Claimed By My Boyfriend’s Daddy

Chapter 20: The Death of Me

Emily POV

“What the hell” I whispered to myself as the door clicked shut behind me.

For a moment, I just stood there with my back pressed against the door, as my fingers still trembled around the handles of the glossy boutique bags.

“What did I just get myself into…” I whispered, voice barely above a breath.

The room looked exactly the same, the only difference was that the bed was now neatly made, with the faint smell of Dario’s cologne still hanging in the air.

“This man…” I muttered, dragging a hand through my hair. “He’s everywhere.”

The thought made me both angry and weak all at once.

I looked down at the gift bag, the golden logo glinted against the soft light from the chandelier. Inside laid the dress the manager had insisted on gifting me. A peace offering, she’d called it but deep down I knew it was a bribe, not to me.. but to Dario.

I pulled it out and draped it across the bed.. it shimmered beautifully alongside the matching heels sat in the box beside it.

Jeez my brain couldn’t help but replay the incident that had occurred before Dario stepped in…

“Arghhh I hate you Austin.. I hate you Gina”

I turned toward the bathroom, desperate for a warm bath to wash off the anger.

The moment I opened the bathroom door the lights flickered to life.

“Just a shower,” I murmured. “I really need to clear my head.”

As the water from the shower roared to life, steam began to fill the air, and it curled against the mirror until my reflection disappeared.

Ahh yes, the kind of water I liked, a bath hot enough to scald the feathers off a chicken as sophia would say.

I undressed slowly, piece by piece, like peeling away the day.. the memory of those girls in the boutique, Dario’s temper, the way his voice had wrapped around me when he called me his wife.

When the first stream of hot water hit my skin, I exhaled. The sound came out shaky, more like a release than relief.

“Isshh.. Finally,” I whispered to no one, just like I had been doing all day.

I let my head fall back so the water rolled down my hair, and my shoulders, tracing every single curve of my body like fingers that weren’t mine.

And of course, my body reacted before I could stop it.. it traced to the heat, to the memory of his hands gripping my waist early this morning as he pinned me to the wall this morning, then slowly to the way his breath had scraped against my ear when he’d leaned too close.

“Don’t think about it,” I muttered out trying to stop myself.. But I was already thinking about it..

..About his voice, his tone.. That quiet command that somehow made me obey without realizing it as I moaned and moaned.

I quickly ran my hands over my arms, trying to wash it away, but the touch only reminded me more of his and without warning my skin prickled, warm and super hypersensitive.

“f**k!” I muttered again because it was infuriating how easily my body remembered and how it betrayed me with every heartbeat.

It wasn’t supposed to feel like this. Not from a man like him, not after everything.

I bloody had an existential crisis this morning because of him and his freaking annoying cheat of a son, so why?.. why was my body doing this?

“Mmm”

The moment came rushing back again, uninvited.

Of how his hand gripped my waist, how he slid in and out of me.. how I couldn’t stop myself from moaning out his name.

“Stop it,” I muttered under the sound of the water.

But my body didn’t listen.

The more the water slid down my back and pooled around my feet, I caught myself gasping softly.. not from pain, but from the sheer intensity of sensation.. his sensation. It felt like every drop of heat and every whisper of steam carried his name in it.

I pressed my palms flat against the cool tiled wall, in a bid to wedge myself. “Goodness gracious Emily.. get a grip,” I whispered as I forced the air from my lungs.

But when I closed my eyes, I saw him.. the look he had given me in the car when I asked about the stain on his shirt, that tiny flicker of danger behind his composure. Paint, he’d said.. And how the man, Leon had agreed too quickly.. I mean I knew I was younger than them but f**k it, it didn’t mean I was stupid.

My stomach immediately tightened, my mind should have been focused on that.. on the unease, the warning signs, the questions piling up.

But my body refused to listen.

Because beneath all the confusion and drama, there was something else entirely.. something hungry, alive, and frighteningly human.

The water ran hotter, fogging the mirror across the room. I stepped closer to the stream, letting it slide over the curve of my neck, down my collarbone, over my chest. It was too warm, too heavy.. or maybe it was just me, too aware.

“f**k,” I breathed out, as I shut my eyes the moment another wave of heat swept through me.

I leaned my forehead against the tile, trembling with the weight of everything I wasn’t saying. It wasn’t fair that a single morning with him could leave my body in chaos. It wasn’t fair that his voice still lingered in my head, smooth and dangerous.

And yet… part of me didn’t want to forget it because I knew I was so close.. so, so, close to..

A quiet knock jolted me back.

“Emily?” His deep, calm voice slipped through the door. “Are you okay?”

My eyes flew open.. My pulse stumbled.. and my rising orgasm went back to where it had come from.

I swallowed, struggling to steady my breath. “Yes,” I managed, my voice hoarse. “I’m fine.”

There was silence on his end and I could almost picture him with one hand in his pocket, the other brushing through his hair the way he did when we were about to sign the marriage certificates.

“You’ve been in there for over an hour.” His tone this time wasn’t sharp, it was just.. controlled. Like a tiny quiet concern wrapped in command.

“I… I lost track of time.” I winced at how small I sounded.

Another pause. Then he spoke softer.. dangerously and seductively soft.. “Good. Don’t drown in there.”

My heart skipped. “What?”

A faint sound reached my ear, like the ghost of a chuckle. “Dinner will be ready soon.”

Before I could say anything else, his footsteps moved away.

I leaned back against the wall, with my breath uneven, and my heartbeat going crazy and wild. My entire body still buzzed from how close I had been before he interrupted.

The water kept falling.. it was warm, relentless, cleansing and cruel all at once.

The room was silent again, save for the rhythm of water against tile and the fading sound of my pulse.

And for the first time, I didn’t know whether I wanted to run from Dario… or keep drowning in everything he made me feel.

I slowly slid my fingers through my wet hair, exhaling a shaky laugh. “This man,” I whispered, even though the sound seemed to echo, “will be the death of me.”