Unexpected Fate (32 page)

“You knock up
my
girl. Demand that she move in. And not even plan on making an honest woman out of her?” he fumes.

Cohen stands toe-to-toe with him, their eyes almost level, but even with Daddy having a few inches on Cohen, he doesn’t back down. His chest heaves, but for the most part, he remains calm.

“I didn’t say that, Axel. I plan on marrying your daughter the first chance I get, but
that
is something that is between the two of us. I respect you enough that I
had
planned on coming to you privately to ask for your blessing, but I have to be honest with you—I will be marrying
my
girl
whether you give that to me or not. With all due respect, I love your daughter and I couldn’t really give two shits if you want to bless that or not.”

“What did you just say?” Daddy turns and looks over at my mom. “What did he just say to me?”

“You heard him, honey,” she says with a smile. “I think it’s time you took that alpha male down a few notches, big boy.”

My gaze shoots from my mom to my dad to see his reaction, and then it lands on Melissa when she throws her head back and laughs loudly.

“Hush, beauty,” Greg tells his wife. “Son, I think you need to tread carefully here. I like your head right where it is.”

Melissa snickers even louder at that.

“You don’t care for my blessing?” Daddy tosses back at Cohen, and there’s no mistaking his body language—he’s ready to kill. His hands are flexing and his face is beet red.

“Ax—” Mom tries.

“Don’t you dare ‘Axel’ me, Izzy. Don’t you dare. Did you hear him? He just said he didn’t give
two shits!
” he roars. “You’re walking a tight line here, Cohen.”

This is getting out of hand. I know there won’t be a good outcome if I let the two men I love the most fight over this. Standing carefully from my seat, I give Melissa a wobbly smile when she nods her head in encouragement before I go to stand in front of Cohen and face my father.

I feel Cohen move, and before I can speak, I’m behind him and he’s once again between my father and me. My eyes go from his solid back to the only two people I can see—his parents. Cohen’s move of dominance and protection is one I know didn’t go unnoticed by my father because I see Greg nod and Melissa smile so huge that it looks unnatural. I grasp his shirt in my hand and try to get his attention.

“Cohen,” I start.

“Not now, Dani. I get you think you need to protect me from your father, but this needs to happen and it needs to happen now.”

I sigh, drop my hands from his shirt, and do the only thing left I can. I wrap my hands around his stomach and spread my palms wide against his abs. It’s another move I know doesn’t go unnoticed because Melissa’s smile gets even larger, and when I move my eyes to Greg’s, I see that his are shining bright and his smile matches Melissa’s in size and happiness.

“Are you going to do anything?” I ask him.

“Nope. My boy knows what he’s doing.” He leans back and pulls his wife to his chest, and they just watch with those big, loopy-loo smiles as Cohen stands his ground with my father.

The father who I know could kill him with his bare hands.

I gulp.

“I’m going to tell you this once, Axel. I love your daughter. I’ve loved her before it was right to feel that way. I fought those feelings until she was ready for me, because I’ll tell you this. It was never a question that I was ready for her. What we have is something I will never feel worthy of. Not of her love. Something she gives me without hesitation. I know she deserves the best that life can hand her. You do
not
have to remind me of that. But even though I don’t think
I’m
good enough for
her,
I’ll spend my life making sure that she knows she’s the best thing I will ever have. Do you understand that? I will make sure there isn’t a day that passes that she doesn’t know how much I love her. I’ll spend every second I have left on this Earth giving her everything I possibly can. I waited, out of respect for you and for her, until I couldn’t wait a second longer, and I will not—not for you—give up even a sliver of time with her now that she is mine.”

I hold my breath and wait. I keep my eyes on Cohen’s parents for some sort of clue of what’s happening beyond the wall of Cohen’s body.

It feels like a lifetime passes before I hear my father’s laughter boom through the room.

What in the hell?

“Well. Why didn’t you just say that to begin with?”

I repeat; What in the hell?

“You didn’t really give me a chance, Axel,” Cohen says.

“Right. Well, now that that is out of the way, let’s talk.”

Jesus Christ. I’ve entered the Twilight Zone.

It doesn’t take long for us to settle back down. Cohen turns and gives me a kiss, and when I hear my father’s growl again, I pull back and look over at him. He throws his arms up and gives me a tired look back.

“What? You don’t expect me to just flip a switch and turn it off, do you?”

“Crazy old man,” I mutter.

Cohen takes his seat again and pulls me back onto his lap. One hand goes to my belly and the other is resting back on my thigh. Without a thought, I wrap my arms around his shoulders and settle in for what promises to be a long chat.

“My dad filled me in on everything that’s happened between the letter, flowers, and . . . yesterday.” He pauses to look down at me. “I want to be fully briefed so that I’m able to understand this from every angle that I’m sure you have worked. My gut tells me that it’s someone she knows. Someone she trusts. But until I have all the intel, I’m not comfortable making that call. I’ve been told that the police also have run into nothing but dead ends?” He looks between my father and his and they all nod. “This bastard is slick, I’ll give him that,” Cohen mutters.

“Slick, but he’ll fuck up. I heard from my contact at the department that there was a print lifted from the bag. Dani’s has been ruled out, so they’re running it through their database to see if they get a match.”

Cohen nods his head at my father’s words but doesn’t speak.

“I agree with you, son. This is too personal of an attack for it to be someone that she hasn’t come in contact with.”

