His hard-on died.
She needed gentle loving care. What she did not need was to know how much he wanted to fuck her. She did not need his brand of Dominance. She needed soft and gentle. Not stern and bossy.
And he would give her whatever she needed.
* * *
“Tell me you found that fucking bastard.” Jed stepped out onto the porch of Daisy’s place to where Kent, Bain and Macca stood.
Kent looked behind him. “Daisy around?”
“She’s having a nap. She’s not sleeping well.” She was having fucking nightmares. About an hour ago, he’d seen her yawning and fighting to stay awake as she’d been playing with her Legos and decided to put her down.
Surprisingly, she hadn’t argued. Which had told him just how much she needed the nap. He hadn’t made her take one since he’d returned. He needed to change that.
“Fuck,” Macca muttered. “She messed up over that asshole stalking her?”
He gave a short nod. “That and the past. Just tell me you’ve got him so I can take my fury out on someone.”
They gave each other a look. And a knot formed in his gut.
Kent stepped forward. “I’m real sorry, man. We found him, but he died five years ago. Car accident.”
Fuck. Fuck!
“I know this has got to hurt, mate—” Macca started.
“Hurt! Hurt? It doesn’t fucking hurt!” He turned to the other man. “My woman, the woman I have loved for ten years was fucking attacked by that asshole! She still has nightmares. She has to fucking hurt herself to try and cope with the memories. To try and wipe away the shit my grandfather said to her that has clung to her for ten years! And both of those fuckwits are dead and beyond my rage!”
“But your woman is still here and she needs you,” Kent said quietly.
“And how am I supposed to help her! She doesn’t even feel safe in her own fucking home!”
“Bring her back to yours,” Macca said.
“That’s not a home! It’s a place where I sleep. It’s weeks away from being somewhere that’s worthy for her. It needs to be perfect.”
They all looked at each other again.
“Mate, I don’t know Daisy all that well, but she doesn’t seem the type of girl to worry about perfect,” Macca said to him.
“You’re right, you don’t know her,” he said coldly. “If you did, you’d know she’s never had special. She’s never really had a home. She’s taken care of her siblings pretty much since they were born. She never had a chance to be a kid. She’d settled in here. Nestled. She’s a homebody. And that bastard took that feeling of safety from her.”
“Then give it back,” Bain said quietly.
“What?” He turned to the big man with the warm, cocoa-colored skin.
“Give her that sense of safety back. That’s your job, right? As her man.”
It was. He let out a breath. How to do that, though?
“Jed?” Kent asked quietly. “Anything you need?”
“Time,” he said quickly.
“You got it,” Kent replied.
Something else occurred to him. That might work.