Page 46 of Saul

Then he stilled, and he returned my gaze. “Baby?”

I smiled and wriggled a little so he could feel more of the padding. I’d finally admitted to getting anxious in a lot of social situations with strangers, and I knew I needed to talk to someone about it, and I would, but this wasn’t just about that, even though it made me feel more secure. This was about me being at my most vulnerable and trusting Daddy to have my back — well my ass actually. It was me saying the only way I knew how that I trusted him to keep me without me actually speaking words.

But when Daddy wrapped me in his arms and held me tight, I knew he’d heard them, anyway.

Epilogue

Seven Months Later - Calvin

“I’m exhausted,” Ricky whined.

I had to agree. We had seven full-time Daddies on the books and needed another two, but the interviews weren’t going well. Despite asking the same standard questions that Daddy had answered so beautifully all those months ago, it seemed we werestuck on repeat, as none of them were giving close to the right answers. We still needed a Daddy for our client from hell.

“What was wrong with the last Daddy we sent him?” I asked.

“He failed the Godfather test.”

I banged my head on the desk. It sounded like a bad Mafia skit, but essentially, Matty needed someone who could stand up for him, and it wasn’t going well.

“They all failed,” Ricky said, tapping his pen on his lips thoughtfully. I sighed theatrically. Matthew Coombes—the Little—had just moved back home from Charlotte, North Carolina, where he had been a member of a club owned by a friend of Christopher’s. His childhood home was the wealthy Country Club neighborhood of Denver, where his godfather controlled a multi-million-dollar legacy that Matty would inherit on his thirtieth birthday in just under three years.

The kicker was that to inherit his parents’ fortune, he had to be married for at least two years prior to that. He had seven months to get it done, and so far, he’d had no luck.

Matthew had so many bad experiences with so-called Daddies or Daddy-Doms who were just after his money that he’d thrown an indecent amount of cash at Rent-A-Daddy, treating it more like a dating agency than a Daddy rental service. When Christopher mentioned that the Little was a bit of a brat and had caused problems at Adrian’s club, it sounded like we needed a stern Daddy. We’d tried. Matty himself wasn’t what we expected; he seemed way too shy to be a brat. He’d filled out the large questionnaire with a ton of contradictory answers, and the first five Daddies who seemed like a good fit, had been a complete bust.

We’d run out of Daddies. All the ones who wouldn’t be intimidated by wealth or power had been chosen first, and either Matty had said they were just a clone of his godfather, or they were intimidated by him.

We were down to the last application, and he was late. Then we both glanced up as we heard the loud roar of what sounded like five motorbikes. We rushed to the office window that overlooked the driveway of Ricky and Chris’s home.

“Oh my God,” Ricky breathed out as a huge bear of a man swung into the driveway on a massive motorbike—just one. I gaped and ran back for the application form. The photo looked nothing like the mountain climbing off the gleaming Harley.

Ricky glanced down. “It could be his younger brother.”

I looked at the photo, then back at the giant now that he’d looked up and I could see his face. “It’s him. I don’t think the photo’s up to date.” We both heard one of Christopher’s men, Dawson walking toward the door. Christopher and Daddy had a job that day, and since we needed to hold the interviews, we weren’t allowed to answer the front door. Dawson did that, made sure they weren’t carrying any weapons, and generally hovered at the back of the office.

Dawson must have been happy to let him in because Novo Jeremiah Sousa followed Dawson into the office a few minutes later. I watched as my hand disappeared into the paws of the man, but his grip was gentle. His eyes were a soft blue, and although his head was shaved, his beard was red. If he had walked in wearing a kilt—though that might be a bit drafty on the motorbike—I wouldn’t have been surprised.

After introductions and while we sat with bottles of water, Ricky asked him if he’d filled in the questionnaire because we hadn’t received it by email. He nodded, then reached into his leather jacket pocket and pulled out the folded paper. “I brought it with me,” he said, pushing it over.

I opened it up, and Ricky leaned over to read.

Daddy characteristics:

On a scale of 1-10, how possessive do you think a Daddy should be with his Little?

Scrawled underneath, he’d written:

I’d add another hundred or so zeros to that ten, but I don’t reckon you have enough paper.

I grinned, liking him already, and Matty’s godfather would take one look and throw a fit, which might just be what Matty needed.

The next day was Friday and not only did Daddy have a full weekend off, he was taking me back to Rainbow Key for a long weekend until Monday. With the business being super busy, Ricky and Christopher wouldn’t be joining us as they had originally intended. I felt awful that they couldn’t come, but Ricky had insisted, especially because I was fully capable in the water now. Daddy had done exactly what he said and made sure I learned to swim. Not only had he arranged for private lessons, but Daddy got in the water every time with me until I was confident in there on my own.

Ricky had hugged me bye as usual when Christopher and Daddy had gotten back yesterday and we had shared our excitement over the new Daddy, and Ricky had told us to have a good time and we’d go together next time.

And I’d woken ridiculously early and had lain in bed with Daddy pressed to my back, wondering what I’d ever done to be this lucky. “I can hear you thinking,” Daddy muttered, and I’d giggled and pressed back against Daddy, grinding my ass optimistically into Daddy’s groin.

Then Daddy shot up in bed and reached for me, but cackling, I was just quick enough to scramble out, but the chase lasted all of about ten seconds before Daddy not only caught me but held me over his knee and swatted my ass. And because it was amazing asalways and I was as hard as a rock, Daddy didn’t let me up, but lubed his finger and played.

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