Daddys little bride, p.1
Daddy's Little Bride, page 1
Daddy’s Little Bride
Sophie & Jared’s Wedding
A Dark Daddy Romance
Dark Daddy Series
Book Five
By
Felicity Brandon
Copyright © 2023 by Felicity Brandon
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any manner without written permission of the copyright owner except for the use of quotations in a book review. For more information, address: felicitybrandon@felicitybrandonauthor.com
This book is entirely a work of fiction.
The author does not condone, nor endorse any of the acts in this book.
Cover design by Wicked Smart Designs
Editing by Personal Touch Editing
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“I fear that he might be my Achilles’ heel.
My Romeo to Juliet, my Jack to Rose, my Noah to Allie.”
― Anke van Zweel
Prologue
Sophie
The nightmare came again.
It came every night.
It was never the first dream Sophie slid into as sleep claimed her. Sometimes, it took hours to find her, but in the end, it always arrived, its terror as consuming as the night before. Time after time, she slipped within its dark folds, sometimes aware the events unraveling around her were not real, yet unable to wake and know for sure…
Unable to break free.
It began as Sophie knew it would—the subtle shift on the bed, the sense she was not alone, although she could never place why. It was easy enough to ignore at first, the furrowing of her brow the only giveaway that she was concerned, but she should have known better. She did know. Soon enough, the dynamic morphed, and once it shifted, there was no escape. As though her rational mind was trying to warn her, she stirred, stretching her hand across the sheet for the man sleeping beside her—for her sanctuary—but she would never reach him. As soon as she extended a limb to find him, the real trauma began.
Torrid, black heat filled the air around her, making it difficult to pull in a breath as slowly, the bed linen she was curled up on started to move and extend around her. Alarmed, her eyes flew open, but she was still ensconced in the dream, conscious yet fast asleep as time protracted, and her eyes absorbed her fate.
“Stop!”
The murmur came from Sophie, although she scarcely recognized her own voice. It was as if she couldn’t speak, as though her words were being hindered by some unseen force, the same presence that was enveloping her in her own satin prison. The bedding surrounded her, hellbent on swathing Sophie and cutting off her oxygen. Gasping for air, she did what she always did—clawing at the expensive sheets, her fingernails grazed their glossy exterior but failed to prevent her incarceration.
“I can’t breathe!” she rasped as panic ballooned inside of her.
I have to get out, have to get away from here!
But however hard she tried, she couldn’t discover a way out of the oppressive custody of the bedding. Dread insisted she kick out at the fabric cell. She had to fight, had to try to get away, just as she’d fought before.
What? Brows knitting, she tried to decide why that seemed so pertinent, but in the depths of the dream, she couldn’t put her finger on the reason. Have I had to fight before?
The thought bounced around in the heated darkness, ricocheting from one side of the sheets to the other.
Have I been caged before?
Something about the notion was ominously familiar, tapping into a part of Sophie she thought she’d put to bed, but there was no making sense of it. The terror grasping at her airway made it impossible to think of anything except her terrible predicament.
I have to get out of here!
Her panic was fever-pitched as the nightmare lurched into its next inevitable segment. She knew all this, of course, having dreamed it over and over, yet as the unavoidable unfurled, she was unable to rationalize what was happening to her. Just as she was certain there was no more oxygen for her in the humid pocket of panic she’d been shoved into, she was suddenly falling.
Thrust free from captivity, she fell backward, surrounded by the same satin sheets that had sought to suffocate her. Clutching for the bed she knew must be above her, her fingers clawed at thin air, finding nothing to stabilize her or break her fall. Now, the world was a different kind of black—a cold and cruel abyss she was plummeting into.
“Help!” Sophie’s screams filled the void, the sound mingling with the rushing air and whipping around her as if it intended to mock her impotency. “Help me!”
But there was no one to help, a fact she was surely aware of as she tumbled. Yet still, she called out, terrified and enraged in equal measure that she’d let the fate befall her once again.
“Please, someone… help m—”
She never concluded her plea, her lips abruptly unable to articulate the words she needed to convey. Brow creasing, her heart thundered as she tried again, but every time she attempted to vocalize her desperation, she found the same terrible fate—Sophie could no longer speak. It was as if something was trapped between her lips, obstructing her tongue’s ability to enunciate, and however she grappled with the words, they couldn’t come.
Frantic to understand what was happening, she fought the G-force that had thrown her limbs into a spread-eagled star position, eventually managing to reach her mouth with one hand. Sure enough, there, trapped between her teeth, was some sort of gag, suppressing her cries.
How has this happened?
