Page 337 of A Vicious Love

Once.

Then lower, against my chest.

My entire body went quiet.

She felt it. Her lips paused against my skin. “Was that okay?”

She should never have had to ask that.

“Yes.”

Her hand slid slowly up my ribs, then settled over my heart. “I like cuddling you.”

I opened my eyes.

“Who, baby?”

She hid another smile against my chest.

“Sienna.”

“Daddy.”

Good.

The word moved through me lower and softer than it had last night. Less filthy in the morning. More dangerous, maybe, because it arrived with her cheek on my chest and her body curled into mine as if I was something she could rest against.

“Good girl,” I murmured, kissing the top of her head.

She relaxed instantly.

That reaction was going to become a problem.

No, it had already become a problem. I had created a system inside her body in a single night and then discovered my own body answered it just as badly. Praise softened her. My voice warmed her. Daddy made her melt. And every time she responded, something in me became more terrified of how badly I had mishandled her affection before.

She had always been affectionate. I had punished that over and over. And now she was careful about kissing my chest in bed. I slid my hand into her hair and held her closer.

She breathed me in.

“Don’t get sad,” she whispered.

“I’m angry.”

“At me?”

“No.”

“At yourself?”

I kissed her hair instead of answering. She understood anyway.

Her fingers moved over my chest, gentle, tracing the edge of a tattoo. “I don’t want to talk about old things this morning.”

“What do you want?”

“To stay here.”

That one I could give her.