13. Ford

thirteen

ford

The camera clicked way too fucking loudly, and I froze. You didn't silence it, dumbass! a voice yelled in my head. I prayed she didn't wake up from the sound. She stirred, and for some reason, my finger had a mind of its own, and I clicked another picture on my phone. Her eyes opened slowly, and it felt like time slowed down. Lita's pretty brows burrowed together.

"What are you doing?" she asked, her voice full of sleep.

I could have lied.

Made her think she was imagining things, but the night before had broken the seal on us. I told her I loved her, and she had gifted me with the words with so much emotion behind them, I was glad as hell we were already in bed when she said them, or else I would have embarrassed myself by dropping to my knees.

"Taking your picture," I whispered softly. Lita blinked. Once then twice. Her eyes widened not with fear but curiosity .

"Why?"

"You're too pretty right now for me not to get a picture of you."

"You like watching me?" she asked, but there was something in her gaze. Something I hadn't noticed before. I swallowed hard. I was a man who had made a fortune off listening to his gut and following his instincts.

For some reason, I had a feeling there was something more at play.

The back of my neck prickled.

"You like watching me?" Her words were a question, but it didn't match the way she stared at me. I tried to maintain control of my breathing, keeping it as even as possible, but fuck me, it was tough to do when everything in me was saying something else.

I rolled us around in bed until Lita straddled me. Her thick thighs on the outside of mine without a stitch of clothing between us. In this position, I could feel the wet warmth of her entrance, but I didn't move.

"I do," I admitted. I could see how my pretty girl tried to school her expression, but Lita wasn't a poker player for a reason.

"Have you been?" Her head tilted and her hair moved with it, covering one shoulder, obstructing my view of her breast. I brushed it off and swallowed at the sight of her on top of me.

"You know I have," I rasped roughly. The pink tinge that spread over the apples of her cheeks only confirmed my early morning suspicions. I watched, completely fascinated with the way it spread down her neck to her collarbone. " You know I've been watching you," I repeated, and she nodded.

"I bet you even kept those windows open for me, didn't you?" My hands stroked the line of her spine, and I loved that gooseflesh met my fingertips. The way her body reacted to my touch, to daddy's touch, was fucking exhilarating.

"Ford…" I tsked and pressed my nose against hers.

"Too late to take back what you gave me last night, baby." I swallowed hard. No matter what I did, I knew there was no hiding the fear I felt.

She knew.

She'd known!

She'd known this entire time that I had been watching her, and for some godforsaken reason, Lita was still here. Letting me touch her. Love her. Both of us completely naked and bare. The fact was crystal clear that for whatever reason, she didn't seem to care, but it still freaked me out.

"You're mine, and that means I'm yours," I reminded her roughly, and fuck me, I could have sworn that turned her on. I felt her wetness coat the underside of my shaft that sat now between her folds. "You're stuck with me."

"I don't mind that," she whispered. That thing inside of me started to relax a little. When I pulled back to get a better look at her, she surprised me once again. She had the sweetest grin on her face. "We're made for each other." She spoke like it was fact. It sure as hell was.

"You're damn right we are," I grunted. "How did you figure it out?" I thought I'd been so fucking clever.

"One time, about a month ago, I was in the living room…" she started, her voice almost whisper soft. "I glanced out, and there you were… in yours." I frowned. My brows narrowed.

"The lights were always out in my place." She pressed her lips together as if trying to not laugh out loud and hurt my feelings.

"There was a kitchen light on behind your living area. You were nothing more than a shadow, but there you were. At first, I thought you were watching TV, but then…"

"What?"

"I realized you were sitting facing out the window. Facing mine. I don't know… I thought… but then you crept into my room."

"You popped out those screens." She blushed and shrugged.

"Maybe." My hand dropped to her perfect ass and squeezed her cheek before letting it go and smacking it. "You have any idea how much anxiety that fucking open window gave me? How worried I was some weirdo was going to jump in and do god only knew what to you?"

"Hmm," she sighed happily. "A weirdo did." She leaned in and pressed her lips against mine. "My favorite weirdo," she whispered before we got lost in a hot, passionate kiss.

She'd known.

