Page 42 of Mob Saint

“I don’t want you to think I can’t take care of myself or that I don’t want to.”

“Tiera, I know that. You’re highly capable, and I don’t think you’re suddenly going to turn helpless. Let me share the burden, so you don’t have to face all of this on your own.”

“Thank you. What do you need?”

It’s rare anyone asks me that. At least, anyone who isn’t my parents or my brother or my immediate family. Anyone who isn’t asking about more than what I want to do with a “guest” at the station.

“I need to know you’re safe. I need to know you’re happy. Seeing you smile makes the weight of the world disappear. Hearing your voice allows me to forget about my responsibilities for a while. Taking care of you makes me feel useful as Seamus, not an O’Rourke mobster.”

She reaches out and unbuttons my shirt. She pushes it open as her hands run over my chest and belly. She scoots closer and kisses my neck.

“And if I want to take care of you?”

I gaze down at her upturned face. I feel a surge of emotion that makes me want to promise I’ll be beside her for the rest of time. But I can’t even promise tomorrow, let alone a long life. I could get stabbed or shot tomorrow, and that ever-present danger makes me an arsehole for wanting Tiera to be my girlfriend.

“You already do, cailín.”

“You’re bigger than me, stronger than me. You’re protective, you want to take care of me, and you’re just the right kind of possessive. You sound pretty fucking perfect. You call me little one. I called you big one once, but that was in jest. If I’m your cailín, then what are you to me? What do you want me to call you?”

A word comes to me in a flash. It shocks the shite out of me, though it shouldn’t because I’ve heard my cousins’ wives whisper it before. Tiera will completely misunderstand if I suggest it.

“Whatever you want. I’ll answer to just about anything.”

“That is not what you want, and we both know it. I think there is something you want me to call you, but you think I won’t agree or that it’ll freak me out. Say it, Seamus. Say what you want me to call you.”

Chapter Eleven

Tiera

Seamus watches me for what feels like an eternity, but it’s probably just a few seconds.

“No woman has ever called me this. I’ve never suggested it before. And it’ll sound exactly the opposite of what I told you the first time we talked about anything like this.”

“I already know the last bit. I’m happy to know the first two things. I don’t believe you suddenly want something different from what you told me. But I believe we’d both be happy with it. Tell me what you want me to call you.”

“Cailín, you’re going to call me Daddy.”

It makes my pussy clench. Fuck, that’s hot. I grip his shoulder and pull him as I roll onto my back. He follows me, his right arm reaching across me, so he can prop himself up on his right hand and left forearm. The way he gazes at me as I speak is everything I could ever dream of.

“Daddy. I like the sound of that. I don’t want age play, and I don’t think you do either. But I think you need to feel useful and like you can shield me from some of the things that surround our life. I think you want me to know you take your promise to take care of me seriously. I think you need to feel control, and I’m happy to give that to you.”

“All of that.”

“Seamus, I tested after Aaron died. Zack never went without a condom, but I still tested anyway. I think he was with other women even though he swore he wasn’t. I wanted to be careful, so I not only use birth control but also insisted he wear protection. I haven’t been with anyone but him since Aaron died.”

“I haven’t been with anyone other than Makayla for three years, who I just found out didn’t live by the agreement we had.”

“Oh, Daddy. I’m sorry.” I love how easily that rolls off my tongue.

“It doesn’t surprise me, but it is disappointing to discover someone isn’t who you thought. I tested regularly with her even though I thought we were monogamous. I think I always knew in the back of my mind that she fucked at least one of the guys she dated while we were together. I always wore a condom with her. I’ve never had sex without one.”

“Never?”

“No. The first girl I had sex with—she will never know the meaning of monogamy. She was someone who—I’m not the only person in my family who was with her. I’m pretty sure she was a couple of my cousins’ first, but none of us were even close to being her first. Knowing that, I never went bareback with her because I didn’t know who outside my family she was sleeping with. All of us practically double bagged it with her.”

Saying this aloud makes him wince. I don’t think he realized how bad it would sound until he started speaking.

“Anyway, I always wore them when I was at my clubs with the few women I scened with before I got together with Makayla.”

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