Page 53 of Her Bossy Daddy

“Why did you tell her that?” Lacey blinked up at me.

“I referred to my sister and me, not the two of us, love.” I looked up at the ceiling and down again. “I need a smoke.” I grabbed my cigarettes from a drawer and stepped into the hallway. “Behave. I’ll be back in a moment.”

“Was he talking to me or you?” I heard Lacey ask as I went outside. It didn’t matter, they both needed to listen or the three of us would be fighting in no time. I didn’t expect my sister to show up today, but her timing could not have been worse. Still, Lacey and I were at a better point in our relationship than we’d ever been, so maybe we could get through the day without any more tears.

I dragged on the cigarette and blew the smoke out in rings. Rae used to have a huge crush on Ronan and they even dated for a while. He and I were as close back as brothers in Ireland and we still kept in touch on the regular. She didn’t know he had been thinking about her all this time as well, though they hadn’t been in contact in a while. Ronan believed in a lot of the same principles I did, so maybe he would be a good match for my rebellious sister. Though she appeared to have grown some, I believed deep down she longed for someone to take care of her the way I handled Lacey. I hadn’t seen all the signs before, but her confession shed a lot of light on her overall personality and the way she dealt with things. Hm. I needed to convince my sister to stick around. I’d finally gotten Lacey back on the right track, so maybe I could realign Rae’s track as well.

* * *

Lacey

I stared at Raegan, not knowing what to say. She broke the ice first.

“I’m not trying to be nosy. Why did my brother take your phone away? I’m a bit confused.”

“Let’s just say I haven’t been minding myself lately. Liam pocketed my phone for the weekend to force all our energy into fixing our relationship. He hasn’t done anything wrong, it’s me. It’s sort of all me.”

“I wish I had someone who cared enough about me to do something like that.” Raegan wiped at her eyes. “Clearly, you are very special to him.”

“We have a unique dynamic.” I worried the edge of my lip with my teeth. “I like when he’s in control.”

“Do you, em, pretend you’re a little girl?” Raegan downed another shot of whiskey and then fixed herself another cup of tea.

“Sometimes.”

“It’s not my business, but I’m observant. I saw what your shirt said. It must be relaxing to sort of do that.”

“Most of the time it is,” I agreed, and then changed the subject. “It must have taken a lot of courage to come up here and confront Liam after all this time.”

“I should have told him everything a long time ago, but pride is a funny thing.” Raegan shrugged. “Anyhow, I’ve got to check in to my hotel so I won’t be staying long. I’ll let you know how the meeting goes, but I’m sure Liam’s reputation will be kept clean. There is no proof of what this woman has said about him, and her timeline is shady at best.”

“I think she did this to hurt me. Milly got jealous when I passed out at work and your brother caught me. For some reason she believes he should be paying attention to her.”

“Fucking cunt.”

Liam walked back into the kitchen at the same moment his sister cursed. “Rae!”

“Oh, em, it’s just I hate when a woman gets possessive of a man who isn’t hers. I was talking about this Milly woman, not Lacey. She’s rather lovely.”

Liam shook his head, but it was clear he thought she had called me one. “Have the two of you worked out the answers to each other’s questions?”

The two of us stared at Liam and then glanced at one another. The woman who seemed so formidable before shrugged again in the shadow of her brother. It was a little strange to see the effect he had on her.

“Lacey?” He crossed his arms over his chest, but I followed Raegan’s lead and shrugged. “Verbal answer. Now.”

“Sort of,” I muttered.

“Yeah, I guess,” Raegan replied. “I should probably go. Check-in at my hotel is at one o’clock and I don’t want to be late.” She grabbed for her keys, but Liam got them first and pocketed them. “What the hell?”

“You’re not driving on four shots of whiskey, love. And that’s only what I saw you throw back.”

“For fuck’s sake, Liam. I’m not drunk!”

Damn. Raegan was braver than me. She didn’t have consequences though, so I might act the same way.

“You’re not driving,” he repeated himself. “Go make yourself comfortable. I’m sure there is a late check-in option at the hotel. You can call the front desk and request it, and if you aren’t sober by then, I’ll drive you or call you a cab.”

“Just because you like to boss people around and you’re older than me does not mean you can tell me what to do!” Raegan’s eyes flashed anger. “I’m perfectly responsible and sober. Give me my keys.” She motioned with her hand.

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