No answers greeted her as gravity finally had its way, flinging her hand back out into the emptiness. Plunging deeper into whatever awaited her below, all she could do was force out a guttural cry, the noise reverberating as the sound of air tore past her ears. The same dull sense of powerlessness swelled from within. She had to get out of this mess, but how could she when she didn’t even know where she was? She seemed to have been falling forever, and even though she didn’t relish the idea of hitting the ground, at least the landing would bring a halt to the neverending descent.
A tear of self-pity crept from her eyes, followed by another born of frustration. Soon, she was blinded by the water burning in her gaze, unable to halt its pursuit as it fled along her skin and disappeared into the black. She didn’t know why she found herself like this, night after night, but there seemed no way of stopping the nightmare, like a ritual that once started, could not be ceased.
Is this my lot, then? Her head ached with weary resignation. To live out this relentless nightmare for the rest of time? What was the dream trying to tell her? Perhaps if she could learn its lesson, it would leave her be.
That was when she noticed the air whipping past her had stopped, her eyes widening at the sudden realization. She was once again sprawled on something soft. Was she back in bed? Was it over? Was this when she’d open her eyes to find herself beside the man she adored? There was only one way to know for sure.
“‘Addy?”
Sophie’s pulse quickened as she struggled to address him the way they both craved, her gargled attempt at his title reiterating what she feared was true. She was still dreaming.
“Shhh.”
Jared. His voice—that voice—was burned into Sophie’s soul for all time. He had been the architect of so much of her pain, yet she undoubtedly knew he’d also birthed most of the pleasure. In a heartbeat, their history washed over her, all the years of turmoil and hedonism edited into one intense and panted breath.
She turned her head to see where he was, but still, the blackness prevailed, encompassing every inch of what was visible. He wasn’t there, yet he was there—every fiber of her being told her so.
Jared—her daddy. He had been the man who’d captured her, grasping Sophie away from her children when they’d only been little, and taking her for himself. He’d tormented her to the edge of reason, belittling and manipulating for his own desire. He’d stripped her of all her defenses and taken her higher—and lower—than anyone she’d ever met.
Nobody but the two of them knew all the things he’d put her through, and as she stared into the darkness, she was in no doubt he’d deserved every single thing she’d inflicted in return, including the defining moment of their relationship—the day Sophie had walked away, leaving Jared speechless, knowing there wasn’t a damn thing he could do to stop her.
Yet, somehow, she’d fallen for him hook, line, and sinker. Not for the fiend who’d dominated her, per se—although she’d be lying if she said she hadn’t intended to soften his sharp edges—but for the man she’d discovered beneath the ruthless exterior. That was the man who’d been lying beside her in bed when she’d fallen asleep, and that was the man she longed for.
“Little girl.”
Sophie’s breath hitched as the name he’d bestowed on her echoed overhead. She was aware of movement on the bed as he climbed over her.
“Please,” she moaned, or at least, she tried to moan, but naturally, that was impossible around the gag. All of a sudden, every reason she’d had to loathe her inability to speak floated away, leaving her with the inev
“Sophie.”
His hands were on her chest, taunting and teasing her nipples into her own personal frenzy of desire. It was too much, this surrender—too much heat, too much sensation, and as he pinched harder, too much pain. But even as the thought resonated, Sophie knew that wasn’t true.
This isn’t too much.
This wasn’t even close to too much, but that’s what she wanted, what she’d always yearned for. She wanted him to tip the balance, to show her what the threshold was, then shove her right past it. Her eyes squeezed closed at the idea, her body rising from the bed to find his.
“You want me, Sophie?” His voice was a low whisper.
“Yes,” she tried to tell him frantically. “Yes, I want you. I want this. Give it to me!”
“Okay.” He laughed dryly, as though he could actually understand her plea. “But first, you have to earn it, little girl. First, you have to work for it.”
Sophie’s breath caught behind the gag. That sounded so good. She loved to work for it—to earn it. After everything they had been through together, Jared knew that much about her.
“Don’t worry.”
He was right on her now, the heat of his body comforting.
“I’m going to help you. I’m going to help you to earn it.”
Oh God.
She wanted him, craved the hardness of his body on hers. Couldn’t he see that? Even in the infernal darkness that swaddled them, couldn’t he tell? Brushing her body against his, her longing burgeoned, seeking the release she knew only he could bring.
“‘Addy,” she implored, hoping his softer side would emerge and take pity on her. She needed release, hankered for his hedonism.
“Not yet, little girl.” His voice had taken on that cruel timbre again, the one that sent terror shivering through her. The one she had learned to dread. “There’ll be no relief for you until the big day.”
