Page 107 of The Doctor

“I love you, Zeno.” I put my forehead to his and pressed my eyes shut. “You’re the only one I’ve ever loved. And someday, I want to be your wife. But I can’t do that yet. I need something else first.”

“Anything, Clara. I’ll give you anything in the world.”

Peeking up at him, I felt a tear slip from my eye. “I need help.”

He froze, his body going stiff around me. “What do you mean?”

“I can’t keep doing this. I can’t keep bumbling my way through life, being unable to focus, being unable to handle anything stressful without breaking down or acting out. I need to get my meds adjusted, but I think I might need someone to talk to. There’s so much going on in my head and I don’t know how to handle it. And I can’t be who you need me to be until I get me figured out.”

Zee let out a breath that sounded like a sob. His body melted around mine, soothing me like a summer storm. I could barely breathe through the weight of my feelings, and I clung to him as if he could keep me afloat.

“You are exactly who I need you to be,” he whispered against my skin before pressing a kiss to my throat. “I don’t want you to be anyone other than exactly who you are, but if you want help, then I want that for you too.”

“Really?”

Zee smiled down at me, and a tear trickled from the corner of his eye. “I can’t tell you how relieved I am.” I dipped my head, unable to look at him, but he wasn’t having it. He hooked his finger under my chin and forced me to look up. “I’ve been thinking the same thing for a while now.”

“That I need help?”

“That I need help.” He shrugged one shoulder. “I watched my father get murdered when I was seven. I’ve devoted my entire life to serving at Paulo’s side, putting my own desires on standby because I thought that’s what he wanted from me. I thought that’s what I wanted my life to be.”

“But it’s not?”

Zee brushed a kiss to my lips. “Not anymore. I will always be loyal to Paulo. But I want more for myself. I want a wife.” He kissed me again. “I want a family.” He squeezed me closer. “I want a happiness that isn’t tied to making everyone else happy.”

“I want that for you too.”

Zeno crushed his mouth to mine, then slanted his lips against my own until I was kissing him back. Our tongues met in a slow dance, and my body heated as his hands roamed.

“Let me love you, Clara,” he whispered against me. “Let me help you be who you want to be.”

“And what if I don’t know who that is.”

“Then let me help you learn.” He cupped my cheek and gave me a sad smile. “Let me help you the way you helped me.”

I returned his smile, my fingers dancing over his lips. “Yes.”

One of his brows quirked up, and my smile grew, because I loved it when he did that. I loved the attitude he brought with it, the fight that simmered under the surface of his skin. “Yes, what? You’ll let me help you?”

“That too.” I quirked my own brow at him, the smile flirting over my lips growing wider as his eyes grew.

“Do you mean, you’ll marry me?”

“Of course, I will.” I stopped him with a finger to his lips. “Someday. We’ll get married someday. But I want to focus on us first. I want to be the best Clara I can be, Zee. Because I never want to lose you. You mean too much to me.”

“You mean too much to me, too, kid.”

A scowl cut across my lips and I glared at him. But the happiness I felt wouldn’t let it stick. My lips curled up, and I bit my bottom lip. “Okay, Daddy.”

“Clara!” He was on me then, his big body pushing me into the bed as the head of his dick rubbed against my clit. “I’m going to fucking punish you for that,” he said as he dragged his tip against me. “I’m going to make you wish you never said that.”

“Hmm.” Laughter bubbled in my chest, and I wrapped my legs around his waist, pulling him to me. “If this is the punishment, then do your worst.”

Something like a growl tore through his throat, but I was too lost to the sensations to care. Too lost in his torture, in him rubbing his dick against me, teasing me until my sensitive skin couldn’t take anymore, until I wanted to cry if I’d had any more tears left in my body.

And then I did cry, because Zee gave me something I’d never felt before. He kissed his way down my body, his lips and tongue and teeth lingering on my sensitive breasts, bringing me so close to orgasm as he sucked and licked and bit. Then he let up, doubling the torture as he sucked along my stomach, over my hips, across my thighs, avoiding the one place I needed him most.

I was begging.