A Pinch of Sugar (Lights Camera Insta-love 1)

“Yes.” His forehead falls to my shoulder, his voice raw and hoarse. “What are you doing to me? How the hell do you know this?”

I whisper my confession. “I’ve been dreaming about it since I…”

“Since you were a little girl,” he finishes in a growl. “Is that the way of it?”

I nod contritely, meeting his wolfish gaze through my lashes. “You can spank me more, Daddy. You can do anything. I won’t tell anyone.”

We make blistering eye contact in the mirror, his expression intense, mine vulnerable. Hopeful. Maybe even a little desperate, because I’ve been pining for this feeling since I can remember. Being at the mercy of a man. This man. My needs and wants and desires all tied to a string and wrapped around his big finger.

Sebastian opens his mouth to say something—

“Mr. Cove!” A male voice yells from the set. “We need you for the wrap-up interview.” Then quieter, “Do you know where he went?”

“Back there, I think,” someone answers. “Far corner.”

We move quickly and at the same time, pulling my panties and skirt back into place, his hands far steadier and more capable than mine. One look in the mirror tells me nothing can hide the fact that I was hovering on the edge of an orgasm. Just from being spanked. Whoever comes around that corner will know it, though, and Sebastian seems to realize it, too.

“I don’t want anyone to see you like this,” he says, his hand hovering over my hair for a second, then stroking it once, before his touch falls away. “Alice, I—”

Footsteps draw close.

Really close.

“Mr. Cove? You back here?”

With a biting curse, he spins away and intercepts the man just before he can invade our little corner of the backstage area. “Right. I’m here,” he snaps. “Let’s get this nonsense over with.”

Their footsteps fade. And then I’m alone.

The high I was experiencing a minute ago drops and shatters like a glass on concrete. Did I just…call Sebastian Cove…Daddy?

Did I just essentially confess that I want to be his little girl, like I’ve always dreamed?

He said he wanted it, too, in the heat of the moment, but as I understand it, men will say whatever it takes to get sex from a woman. I was so ready to give it to him, too. Maybe he was secretly laughing at me. There’s a reason I never get physical with the men I date. I’m afraid of being told I’m a freak.

Maybe I am a freak and Sebastian thinks so.

I look around in the darkness. The silence falls like a heavy drape and suddenly I’m freezing cold. Just another failed reality show contestant.

You should go.

He didn’t even say he was coming back. What am I going to do? Stand here and wait, hoping Sebastian motherloving Cove wants to return and satisfy my Daddy issues? Am I serious?

Before I can talk myself into doing something stupid and staying, waiting around like a lovesick puppy, I lunge for the emergency exit and blow the joint.

4

Sebastian

As soon as the absolute knob of a host finishes asking me the final interview question, I rip the microphone off my lapel and make for the backstage area. There is a rather unsettled feeling in my stomach and I’m not used to being anything but calm. Confident. As soon as I sat down for the interview, though, I got a terrible feeling that I shouldn’t have left Alice.

I was torn between two instincts.

Keep the other man from seeing her and getting my mouth on her gorgeous body. I reasoned that I could accomplish both, just not at the same time. After all, there needs to be an order to things. When I make my famous amaretto genoise, there is a step-by-step process to achieving the end result. I start by beating the egg yolks on medium speed and slowly adding the sugar, at a very precise rate. Order. Directions. Recipes. That’s how I live my life.

Alice has only been in my life for less than a day and already, I’m questioning my actions. Worrying I made the wrong decision when I’ve never once second guessed myself with a woman.

Alice isn’t just any woman, is she?

She’s the female I took one look at and needed to possess. Yet I had no idea the level of possessiveness I would reach when we met face to face backstage, in the dark, in the absence of cameras. Just breath, hands and the kind of honesty that threatens even now to steal my sanity.

You can spank me more, Daddy. You can do anything. I won’t tell anyone.

A low groan leaves me the farther I move into the darkness backstage. Most of the action has died down and I don’t like that. I don’t like the fact that I’ve been gone long enough for people to start leaving. If Alice isn’t where I left her, what the fuck am I going to do?