Page 41 of Dose

“You checked.”

“At four this morning.” I drag my mouth down her jaw and over the bruise I want to darken. “Because I knew this would happen.”

“Then stop pretending you’re resisting it.” Her fingers knot in my hair. “Take me back to bed, Daddy.”

The word strikes below thought.

I lift her into my arms and carry her out of the annex. She laughs against my neck, bright and startled by her own happiness, and I understand that I would kill anyone who tried to take that sound from her.

I lay her on the bed and strip off my shirt, then hers. Slowly this time. Looking.

“You’re staring again,” she says.

“I’m memorizing.” I trace one finger from the hollow of her throat, down her sternum and over her stomach. Her skin tightens beneath it. “Every response. Everything you give me. I told you I’m keeping it.”

“The museum takes⁠—”

“No.” I bend until my mouth is beside her ear. “The museum is yours. But this doesn’t go behind glass where I can’t reach it. You don’t hide this from me.”

Her breath catches. “Possessive.”

“Yes.”

I ease her thighs apart and run my hand between them. She is already wet, but I do not let that answer for her.

“How sore?” I ask.

“Two out of ten.”

“Sharp pain? Burning? Bleeding?”

“No. And before you ask, yes, I still want you.” Her expression shifts, wickedness threading through the precision. “Cause and effect. Basic kinetics.”

I slide one finger inside her, slow, watching her eyes lose focus. “Say it again with a straight face.”

“Basic—” Her back arches. “Methodologically unfair.”

I touch her until her hips chase my hand and her careful language falls apart. When I settle between her thighs, I reach for the lubricant beside the bed and take my time with it.

“Same as last night?” I ask.

“Bare. Inside me. All of it.” She holds my gaze. “Please, Daddy.”

I push into her.

Slowly. She is still tender, still new to this, and her mouth opens on a shaky breath. Her hands close over my shoulders while I work my way into her a little at a time, ignoring every demand my body makes for speed.

When I am fully inside her, I stop.

“How does that feel?”

“Full.” Her voice is hoarse with wonder. “Like there shouldn’t be room, and then there is.”

I draw back and roll forward, deep and unhurried. Her gasp breaks against my jaw.

“Nobody else has ever been inside you.” I slide one hand beneath her hips, changing the angle until she whimpers. “Nobody else ever will. Say it.”

“Nobody else.” Her legs close around me. “Yours. Signed, notarized, and witnessed by Gwendolyn.”