Exposed Exposed (Dom Nation #1) - E. Davies Page 0,102
me, or treating anyone else that way, I’ll put a stop to it. Understand?”
Isaac spat in my direction and said nothing. Instead, he dug out his phone to call a taxi.
I stood there with my arms folded and my duffel by my feet, silently waiting. The short minutes felt like hours, especially when Isaac was pacing back and forth, every curse imaginable falling from his mouth.
When the taxi finally arrived and he threw himself into the back seat, I watched until it disappeared around the corner and then stood there for another minute just to make sure.
It’s over.
I let my breath go and braced myself on the white picket fence behind me as the tension sank out of my body. “Shit,” I breathed out quietly and turned my face to the night sky.
The stars shone on, telling their stories from millions of years ago, and suddenly my problems seemed… tiny. Like I could get a hold of them, if I just took a deep breath and tried.
Slate and I had to talk.
So I gulped and focused on putting one foot in front of the other until I was inside Slate’s house, and he pressed a cup of tea into my hands and guided me to the couch.
Aftercare, I dully realized when he wrapped a blanket around both of our shoulders. That’s what he’s doing for me. Oh, God, I needed it.
“Thank you,” I whispered at last. “If you want, I… I have the keys.” To the padlock around his neck, I should have said, but he knew what I meant.
Slate snorted softly. “No. I should be thanking you,” he said, rubbing my thigh as he tried to keep the blanket closed but also held in place so I was free to drink tea. “I don’t want you to take it off.”
I could breathe easier knowing that. I reached up and touched his collar gently, stroking a finger over his throat, and then settled my hand on the cup of tea again.
At first, we just held each other for a long time. When the beast inside had coiled up and closed its eyes to sleep, I was finally free to speak. “I’m glad I followed you home. You gave me a real scare.”
Slate gulped and rested his head on my shoulder. “I’m sorry, Daddy. I was afraid. I don’t even know if I really… got to subspace tonight. Isaac looked at me, while we were in the middle of it. I just… realized he’d never stop haunting me. And I had to get out. I was afraid I was jumping from the kettle into the fire.”
“And are you?”
The world might as well have stopped turning as I waited for the answer. After all, maybe there was truth in what Isaac had said. Maybe we were birds of a feather, searching for someone who wanted to be hurt…
“No,” Slate murmured. He pressed his warm, rough lips to my cheek. “I’m going from a forest fire to a hearth.”
That made me smile. I set down my cup of tea and took over blanket duty, shifting it around both of us as I drew his legs into my lap and wrapped my arms around him. “It was my mistake,” I murmured. “I should have seen you were going too far. And then telling you to move in with me… that was too much, while you were in that state.”
It had been foolish and impulsive—a chance to grab something good while it was going. An amateur move, not a real Daddy’s patience. I could wait as long as I had to for him to be ready.
Slate nodded slightly. “But I want to. Even if Isaac flees town. Not for protection—for the future.”
“You do?” My breath hitched. I hadn’t fucked it up after all, or read him wrong! Slate wanted me—wanted the same future I did. The days in bed together, the mornings cooking each other breakfast, the nights… well, in every position imaginable.
Slate nodded once, his smile growing. “You’re adorable when you do that.”
I cleared my throat and blushed furiously. God, if I looked like half the lovestruck boy I’d suddenly felt like… “Do what?”
“Nothing,” Slate teased.
He kissed my cheek again, but I growled and turned my head to make his lips land on mine instead.
God, his lips were everything I needed. Heat surged between us as I gripped him tightly, my tongue dancing across his until his lips parted. I sucked the tip of his tongue into my mouth, and suddenly the kiss became