Highest Bidder (Salacious Players Club, #5)

by Sara Cate

Call me a sick fuck, but I want to be her daddy. I’d teach her every fucking thing she wants to know. I’d take care of her and protect her and make her feel so goddamn good.

So against my better judgment, I climb into hers. She stiffens as I drape my body behind hers, pulling her tight to my body.

“What are you doing?” she mutters.

“I sleep better with you...

“It’s not that I don’t want you, Daisy. You have to understand just how much I want you.”

“But the things I want to do to you, baby girl, are dirty, filthy things. And you’re too fucking sweet for me.”

I do trust him. I trust him to take care of me. To protect me. Even if that means from him.

Happiness like this doesn’t last for long—I know that much. But I’m going to do everything I can to savor every second of it.

It’s going to hurt like hell when she breaks my heart, but fuck…she’s worth it.

When it’s like this, I let myself believe that Daisy and I could be more than a fling. Maybe this one doesn’t have to end in pain and regret. The pure, honest soul of hers that longs for poetry, freedom, and color in her life matches mine enough to mean she cares more about me than the money or the pleasure.

What we have could be so much more.

“Yes, Daddy,” it’s not an accident. It’s her way of claiming me. Marking what’s hers. Making it clearly known who I belong to, a message to the single person within earshot. And although it’s a little excessive, it makes me pretty fucking proud. I would have done nothing less for her.

And that gives me more hope than anything else.

That was the hottest thing I’ve ever done, and I’ve done a lot of shit. Daisy has me rethinking everything I thought I knew about myself. And while I don’t ever look forward to hurting her like that again, I have to admit that seeing her grow with that pain and struggle changed me. And here I thought I was too old to learn something new.

I’m not just falling for Ronan Kade. I’m addicted to him. I crave him in a way I don’t fully understand. He doesn’t make the pain of my grief go away, but he does make me forget about it for a while. And when I’m with him, I’m not wading in the water alone. He’s right there next to me.

More than anything, I want Ronan to know that I crave this as much as my own pleasure. I want it all. The good, the bad, everything.

She is exquisite. Just as I knew she would be. My stubborn girl, full of passion and fire. Watching her writhe and scream is everything I wanted and more.

“I’m asking because I love you. Daisy, you brought the color back into my life. You with all of your poetry and music and happiness. I know I should meet your family and buy you a ring. I know this is all happening so fast, but I love you like fucking crazy. And I want to marry you.”

emotions are all over the place. That innate desire to take care of Daisy is still there. That craving to be her…daddy. It still exists. That sort of thing doesn’t just go away. But I can’t keep saving her. I can’t keep licking her wounds. I can’t take care of Daisy if she won’t take care of herself.

“I love you more than anything in this world, baby girl.”

Deep down, I know that Ronan and I were always meant to find each other. The odds may have been stacked against us, but there was something far more powerful bringing us together. In some strange way, I think my mother would be relieved to know we found each other. It may seem unconventional, but this is what she wanted, for both of us to find the kind of love that makes life worth living.

And no matter what this cruel, poetic life brings us, I know he’ll be there to take care of me. And I’ll be there to take care of him.