Page 91 of Tempted By her Daddies

Yikes. That might be tougher than the no touching rule. But she wanted to give each of them what they needed.

“I can try.”

“It doesn’t have to happen today or tomorrow or even next week. I know you will need to trust me fully.”

“What about you, Rome?” She turned to him as Alexei sat on the coffee table, making it creak.

“Damn fragile old furniture,” Alexei muttered.

“That coffee table is only around a hundred years old,” Roman countered.

“Only a hundred, he says. Like that’s young,” Alexei muttered.

“It is compared to that vase with bird poop on it,” Roman countered.

“Oh no! The bird poo!” How could she have forgotten? “I need to clean that all up.”

She attempted to scramble off Salem’s lap, but Roman held up a hand on her lap, stilling her.

“Stay. The bird poop will be easy to get off. And I was never fond of that painting anyway.” He waved his hand at a painting that had poo on the ornate frame. She couldn’t see any on the painting, but no doubt that frame alone was expensive and old.

Drat.

All right. She supposed he was right about it not going anywhere.

“What do you need from me?” she asked Roman.

“Probably patience.” He smiled. “You know I struggle with having people touch me or touching others. Although I don’t find it as difficult with you. I’ve never been in a relationship before. And I have . . . uh, quirks I think was the word used. More than most people, I think. I have several hang ups from my family abandoning me. So, yeah, patience.”

Her heart hurt for him. She still couldn’t believe his family had abandoned him. He was the very best person that she knew.

And aren’t you going to abandon him?

Not if she could help it.

She leaned into him without thought and to her surprise, he opened his arms and accepted her hug. Tamsyn sighed happily.

“You give amazing hugs,” she told him.

“So do you,” he whispered back. “I never enjoyed hugs until I experienced one of yours.”

“That might be the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me.” She leaned back into Salem’s chest and they both smiled at each other.

Alexei snorted. “The two of you are sickeningly cute. But are we going to ignore our girl putting her safety in danger and talking badly about herself?”

Salem’s hand ran up her spine to cup the back of her neck as she tensed.

“She wasn’t ours when she climbed on the table,” he pointed out.

Alexei’s gaze narrowed and she waited for his protest. But, to her surprise, he nodded. “All right.”

“The putting herself down is something that needs to be addressed, though,” Salem said. He spoke in such a calm tone that it took a moment for her to fully comprehend his words.

“What?”

“It seems to be a recurring pattern and we need to get on top of that negative behavior,” Roman added.

It was not a recurring pattern! What was happening right now?

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