There are differences. Eve isn’t pretending. This is her. Or one side of her. It’s not a game. It’s not a role she’s performing to turn me on. She does this alone most of the time for relaxation. She made it clear to me that she doesn’t mix sex with her little.
I have to clean up my thoughts ASAP. I’m definitely mixing sex with her little. Hell, I’m mixing sex with her everything. And I can’t do that. I’m not here to fuck her. Jesus. I keep having to remind myself of this fact. Not only would it be highly inappropriate, but she hasn’t asked me to do anything of the sort.
Sleeping with her would fuck with both our minds.
Nope. It can’t happen. I’m here to keep her safe. I need to do that, catch the fucking people who are after her, and move on to my next assignment. Maybe the captain will agree to send me deep into a drug bust in another part of town. Something that will purge my mind of my currently inappropriate thoughts about the amazingly complex woman asleep next to me.
It’s not very late, but I know Eve hasn’t gotten enough sleep this week. She’s dead to the world. I decide to put her to bed.
She whimpers when I lift her into my arms and carry her from the room. Her arms go around my neck. “Where are we going, Daddy?”
My breath hitches. I rein myself in. “To bed, baby. You’re tired.”
“Okay.” She hugs me tighter.
I pull back the covers on her side of the bed and lower her onto the sheets. Then I consider her clothes. Her shirt is soft enough to sleep in, and she’s wearing panties, but the skirt is bunched up and looks uncomfortable. When she rolls to her side, I find the zipper, lower it, and pull the skirt over her hips and down her legs.
Before I lose my mind at seeing the fucking hot swell of her bottom encased in pink cotton panties, I find her unicorn, tuck it in her arms, and pull the covers over her sweet body. “Thank you, Daddy,” she murmurs as she snuggles deeper.
I stare at her for a while, mesmerized again by her duality. Finally, I turn the bathroom light on, pull the door almost closed, and pad from the room. I won’t join her for a while. I need to open my computer and check my email anyway. I pray to God that my boss gets a positive ID on her stalker ASAP. The sooner the better. The longer I stay here, the more of my heart I will lose to the gorgeous multifaceted woman in the other room.
I hold my breath while I open the captain’s email, and I don’t release it until I read that the system has been unable to readily identify the face, which means he’s not in the system. Interesting. My boss will send it to another department to dig deeper.
I groan and consider punching something. Not because he didn’t find a match, but because I’m glad he didn’t find a match yet.
Fuck. Me.
Chapter 12
Evelyn
I’ll never understand how this man can sleep so hard in the morning while I get ready for work all around him. Alas, for the third morning in a row, I’m waking him up with coffee in my hands. I like doing this for him. It might be a bit out of my usual persona to take care of a man instead of the other way around, but it feels nice.
I also like waking him. The way he slowly realizes where he is and who he’s with. The smile that spreads across his face as he takes the steaming mug from me. His tousled hair and unshaven face. Sexy with a capital S.
I’m feeling shyer this morning than usual. I allowed myself to be vulnerable with him last night. It was way out of my comfort zone, but it was impossible to turn down the offer. Hell, it was more like a demand from him. Also sexy with a capital S.
Once I was finally able to relax and be myself, I know I fell asleep with my head on his lap. I was exhausted. I don’t remember too much about going to bed, but I’m pretty sure he carried me. I’m pretty sure I called him Daddy. And I’m pretty sure he took off my skirt because I woke up in just my panties and T-shirt.
And then there was that kiss. Before. Before I let myself be vulnerable and little with him. Before I dressed in toddler clothes and put my hair in pigtails. I bite my lip as I stare at his lips. He’s an amazing kisser. Gentle and firm at the same time.
No one has ever quite made my panties melt with a kiss the way he did. It’s unnerving to think about. I can’t believe we did that. Crossed into dangerous territory. Way outside of my usual norm. I don’t kiss men I submit to and I don’t submit to men I kiss.
But I did. And it felt right. Good. Now it’s just scary. I need to stuff it to the back of my head.
I’m still staring at him, sitting on the edge of the bed. It’s a good thing I put the coffee down on the bedside table because I would be spilling it now as his hand suddenly slides down from his chest to cover mine a moment before he opens his eyes.
I’m flustered as he threads his fingers with mine and pulls them to his lips, kissing my knuckles before muttering, “Good morning.”
“Good morning,” I return, almost tacking on the word Sir. Jesus.
“Thirty minutes?” he asks.
I nod and ease my hand free before slipping out of the room.
We do our morning dance in the kitchen fifteen minutes later, me trying to stay out of his way, him fixing a bagel and another cup of coffee. It’s not until we’re in the car that he turns
