“Croc almost got him.” The memory of Dave scrambling to get free of the predator pops into my mind and I swallow the lump in my throat. “Got there just in time.”
“You saved him.” Fawn glides forward, kissing me in the center of my chest where my heart rages out of control. “You saved me, too. That’s how I know you’re a good man.”
As much as I want to let her believe that about me, I shake my head in denial. “Doing a few good things doesn’t erase all the bad I’ve done, Fawn. All the bad I do.”
“No. Leave it in the past tense.”
A grumble builds in my chest. I want to do anything she asks of me. I want to lay the world down at her feet, but I don’t know how. “I’m only good at one thing, Fawn. The course of my life was set when I was born this big, looking like I do. My own mother…” I say haltingly. “She knew. My boss knew, hiring me on the spot, like it was a given for me to hurt people.”
Fawn looks around. At the fish in the pond—I brought them here when their home was drying up. Her gaze dances over the limping Irish setter I found on the side of the road. Thankfully he’s gained some weight back since then. Her eyes find me once again. “For every person you’ve hurt, I bet you’ve saved an animal. Now all we have to do is shift the balance. More good than bad.” She lets out another one of those sweet giggles as Dave climbs from my shoulder to hers, his tiny fingers combing through her hair. A moment later, Fawn sobers, looking at me meaningfully. “Our souls are joining into one,” she whispers. “Aren’t they?”
“Yes,” I respond without hesitation, shaken to the core by the way she reaches inside of me and rearranges everything. My intentions, my organs, maybe even my belief in myself.
“Don’t you want yours to be clean before it joins with mine?”
“Yes,” I say again, more raggedly than before. I’m ready to drop down on my knees in front of her. Ready to kill myself giving this angel whatever she asks me for. What a privilege that she’s chosen me to see to her needs. Food, shelter, pleasure. I’ll spend every waking moment of my life making sure she has those necessities.
“Then tell me you’re going to stop working for this bad man. Frank.” Her bottom lip trembles, causing me to make a hoarse sound. “Promise me.”
There’s only one choice. She’s right. I can’t bring my blackened soul anywhere near her pure one. The only way to salvation—also known as Fawn’s happiness—is to be a better man. The kind of man who is worthy of a gift like her. “I promise, angel. I’m done.”
Her smile is like the sun coming out from behind a storm cloud. It’s a miracle.
I’ve done the right thing. The only thing. And truthfully, it’s such a relief. I’ve never wanted the violence. It has never felt right, not for a single second. Now I know why. I was waiting for Fawn and I wasn’t behaving in a worthy manner.
Now I will, though. From this moment forward, I’ll work to be the best man I can be.
For her.
Dave hops down from Fawn’s shoulder to the ground to follow the ducks, stopping to wave back at her before disappearing into the trees running the perimeter of my compound. She skips toward me, those pretty tits bouncing in her neckline. And she leaps, wrapping her legs around my hips, my hands cupping and squeezing her ass, boosting her higher while she giggles, playing with my hair, shifting her hips temptingly. In a way that makes me so hard, it’s a wonder I refrain from fucking her where we stand. Goddamn, is this my life now? How will I stand the perfection of it? Of her?
“I need you inside me again,” she whispers against my lips, her heels digging into my ass. “A thousand times won’t be enough.”
The volume of my groan sends a flock of birds screeching from the tree overhead. I’m about to tug her panties to the left and plant my cock in her painfully tight cunt, but I hear her stomach growl and my vision almost turns black. “You’re hungry.”
“I’m hungrier for you,” she says, trailing her tongue along the seam of my mouth. “I want to see your bed. I want you to break it taking me so hard.”
A hornier female has never walked the earth. Thank you, God. Thank you.
Still…
“I need to feed you first, baby.” In a direct contradiction of my words, my hands mold the taut cheeks of her ass. “I won’t be able to concentrate knowing you have an empty stomach.”
Cheeks flushed, eyes trained on my lips, she nods reluctantly. “Okay.” She looks down at her body and her blush deepens. “Maybe a shower, too.”
“I’ll clean every inch of you myself.”
Her smile twists my chest up in a knot. “Promise?”
“I promise you everything, Fawn.”
Chapter Six
Fawn
Benny’s home is a magical place.
It’s also like walking into the land of giants. All of his furniture is handcrafted and built to accommodate someone of his considerable size. Every inch of the house is clean, organized, and the kitchen is no exception. He carries me into the cozy room and sits me on the counter, his hands reluctant to leave my body. I’m reluctant, too. When he isn’t touching me, my pulse seems to slow down and I’m so much colder.
I thought I knew how deep my infatuation ran with Benny, but now…now that he has been inside of me, now that we have bonded, I realize how naïve I was. This isn’t an infatuation. He is my soul mate. I knew it the first time I stumbled upon him in the forest. Seeing him with the animals, experiencing his worry and care for me, has only turned my fascination with him into a full-blown obsession.
And he returns it. He is going to give up his violence for me. Which is a good thing, because I can’t accept anything less. I’ve lived with anger and vitriol and blood for so long that is almost crushed my spirit. Were it not for my notebooks, I’m not sure how I would have survived. Now I don’t know how I would survive without Benny.
Please don’t let me find out.
That man—Grim—mentioned there might be a problem with Benny’s boss. A man called Frank. As I watch Benny move around the kitchen, his eyes cutting over to me every few seconds, I say a silent prayer that Frank won’t shatter our newfound peace.
Benny feeds me a meatloaf sandwich that stops the growling in my stomach. He kisses my knees while I’m eating, sifts his big fingers through my hair. I’m so famished, the sandwich is gone in a blink and with a satisfied grunt, Benny scoops me off the counter and carries me to the back of the house. We pass his bedroom and I catch a glimpse of his bed. A four-poster the size of backyard, the top of the mattress at least five feet off the ground.
“I’ll build you some stairs for the bed,” he says gruffly, cradling me tight. “Or better yet, I’ll lift you in myself. If you need to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, you will wake me up and I’ll help you down. I’ll…bring you there.”
“Maybe the stairs are a good idea. I don’t want to interrupt your sleep.”
“No.” His jaw flexes. “I want to take care of you.” His swallow is audible. “I don’t know anything about this Daddy stuff, but…it seems like caring for you is something I get to do.” He searches my eyes hopefully. “Isn’t it?”