to be kept in the dark about some things.”
I wasn’t sure if I believed him, but I was certain it didn’t matter. I’d made my decision to stay—and I was going to make the most of it.
Reaching between my thighs, I dipped a finger into my pussy, then brushed a layer of my own wetness over my lips like gloss. My daddy groaned low in his throat as he kissed me, catching my bottom lip between his teeth.
With one swift movement, he laid me on my back, then kissed and licked a meandering trail from my mouth to my navel. He gripped the backs of my knees and spread my legs, just like he’d done in the studio.
I trembled as his hot breath washed over my folds.
“It took every ounce of strength I had not to eat your pussy this afternoon,” he said. “You smelled so fucking delicious.”
I smiled. “How do I smell now, Daddy?”
“You smell incredible, baby girl.” He rolled his tongue over my clit, and slid two fingers inside me. I struggled not to raise my hips off the couch. “And fuck if you don’t taste even better.”
Chapter Eleven
The next few weeks unfolded like a string of cutout paper hearts.
My first day of college was less than a month away. There were books to buy and supplies to shop for. I had stopped returning my mother’s texts and calls. The life I’d left in New Hampshire was barely a niggle at the back of my mind.
Nothing existed outside of my daddy and me, and our secret.
Mason and I grew drunk on each other, and like all intoxicants, our desire made us reckless. Kisses stolen in empty galleries. A flash of skin or tongue. Riding in the backs of cabs coming home from parties, with his hand up my dress and his fingers inside me.
We even held hands on the subway.