The big day? Her heart raced as she tried to understand what he meant, although deep down, she accepted she already did. The rules had been clear, but as if he’d read her mind, Jared’s caution clarified.
“First, Sophie, you have to say I do.”
Chapter One
Jared
The soft sound of Sophie’s breathing stirred Jared from his light slumber. He hadn’t been sleeping well of late, catching power naps as and when he could, so it was no surprise to discover himself wide awake in the middle of the night.
Pre-wedding nerves?
The question pinballed around his brain as he rolled to his side and traced the outline of his lady with his eyes. Sophie. The woman who’d given him everything from her exquisite gift of submission to the obliterating heartache he’d experienced when she’d left. She was everything to him. More than he could have imagined. Certainly more than he deserved.
Reaching out in the half-light, he considered rousing her, his dick hardening as he visualized all the things he could demand to help him doze back off to sleep, but he rejected the idea. Sophie’s rest had also been fitful recently. She needed to sleep, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t enjoy the thought of her. Lips curling, he envisioned how she’d look on their wedding day. She’d been cagey about her choice of gown, and reluctantly, Jared had accepted a woman needed free rein about such choices, but as soon as the reception was over, her reign would end.
His grin widened as the image of their honeymoon crystallized in his mind. Stroking his swelling cock, he breathed in an excited breath. Who would have thought they’d find such bliss together, especially after everything that had transpired between them? Yet, against all the odds, he and his little girl were getting their happily ever after.
“Not long now,” he whispered, keeping his voice low, so he didn’t wake her. “Only a few more days until we become man and wife, little girl.”
Closing his eyes, he considered what the idea of marriage meant to him. It had always been something of an anathema. He’d spent years working through the repercussions of his parents’ toxic union. Before he’d found Sophie, he’d outright rejected the concept of ever tying the knot, assuming it was only for fools and romantics. Grinning into the darkness, Jared could only chuckle.
Tying the knot—it was such a perfect way of describing how he felt about the commitment they’d be making. Sophie was his in virtually every way already, but when they declared their vows to each other, she would legally become his wife as well. Shifting onto his back, he stared up at the shadowy canopy of the enormous four-poster bed they shared. Jared was deliriously happy that she’d be his in every way. He didn’t know why he hadn’t proposed before.
“I’m still a possessive arsehole.”
He suppressed the laughter that wanted to follow. That would never change, and yet as he stretched out in the bed beside her, he accepted that he had changed. She had altered him in the most fundamental way. For the first time in his life, there was someone he cared about more than himself, and losing her had cemented the fact. He needed her in a disconcerting and visceral manner. Sophie was the yin to his yang; the other half of him he hadn’t even realized was missing until he’d found her. Suddenly, the notion of being tied down in their marriage was no longer abhorrent and restrictive. Instead, it seemed expansive and uplifting, as if anything was possible if they faced it together.
“Little girl.”
His voice was louder than he’d intended, but he couldn’t resist conveying his passion. Jared had been dragged along to countless weddings in the past, the unions of his parents’ useless friends and distant relatives who he’d never heard of and who only seemed to come sniffing to the fore at the prospect of inheritance, but he’d never known excitement for one before. The swell of agitated eagerness bristling in his stomach persuaded him that perhaps he was nervous, after all. It was a perturbing thought, but then only Sophie had the power to push his buttons. Only Sophie had any power over him.
As though she recognized her influence, she shifted at his side, a raspy and captivating mewl escaping her lips as she moved. Glancing her way, Jared watched her in mesmerized silence. The way she writhed was so provocative, he wondered if she was secretly awake and performing for his attention, but her rhythmic breathing told him otherwise. She was definitely asleep, but as he gazed her way, he noticed how her breaths sped up, coming hard and fast as she struggled in the sheets.
“Please,” she hissed, her limbs spreading as though he’d tied her to the bedposts.
Dodging her splaying fingers, he edged to his elbow, fascinated by the effects of what was clearly a fitful and consuming dream. He contemplated waking her but had heard it wasn’t always a good thing to disturb someone caught in the midst of such an intense nightmare. It was better to wait for the dream to either subside or for Sophie to wake, but witnessing her display was both concerning and erotic—a conflict Jared was well used to.
He’d garnered satisfaction from her distress from the first time they’d ever met, each soft whimper hardening him, every whispered complaint ratcheting up his desire. Certainly, Sophie wasn’t the only woman who had aroused him this way, but she had been the only one he’d wanted to keep and the only one he’d learned to care for. Even that first night after her abduction, he couldn’t bear to hear her sobs from across the hallway. Even then, he had given in to her and held her until she slept. She had always been his kryptonite.
