Page 57 of Daddy’s Hunted Bride

“Any time.” He and Gray each take a turn giving Vanessa another kiss goodbye before turning to leave.

Shifting her on my lap, I bring the bottle to her mouth, and I can’t help but chuckle when she sucks greedily at the sweet treat inside. This isn’t how I’d planned for our evening to end after we’d found our Little ones sneaking around in the middle of the night.

But somehow, it’s even more perfect this way.

CHAPTER 24

VANESSA

The morning after our disastrous midnight kitchen raid, I wake before Dane. But for once, my mind doesn’t go immediately to how I might be able to slip free of his grasp and this house.

Instead, I just… watch him. Even in sleep, he has a presence about him, large and powerful and dangerous. It’s at such odds with the way he held me last night, the way he comforted me and rocked me that it’s almost hard to believe he’s the same man.

I’d thought for sure when he whisked me upstairs so quickly after my double spanking, that he was planning to punish me again. That’s the rule, right? If someone else spanks you, then you get another punishment from Daddy. A stupid rule, in my opinion, but it is the rule.

Which is why it’s so confusing that instead of another spanking or getting my bottom fucked until I begged for mercy, he chose to simply… hold me. The memory of how loved, how cherished I felt in that moment washes over me, and an uncomfortable pressure wells inside my chest.

Fuck me sideways. Have I fallen in love with my sexy lumberjack captor?

No. As soon as the thought pops into my mind, I bat it away. There’s no possible way this feeling is love, not real love anyway. Stockholm Syndrome, maybe, but not actual love.

I’m still staring at him, grappling with the uneasy feelings inside me when his eyes open, the dark brown slightly glazed with sleep. His beard twitches as a smile curves his lips, and the next thing I know, I’m in his arms, being pulled into him.

For once, I don’t fight. Even when his hand slides down my body to cup my bottom, I don’t try to push him away or wriggle out of his embrace. And it feels so… right.

But it’s not right. Something is very, very wrong with me.

I don’t have it in me to analyze what it might be right now, however. Not with his hands wandering over my back and bottom, igniting little fires of need everywhere he touches.

“My pretty little fox,” he murmurs, dipping his head to brush his lips along the side of my neck. “How are you feeling this morning?”

My bottom clenches at his question, reigniting the pain from last night’s punishment. “Sore.”

His responding chuckle vibrates against the side of my neck. “Poor little fox. Do you need Daddy to kiss it and make it all better?”

It shocks me how badly I want him to do exactly that. But I can’t quite bring myself to say the words out loud, so I nod, my cheeks heating with shame at my silent confession.

“Hmm.” Amusement winds around the humming sound he makes. “Ask me nicely and maybe I’ll give you what you want.”

What is with this man and wanting me to ask him to debase me? Is it part of the game for him? Does he derive some twisted sort of pleasure out of forcing me to beg him to humiliate me?

Probably. Yes. Definitely.

That knowledge should be enough to stop me in my tracks. But I already know I’m going to give him whatever he wants if it means getting his hands on me.

“Please, Daddy,” I manage to whisper, arching against him, grinding my diaper-covered pussy against his thigh. “Please.”

Another low humming sound filled with amusement reaches my ears. “You’re going to have to be more specific than that, little fox.” The hand cupping my bottom squeezes, sending flashes of pain and pleasure arcing through my body. “Tell Daddy exactly what you want.”

I hate him. Or I guess it would be more accurate to say I wish I still hated him. I want to hate him for stripping every shred of dignity from me, for turning me into this depraved little sex doll of his.

But I don’t hate him. I crave him, with every ounce of my being.

And I don’t know if I can ever forgive him for that.

Right now, however, I can’t obsess over what he’s done to me, what he’s turned me into. So I shove those thoughts aside and focus on getting what I so desperately want.

Him. Inside me. However I can get him.