Exposed Exposed (Dom Nation #1) - E. Davies Page 0,70
couldn’t satisfy.
“No,” Rex said, chuckling softly. “I’m going to take you on a date one night this week.” At last, the commanding tone faded in his voice, and he gave me a sheepish smile. “Something… romantic.”
Oh my God, I’ve actually died and gone to heaven. My body flushed with a whole new kind of heat, my chest suddenly full of butterflies like every cheesy movie I stayed up late to watch.
“You… you are?” I asked softly, ducking my head. “I don’t deserve that.” I’d never believed I could deserve a place in one of those stories, but here I was.
Rex sharply corrected me, “Yes, you do. When I want to scratch the itch inside you that needs scratched, I’ll tell you that you don’t deserve things. That’s not true. You do deserve to be romanced, and I don’t want to hear you say otherwise. Understand?”
I could barely speak, my gaze fixed on my lap. At least the tide of emotions that had flooded my body distracted me from the fading pressure in my pants. Don’t cry, I told myself, but his words made me feel small and vulnerable in the best way possible.
“Well?” Rex prompted at last.
“Sorry, Daddy,” I finally whispered and looked up at the screen. “I do deserve your…” Love, I wanted to say, but I was afraid. “Romance.”
“Yes,” Rex said firmly, like it was never even in question. “So, keep your schedule clear.”
“I will,” I promised, breathless. I could hardly feel my lips, my heart still hammering at my rib cage. He just casually said things I’d never known I needed to hear.
“Good boy,” Rex added, soft and deliberate. He was giving me permission to bask, and so I did, my shoulders easing into the back of the couch as the tension bled from my body.
“Now, shoo and let me focus, sweetheart,” Rex added, his eyes flicking offscreen as he frowned slightly. Then he turned bright red and stared right at the camera like he couldn’t quite believe the word had left his mouth.
Oh, it had, and we both knew it. I beamed so wide I could swallow the whole world. “Bye, Daddy,” I chirped.
“Bye!” Rex’s cheeks were a funny shade of red. He hung up so fast that I burst into breathless giggles.
Then I got a text from him with just one emoji—two little red hearts revolving around each other. After a minute of searching my emojis to send him the exact same one in response, I smacked my forehead. I could just copy and paste it, duh. So I did, sending the response with a trembling hand before laying my phone on the coffee table next to my cooling cup of green tea.
I stared at it until the screen went black, but with no response from Rex, I could finally catch my breath and try to pretend I wasn’t floating into the stratosphere with happiness.
I glanced around the living room like anyone else could even be here, grabbed a pillow and stuffed it against my mouth, and squeaked in a deeply undignified fashion. When I was done squirming with joy, I set the pillow aside again and stood up, pacing back and forth along the carpet.
I deserve Rex. Even as I thought it, I barely believed it, but Rex clearly wanted me to, so I was going to start practicing now. I deserve his romance and his love and his attention. I deserve to be a good boy for my Daddy.
For more than one reason, it was going to be impossible to sleep tonight. And for the first time in so long, it was no longer because I was writhing in the hollow emptiness that shame left in its wake. No—the kind of shame I felt with Rex was full of rich joy, and it left me light and breathing easier.
I grabbed the cool cup of tea and headed for the kitchen to make another, whistling the whole way there.
Yeah. Sleep wasn’t happening anyway. I might as well fill myself with green tea, the remainder of the cupcake, and endless replays of my Daddy’s words.
12
Rex
I was never going to live this one down.
Distracted by Seb letting himself into the cupcake shop—I’d left the door unlocked—my mouth had moved without my express permission.
“Now, shoo and let me focus, sweetheart,” I’d said, before realizing what had come out of my mouth. Endearment, plain and simple. A sign of affection I’d never let myself feel for a boy, much less say. In public, too.