Daddy
Traveled to London.
Had sex with my babygirl for the first time.
Killed a man.
Hell, that’s a pretty full fucking forty-eight hours.
Reece looks gorgeous tonight, the navy silk skimming her curves. She’s a walking work of art. Although my little masterpiece’s walk is a little funny…
She’s teetering on her gold Louboutins, their bottoms as red as the stripes on her ass after my belt. Naughty girl. I hide a laugh, watching with pure satisfaction, knowing she’s trying to get used to the feeling of my gold plug in her ass while she walks.
She’ll never dismiss one of my calls again.
I love punishing her. I love that she trusts me to punish her. I have to have her answer her phone. I can’t not be in contact with her. Not when we’re in a strange city. Not now that she's involved with me…
We’re going to have a little discussion later tonight about me putting a tracker on her phone.
It’s not my fault.
The girl stalked me first. I can’t help that she intertwined our lives with her sexy little ways, her pretty pout, those striking brown eyes.
God.
Why did Sheffield have to give me the key? Couldn’t he have given it to someone else? Someone less dangerous for her to get involved with?
Did she have to come for me?
Now she’s got me wrapped around her finger and she doesn’t even know it.
I’m having feelings for her. Strong ones. Ones that make my breath catch when she walks into the room.
I can’t let anything happen to her.
I won’t ever let anything happen to her.
Would the best, safest thing for her be for me to give her the key?
Say goodbye?
Never see her again…
But now she’s teetering over to me, that smile that makes me melt resting easy on her pretty face. She wraps her arms around my neck and calls me, “Daddy.”
I lean down to kiss her. Her eyes lock on mine, sending a spiral of warmth shooting straight through the center of my chest and in this moment, I know—
I can’t give her up.
“Come on,” I say, holding the emotion from my tone. I press a kiss lightly on her sweet lips. “They’ll be eager to meet you.”
Cash and Preston are already waiting for us at the table in the private room we’ve reserved.
The men's wives are with them, Ella and Jules. The two women sip champagne and whisper and giggle between themselves. Reece tenses beside me, noting she’s the odd woman out.
But the moment they see her, in classic Beauty fashion, they’re popping up out of their chairs, embracing her and welcoming her.
Ella grabs Reece’s hands in hers. “Oh my gosh. We’re sooo excited to meet you! Bryant just told us this afternoon that he was bringing company.”
Jules chimes in. “You have to tell us all about yourself. Do you like Manhattans?”
“I don' t know. I’ve never had one,” Reece says, giving the women a shy smile.
“There’s only one way to find out.” Jules links her arms in Reece’s. “Girls trip to the bar! We want to get something pretty to sip on and leave you men to your boring work talk.”
I give Reece a you good? eyebrow. She smiles reassuringly, teetering off to the bar between the two women, leaning heavily onto Jules’s arm.
She still hasn’t gotten used to the plug.
I take my seat with the men.
Cash pushes a waiting whiskey over to me. “Don’t worry. We let Ella and Jules know to keep everything on the down-low.”
"For now." Preston flashes me the devilish smile he’s known for.
“What do you mean, for now?” I ask.
Cash gives a casual shrug. “We’ve never seen you with a woman.”
“Other than your assistant,” Preston adds.
Cash tosses Preston a pointed look. “Who he immediately employee-zoned the first day she arrived.”
“Right.” Preston toys with his heavy gold watch, twisting it around his wrist as if he’s deep in thought. “So to see you here, halfway across the world with a gorgeous brunette on your arm, when you never so much as brought a woman to a family dinner…”
A teasing light flashes in Cash’s gaze. “Well, it leads people to make assumptions.”
I grumble into my glass before taking a sip of my whiskey. “You know what they say about assumptions.”
“Yeah.” Cash’s dark brow raises. “They’re going to make a total ass out of you when we find out we’re right. Six months from now I bet we’ll be hearing wedding bells.”
“The pitter patter of little Bryant Long feet,” Preston laughs.
“Jesus, you two. Give it a rest.” I swirl the amber liquor against my glass, not wanting to look at either of them. Are they right? Will Reece be my forever? I have no fucking idea, but they’re not lying when they say I’ve never brought a woman to a family function. Change of subject. “Did you tell Jules and Ella not to use my last name?”
“Yeah.” Preston shoots back the rest of his whiskey, setting his glass on the table. “We told them your last name is Long. Nice. Did you pick that for any particular reason?”
“No. It was given to me when I got my fake papers. But don’t worry.” I take a deep sip of the whiskey. “I live up to the name.”
“Cheers to that, man.” Preston lifts his glass. Cash joins in. We clink glasses toasting our dick size. Yeah, we’re grown-ass men, but sometimes we have to let off steam.
Cash moves his finger and thumb, twisting the glass against the tablecloth. “You took care of our little issue?”
“It’s taken care of.” I think of the color draining from Frankie's face as the breath left his body.
“Any problems?” Cash asks.
I shake my head. “No problems. None at all.”
Preston runs a hand through his hair, leaving it standing on end. “Good. Rockland will be pleased.”
I glance over my shoulder, checking on Reece. She’s perched on a stool, her spine straight as a rod, her ass teetering on the edge of the seat.
She’s trying not to put any pressure on that plug.
But she’s happily sipping on her drink, laughing at something Jules just said.
Preston nods toward the bar. “How long has that been going on? Or is the topic totally off limits?”
“Not too long,” I say, keeping my tone casual.
Cash’s dark brow goes sky-high. “Seriously? You’ve been eyeing that girl like you’ve got a damn diamond in your pocket.”
“Have I?” I ask. What kind of diamond would she like? Round, oval, square…
Preston gives me the side-eye as he sips his drink. “I’m not gonna lie. Judging by the smiles on your faces when you two walked in I half expected you to hand me a save-the-date card.”
Is it that obvious? Damn. I run a hand over the back of my neck. “Things are moving…quickly.” As in at the speed of lightning fucking striking.
“What are you going to do, Mr. Long?” Preston lowers his voice. “You can’t tell her anything unless you’re serious about her.”
“You serious about her?” Cash leans his elbows on the table.
“Am I serious about her…” I tap the tips of my fingers against the table. I think of the way it feels to have Reece in my arms. To be inside her. The sound of her laugh, her sighs, the soft moans I pull from her lips. “Yes. Very.”
Cash leans back in his seat, crossing his arms over his chest.
Preston lets out a low whistle. “Damn, Long. You’ve gotten yourself in a quite a bind, haven’t you?”
“How’d you two even meet?” Cash asks.
How the hell do I answer that?
I give them the basics, leaving out the tug in my chest I feel every time I look at her, the warmth her presence brings to me, the fucking smile I can’t seem to erase from my face. “Undercover, I had to retain my own lawyer, couldn’t use the family one, could I? Sheffield and I became friends. Not close or anything, but we’d shoot the shit whenever I ended up in his office. When he died, he gave me a key… turned out it belonged to Reece.”
Desperate to get her key back, she made a plan to stalk me…
But I stalked her back…
Harder than she stalked me…
And brought a daddy kink to the mix while I was at it?
And fucking fell in love in the process?
Shit, Bryant. Don’t use that word. Don’t ever use the L word.
I’m in way too deep.
I’ve drug her into the dark, churning waters with me.
I glance over at her. She’s happy, light, beautiful. Just perfect.
A horrible, heavy, sinking feeling punches me in the gut.
I have to give her up.
I have to let her… go.