The Daddy P.I. Casefiles: The First Collection by Frost, J (great novels .txt) π
Read free book Β«The Daddy P.I. Casefiles: The First Collection by Frost, J (great novels .txt) πΒ» - read online or download for free at americanlibrarybooks.com
Read book online Β«The Daddy P.I. Casefiles: The First Collection by Frost, J (great novels .txt) πΒ». Author - Frost, J
βYou are a wonderful subbie. Just give me your little self, baby doll. Thatβs all I need.β
βYes, Daddy.β She buries herself in my chest and I hug her, rocking her gently, until she falls asleep with her cheek pressed over my heart.
* * *
My alarm wakes me as morning light, the same soft pink of Emilyβs blushes, edges around the curtains. I tap off my phone before it wakes my little girl and spend a minute watching her sleep.
I feel so fucking close to her. The secrets, hurts, truths weβre sharing are beyond intimate. Theyβre painful. Humiliating. Soul-wrenching. I havenβt been this exposed since I was a kid. But Emilyβs so giving, and allows herself to be so vulnerable, that it feels dishonest to give her anything other than complete openness in return.
And Iβm so proud of her. Such bravery in such a little package. She could have pulled back. Iβd have given her time to regroup after the soaping debacle, if sheβd needed it. Instead, she opened up and gave me everything. My doll baby.
The timing sucks. If Iβd met Emily three months ago, our relationship would be solid now. Iβd know where her landmines are. Iβd have mastered the daddy thing. Weβd have complete trust, and I wouldnβt have to worry about how the clusterfuck with Miranda might undermine us. For a second, Iβm tempted to just walk away from any responsibility I might have there. But thatβs not me. I had unprotected sex with Miranda, knowing what the consequences might be. Iβm not going to run away from those consequences just because Miranda screwed me.
I kiss Emilyβs forehead and tuck the covers around her before I rise. Her bedroomβs chilly. What is it with the air conditioning on this bloody boat? I toss on a bathrobe, retrieve my laptop from the room safe, plug in a pair of earphones, and settle at Emilyβs desk to watch the rest of the CCTV footage.
Three-quarters of an hour later, Iβm finally at the end. Black left his cabin again on Saturday night, probably to hit the pig roast. He returned alone a little after twenty-two hundred and stayed in his cabin until nine on Sunday morning when he left wearing shorts and a towel. No sign of the pill bottle, but it could have been rolled-up in the towel. He was gone for over two hours, which might just have been a long swim, but his duck-walk when he returned tells a different story. He had room service for lunch and then disembarked with the rest of the passengers at fifteen hundred. Iβve rolled the footage of his final departure back and forth several times. He was steady on his feet, showered, shaved, and dressed in khakis and a white polo shirt.
Absolutely no sign that heβd collapse and die just a few hours later.
I fire off an email to Ed Isaak with my thoughts on the CCTV footage as well as the questions Iβve compiled for him and his tech people. Grabbing one of Emilyβs pens, and grinning to myself at the glittery purple ink, I make a few more notes before sticking them inside my laptop. I pop everything back in the room safe. After looking at my bare wrist, damn, still getting used to that, I check my phone. Just after oh seven hundred. The time change messed me up for a few days, but Iβm almost back to a normal schedule. Iβve got time for a run before I wake Emily for breakfast. I jot her a note and leave it on the pillow, then head into my cabin to change into running gear.
No sign of anyone having been in my cabin but I text Niall anyway. He knocks on the door ten minutes later, and, when I open it, Iβm surprised to see not just Niall but also his partner, Shaan.
βIf itβs ahβright, Shaanβll stay here to keep an eye on yer gurl, and Iβll run with yeh.β
They both look red-eyed and rumpled. Iβm reminded that not everyone had an early night of Star Wars, giggles, and pillow-talk.
I offer my hand to Shaan and he shakes with more strength than I expect, given that heβs several inches shorter, and several inches wider around the middle, than I am. But I suppose he must have some serious hidden reserves to keep up with Niall.
We head up to the Lido deck, and after stretching for a few minutes, join the parade of other morning exercise nuts on the track marked around the deck. Niall snorts when a pair of twenty-somethings in full sprint and matching Lycra lap us, but by unspoken agreement, we keep an easy pace.
Both of us are breathing smoothly enough to talk while we run, but we donβt, and I like the quiet companionship weβve fallen into.
Three miles and we drop into a walk to cool down with no more than an exchange of nods. The cruise line has water stations at either end of the deck and we stop at one to pick up water bottles. Niall drifts to the starboard rail, looking out over the water. Weβre close to Cabo now and the sea-lanes are getting busy.
βHowβs yer gurl?β he asks.
βBetter.β He left before the soaping disaster, but heβs an experienced enough Dom to know that a melt-down was coming. βI had it wrong. Sheβd gone into a non-verbal headspace. She wasnβt being willfully disobedient.β
βAh.β He rolls his water bottle around between his bear paws. His hands are even bigger than mine; how does he not break his subs in half? βTβbe fair, she doan seem the type.β
βNo, Emilyβs a very sweet sub.β
βIs it a little thing?β
βEvidently.β A little thing that
Comments (0)