"Why what?"
"Why do you want to spend time with me?"
Darian grunted. "God, woman. Have you never looked in the mirror?"
"Every day, but I bet you have women in your life way prettier than me."
"It would depend on who you ask. For me, I think you're the most beautiful woman I've ever seen."
Larkin snorted and rolled her eyes. "Pull my other leg."
Darian chuckled. "With time, you'll come to believe me, sweetheart."
She laid her head on the cushion and yawned.
"Why don't you take a nap?" he suggested. "We still have a ways to go."
She nodded as her eyes slid closed, unable to stay open another moment. "Maybe for just a minute."
****
How could she not know of him? Darian bit the inside of his cheek, and Hicks coughed to hide his laugh. Not many people ever asked him that because he was very well-known in the city. He'd also been written about in magazines and newspapers more times than he could count.
Darian watched her sink deeper into the cushion with her head tucked into the corner. She crashed within seconds and looked damn uncomfortable. He'd only seen younger children be able to do that.
After a few minutes, he pulled her across his lap, into his arms, and grinned when she didn't wake, snuggling up against him.
He didn't understand how she could get to the age of twenty-three and still be so innocent in this day and age. Was it because of the way she grew up? He'd thought it would have been the opposite. He had so many questions that he needed answers.
Darian told himself he wouldn't touch her until he got all the answers he needed, but he didn't think he would be able to wait that long. His cock had been either semi-hard to excruciatingly erect since he'd met her, and he didn't see that going away anytime soon. It wouldn't matter how many times he had her.
Something about her had opened up a portion of him he hadn't known existed. He realized a big part of himself had been missing until he found her. It wasn't about her innocence, although that turned him on. It was the fact he wanted to not only be her lover and friend but also her daddy.
He and his group of friends had many talks over the years about their preference to have a woman look to them for everything. They wanted to control every aspect of their lives. But they also wanted their women to call them daddy. To look to them for everything they needed.
They didn't want children. The thought of pedophiles always infuriated them. The children didn't have a choice in those kinds of situations. They wanted adult women with adult bodies who wanted to give themselves over to them.
The title daddy was just that. Something they wanted their women to call them. They also seemed to be attracted to women who didn't want to grow up in the sense that the world thought they should. They liked playing games, playing with dolls, dressing the way the men asked. They liked being instructed on what to do for everyday things. They needed a father figure to take care of them, but they were one hundred percent women.
Most of the world didn't understand, but there were so many different lifestyles. Most people probably didn't know about many of the kinks out there. People nowadays married their dogs, cars, or a blowup doll. Some people liked to act like ponies and some like babies with pacifiers and bottles and oversized cribs. There were all different types of people, and he'd found different kinds of people all the time. He didn't begrudge anyone what made them happy. As long as they weren't hurting anyone, they were fine.
The bottom line, they got what they needed out of the relationship, the girls did also, and they weren't hurting anyone. Just living their lives.
"Sweetheart," Darian murmured as they pulled up in front of the house. "Larkin, we're home."
Larkin pushed her face into the side of his neck, whimpered, and went back to sleep.
Darian grinned.
Hicks opened the door. "Can I do anything, sir?"
He shook his head at his driver. "Larkin, wake up, now," he said in a hard, stern voice that got her attention.
Larkin sat up abruptly, almost hitting him in the nose with her forehead. "What?" she said and looked around in a daze.
"We're home."