Sadie's Little Christmas - Maren Smith Page 0,30

toward her creation, then abandoned her into the care of her alcoholic mother. He wasn’t anything like any in the long line of foster fathers who’d taken over her care after the state took her from her mother. Regardless of what Derek wanted her to call him, she wasn’t the slightest bit confused about who he was—not mentally, physically, and certainly, not sexually.

Even so, she wasn’t sure how she felt about calling him something so… intimate, so… dominant while she was already so vulnerable with him in bed.

Or in the bath, which was where he expected her to get vulnerable with him next. The only problem was, he didn’t seem at all inclined to take the night to the sexy level she kept hoping for. While he did have a jacuzzi tub, there was nothing kinky about it, and he didn’t use it as a prelude to sex.

He ran water in it, stepping back long enough for her to check the temperature. Once it was to her liking, he poured a capful of bubble bath into it, dug out a white net sack of tub toys from under his sink, and poured them into the water. He had everything—floating duckies and boats, a starfish that stuck on the side of the tub and squirted water when she poked its tummy, and crayons she could use to draw on the tiles. His last touches were a washcloth, soap, shampoo, and a soft blue towel, which he set on a chair by the tub. What he didn’t do was make any effort to get into the tub with her. He didn’t even stay to watch.

Kissing her on the forehead, he asked, “Do you want Daddy to help you get undressed?”

Hell, yes! She wanted ‘daddy’ to do a lot of things, yet now that the question was poised and the proverbial ball in her court, she became overwhelmed with shyness. This was ridiculous. He’d already seen her naked. He’d seen her as naked and as vulnerable as any woman could possibly be, never mind a submissive woman.

Tingling in all the wrong and yet oh-so-right places, Sadie shook her head.

“I’ll be right outside,” he told her. “Just call if you need me.”

He left, and there she was, standing in the most spacious bathroom she’d ever been in, every nerve in her body fired for sex, and that hungry place between her legs pulsing and throbbing to be touched.

Like in the dressing room, she could take care of it herself, she supposed, but it wasn’t her touch she ached for. She knew—the minute the door swung mostly closed, she tried. It was a pale echo of the pleasure that had consumed her when Derek had taken command of her body. Masturbation just didn’t begin to compare.

Swallowing back her disappointment, she got undressed.

Chapter 6

Sadie lowered herself into the bottom of the jacuzzi tub, settling in hot water up to her waist with a thick blanket of floating white bubbles so high, they brushed the undersides of her breasts.

She had to feel for the toys. She liked the starfish. She’d have liked it even better if he’d stuck around so she could squirt him with it. She’d keep the starfish hidden under the bubbles until she was ready to attack—he’d never see it coming. She giggled, the sound of it echoing startlingly loud in the otherwise empty bathroom.

Wilting, she laid back and sank down until she was as buried as she could be without breathing in either water or bubbles. The tub was Derek-sized. Her toes barely touched the other end.

Something drifted under her butt. Sitting up, she pulled out a blue water crayon. Swiveling sideways, she looked at the stark white tiles on the wall and wondered how many people had drawn on them before her.

Hesitantly, she moved in closer to the wall and started to draw a face—round circle, two eyes, a cute petite nose with just a smattering of freckles, and… stopped when she got to the mouth.

She wasn’t an artist and never had been. Even as a kid, when she’d had to draw things for school, she’d sucked at it. Stick figures were the worst because everyone expected them to be smiling, happy people reflections. She’d never drawn hers smiling or happy. If they were supposed to be a reflection of her, shouldn’t she draw them the way she felt?

What kind of mouth did one put on a lonely stick figure? What kind of mouth did unwanted ones have when they were worth