don’t have to buy me anything. I just enjoy spending time with you.”
His mouth quirks, and he looks thoughtful suddenly. “That’s what Aubrey says.”
His talk often turns to Aubrey when we’re together. He wants to dress me like her, and he calls me his little girl. Sometimes, I wonder if he wishes he didn’t miss out on watching Aubrey grow up. Having a little girl to spoil and call princess and hear her call him Daddy. Maybe it should bother me that he’s roleplaying that with me, but I’m playing, too, being spoiled and petted and made to feel like I’m something precious.
“Daddy,” I say, walking two fingers up his arm. “What would make you happy? With Aubrey, I mean.”
He thinks for a moment. “I want her to feel she can confide in me and understand that I’ll protect her from anyone who means her harm.” He reaches out and strokes his forefinger over my lower lip. “I want her want to be near me.”
He kisses me, capturing me in his arms and pressing me down into the sofa. “I want her to smile at me. Be happy to see me. Put her arms around me.” He presses his mouth against mine, over and over, his kisses growing feverish. “Love me.”
“She wants to love you, too.”
I clench my hands on the muscles of his shoulders and bury my face in his neck as his fingers seek my clit, eager to send me over the edge again.
“Fuck, I want you again.” He fumbles for a condom, and when I wrap my thighs around his hips, he sinks into me.
He bites his lower lip as he hammers me with his cock. “Such a good girl for Daddy.”
When his hand slips around my throat and tightens, the blood rushes to my head, and I have to work that little bit harder to breathe. I watch him through half-closed eyes, reveling in being held down by him, choked by him, giving everything to him. When I come, he groans and forces himself deeper, with each thrust, leaning more weight on my throat.
As he withdraws, I lay where I am, gasping, too blissfully worn out to move.
The sun is sinking lower in the sky as we cuddle beneath a blanket. Devrim plays with strands of my hair, curling them around his finger and then letting them unravel.
“I’m going to tell Aubrey that I won’t search for any more suitors for her. She can take her time about getting married, if that’s what she wants. I don’t want her to keep worrying about being forced into a match. I think that will help things between us.”
“She’ll like that. I think that’s the first time you’ve sounded hopeful about your relationship with her.”
“I think I am. If I can make you smile at me, maybe it’s not so impossible that I could make her happy.” He kisses me softly. “What about you? Tell me something you want.”
The papers still call him Ironclad, but he’s got a soft center, under all that iron. He would give me that pink gown if I asked for it. He’d probably give me a dozen. If I shed a few tears and told him about our awful living situation and how confused Mama and I are that the Rugovas have been so neglected by the King, he’d probably move us into a better home within a day. Then I’d owe him. My god, how I’d owe him. He’d have all the power, and how could I let him strap me viciously with his belt, after that?
“I want for nothing, Your Grace.”
He takes my nipple into his mouth and sucks it. “None of these Your Graces, when we’re alone. I can’t do anything for you? I have some influence.”
“You don’t say,” I mutter, watching his fingers caress the rosy tip of my breast. “I’m perfectly fine, thank you. I just love being here with you.”
Devrim meets my eyes, and I feel my breath lock in my throat. I’m supposed to be enjoying this because he’s sinfully gorgeous, and taking pleasure in the fact that I have the most powerful man at Court, treating me like a princess. And because I can help Aubrey. Not because of words like love.
He captures my mouth in a kiss. “I love being here with you, too, sweetheart.”
I enjoy the prickle of his silvery beard against my mouth. If he asked me to marry him again, would I be strong enough to say no? How would I explain