I held my breath and held his eyes.

Knight kept talking.

“I am not kidding. I’m also not exaggerating. So save me that hassle and pull her head outta her ass.”

“Okay, Knight.”

He stared at me.

Then, softer but still firm, he told me, “I had a man who saw and heard the entire f**kin’ thing that went down with Nick. She put your ass out there, Anya, and I know it. I wasn’t at the club that night, my man wasn’t close, I do not like to think where Nick woulda taken that with you. You say Vivica is protective, you are too and what you did to pull Sandrine outta that shit proves it. You made the wrong decision then, baby. Don’t make the wrong decision today. In this situation, your protection needs to run the way Vivica’s does. Don’t buckle and be sweet. Don’t swing your ass out there. Don’t swing mine out there. Don’t swing Vivica’s out there. You get me?”

I nodded.

He pulled in a sharp breath through his nose then his eyes drifted over my shoulder.

I watched him get lost in thought then I slid my hands down his chest so I could wrap my arms around him. His chin dipped down and his eyes caught mine.

“Told you about my Dad,” he stated apropos of nothing. “Didn’t tell you he isn’t my Dad. He’s my stepdad. I have no f**kin’ clue who my Dad is because my mother was a prostitute before she met him.”

I blinked and my body went solid.

Oh my God.

“Oh, Knight. Honey,” I whispered.

His hand slid up and curled around the back of my neck but his eyes never left mine.

“She was f**ked up. All I ever knew until Carl came into our lives and sorted her shit out. Nick’s his. He never made me feel I wasn’t. He adopted me legally, gave me his name. I was a little kid but I remember all that shit before Carl. Makes no sense, don’t know how she did it but even f**ked up, she was a good Mom. She loved me, took care of me the best she could. They obviously never talk about it and I sure as f**k never asked but my guess, he was a john, he was a regular and he fell in love with a street walker. Got her off the street. Got her clean. Gave her a good life. It’s jacked but it worked.”

“I’m pleased you’re sharing with me, sweetheart,” I told him softly and cautiously. “I wanna know about you. But I’m wondering why you’re sharing this now.”

“Why is because she had a good life, good parents, good schooling. She went off the rails doin’ stupid shit for men. It got messier and messier until her whole life was mess. I don’t know my grandparents, neither does Nick. They got shot of her and she made them do it in a way where they never looked back. Even for grandchildren. I am not clairvoyant. But I learned really f**kin’ early a lotta bad shit can happen to women. A lot of it. And, you might think I’m wrong but I’m not, a lot of that happens because they do stupid shit and they’re weak. Your girl is weak and not because her Dad thinks she’s beautiful and precious and told her so. Because she just is. It’s time she sorts herself out before, one way or another, she’s beyond anyone saving and protecting.”

“Viv and I’ll talk to her,” I promised.

“Do it until you’re blue in the face and break through. You don’t, I’m gonna keep an eye on this and the time comes you need to scrape her off to protect yourself, I’ll be leanin’ on you to do that. She’s your girl and that’ll be your decision. But I won’t let up. Get me?”

“Get you,” I whispered.

His arms gave me a squeeze.

“Right,” he muttered. “Now, I’m gonna make you and Vivica lunch. Is there anything she doesn’t eat?”

God, God, God, this was a good, kind man even if he calmly talked about making people breathe through a tube.

“Anything green and healthy on the weekends. She keeps to a strict, twelve hundred calorie, heavy on the veggies diet Mondays through Fridays so she can do whatever she wants on the weekend. So, don’t make salad. Viv won’t eat it.”

I watched his lips twitch then he murmured, “I think I like this bitch.”

“She’s a submissive.”

Oh God! Did I blurt that out?

I watched Knight do a slow blink.

Yep, I blurted that out.

I pressed deep and gave him a squeeze of my arms. “Don’t tell her I told you,” I begged on a whisper. “I don’t even know why I told you.”

“She out that before or after you told her I own you?” he asked, totally clued in.

Oh boy.

“After.”

He grinned. “Built-in advisor. Lucky for you, babe.”

I rolled my eyes.

I felt his body shake with his chuckle as his arms gave me a squeeze.

When I rolled them back he asked, “She owned?”

I shook my head and whispered like Viv, who was space and walls away, could hear if I didn’t, “Looking.”

“Won’t look long,” he muttered.

“She made it sound like it wasn’t easy to find the right one.”

His eyes held mine and he replied, “It f**king isn’t.”

Oh.

My.

His eyes got lazy, his head dipped, he kissed me lightly then he pulled back.

“Lunch,” he declared. “No salad.”

Yes, a good, kind man.

“Thanks, honey,” I whispered.

“You’re welcome, babe,” he whispered back, I got another squeeze, he let me go and we walked in together.

Knight went to the kitchen.

I went to Vivica and Sandrine.

* * * * *

“Roll, baby.”

My body sated, my wrists tied to the slats of the headboard with soft, strong, black silk scarves, I rolled to my belly which meant I rolled close to Knight whose front was now pressed to my side.

It was much later, Viv had taken Sandrine home and it was finally just us.

“Pull yourself up, c**k your elbows out. It’ll be more comfortable,” Knight said softly, his hand coming to rest on the small of my back.

Apparently, he wasn’t going to untie me. And he’d just done me while I was tied to his bed and I’d come hard.

Twice.

But still, knowing that Knight wasn’t going to untie me, I quivered.

I wrapped my hands around the scarf and shifted up, cocking my elbows out and found he was right.

“Rest your head on the pillow, keep your eyes to me,” he ordered gently and I lay my head down and kept my eyes to his beauty.

His face dipped close to mine.

Then he went on softly, “Spread for Daddy.”