Page 18 of Hidden Obsession

Almost like a goddess instead of a shy, awkward twenty-five-year-old virgin stripper.

The tips of my fingers reached for the hem of the soft cotton shirt. I took a deep breath before I pulled it up and over my head. I had stood and danced in front of strange men and some women in less than I was wearing now. And never, not even close, had I felt as seen and beautiful and adored yet vulnerable all at once like I did under Hollis’ gaze.

“Fuck,” he cursed.

“I want you,” I said, proud of the steadiness in my voice. “I won’t tell you to stop because I want everything and anything you want to give me.”

“Baby.” He licked his lips as his eyes skimmed up and down my body like he couldn’t seem to help himself no matter how hard he tried. That alone was enough to make me even braver and bolder. I reached behind me and undid my bra, letting the material pool with his clothes.

“I promise.”

“Shit.” His hands balled into tight fists at his sides. “You haven’t even been kissed yet, little flower. How the hell am I supposed to keep from fucking you into next Tuesday?”

“Maybe you’re not supposed to.” I wasn’t sure how the hell I managed to push the words out, but the sexy little growl he made under his breath had me pressing my thighs together for relief. “I just…”

“What, baby girl? What do you want?” He stood to his feet with his hands still clenched, like he was trying to keep them to himself.

He was on edge, ready to snap and pounce on me.

I’d done this.

Just by standing topless in front of him.

“I want you, Daddy.”

“We don’t have to do the whole daddy⁠—“

“I want it. It fits. With you. With me.” I licked my lips. “I don’t have anything to base it off, but it feels right. Feels like us.” In the blink of an eye, Hollis closed the space between us and his hand tangled with the hair at the back of my head and pulled my head back, forcing me to arch my beck, but not in a way that hurt.

He was gentle in his dominance.

Gentle and tender for me.

“I kiss you, I taste any part of your body, Maryanne, that’s it. It’s over. You’re mine and I’m yours. No going back. There is no chance this can go any other way.”

A small part of me wanted to argue with him.

Tell him there was no possible way he could possibly know that the way he made it sound. Like a done deal. Yet the other part of me, the one in control and listening, soaking in every moment, knew what I was going to say.

I knew the truth.

“I’m already yours,” I answered. My eyes had just shut when his lips touched mine and my world shifted on its axis, and I knew life would never be the same again.

EIGHT

HOLLIS

Her lips were perfect.

My tongue swept over them, and she opened for me, letting me plunge my tongue into her mouth. She tasted like every fucking goddamn dream I’d never let myself have. I’d thought about where life was supposed to go, and Maryanne’s mere existence had changed it all.

The innocence in her kiss, the small hint of inexperience, made me want her more. I picked her up, loving the way her legs wrapped around my waist. My hands held on to her ass cheeks like my life depended on it.

I stood there unable to decide if I wanted to set her down on my bed, take her back to the chair, or say fuck it and press her body against the closest wall. Either way, I would be sinking balls deep inside of her body within the next thirty minutes, and I wouldn’t stop until the sun had long come back up in the morning.

I set her down and loved the way her little hands gripped the front of my shirt until I tugged it off. She immediately started to stroke the planes of my muscular chest. The heat of her touch left trails I knew I’d feel long after we finished. Her caress left an invisible mark on me.

Her mark.