Page 83 of Hunt Me, Daddy

I exhaled slowly.

“Yes.”

“I hate you a little.”

“That’s alright.”

“I might hate you a lot by tomorrow.”

“Likely.”

“You sound calm for a man who’s about to be hated.”

“I have brothers. I have experience.”

That surprised a laugh out of her. A small one. Quick. Barely there. It cut through me the same way it had at the conference. I wanted to earn another. I wanted to make her laugh from my bed, from my lap, from the safe side of fear. I wanted to hear it after she had yelled herself hoarse and found I was still there.

“Stay inside,” I said, softer now. “You will lock the door. You will not open it for anyone you do not verify. You will not go to the café in the morning. You will not take the fire escape unless there is smoke in the building or I tell you to.”

“Excuse me?”

I almost smiled at the outrage returning. “You heard me.”

“I’m sorry, did you just give me a fire escape protocol?”

“Yes.”

“That is impressively controlling.”

“You have no idea.”

“Ivan.”

“Kit.”

Another silence. This one was warmer, and full of things neither of us could name yet without changing the entire shape of the night.

Finally, she said, “What happens if I don’t listen?”

My hand tightened on the pen until the plastic creaked.

“Then tomorrow,” I said, “we will discuss consequences.”

Her breath caught again and there was no mistaking it this time. For one second, I let myself imagine it fully. Kit standing in front of me, chin high, eyes blazing, daring me to prove I meant what I said. My hand closing around her wrist, not cruelly, never cruelly, but with enough certainty to make her understand the game had changed. Her body over my knee. My palm on her ass. One stinging smack. Then another. Her anger turning into stunned arousal, her careful mind briefly short-circuiting because Daddy had finally taken the decision out of her hands.

I was hard enough that it hurt, but I kept my voice steady.

“Is that a threat?”

“No.”

“What is it?”

“A promise I am trying very hard not to keep too soon.”

Silence. Then, very quietly, “You are dangerous.”

“Yes.”