Page 90 of Break Me, Daddy

All Frankie wanted to do was get home to her own Daddy and see if she could work up the nerve to tell him she loved him. But when Lottie looked at her like that, with those big puppy-dog eyes, she couldn’t say no. “If it’s cool with everyone else it’s cool with me.”

“Works for me.” Ruby sighed, her bottom lip pushing out in a pout. “Beckett has some work thing tonight and I hate being at his house by myself. It’s too damn big.”

“That’s what she said,” Ivy chimed in with a giggle, earning her an amused look from her girlfriend.

“Someone had too much champagne at the dress shop,” Cordelia drawled, wrapping an arm around her girl’s shoulders. “No more alcohol for you tonight, blossom.”

“Awww, but we’re goin’ to the club and we don’t even gotta work!”

“Exactly my point. I have plans for you tonight and I need you good and sober for them.”

“Oh.” In the rearview mirror, Frankie watched Ivy’s eyes go wide and dark with need. “In that case, yes, Ma’am.”

“Silver?” Frankie asked, meeting the sultry brunette’s gaze in the mirror. “You good with a detour?”

“I need to let Ice know but I’m sure it won’t be a problem.”

“To the club it is.”

The crowd in the SUV Frankie had pleaded with Holden to borrow for their girls’ day out cheered as she flipped her turn signal on and headed for the exit that would take them to the club.

They parked out back, near the service entrance Braden had been encouraging everyone to use. Contrary to Ruby’s complaint the other night, the door did not stick, and Lottie explained Braden had gotten someone out to work on it as soon as Ruby had mentioned it.

Was that a Daddy thing or just a Braden thing, Frankie wondered. To want to take care of everyone around him, to want to make their lives as easy as possible. Holden was much the same way, so she was leaning toward it being a Daddy thing.

And if it was a Daddy thing, then didn’t that mean it was okay for her to need him? For her to lean on him, more than she’d ever leaned on anyone before? She’d already come to the conclusion that she loved him, but she still wasn’t sure how much she was allowed toneedhim.

Those thoughts were still rolling around in her head as she followed her friends down to the pit. It was still early in the evening, so the club was relatively empty. But there was a single black play bag up on one of the podiums and all the other lights had been dimmed, with a single spotlight shining on the St. Andrew's cross in the middle of the wooden stage.

Something interesting was about to go down.

Pausing her trek to wherever Lottie was headed, she looked up at the stage, her heart racing as she remembered what it had felt like to be strapped to that same kind of cross while her Daddy punished her in front of the entire club. Humiliating, painfully so, not to mention the actual pain. And yet, she’d craved him so badly she’d nearly wept when he’d told her she wouldn’t be allowed to come all night.

As if her thoughts somehow managed to conjure him, Holden stepped onto the stage, his silver hair glinting beneath the spotlight. His gaze zeroed in on her and time itself seemed to stop. The very air in her lungs froze and her heart literally skipped a beat.

How could she have ever doubted that she felt anything less than all-consuming love for this man?

Grinning up at him, she raced up the steps of the podium and threw her arms around him. “What are you doing here? Never mind.” Pulling away, she shook her head, her nerves suddenly vibrating with anticipation. “We need to talk.”

“We do. But first, you’re going to listen.” When she opened her mouth to protest, he laid a finger on her lips, his eyes glinting with authority. “You are not allowed to speak unless it’s to use your safeword. Nod if you understand me.”

What the hell was going on? Was she in trouble?

She didn’t know, but despite the sudden racing of her heart, she trusted him to explain, so she nodded.

And she was rewarded with a warm, approving smile that nearly turned her to a puddle at his feet. “Good girl. I’ve done a lot of thinking about our… situation. And I’ve come to the conclusion that I seriously fucked up.”

“No, that’s not?—”

“Is that your safeword, Francesca?”

Huffing out a breath, she shook her head.

“Good girl. As I was saying. What I should have told you when we first talked about keeping our relationship platonic was that I wanted to know that you were choosing me. And that I wantedyouto know you were choosing me. It never had anything to do with making you prove yourself to me, Frankie. If anything, I should have been proving myself to you. Proving that I could be the kind of man you can depend on. That I’ll be there for you, every step of the way. This was never about whether or not you deserve me, baby. Because you deserve the fucking world.”

If she hadn’t already been in love with him, she was pretty sure that little speech would have sealed the deal. And even if she didn’t really believe that last bit, didn’t believe she’d done a damn thing to deserve him or the love he so obviously had for her, she was going to spend the rest of her life doing everything she could to be worthy of it.

Starting right now, with obeying his command to keep her mouth shut unless she needed to use her safeword. Heart pounding in her chest, she looked up at him and nodded slightly, acknowledging his words.

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