“You’re right. I’m sorry.”
She stared at the dark road ahead, trying to think of something intelligent to say. Something light enough not to morph the mood, but something which steered away from the many sordid memories they’d made.
“I know you don’t want to hear this.” Jared’s voice broke the strained silence. “But I’m glad I followed you. I knew that bugger was up to no good. I guess I just have a sense for these things.”
Sophie bit her lip at that. She supposed he was right. “Because you think the same way, you mean?”
Shit, had she really just said that out loud?
Jared turned in her direction. “Maybe.” His voice had a harder edge than before, the sound making her toes curl. “But still, I don’t regret it.”
They drove on for a few moments longer, Sophie grasping her phone for dear life. She contemplated texting her friend, Karen, who was babysitting for Sophie but reasoned there was little point. She would be home soon, and it wasn’t like she was going to be relaying the story to her. Billy and Lucy were staying with her until tomorrow morning, and she would see her friend then. Her gaze darted back to the window, and gradually, Sophie began to recognize the parks and shop fronts. As they neared the end of her road, she fiddled with her safety belt, keen to make a hasty retreat.
“Leave it on.” His order made her jump, and his focus shifted back to her in response. “At least until I stop. I don’t want you getting hurt.”
“Right,” she replied, but there was no denying the way her heart had frantically increased at his curt command.
He slowed the car, coming to a halt a few feet from Sophie’s house. Leaving the engine idling, he turned his focus to her, his blue eyes boring into her eyes, conveying a hundred different emotions.
“Thank you for the ride.” She didn’t know what else she was supposed to say, so she fished in her purse for a ten-pound note. “What do I owe you?”
He shook his head. “Owe me?”
“For bringing me home?”
His lips curled. “Nothing, little girl. I’m not taking money from you.”
Sophie clenched at the description. It was so long since she’d been his little girl, and for so long, she had dreamed of being that woman again. As the words bounced around the confines of his warm car, she didn’t even know how she felt about them.
“Look.” She gulped before she went on, aware of the weight of his stare. “Thank you for helping me tonight, Jared. I do honestly appreciate it.”
“I know.”
“And for the ride. I…” She hesitated. “It’s been a great help to me.”
“Good,” he smiled. “That’s good.”
But that doesn’t mean you get to control me again. She wanted to say those words, but they wouldn’t come.
Because you don’t mean them. Sophie wanted to slap the unhelpful little voice which purred inside her head. That’s why you can’t say them.
No. She just wasn’t ready to say them to his face, that’s all.
Accepting a ride didn’t mean she was going to cede. It didn’t mean anything. Sophie pushed down the skeptical chuckle of the snide voice and blinked back at Jared, trying to send him the message with her eyes.
It doesn’t mean you get to be my Daddy.
“There is one thing you could do.” He leaned closer. “In return for the ride home.”
She gasped at his assertion. After everything, she hadn’t expected him to make demands on her tonight.
“What?”
Though even as the word escaped from her mouth, Sophie knew. She knew what he wanted. What he’d always wanted. What Jared would always want.
He wanted her to call him Daddy once more.
He wanted to hear the word from her lips.
“Jared, I can’t…”
Christ, she sounded pitiful.
“I haven’t even asked you anything yet.” He grinned at her. “Don’t look so worried, little girl.”
He was close now, perhaps only a few inches from her body, and as Sophie looked around her, she realized she was leaning toward him as well. When the hell had that happened?
“You want me to call you Daddy?”
There. She’d said it. Or, more to the point, the words had come bursting out in an awkward and cringeworthy way, but nevertheless, they were out there.
He laughed gently, the scent of his cologne mingling with the mint of his breath.
“Well, I would love that, but no, Sophie. I know you don’t want that.”
The muscles of her sex all clenched.
Fuck, she did want that. She wanted that so badly, but there was no way she was going to give in to the dark need.
“Then what?” She scarcely recognized the sound of her own voice anymore. Her every fiber was focused on the man in the driver’s seat, the one whose hand was at that moment, reaching for her face. She held her breath at its approach but didn’t try and pull away, and when his palm brushed her cheek, her eyelids fluttered closed.
“I only wanted this.”
Sophie’s gaze flickered open at his lulling words. “This?”
“Yes.” He smiled at her as his fingers tightened in her hair. “Just this. Being close to you, Sophie. I’ve missed it.”
“Oh.”
What was that in her tone? Was she actually disappointed this was all he wanted? Jesus, what was wrong with her?
“You thought I meant more.” Jared’s gaze lowered for a second, though his grasp at her hair never lessened. “I understand, little girl. In the past, I have always just taken what I wanted.”
“Yes.” She bit back on the ‘D’ word, which wanted to surface.
“Not this time.” His attention was back on her face, his palm encouraging her closer toward him. “This time, we go at Sophie’s pace. Nothing happens unless you want it.”
She gulped at his proclamation. “Really?”
“Really.”
Oh. Fuck.
The power of his gaze was almost hypnotic, mesmerizing her as she considered his words.
“So, you’re not going to kiss me?”
Sophie’s lips curled at her own audacity. Here she was, sitting in the car of the man who had bared her soul in the most depraved ways possible, playing with him, teasing him, daring him into intimacy.
It should be daunting.
Helen would say it was insane, but she didn’t care.
It was right. It felt right.
Jared grazed his lips over her mouth. “Not unless you want me to. Not unless you ask me to.”
Oh my God, Sophie wanted him to all right. Had she ever wanted anything more?
“I want you.” She was practically panting at the confession. “I want you to kiss me, please.”
There was a moment of hesitation—a moment when he smiled, his dark eyes twinkling at her words—then he moved, his lips crashing down against Sophie’s.
Claiming her.
Controlling her.
And it was heaven.
Chapter Five
Jared
Five days. It had been five days since he’d last seen her. Five, long days of overthinking, of fighting the urge to do what he always did—take control. But Jared had promised Sophie he wouldn’t follow her anymore, and in return, she’d believed him—trusted him—and agreed to meet him again for lunch.