“You’re trying to be good?”
He’d spoken to Sophie on more than one occasion about her desire to starve herself, and glancing down at the curve of her breasts now, he wondered how often she deprived herself of food to maintain her weight. A spike of displeasure pulsed through him.
He didn’t like to see his little girl eating unhealthily, although he couldn’t query her choice for lunch.
“I just mean, I’m eating three proper meals a day.” There was a bloom of heat in her cheeks again, telling him she was lying, and his brow rose at her answer.
“I’m glad to hear it,” he whispered into her ear. “Daddy wouldn’t like to think of you going hungry.”
Sophie’s eyes widened at his response. “I don’t,” she assured him before she drew her lip back between her teeth.
“Good.” He reached down and squeezed her hand as the server asked for their order.
Quickly, Jared rattled off the list of their requirements, ordering Sophie a pot of hot tea to accompany her sandwich. He glanced down, expecting her to protest his choice, but she didn’t. Her face was still flushed from their earlier exchange, her lips quiet until it was time to pay.
“Let me get this,” she murmured, reaching into her purse with her free hand. “I still owe you for the ride home the other night.”
Jared shook his head with a smile. “No, you don’t.” He pinioned her with the full weight of his stare. “And lunch is on me.”
“But—”
He released his grasp at her hand. “No, buts. That’s an order.” Jared winked at her as he reached into his pocket for his wallet.
“Seems like a good deal to me,” interrupted the young server from behind the counter. “I’d go with it if I were you.”
He smirked while he waved his credit card over the reader, glancing at Sophie to see her blush growing.
“Thank you,” she mumbled into her chest.
“That’s all gone through,” announced the server again with a smile. “We’ll bring your drinks over to the table.”
Jared returned her smile as he ushered Sophie away. “Where would you like to sit?”
Her hand closed over the back of the nearest chair. “Here is good.”
His smile widened. “Sure you wouldn’t like to go somewhere a little more private?” His gaze landed over a table in the far corner of the café before returning to Sophie’s crimson face.
“If you like.”
“It’s your choice.” He wanted to make that completely clear. Jared hadn’t compelled her into any of this. She’d come because she’d wanted to. She ate what she liked, and she could sit wherever she chose. He was only trying to save her future blushes.
She sighed, turning toward the table as he’d suggested. “But I like your choice.”
Sophie paced away in the direction of the far corner, and he grinned as he slid his wallet back into his pocket.
So far, so good.
Daddy was enjoying this relaxed and acquiescent version of his little girl.
Long may it last.
Chapter Six
Sophie
The conversation was surprisingly easy and the food tasty, but as she swallowed down the third bite of her turkey sandwich, all Sophie could think about was the look in Jared’s eyes.
She knew that look. She’d seen it before, and she knew what it meant.
He was enjoying himself, steering her and paying lip service to the things she had asked, and still, she could feel the tables turning. She sensed him taking back control, and the worst of it was, she didn’t even think she cared. It should be fundamentally disconcerting to cede power to a man who had previously ruled with coercion and manipulation. So, why wasn’t Sophie running from the café?
Why had she come at all?
“So,” he paused, the deep timbre of his voice breaking her train of thought. “Have you thought about me since we met last week?”
Sophie reached for her teacup, wrapping her hand around the warm ceramic.
“Of course, I have.”
Bloody hell, aside from the kids, she’d barely thought of anything else.
“That’s why I’m here, Jared.” Daddy.
She inhaled, aware of how close she had been to adding that final word.
“I thought about you, too.” Jared put his chicken wrap down on his plate. “I think about you all the time, Sophie.”
Those devastating blue eyes seared into her, burning through her camisole top and branding her flesh. At least that’s how it felt as she flicked her hair over her shoulder.
“Your hair has grown.” He smiled at the observation. “I like it.”
Sophie ran her fingers through her tresses. “Yeah, I’ve meant to get it cut, but I never got around to it.”
“Don’t.” His tone was soft as he leaned closer across the small table, but it was a command, no doubt about it.
“I mean, it suits you, that’s all.” He chuckled at his own conciliatory tone, and for a brief moment, he almost looked embarrassed.
Her lips curled. He was doing it again—resuming influence over her—and she should absolutely resent it, yet as Jared fumbled to find the equilibrium between them, she was conscious of how her body responded to his authority. Squirming in her seat, she knew there was arousal pooling at her sex.
She liked it.
Sophie liked it a lot.
And that was the reason she was here.
It was also the reason she’d dreamed about Jared for months and why no amount of counseling was ever going to resolve things in her head.
She needed this in her life.
She wasn’t sure why, but she did.
Someone to take control of certain aspects. Someone to be in charge. It was just, in the tsunami of Jared, Sophie had been swept away entirely, and for a while, she almost lost herself.
She couldn’t let that happen again.
“Thank you.” She ran her finger over the remainder of her sandwich. “I can leave it long… if you prefer?”
Jared grinned, his natural ease recovering in a matter of seconds.
“I prefer, but… it’s not my place to tell you how to wear your hair.”
“I remember when you did.” She lowered her gaze, hardly believing what she’d just said until the words registered in her brain.
“Mmmm. So do I, little girl.”
Her gaze darted back to his knowing one. “I remember the awful little ribbons you used to put in it.”
Jared smirked at her. “Why were they so awful? You looked amazing.”
Sophie exhaled, smiling in spite of herself, and inside her camisole, she could feel her nipples beading at the memory of the pigtails he’d ensured she wore.
“You dressed my hair like I was a child.” Her tone was hushed, an accusation.
“And you didn’t like that?”
“You know I didn’t.” She sighed, glancing down to her lunch again. “It was too much, Jared. I would have been happy to do some of those things with you, but what you did… it was too much.”
Silence fell over the table at her assessment, and awkwardly, she lifted her cup to her lips.
“Okay, I get it.”