Jared was taking control, and it was magnificent.
“By dominating you. By exerting authority over you again?”
Her eyes flickered open at the question. “Yes, please.”
Sophie’s toes curled inside her shoes, but it wasn’t just the intensity of the moment which produced the response. It was the fact her sentence needed something else.
Something more.
She’d willingly have called him sir, but that wasn’t what he wanted.
It wasn’t what either of them wanted.
“Sophie.” His voice was that soft, taunting purr, the one she’d had dreamed of for so long.
Her lips parted. Sophie wanted to say it. She wanted to give him what he needed, but there was still a part of her that refused, clinging to that final bastion of her independence—of the woman she had fought to be every day since she’d fled from this little brick house. Giving in at this moment seemed like the tipping point.
If she ceded on this one, critical detail, there was no going back.
No second thoughts.
“Are you ready to be my little girl again?” His warm, minty breath washed over her, lulling and arousing her in equal measure. “Are you ready to give yourself to me?”
She pulled in a deep breath, gazing into his eyes, and finally, she reached the point of no return. The point where her need burgeoned. The point where the risk of never yielding was more dangerous than the consequences if she did.
At that moment, the answer came to her with ease. She even smiled before she murmured it into his jaw.
“Yes, Daddy. I’m ready.”
Chapter Nine
Jared
There were fireworks in Jared’s mind as she finally, delightfully, granted him his greatest wish, and for a moment, it was difficult to take another breath, but when he focused on Sophie again, she was smiling.
She was actually smiling at him.
“Are you sure, baby?”
The words were at his lips without conscious thought, ignoring the desperate throb in his cock. This was the man he needed to be. Jared didn’t just want her consent once, he wanted it every single step of the fucking way.
Sophie ran her tongue over her white teeth, the gesture swelling his erection further.
“Yes, Daddy.” Her voice was almost playful. “I have thought about it a lot, but being here with you has cemented things in my mind. I want this. I want to submit. I want to be your good little girl.”
He shook his head in disbelief. Jared must have sold out under a lucky star the day she initially messaged him all those years ago because, in all his life, he’d never met anyone like Sophie. She was everything he wanted. She was smart, gorgeous, and fiercely in need of Daddy to take her in hand.
It was like he had always said—Sophie was perfect.
“You are,” he breathed the words down to her. “You never stopped being my little girl, even when we couldn’t be together.”
“I know.” Her breathy little pant hardened his length even further. “It was always you, Daddy. I just needed time to come to terms with the whole thing.”
“And have you?”
“I think so,” she rasped, lowering her gaze to his chest. “I hope so, but…” Her voice trailed into silence, and Jared’s hand shifted to her chin, forcing her to meet his eyes.
“But what, little girl?”
Sophie gulped at the direct question. “I just hope it’s enough. I hope I’m enough.”
Jared’s gaze narrowed. “What do you mean enough?” His tone was soft yet stern. Sophie had a history of putting herself down, and he didn’t appreciate it. He didn’t appreciate it one bit.
“You, little girl, are more than enough. You always were, and you always will be.”
“But you were always so cross with me, Daddy.” Her eyes were large and imploring as the words fell from her lips. “I gave you everything back then. I couldn’t give you any more, yet I still disappointed you.”
“Sophie.” He leaned down, brushing his mouth over hers. Christ, he wanted to kiss her, to devour her, and suck out all the insecurity she harbored in her beautiful brain.
“Any disappointment I felt was based on the push and pull between us. The fact I had taken you without your permission meant you were always desperate to get away. I was holding on too tightly, baby. It won’t be like that now.”
The arm snaked at her middle drew her in for an embrace, and he allowed the fingers at her chin to glide past her heated cheeks and back into her soft, beautiful hair.
“But what if it is?” He could hear the emotion in her voice. “What if it’s just me? What if I’m not enough?”
Jared pressed a chaste kiss into her honeyed tresses.
“It won’t be,” he assured her. “You’re here because you want to be, and you’ll only stay for as long as we both agree.” He lowered his face so that their gazes were at the same level, capturing her hair in his fist to hold her place.
“You. Are. Enough, little girl. Have you got it?”
She blinked away the tears which had formed in her eyes.
“Yes, Daddy.”
“Let’s hear it then. Tell me you’re enough.”
Sophie gasped. “Daddy, please!”
“Tell. Me.” He lowered his voice, and her eyes widened in recognition. “Daddy wants to know you understand.”
“I…” She hesitated, and her face flamed as though the words were painful to say. “I am enough, Daddy.” Jared’s lips were on hers as she whispered the words.
“Yes, you are,” he confirmed between hot kisses. “And Daddy wants you to always remember. The next time I hear you insinuating anything less, you’ll be straight back over my knee, young lady.”
Her eyes fluttered at his warning. “Yes, Daddy. Though I have missed being there.”
He grinned down at her. “Where, baby?”
Although Jared knew full well where, he wanted to hear it from her fucking adorable lips. After all this time, he needed to hear Sophie ask for it.
She gazed up at him coyly. “Over your knee. Daddy.”
Fuck.
His cock swelled at her plaintive little tone. He wanted her again. He wanted her so fucking badly.
“You need me to spank you, little girl?” He arched his brow at her, relishing the way she nibbled her lip in response.
“Yes.” She sounded so desperate, so hot and frantic for Jared and the things he promised. “Yes, Daddy.”
He captured her mouth with his lips once more, probing deep inside while she groaned in reply.
“Daddy wants to hear you say it.” He panted as drew away. “Your consent matters now, little girl, so if you want it, you’ll have to beg Daddy for it.”
Sophie inhaled. “Please, Daddy.” She rose on her tiptoes and skimmed her lips against his jaw. Jared’s cock leapt at the intimacy, eager to be back inside her again.
“Please, will you spank me, Daddy?”
He gazed down at her. Hearing those words from Sophie’s lips was tantamount to a miracle. All those years he’d needed her, yearned for the warmth of her touch. The months he’d followed her, they’d all been leading to this—this one, sweet moment of submission.