Creed got the message and I knew this when his arms circled me and he gave me a mighty squeeze.
He allowed seconds to tick by before he murmured, “Gotta let you go, need to deal with this condom.”
“Right,” I murmured back and shifted off him.
He kissed my shoulder before he exited the bed. I had pulled on my panties and camisole by the time he got back.
Creed turned off the lone light we had on and pulled me into him, tucking me close and I took us full circle.
“I’m glad your kids like me, Creed.”
“What’d I say?” he asked in reply.
I pressed in closer, grinning at his shadowed skin.
Creed’s arms around me tightened then loosened and I relaxed into him.
Finally, I gave it to him.
“Just so you know, you haven’t changed much but I’d take you any way you came to me, too,” I whispered. “I loved you then. I love you now. I just love you, Creed.”
I heard him draw a breath as I felt his chest expand with it.
Then he released it and I felt his lips brush the top of my hair.
“Good to know,” he muttered there.
I smiled at his shadowed skin again before I took a deep breath and, in my man’s arms, after a day of fun and relaxation, a night of good food and then great f**king, I slipped straight into sleep.
* * * * *
Daddy showed him the picture. Me, wearing heels, a dress Creed had never seen, my hair done up in a way I never did it, looking older, like the days he’d spent there were years. I had Dixon’s arm around my waist, my hand lay on his chest and my head was resting on his shoulder.
“I told you,” Daddy whispered, his voice ugly in his glee. “Right from your arms to Jason’s. Right to Jason.”
Creed tried to focus through the hunger, the pain, the discomfort, the smell. He couldn’t see my face. He could barely see my profile.
But he knew I’d never go to Dixon.
Never.
Daddy went on, “He’ll make her happy. I promise you. I promise you, Tucker. He’ll make her happy. I’ll see to it. She’ll be happy in a way you never could make her be.”
Creed closed his eyes.
Daddy lost patience, his fingers shoving in Creed’s hair, yanking his head back and the pain spiked along the slice in his scalp. “Look at it!”
He opened his eyes and there I was.
His Sylvie.
Even in another man’s arms, he drank me in.
“That’s where she’s meant to be,” Daddy told him.
Creed knew Daddy was wrong.
That wasn’t where I was meant to be.