Touch Me, Daddy

9 - Stefan.

Sadie stays on the rooftop until the last guest has been poured into the car service we've provided for tonight. She thanks the band personally and helps coil their cables. She helps the staff to pick up stray glasses and empty beer bottles, then fills crates with dirty dishware ready to go down to the catering van. Hell, she'd probably ride there tonight and single-handedly load all their dishwashers if she could.

"Oh no you don't." Snagging her wrist as Sadie moves to follow the last hired staff off the roof, I hold her back. "You're done for tonight, sweetheart. Take those shoes off."

She's been hobbling for the last hour when she thinks no one is watching. Well, joke's on Sadie, because I'm always watching, and she can't hide her aching feet from me.

My assistant rolls her eyes, but when I kneel and gesture for her foot, she leans on my shoulder and offers one leg.

Such graceful arched feet. Such feminine toes, the nails painted pink.

Christ. Am I suddenly a foot man? This woman has ruined me.

"You did way too much tonight." Scolding Sadie will make me feel better. Teasing the fiddly little straps undone, I slide off one high heel then the other, placing them carefully on the roof.

The stone is still warm, radiating the heat of the day, even as the wind whips across the empty rooftop and ruffles Sadie's dress and hair. Without the crowds and the gazebos to get in the way, the wind moans and pushes her tiny frame so hard she stumbles.

That's enough of that. Straightening up, I take Sadie's hand and tug her across the rooftop to the pool. Cool water will make those toes feel better—and if she sits, she'll be sheltered from the worst of the wind.

"Do you think everyone had a good time tonight?" Her voice is thin and tired, and she clings to my hand like a lifeline as I lead her to the pool. So goddamn sweet. Always worrying about other people, always thinking about her coworkers and friends, while Sadie has worked herself into the ground for this party.

"Yes. Sit on the edge and put your feet in the water."

A hiss escapes her as her feet break the surface, but once she's settled, Sadie tips her head back with a blissed-out sigh. "That's better."

"I'm very wise." Dragging a sun lounger closer, I sit down and stare at the back of my assistant's blonde head. Her long ponytail dangles between her shoulder blades, ruffled by the breeze. What I'd give to wrap that rope of hair around my fist...

"Modest, too."

When I crack a smile, my face aches from the unfamiliar motion. My insides are plummeting, falling into nothingness.

Would Sadie ever care for me too?

Could she ever... love me?

What if I worked every day to earn her love and loyalty? What if I turned all the fierce dedication and focus that I used to build Rodriguez Enterprises onto my assistant, building something new between us? Something real?

My frozen heart thumps harder, prickling back to life.

Yeah. I could do that.

I want to do that.

What else is life about if not Sadie? Why have I been so stubborn? So blind? Sure, I'm a clueless jackass when it comes to matters of the heart, but I've got a brain, haven't I? I can learn.

For her, I'll learn anything.

"Sadie," I say quietly. She hums, eyes still closed and face tilted to the stars. "Will you tell me now? Will you tell me why you won't stay?"

Just like that, the peace flees her expression. Her forehead pinches, and her shoulders go stiff, and Sadie's mouth presses together in a tight line. And I'm opening my mouth to coax her, to make those shoulders relax, when my assistant pushes off the side of the pool and plunges into the water fully dressed.

"Sadie!"

I lunge up, panic choking my throat. s**t! Can she swim? What if that dress tangles around her legs? What if she's too tired after a long day in the sun?

Doesn't matter. I'm already charging forward, diving in after her fully clothed. Already thrashing through the ghostly water, lights glowing from the sides of the pool, desperate to reach her.

A small body. Pink fabric twisting in the water. An elbow in my gut.

We break the surface, both gasping for breath.

"What—Stefan—what the hell is wrong with you?" Sadie fights out of my arms and turns on me, soaked and furious. Her eye makeup has smudged, and her pink dress clings to every inch of her pint-sized body. "I'm not drowning, you ass."

My mouth opens and closes as I gape at her, enraged.

"You jumped in! Who does that? Of course I panicked!"

How am I the bad guy here? I just ruined a perfectly good tux to rescue my assistant and now I'm the villain. Make sense of that.

"Well, I can swim, thank you."

I will not splash her; will not dunk her beautiful head under. I am not five years old.

"Good to know. I'm glad this wasn't a dangerously insane thing to do, just unhinged. You know, if you're that afraid to answer my question, you can say so. There's no need to drown yourself to escape a simple, adult conversation—"

Water splashes over me in a small wave, and I wipe my eyes, spluttering. My assistant glares at me, furiously treading water. "Oh, shut up. It's not that easy and you know it."

I know it? What the hell do I know?

"You splashed me," I say like an i***t. Sadie huffs and does it again. "I—you—stop splashing me! Come here, you little witch."

With all the times I pictured myself wrestling with Sadie, this scenario never came up: both of us fully dressed in my private pool, our evening wear soaked to our skin, bickering and grappling as water sloshes over the sides. Overhead, a cloud drifts across the moon like it's shielding it from our nonsense, but I've never felt so alive.

She's a wriggly little thing. All elbows and knees, with zero shame about trying to catch me in the junk. And I'd give her some space, would be more careful about crossing this line, except my assistant is giggling like a maniac, splashing and kicking and—Jesus—biting. Booming out a laugh, I wrestle her around until she's facing me, bare legs wrapped around my hips.

Sadie pokes out her tongue. My fingers flex on her waist.

It's inevitable, really.

We slam together like two wild beasts, kissing savagely, still half wrestling. And I'm bigger than her but she's nimble and slight, and more to the point, a single brush of her lips melts my brain. I'm helpless to do anything except stagger to the pool's edge, leaning back against the tiles while Sadie claws at me, kissing and nipping, yanking on my sodden clothes.

"You—are—such a jerk!"

I know.

I know I am, and she's an angel. She's my angel, and she's wet and warm and twined around me like ivy, kissing me like she never wants to stop. Neither do I.

"This," Sadie says, panting between kisses, "is why I can't stay. This is what I want, it's what I've wanted from you for years, and it's killing me. I need to leave. Can't you see that?"

My hands slide down to her ass and squeeze. So perfect. So sweet. "You're not going anywhere."

There's an enraged growl, then Sadie kisses me again, sucking hard on my bottom lip. And I thought I was already as hard as a man can get after all that wrestling, but hey, guess I'm wrong, because lust arrows through my gut and my c**k stiffens so much it could drill through the pool wall.

"You don't want me!" she says against my lips.

Yanking her ass closer, I drag her over my hardness, riding her up and down my length. "You sure about that?"

Because of course I want her. Sadie is my lifeblood.

She's the heart in my chest and the air I breathe. She's everything good and warm and right in the world, and maybe it took me a while to see, but I'm done being an i***t about this. Done fighting this.

And I am never, ever letting her go.

"You're staying," I tell her, trailing kisses down her neck and sucking a mark onto her delicate skin. She whimpers, clutching closer to my shoulders, her hips still riding my length of her own accord. "Not as my assistant, though I'd like that too. God knows my days are empty without you. No, Sadie. You're staying with me."

Her breath catches. "Stefan."

"I was an i***t not to see it. An i***t to fight this thing. But I'm done screwing this up, and I'll spend the rest of our lives making this up to you, sweetheart. Convincing you to stay with me every single day."

Now I'm running out of words, running out of brain cells, but thankfully Sadie moans and kisses me again, hard. My heart flares hot, searing my insides, melting the last of the ice inside me, and thank god. Thank god.

A small hand travels down my front and tugs at my belt.

"Prove it," Sadie says. "Make me yours."