Page 88 of Big Daddy Christmas
“Please.” Silver rolled her eyes, more because it was expected than anything else. “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.” Openly amused by this new development, Frankie grinned. “I never really thought about it before but Delia’s right. This is totally new.”
“You’re all ridiculous.” With another exaggerated roll of her eyes, Silver made her way over to the couch and dropped down onto the surprisingly soft cushions. She glanced over at the person seated beside her, then did a double take when she realized she’d never seen her before. “Who’s this?”
“Oh my god.” The woman’s voice dropped to a reverent whisper Silver recognized all too well. “You’re Silver. I knew you’d be here and like, I’ve seen you in the group chat but like… Oh my god, you’re Silver.”
Ahhh. A fangirl. Most of the members of the club had gotten used to her and Ice hanging around, so it had been a minute since she’d gotten this reaction out of someone.
She didn’t hate it.
“You know, Aria, if you’d come to like, any of the planning events we had over the past few months, you wouldn’t be drooling right now,” Frankie teased, lifting her mimosa for another sip.
Aria. Braden’s daughter. Shifting, Silver studied the pretty brunette, looking for signs of her father in her.
There. Around the eyes, especially. Same shape, same color, even hints of Braden’s devil-may-care attitude sparkling in the pale blue once the shock started to wear off.
“Shut up, Frankie,” Aria shot back without any heat, and Silver nearly laughed at how much she sounded like her father. “I just needed a minute.”
“Where’s Ruby?” From her spot on the other couch, Cordelia chuckled. “You two will be great friends. She had pretty much the same reaction the first time she met Silver, too.”
As if on cue, Frankie’s phone buzzed, and she looked down at her phone. “Her ears must have been burning because she just texted me.” Frowning slightly, she tapped out a few messages before sighing and rolling her eyes. “Ruby’s going to be late. Apparently she pushed one too many of Beckett’s buttons this morning.”
Laughter rippled through the group, with the exception of Aria who frowned. “What does that mean? Is that a kinky thing?”
“Oh, shit.” Silver lifted a hand to her mouth, horror filling her at the realization that Braden had understandably kept his very kinky job a secret from his daughter. “She doesn’t know, does she? Braden is going to murder all of us.”
“Relax, she knows. Well, she knows about the club and why it’s called Club BDE. Or why we call it that, anyway.” Frankie paused and turned to Cordelia. “Did you know that’s actually Braden and his brother’s initials?”
Well, that was news to Silver. She’d always been told it stood for Big Daddy Energy, which made sense since nearly every Dom there, and at least one Domme, identified as a Daddy.
“I did, but only because I’ve worked there for so long.” Cordelia’s lips curved upward. “I may or may not have been the one who started the rumor that it stands for something else.”
Okay, well, that explained that. Sometimes Cordelia was more of a brat than the rest of their group combined.
Throwing her head back, Frankie let out a laugh. “Sometimes I think you may be the biggest brat of us all,” she said, echoing Silver’s thoughts.
As the laughter faded, Frankie froze, her cheeks flushing red as she cleared her throat. “Sorry. Ah, I just… remembered I have something to do. Be right back.”
Pushing up off the couch, she hurried away, leaving the rest of them watching after her with varying degrees of amusement and sympathy.
Or, in Aria’s case, pure curiosity. “Where do you think she went in such a hurry?”
Silver had a pretty good idea, and judging by the smug smile on Cordelia’s face and Ivy’s blush, they did as well. But she wasn’t sure exactly how ‘innocent’ Braden’s daughter was, and she sure as hell wasn’t going to be the one to corrupt her.
“Hey, where’s Lottie?” Silver asked, as much to change the subject as to feed her own curiosity.
Aria rolled her eyes. “She got pissed off about something I said and stormed over to the other suite to tell my dad off. I figured she’d be back by now, though.”
Depending on how pissed she’d been… perhaps not. But again, not something she wanted to talk about with Braden’s daughter.
“Silver, are you hungry?” There was a desperate glint in Ivy’s eye that said she was just as eager to avoid sharing too much with Aria. “There’s a whole buffet over there.”
Truth was, she was starving. But just the thought of food had her stomach rolling. “Um, no thanks. Not really hungry.”
“You sure?” The corners of Ivy’s mouth dipped down, and despite Silver’s insistence otherwise, she rose from the couch. “What about a mimosa?”
“No.” Her response came out sharper than she’d intended, earning her a raised brow from Cordelia and a surprised stare from Ivy. “Sorry. I just want to be clear-headed today, you know?”
