Exposed Exposed (Dom Nation #1) - E. Davies Page 0,24

hand still tangled in my own hair, probably looking as half-wild as I felt.

My chest heaved for breath, and the more I sat up, the more it exposed my dilemma. I shrank away from him, mortification staining my cheeks and my soul.

“Tell Daddy what you need,” Rex whispered, his hands slipping down my sides. Igniting a wildfire under my skin, fingertips hot and firm, the touch glided all the way to my hips. I trembled, ready to push forward into his grip and beg.

But he didn’t go there. His hands slipped past my groin and came to rest against my outer thighs. The whole time, his deep, steady gaze never strayed down to the bulge in either desire or condemnation.

Instead, he looked me in the eye and asked me what I needed. Like he cared.

Oh my God, I thought as it hit me like a ton of bricks. I’m not getting laid. I’m getting looked after.

My vision was suddenly hot and blurred, and I choked back a sob, but it was too late.

I slumped over toward Rex, and suddenly my cheek rested on his shoulder, and his hand was gliding along my back and neck, through my hair. The soothing touch couldn’t hope to mend the pieces inside me, but dammit, it felt nice.

Was I allowed nice for once?

“I’m sorry,” I choked out again, my voice rough and thick with humiliation—and not the kind that made me hard. Instead, my blood rushed to my head, and mercifully, the throbbing in my pants eased at last.

Instead, I fought myself. The unworthy, broken pieces of me recoiled in anger against the tenderness in Rex’s hands, while something even deeper and more primal unfurled and pressed close to him, desperate for every touch.

I hated myself for that very desperation, but I’d drink in every drop of comfort Rex offered me.

He never once complained or pulled away. Just as he had in the shop, even when my hold loosened, like he knew I was pretending everything was okay, he kept holding on.

Until I melted, really and truly, into him and gave in.

Young. Small. Lost.

I couldn’t work out what I felt, or what I should feel, or why.

I was tired. So fucking tired, and all I wanted was this to make sense. Instead, the more time I spent around Rex, the less sense any of it made.

At last, I felt it—Rex pulling away. That was it. I’d worn out his patience. I’d dithered around for long enough, pretending not to know what I wanted.

Like everyone else, Rex was just going to leave me here, small and alone.

Fuck. My heart hammered and leaped into my mouth. I held tighter, a whimper slipping out of my lips. “Don’t go,” I breathed out, quick and frantic. “I need…”

Finally, I was too tired to hide the answer from myself anymore.

“I need a Daddy,” I whispered.

My feelings about it were irrelevant. I could be embarrassed or angry or defensive about it, but it didn’t change what I needed. I could ignore it for years on end, but that wouldn’t do anything, either. Just grind me down into the finest dust imaginable.

“I’m sorry,” I added, emotion knotting my throat again. “I shouldn’t ask you to be… that. To me. I can’t. I won’t.”

But Rex spoke at last, his hands coming to rest on my shoulders. “I’m not waiting for you to ask.”

I pulled away, slow and fearful, and met his gaze. “You aren’t?”

God, I had to look a pitiful wreck right now. Okay, I’d cried more than a little, and I was wrung-out, and my eyes hurt and my gut felt like a whole hurricane had washed through my soul in the span of a night.

Rex shook his head and drew away from me, but now I sensed he wasn’t leaving. So what was he doing?

The answer became apparent a moment later when he pressed the still-warm cup of green tea into my hands, his palms cupping my hands until I had a steady grip.

He’d never left his spot kneeling in front of me. Isn’t that degrading for a Dom? I wondered. Does he feel emasculated? God, can’t I switch my worries off for three seconds?

Reflexively, I sipped and then sighed as the prickle washed into a sweet, dulled aftertaste. I looked up at Rex as he spoke.

“For tonight, that’s who I am for you,” Rex said. “And I’m honored you trust me.”

There was something I couldn’t place in his voice—not doubt, but something directed at himself. Like Rex didn’t think