I shiver when Greg’s words hit me. Someone I know? I can’t even think about who it might be.

“You think it could be a client?” I ask. “I have plenty of male clients, but until yesterday, no one really knew about the pregnancy. Until recently, I wasn’t really showing much and I had been able to hide it well. I . . . well, yesterday, with the cameras back, I wanted to show my belly off.”

“Client, or someone that you’ve been in contact with. However brief, it doesn’t matter. They’ve latched on, and judging by everything that’s been said with the two messages, they aren’t happy that you’re in a relationship with my son—well, anyone for that matter. You’ve always held back, Dani, and until Cohen, you didn’t really date seriously. I don’t think that this person saw a threat until Cohen.”

I try to make sense of what Greg just said, but I just can’t seem to wrap my mind around it.

“Little princess,” my daddy says gruffly. “Think about this. The flowers started when Cohen left. I don’t want to know details, but if this person has been watching you, it’s reasonable to believe that he saw the connection between you, and when Cohen left, he pounced and attempted to make his feelings known with the flowers. When that didn’t work, something triggered that first note. I’ve been over this with your mom, and she told me that you two had spent that afternoon discussing the seriousness of your relationship with Cohen. I have no doubt that, if he’s that close, he didn’t handle overhearing that very well.”

I nod, following so far. Cohen’s breathing has gone wild, and I look up into his eyes to see that he’s having a hard time holding on to his cool after hearing all of this.

“After that, things calmed down, but the flowers continued,” Greg adds.

“Right,” Daddy starts and looks between Greg and Cohen. “Dani, you don’t know this because, between all of us, your brother, and Liam, we were able to grab most of the deliveries before you even knew they had come . . . but they never stopped. I think they would have probably continued until Cohen came home and, once again, that threat against whatever he sees in his sick mind of you having with him is back. That is until you went out with your belly the focus and he realized that something he considered his had been touched by another.”

“Oh my God,” I gasp.

“I tell you, sweetheart, this motherfucker will pay. Not only has he threatened you, but as of yesterday, he’s now threatening my grandbaby.”

“Agreed,” Greg says forcefully.

“I agree with what Cohen’s said. You need to stop working for a little while. Stay home and enjoy the rest of your pregnancy. After the baby is born, then you can decide what to do about work, but until this fucker is caught, it would make everyone feel a lot better if we could limit the people you’re around. Being at Sway’s with everything going on with clients in and out as well as that show being filmed, just isn’t safe.”

I nod, seeing the reason in this.

“I’m not going to say that I agree with you two moving in together, but I know Cohen is trained well to take care of you and he’s proven that he’s willing to do whatever it takes to keep you safe in my eyes. Kills me, baby, to admit this, but you’re better off staying put right here.”

Oh wow. “That must have been hard to say,” I say, trying to make light of how big this moment is.

“You have no idea.” He smiles.

I look up at Cohen and give him a smile before I move to climb off his lap. He lets me go without argument, and I walk over, bend, and wrap my arms around my daddy’s neck.

“You’ll always be the first man I loved, Daddy.”

“I know, little princess. I know.”

I swallow the lump in my throat, kiss his tan cheek, and walk back over to Cohen. When I feel his arms wrap around my body again, I let their strength soak in, and I listen as the men in the room go about what the best course of action from here on out is.

I don’t think I’ll feel settled until the invisible threat around me is gone, but right here, in this moment, I feel as safe as I’ve ever felt in my life because I’m wrapped up in the arms of the man I love.

“DO YOU WANT MY COCK or my mouth, Dani?” I ask and trail my fingers down the center of her collarbone and between the valley of her tits.

“Your cock, baby,” she pleads.

“Do you want my cock in your pussy or your ass?” I question, continuing my path down her body until my fingers dance over the smooth skin on her mound.

“My pussy?”

“You don’t sound so sure about that, baby,” I murmur and dip my finger into her body. “Although your cunt is begging for it. Is your ass going to milk my fingers if I dip them in deep?” I ask, pumping my fingers into her wet center.

“Ye-yes,” she stutters.

“I’m sure it would, but right now, I want my cock right here,” I say and curl my fingers until I hit that spot that has her juices running down my fingers and down her crack. “So responsive.”

I pull my fingers out of her body, and she watches with heated eyes as I pop them in my mouth and hum.

“Fucking taste so good.”

I push my fingers back in and give her a few hard pumps before I take them and offer them to her mouth, wiping her juices along the seam of her lips before she opens and sucks them clean.

“Fuck,” I groan and move so that my cock is rubbing against her.

Her legs drop open and she starts to rock with my hips. My cock ring and other piercings make her cry out each time they roll over her clit.

“Do you want me hard or do you want me soft?” I ask, rocking even harder when those hot fucking mewling sounds start climbing up her throat.

“Soft . . . and hard,” she pants.

“Yeah,” I say and pull my hips back, and when I line up, I push home in one slow thrust. Her eyes go glossy and her moan is long. “Yeah, baby. Soft and hard.”

I give her what she wants. Soft thrusts until my balls can’t take it any longer. The second I feel her walls start to flutter and I know she’s seconds away from coming apart in my arms, I start to slam into her hard enough that the headboard bangs against the wall. She takes every thrust I have, and right before I feel my balls tighten, she throws her head back and screams my name loud enough that the sound pierces my ears painfully. My climax tears through my body, and my cock is milked dry by her tight walls.