Honey, Honey by Rebel Carter

Chapter Twenty-One

LAW

My sub was happy. She was satisfied and practically purring with pleasure. This meant I was happy. I looked down at where she was sitting on the floor in front of me, a mess of pillows around her for comfort. The fire I’d started earlier was cheerily crackling away in front of us while Honey sipped the tea I’d made her. I focused on the hair I was braiding. Her dark, thick curly hair felt good in my hands, the strands of it curling pleasingly around my fingers while I worked a braid into being. When I was done, I gave it a tug and tipped her head back to look at me.

“Are you happy?” I asked, knowing she was but needing to hear it.

She beamed up at me, her pretty face brightening with a smile. “Yes, Daddy.”

I kissed her forehead, settling my hands on her shoulders. “When you’re happy, I’m happy, princess.”

“I know.” She sipped her tea again and then leaned back against the settee we were on with a content sigh. “We have to go soon, though.”

“I know.” I squeezed her shoulders not liking the thought of leaving the bubble of the Cairn, but she was right. It was mid afternoon on a Sunday. We’d spent the better part of the day sleeping, eating and fucking. I’d touched, licked, and kissed every fucking part of my little girl, and I’d let her do the same. I enjoyed the hungry and demanding way Honey touched me, the way she kissed me, taking as much as she could.

She was mine, but I was unquestionably hers in return.

But that was here, within the walls of the club. We hadn’t talked about life in the city. What the everyday would bring for us. My mind was already on the work I had waiting for me, the way my life was void of Honey’s warmth and softness. How I had fucking beat it out of my life with surgeon like precision, leaving nothing but work and numbers. That had been safe, better for the people I’d once loved, better for me. It was preferable to know the people you were soft around were safe. That they wouldn’t end up with a bullet in their back or a message carved in their side.

I hadn’t bothered picking up the threads of my old life when I went legitimate. Being clean didn’t really translate to a white picket fence and a dog with a little missus waiting at home for me. That was for a decent man, and I...I hadn’t been that for a long time. My life was safe now, stable at least with the biggest risk coming in the form of conference calls and memo forms. But even still, I worked long hours, I was an asshole when I was overworked, Addie said so. I didn’t have hobbies anymore, I was-–fuck. Who the fuck was I even anymore? The week since I’d met Honey had woken my ass back up to real life.

I’d lifted my head long enough to look around and see that I was well and truly out of step with the rest of humanity. None of that shit had mattered to me before, but after Honey, I’d noticed. I hadn’t liked that I noticed or the prickliness it set under my skin, making me feel restless. Frustrated and full of energy at not knowing where to fucking start when it came to stepping back into who I’d once been.

I’d come to the club to blow off some steam. Get that taste of humanity out of my mouth and force myself back into the familiar coldness of my life. My weekend with Honey had blown that plan to shit. How the hell was I going to work a submissive into it? A little girl that was, not just a little in need of a guiding hand from her Daddy, but a complex woman who was bright and determined? Honey was a challenge I had not figured out yet.

“What’s wrong?” She asked, reading my face. Fuck, I needed to work on keeping myself more together around her. But it was difficult. Honey had a way of bringing every wall and boundary I had built up down to the ground. She had access to me in ways I had never allowed another person, not just a submissive.

Now that she had noticed my mood I decided not to beat around the bush. No use starting now. She’d read it immediately. And I was the one who had pushed for honesty. No more lies. Those were my fucking words.

“Trying to figure out how we work when we leave here,” I told her, and I felt her stiffen beneath my hands.

“I was trying not to think about that.” She said, voice quiet. She turned so that her body was to the side, her back against my thigh. She bit her bottom lip, teeth wiggling the plump flesh for a beat before she let it go and blew out a heavy sigh. “I don’t expect anything,” she said.

“What the fuck?”

Her brown eyes moved to the side, away from me and towards the fire. “I’m just saying that I know—that, you know this...this…” Her voice trailed off and I crossed my arms, leaning back in my seat.

“This what, Honey?”

Her eyes flew to me. It was the first time I’d used her name that day. It had been nothing but princess, little girl, baby girl, good girl, and a lot more fucked up shit that I wasn’t in the mood to think about right then. If I did, I’d get hard and I could tell from the worried look on her face, the way her brows were pinching together, that sex wasn’t going to be on the list of activities I felt like indulging in.

“That this is temporary. Just a fun weekend, Law.”

Law. Not Daddy. I didn’t like it, though I know I deserved it for using her’s first. I took in a deep breath. If Honey was going to dig her heels in about this ‘fun weekend’ bullshit, I was going to give as good as I got. I wanted this woman. I wanted her to be mine and I would rejoin the living to do it. I would show her this was not just a weekend. It couldn’t be.

“It’s not just a weekend,” I gritted out, not giving a shit about holding my cards close to my chest. No lies. Honesty. “Not for me.”

“What?” Her eyebrows flew up. I preferred surprise to the upset look she’d been giving me, even though I didn’t fucking get why she was surprised.

I scowled. “What what?” Jesus this was going off the rails.

She jabbed a finger at me. “Explain.”

I reached out, wrapping my hand around her finger and folding it back into her hand. “It’s not polite to point.”

Her cheeks dusted a light pink and I saw her throat move in time with a hard swallow. “Sorry,” she whispered and she lowered her hand, taking mine with her. I could have pulled away, dropped her hand when my point was made. But I wanted the contact with her. My hands wrapped around hers.

“What do you mean this isn’t just a fun weekend?”

“Exactly that. I don’t want a fucking weekend with you Honey. I want- I broke off, because what the fuck did I want? Hadn’t I just thought that I didn’t get a missus and a white picket fence? Though the shit we’d done that weekend, what I knew Honey needed from her man...I didn’t think she’d want a white picket fence and a quiet life. “I want you,” I finally settled on. That sounded right.

Her mouth dropped open. “What the hell?”

This time it was me who was frowning at her. “What?”

“I don’t get you.”

“Right back at you, sweetheart.”

She smacked my leg. “I’m serious, Law!”

I leaned forward, wrapping my arms around her and lifted her up, dragging her into my lap. “So am I, Honey. What the fuck are you going on about now? I just told you I want you. I don’t want this to be a ‘fun weekend’ or whatever the fuck you are talking about, okay? I want you, goddammit.” I glared at her, fully committed to not letting go of her until she understood the damn words coming out of my mouth. What the hell was it with women never listening to everything before they started yelling? “Will you listen to me? I want you.”

She laughed. “I want you too.”

I stared at her. Her words were too easily won. Hadn’t she just been smacking me a second ago? “Is this a trick?”

“Oh my god. Shut up and kiss me.” She wrapped her arms around me and pulled me close.

“Fine,” I grumbled, but I didn’t care because Honey was kissing me. She wanted me. I’d kiss her anytime she wanted so long as she wanted me.