I’m already reaching for the front of his pants and withdrawing his still-hard cock. Even with desire buzzing in my veins, I feel clear-headed for the first time in days. “Thank you.”
His hands settle on my hips as I sink onto his cock. “I’ll always give you what you need, baby girl.” His voice goes a little rough. “And if you wanted to watch me fuck Alaric, all you had to do is ask.”
“I want to watch you fuck Alaric, Daddy.” I rock my hips, taking him deeper, even as I spill this fantasy into the darkness between us. “I like that you let others play with me. A lot. But I want to watch him suck your cock, and then I want to watch you fuck his ass.”
“Mmm.” He nips my bottom lip. “You’ll sit there with your hand up your short little skirt and finger yourself while I do.”
“Yes, Daddy.” I wrap the blanket around his shoulders too, encasing us in a cozy warmth. In our own little world. I ride his cock in slow strokes, drawing out the dreamlike quality this night has taken. This is the come-down from the chase, the slow ascension of pleasure, the feeling of him so close to me in every way that counts. There are times when I love being naked while he’s clothed, but I suddenly need skin to skin.
I reach for his buttons with trembling fingers, but he anticipates me, brushing my hands away so he can make quick work of them. Jafar hooks an arm around my waist and rolls us. Some creative disrobing and then he’s as naked as I am. I wrap my legs around his hips and my arms around his back.
This. This right here is what I need. Different from before, but no less valued for it.
I want this to last forever, but all too soon my body takes the choice from me. I press my face to his shoulder as I come, clinging to him. This time, Jafar follows me over the edge.
He rolls slightly to the side and drags a blanket over us. I rest my head on his chest, holding him tightly as our hearts slow and the sweat cools on our bodies. Finally, I lift my head and frown at him. “A vacation? Really?”
“Yes.”
I wait, but he doesn’t seem interested in offering more explanation. “But why?”
“As I said before, time and time again.” He brushes his thumb across my bottom lip. “I’ll always give you what you need. Even if you fight me every step of the way.”
“I like fighting you,” I respond automatically, but my mind is whirling. I didn’t realize how the walls were starting to feel like they’re closing in until he offers me a reprieve. “You’ve already got this planned out, haven’t you?”
“We fly out in the morning.”
I stare. “What would have happened if I made it to the maze entrance and ruined all your plans?”
His dark laugh has my body clenching despite several delicious orgasms. “You were never making it to the maze entrance and we both know it.”
I suppose we do.
We lay like that for a long time, but Jafar finally urges me up. I’m still dreading the naked trek back to the house when he pulls out a bag tucked back behind the space heater and proceeds to dress me in leggings, a thick knitted sweater, socks, and boots. A hat and jacket finish the outfit. I look down at myself and then at him. “What is this?”
He pulls his own clothes back on quickly and shuts off the space heater. “It’s the winter solstice.”
“Yes,” I say slowly.
Jafar gives me a look. Even without much light, I can feel the censor in it. “Come now, Jasmine. You can’t think I’ve forgotten your tradition.”
I should have known. I should have known he’d notice and catalogue it away in that impressively twisty brain of his. Of course he realized, even before I did, that this was something I needed. “Thank you,” I whisper.
Jafar tucks my hand into the crook of his arm and we walk together out of the maze. Instead of turning toward the house, we move to the gardens. It’s almost the opposite route of the one I always took with my father, but that feels good and right.
A new tradition, built on the old, but different.
Perfect.
3
A Proposal
I am so tired. The kind of exhaustion that settles in my bones to stay. It has nothing to do with the amount of sleep I achieve each night and everything to do with the sheer stress that comes from running a territory. From being a woman running a territory that’s had a man at the helm for decades.
I rub the bridge of my nose, careful not to touch my eyes and smudge my makeup. I’ve had to make examples of people. To do things that feed my nightmares that same way Ali’s death lingers in that darkest recesses of my soul.
I feel Jafar before I see him. It’s as if the very air in the room shifts to accommodate his presence. He’s always been like that, but the longer we’ve been together the more attuned to him I become.
He stops behind me and then his hands are on my shoulders, thumbs digging into the tight muscles there. “We’re done for the day.”
“I have one more meeting.” A video call with the newest territory head—Cordelia. I feel a foolish sort of kinship with her, another daughter stepping into the larger-than-life shoes of her deceased father. I won’t let that kinship muddy the waters when our territories share a border, but I can’t deny it. “I can’t put it off. It’s Cordelia Belmont.”
“You’re right. You can’t put it off.” He finds a knot and digs his thumb in hard enough to buckle my knees and make me moan a little. “Do you need me?”
I smile. “Always.”
“Baby girl.”
I turn in his arms and slide my hands up his chest. “After this, I’m going to be too wound up to sleep.”
His lips curve. “That wasn’t even a subtle hint.”
“No, it wasn’t.” I press a quick kiss to his lips, barely resisting the urge to sink into it. I don’t have time. There’s never enough time anymore. Someone always needs something from me, and nights are my only relief, the only time I can let down my walls and just be me with Jafar. The moment I walk through the doors of our suite and kick off my heels always feels like taking off a corset after wearing it for hours upon hours.
He sets me back and strokes his hands down my arms. “You have this under control. Cordelia isn’t in a position to press us, not when she has Ursa biting at her heels on the other side.”
“Jafar.” I wait for him to look at me. “I know. I have access to the same information you do.”
He laughs softly. “Sometimes it’s hard taking a backseat in these meetings and negotiations.”
“I can’t imagine why.” I arch my brows. “You aren’t staging another coup, are you?”
“When the last one went so well?” He takes my hand, his finger brushing my bare left ring finger. He’s been patient, but in the last month or so, he’s been touching me there more and more often. I suspect he’d want his ring on my finger no matter what, but after the unconventional offering in marriage I got from Abel Paine a few weeks ago, Jafar has been more subtly possessive. “They won’t stop asking, you know.”
Of course his mind’s gone to the same place mine has. I glance at the clock, but I still have a few minutes. “Jafar, he literally gave me a pick of his six brothers to marry, sight unseen. That’s hardly a tempting offer.” I step to him, pressing myself against his chest. “No one is as tempting as you, Daddy.”