Page 125 of Little Sunshine

“Juliet Black,” he bit out.

I was already backing away. “I’m going.”

“Wait.”

At Juliet’s tone, I stopped and looked back to see her standing.

“Since you asked specifically about him being my Daddy, I’m guessing the same applies to you.”

“Correct.”

She smiled but did it shaking her head. “I knew you all were disproportionately bossy.” Her smile fell and her words were earnest. “Maximo might’ve felt like that, but he gave me a choice. Options. When I handed him my… everything, it was my decision. It wasn’t pried away from me. It wasn’t because I felt stuck. I willingly gave it, and that’s the only way this worked.” She glanced at him and then put her hands behind her back—a position that covered her ass. “That and he was beyond bluntly honest about what this was, what he expected, and how things would be.”

That was what I needed to do. Lay it out. Good intentions or not, my attempt at taking it slow and careful had backfired. She’d managed to get shit twisted until she was sure I didn’t want her.

“You need to give some thought to what those honest answers are for you. The entire time I was with Mila today, she didn’t ask for a single thing. She didn’t complain about a single thing. She is go-with-the-flow to the point it could drown her. She’s also very guarded. And that’s coming from me. I get the feeling she doesn’t let people in, but every time she mentioned you, she smiled. If she thinks the only way to be with you is as your submissive or in whatever capacity of kink you follow, she’ll probably do it, even if it doesn’t work for her. If you can be with her without it, I think that’s what she needs to hear so she has a choice.” Her eyes narrowed and she lifted a finger. “But only if that’s true. Otherwise, you’ll be the miserable one.”

“I’ll tell her,” I said as soon as she stopped talking. I didn’t have to think about it.

“Good because I want this to happen.” I started to smile, assuming she wanted the handsome goon to be happy, but she continued. “I already really liked her, but then watching as she made you chase her? Not to be dramatic, but she’s literally my favorite person. So you better make sure she sticks around, or I’ll kick your ass.”

“What was that, little dove?” Maximo asked, his tone too calm.

“I said favorite person, not favorite Daddy.”

“Still not okay. I’m your favorite Daddy, person, human, everything.”

“Oh God,” she muttered, clearly holding back an eye roll.

“Yeah, that too.”

There’s my cue to leave.

I started for the door, and Maximo said, “Hold on.”

“You don’t have to come. You’ve got enough to worry about with the fight coming up.”

“That’s what I pay Serrano for.”

It may have been true, but that didn’t mean Maximo wasn’t involved in every aspect of his resorts and the events held there—along with the underground ones at the warehouses. He’d already given up his morning to stake out The E. Coli Corral Motel.

“Seriously, we’ve got it.”

He shot me a glare. “I saw the lobby footage. I saw her. I know what these dickheads did to your woman. I’m happy to be here.” His lips tipped before he added, “Behemoth.”

Chapter 19

Don’t Let Your Words Come Back to Burn You

ASH

Between the trust fund from my grandparents, what I’d already made, and my investments, I didn’t have to work. I especially didn’t need a job that had long, irregular hours, frequent bullshit, and aspects that often put me on the wrong side of legal.

I did it because I liked Maximo, Marco, and Cole. I liked what we did. I liked the variety and the organization and the satisfaction.

I liked the excitement and the chaos and the violence.

Even with that, I’d never been happier to work there than I was right then. Cole had located the assholes at a strip club owned by one of Maximo’s connections.

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