Page 237 of The Daddy P.I. Casefiles: The Second Collection

He sends a response before I even tuck my phone back in my pocket.

I was. But I was wrong. I’m sorry, bold girl.

Me, too, sir.

He doesn’t respond and I’m not sure what else to say. I don’t really want to say anything. I want to kneel at his feet and give him my submission and fix what we broke. I thumb over to Emily’s name.

Is Mac there?

Yes. He’s watching a game with Daddy. Are you okay?

No, I’m not okay. I’m crying over a stupid rose.

Yeah. Can you let me know if Mac is about to leave?

Okay. Are you coming over?

Am I coming over? I think I am. But first I need to find Nicky some cover. Two of us in the shop at all times. It’s a rule. A rule I created, admittedly, but it’s still a good rule. I’m not going to leave Nicky hanging just so I can make a booty call.

I thumb my phone over again and call Stan, my back-up, back-up tattooist to see if there’s any chance he can come in on short notice.

When I ring the buzzer at Logan’s brownstone, Emily answers, peeking her head around the door, which tells me Logan’s enforcing the “no clothes for subs in the house” rule.

“Hey!” She grins. “Come in. Why didn’t you answer my text?”

I edge through the small gap and Emily closes the door right behind me. I was right. She’s naked, except for pink-and-white striped thigh-highs, which I know drive Logan absolutely crazy. The house is warm enough that she’s not covered with goose bumps, way too warm for my leathers. I start stripping off as soon as I’m through the door. Emily takes each layer from me and hangs my clothes on the coat rack by the door. Mac’s coat is hanging there, but the doors on both sides of the entrance hallway are closed, so I can’t see where the man himself is.

“I think Mac and I have some things to say to each other,” I admit to Emily in a whisper. “But I don’t want to do it by text or phone. I figured it might go better if I just showed up.”

“Wait, you got the rose, right?”

I nod. “Did you help him pick it?”

“No. I overheard him telling Daddy about it when he got back from the florist this morning. He hasn’t said much to me. He’s been really quiet. You know, angry-quiet? I think he’s upset with himself.”

“Boys are so dumb,” I whisper, but my gut clenches at the idea of Mac being angry-quiet.

Emily giggles and nods.

Once I’m down to my skin, and, damn, I’m glad I shaved this morning, I follow Emily through the door into the great room. Logan and Mac are sitting on the sectional, with their backs to the door, watching soccer on the big-screen TV. Logan twists around to watch us enter, but Mac keeps his back to the door.

Logan’s dark eyes flick up and down over me. He nods and turns back to the game.

Eyes down, like a good subbie, I walk around the couch. Before I cross either Dom’s field of view, I drop to my knees. I crawl around the coffee table and pile of pillows that’s on the floor until I’m at Mac’s feet. Then I go down into a fullsubmission pose, with my ass on my heels and my forehead to the carpet.

“Mmm, that’s what I like to see,” Logan says. “Emily, kneel and crawl to me.”

“Yes, Daddy.”

I hear her drop to her knees and shuffle as she crawls to her Dom, then the creak of the couch as Logan brings her up onto his lap.

Mac makes me wait at his feet for what my knees tell me is way the fuck too long but is probably only five minutes. Finally, the weight of his hand, cool from holding a drink, settles on my bare back.

“When I take my hand away, I want you to rise and take my empty to the kitchen,” Mac says in that quiet voice of command he has, which sends shivers through me. “Bring me back a bottle of the Sam Adams that’s in the small fridge and either an iced water or a beer for yourself. Put a pillow between my feet and you can sit on it and watch the match. I don’t want to hear a single word out of you except ‘yes, sir,’ until the final whistle. After the match is over, we’ll talk. If you need to go to the bathroom before the final whistle, raise one finger and I’ll consider your request.”

As much as his touch, his words settle me. The nerves that were whirling around in my belly calm. My knees stop complaining as my muscles relax. There’s a deep sense of rightness in this. I don’t know if we’re in scene. Maybe we are since I kneeled to him. Maybe we’re not and this is what he meant when he said he wanted something full-time when we’re together. Either way, there’s such a clear difference in my mind between how it feels to have Mac control me and how it feels with every other Dom. The scene with Theo last night wasn’t bad, but it didn’t move me like this. If Ten told me to get him a beer and sit at his feet while he watched a sports match thatI have no interest in, I might do it, but only for the promise of multiple orgasms. I don’t need Mac to bribe me. I’m not staying because he’s promised we’ll talk afterwards. I just want to be with him.

He lifts his hand and I push up slowly. When I meet his eyes, he’s not smiling, but there’s warmth back in those gorgeous blues. He nods at me when I take his empty bottle. I trot off to the kitchen, feeling his eyes on my bare ass, which I manage not to wiggle only by a supreme act of self-control.