She had taunted me, teased, and driven me insane.

"You have any idea how much fun I am going to have punishing you, little girl?" I growled before my tongue cut through the seam of her wet lips and dipped into her mouth. She moaned and writhed, but I didn't let her move. When I pulled back, my hands held her face, and I could see something there.

A question.

"How?"

"How what?"

"You said… you said something last night that had me wondering… you didn't move in across the street by chance, did you?" My angel was too fucking smart.

"No," I admitted. I could see the pulse point at her neck starting to match mine.

"You found me online?"

"Yes," I confessed. "I saw a reel of you trying some candy, and I fell for you then…" I licked my lips. Was I actually going to tell her? Let her in on just how fucking demented I'd been when it came to her? "You really want to know this shit?"

"I do," she answered without hesitation. That confidence made my dick ache.

"It won't change anything." I wasn't asking her. I was telling her. "No matter what I tell you, it doesn't change us. You and me. Do you get that? This thing we started doesn't end here, no matter the shit I tell you."

"Ford," she giggled my name, and my cock fucking loved the sound as it thickened below her. "I knew you climbed through my window. How much worse can it be?"

"Fine." A muscle in my jaw ticked. "You posted you were going to be at some coffee shop that was close to my house."

"Your real house."

" Our real house," I corrected, and before she could say something, I told her the whole sordid thing.

How I'd followed her.

Watched her.

Jerked my chain raw to the thought of her.

How I'd work outside just to see her. By the end of it, I was almost positive my little girl would have a change of heart. Not that I would allow it. She was mine. I'd tie her up and kidnap her if I had to.

But it turned out luck was once again on my side. I'd hit triple sevens when her reel came across my page. But I felt like I had hit the lottery when I was done talking and her hands moved from my shoulders through my hair as she stared up at me like I had hung each and every cotton candy cloud in the sky just for her.

"You did all that for me?"

"Daddy would do anything for you." She opened and shut her mouth. "I saw you, and the reaction my heart"—I brought her hand up to my chest— "and soul felt was like nothing I'd felt before, baby girl. I wanted to do nothing but protect and cherish and love the girl with the innocent eyes that stared back at me."

"And when we met… did I.. I mean… did I meet those expectations?" The vulnerability in her voice was crystal clear. I shook my head.

"No, baby, you surpassed them," I answered honestly.

Lita was so much more than a pretty face with a curvy body that made a man want to sin until it drove him through the VIP doors of hell. "This version, this real-life version of you"—my arms wrapped around her curvy body—"is so much better than anything my head could have come up with." Her eyes sparkled with happiness.

"I love you, Lita. You're mine. Always. And with that, I'm yours."

"And the whole daddy/little girl dynamic?" I blinked. I could have sworn she'd more than enjoyed it.

"Do you like it?" She nodded slowly, and I kissed the top of her head. "Then it's for us. We do what feels good. We talk about it, we explore, and when we get tired of it, if we get tired of it, we try other shit. You wanna do the daddy talk in public, I don't give a fuck." I could see the hesitation in her eyes. "But I also understand if you want to keep that part of us private. When it comes to what we do behind closed doors, I don't give a fuck what anyone might think. Nothing we've done or will do is wrong. You get me?" She nodded.

"I think I'd like it kept private. Just for us."

"Then that's how it will be. We explore and have fun. Now, there is something else we gotta talk about." Her head tilted with curiosity. "I might be a hard sell to your parents with how much older I am than you but?—"

"Shh…" Her fingers pressed against my lips. "My parents will love you because I love you. And my siblings and friends… well, if they don't, they can get bent. I choose you, Ford. Just like you chose me. Forever."

"Fucking hell," I groaned and rested my forehead against hers while my hands kept a tight hold on her head. "I love you, Lita. I don't know what I did to deserve you, but I will do everything and anything to make you happy. I promise you," I vowed.

"I promise to make you happy, too."

She fucking unmanned me with her sweetness. I lost sight of her dark gaze because we both leaned in at the same moment and sealed every promise and word with a kiss.

One that turned wet and sloppy and heated. It wasn't long until we got lost in one another, and a lot longer after that, I got out of bed and made my angel breakfast in bed.