The Daddy P.I. Casefiles: The First Collection by Frost, J (great novels .txt) 📕

his knees, bringing himself down to Emily’s eye level, and smiles at her. “It’s nice to meet you, too, Emily. Is tiramisú your favorite dessert?”

“Everything’s really good from the Trattoria, Master Theo.”

“That’s true. My favorite’s the pannacotta. If I order that, will you have a bite of mine?”

I expect Emily to demur over the calories, but I should know better. Given the chance, Emily will always try to please. Particularly a Dom. She gives Theo a soft smile.

“Yes, sir. I like the pannacotta, too.”

Theo grins. I can almost hear the thud as he falls.

While Emily works her magic, I grab my phone out of my bag and call down to the restaurant.

* * *

By the time Emily’s sampling our desserts, Theo’s got her giving him a whole psychological profile of the stalker. He’s rapt as she points out details of the Little Box of Horrors on my phone. As they talk, I notice he hasn’t said a swear word in front of her since the entrées, and somehow, he’s ended up holding her stuffie.

I stretch out behind her and tuck in her binkie, then lean over her shoulder and look at the picture they’re examining. It’s the watersports picture, with the skull in place of Rick’s head and Rick’s head on the submissive who is taking his stream across her neck and breasts.

“See how ugly this picture makes it look?” Emily asks, tapping the image. “The person who made this isn’t kinky.”

“Someone vanilla made the box,” Theo says.

Emily nods. “She’s watched lots of his movies and picked out the ugliest bits.”

“Could she just be a fan?” I suggest.

Emily shakes her head, looking over her shoulder at me. “This is someone who knows Rick. She thinks Rick’s kinks are eating his soul. She’s angry and afraid and resentful.”

Theo lifts his eyes from Emily and pins me with a cop-stare.

“Has he given you a list already?” he asks.

I don’t have to ask what kind of list.

“Yup, want me to email it to you?”

Theo nods. He picks up my phone and works at it for a minute. “Send it to my official account. I’ve added it to my contact info.”

“Toss me the phone.”

When he does, I flip over to my email, scroll down to Rick’s message attaching his long list of conquests, and forward it to Theo’s NYPD account. Theo pulls out his own phone and taps away before sliding it back into his pocket.

“That’ll get my people working on it.”

“Thanks.”

“Don’t thank me yet. Maybe I’m building a stalking case. Maybe I’m building a rape case. I don’t know yet.”

“Fair enough.” I rub Emily’s arm. She relaxes back into me and smooths the edge of her binkie over my hip. She does the same thing after we make love, making sure I’m warm and comfortable before I fall asleep. The little ways she takes care of her daddy fill my soul. “I think I know someone who’s sleepy.”

She shifts onto her back so she can look up at me, and yawns hugely. “Not me, Daddy.”

“No, not you, little girl. Never you. Would you like Master Theo to read you the rest of Alligators All Around?”

“I brought In the Night Kitchen, too. Could he read that to me, instead, Daddy?”

“I think he could be persuaded. Let’s get you propped up. No lying flat after eating. Bad for baby’s tummy.”

I get her settled on some pillows while Theo finds the book in her bag. As he reads the story, Emily tugs the hand I have resting between her breasts up to her face, and after a beseeching glance at me, shyly closes her mouth around my thumb. Her eyelids droop as she begins to suck.

She’s asleep before Theo turns three more pages. When he notices, he stops reading and watches her for a moment, then glances at me.

“She’s like this all the time?”

“Uh-huh,” I whisper to avoid waking her.

“The thumb-sucking’s kinda hot.”

“Agreed.”

I’ve never questioned why I find Emily’s thumb-sucking erotic. I just do. What I question is why another Dom getting turned on by it doesn’t make me want to punch him in the face. I think back through the scenes I’ve done with Theo. They were all when his wife was still alive. I was with Luisa at the time. They were heavy impact scenes. We took turns flogging each other’s subs but didn’t share them beyond that. In fact, I don’t think Theo ever shared his wife.

Good. He can’t ask me to share Emily.

“Hour on the horse is a serious punishment,” Theo observes quietly. “Even for a masochist. She’s fresh off that and she’s this sweet?”

“Emily never holds a grudge.”

“Is it a little thing? Lynn used to hold some epic grudges.”

Lynn. That’s right. I’d forgotten his wife’s name. She was a spitfire sub, if memory serves.

“I don’t know. It might just be Emmy. Most of the littles I’ve met are really sweet. A few are bratty, but most are sweet.”

“What do you think DirtyGurl’d do if I told her to suck my thumb?”

“Better make sure she can’t reach your balls.”

Theo chuckles. “You didn’t tell me what Emily did to earn an hour on the horse.”

“Broke two rules for the second time, and a promise.”

He nods. “Serious punishment for serious infractions.”

“In case you have any doubt, we have a contract and she agreed to the wooden pony as a possible punishment.”

“Yeah, sorry, I didn’t mean that the way it sounded. I know you’re responsible with your subs. And—” He pulls a deep breath in and blows it out. “I apologize for being a dick earlier. I know you care about consent as much as I do. If you’re still helping Rick, then he must have convinced you the sex was consensual. I just . . . it pissed me off.”

“It pissed me off, too. And I had my doubts when I started the investigation, but Damon Tiger was really clear that the sex was consensual. When I finally tracked down Laurel Radford, she was, too.”

Theo nods and relaxes back in the chair. “What aren’t