I lean over and give him a quick kiss. Before I get up I look at him questioningly. “You never told me why you were at Hex last night. If you weren’t there, things could have gotten a lot worse.”

He rubs his beard and slightly bangs his head against the headboard. “We have a lead on the human that Mara might be possessing currently.”

I furrow my brows and look at him. “And?”

“And she works at Inferno.”

I gape at him. I’ve, of course, heard about it. It piqued my interest, but it’s a couple invite only, not that you need to stay with your partner. I haven’t dated a supernatural in a long time, and there was no way Stevie was going to be my plus one. “And?”

“And I need a date in order to get access, and I was going to ask you to come with me.”

“Yes!” I beam and bounce on the bed.

“But,” he says, arching an eyebrow at me, “I’m not sure if that’s a good idea now after the golem incident. I don’t like the idea of putting you in danger.”

I can’t help it when I cross my arms and look at him. “If anything, it makes even more sense for me to go. I’m going, Dax.”

“Babe, I don’t think I’ve made myself clear on the dynamic of how this relationship is going to go. When you said you wanted me to be your daddy, what did that mean to you?”

I shrug my shoulders and play with the bedspread, not liking the idea of explaining everything. Why does this man have to talk so fucking much? Can’t we just have a good time and worry about this shit, I don’t know, never?

He shakes his head, noting how stubborn I am. “I’ll tell you what it means to me. I’ve never had anyone call me that before, but I fucking love hearing it from your lips, Blair. It makes my heart race and my cock hard. To me, it means I’m in charge of your pleasure and keeping you safe. I never want you to change who you are, and I don’t expect you to be submissive to me all the time. I love that you’re powerful and confident, but with me, I want to get to the point where you can trust me enough to take care of things for you.”

My jaw drops as I take in everything he just said. He wants to take care of me? But I’ve always taken care of myself. It’s become clear to me that I’m not the domme I always tried to be. Being his submissive in the bedroom will be easy enough. But the vulnerability of his care is terrifying.

“I’ve never really had anyone take care of me before.”