Page 43 of Big Daddy Christmas
Watching Ice step out onto the balcony to take his call, Holden tried to push down the worry as his own phone buzzed. Pulling it from his pocket, he frowned down at the message on his screen.
Beckett
Running late. Not sure when I’ll be there. Cover for me
What the hell was that all about?
Chapter 7
Frankie
“Wait, so she’s Daddy, too?”
Sitting straight up on the couch, her legs folded under her, Aria looked around the room with wide, excited eyes. On the other couch, Cordelia was leaned back, sipping a mimosa from the buffet the staff had brought up a few minutes before with Ivy tucked up against her side as usual. “I am, yes.”
“Fascinating. And Ivy is your sub?”
“Ivy is mine. As is our boy, Jacob.”
Aria’s eyes somehow got even rounder. “You have two submissives? Fucking badass.”
Cordelia’s smile shifted to a satisfied smirk. “I like to think so.”
Grinning at the pair of them, Frankie waved her own mimosa. “So you’ll help me sneak her into the club tonight?”
“Hmmm.” Head tilted to the side, Cordelia gave Aria a long, hard look. “She hasn’t been vetted.”
“Oh come on, Delia. She’s Braden’s daughter. You can’t get a better recommendation than that.”
“True. But Braden will also murder us all if we let her step foot in that club.”
A smirk tugged at the corner of Aria’s mouth as she raised a brow in Cordelia’s direction. “Really? You’re going to let a man control my sexual exploration?”
“Oh, you’re clever.” Chuckling softly, Cordelia raised her glass in a toast. “And you have a point. But I’m not sure an event like that is the best time to bring a kink virgin into the fray.”
“Actually,” Ivy interjected, her tone thoughtful, “it might be the best time. A small group, people we all know well. Nobody there to take advantage of her.”
Aria bounced excitedly in her seat, her mimosa sloshing dangerously close to the sides of her glass in the process. “See? It’s perfect!”
“Slow down, Baby Elliott.” Steel infused Cordelia’s tone, and though she pouted about it, Aria immediately quieted. Not that Frankie could blame her. Cordelia had never laid a hand on her and she was still lowkey terrified of her. And she was pretty sure most of the men were, too.
“There are rules. Lots of them. And I’ll have plenty of rules of my own if I let you come with us. The number one rule being you are only there to observe, not to play. Understood?”
“But…” One look from Cordelia had Aria stopping in her tracks with a sigh. “Okay, okay, fine. No playing, just watching.”
Frankie opened her mouth to tease Aria about caving so quickly, but she was distracted by the door opening and Silver striding inside, looking so completely unSilverlike, Frankie had to do a double-take. Dressed in a pair of gray sweatpants and what looked to be one of Ice’s button-down shirts without a lick of makeup on, she didn’t seem anything like the goddess of the night persona she usually portrayed. Even when they were just hanging out at her house, she at least had some makeup on.
“What?” Stopping a few feet from the couch, Silver frowned. “Why are you all staring at me?”
So Frankie had been the only one caught off guard, thank god.
“You just look… Not like you,” Cordelia said, her head tilting to the side as she looked Silver up and down. “I don’t think we’ve ever seen you without makeup.”
“Please.” Silver rolled her eyes. “You’ve definitely seen me without makeup. You’re over at my house all the time.”
“Yeah, and you always have makeup on when we come over.” Amused now that the shock had faded, Frankie grinned. “I never really thought about it before but Delia’s right. This is totally new.”
“You’re all ridiculous.” With another roll of her eyes, Silver flounced over to the couch and dropped down next to Aria. She glanced over, then did her own double-take. “Who’s this?”
