As soon as the thought crossed my mind, I smirked. All three women in that room with Katie were just as capable and well-trained as I was. Everyone of them would kick my ass if they heard me say they needed to gossip while I provided the muscle.
Marcie
Any update?
Instead of texting, I put an earbud in and called her.
“Hey.”
“Hey? That’s it? Hey?”
She blushed so pretty and whispered, “I’m not alone.”
“Okay, then hey works. Katie’s awake by the way.”
“Oh my God! Really?”
Her hand flew to her mouth. Tears filled her eyes, and I smiled at her, taking a moment to scan the hallways around me. As busy as the ER was, we’d been left pretty much alone, other than the one doctor and nurse.
“Really. Jackson’s still in surgery. Declan’s up there with him.”
Her face went pale, or rather paler than usual. “Daddy’s up there by himself?” Fear and rage lifted her voice at least an octave.
Fucking hell hearing her call him Daddy made me giddy as a kid in a candy store. Nothing had been set in place between us, not officially anyway. But we wanted her to be ours so much that the honorific slipped a few times while talking with her. We couldn’t help ourselves. She called to us in a way, at least for me, that only Declan ever had. I didn’t know about him, but Declan was a natural caregiver, so it wasn’t a huge stretch of the imagination, especially after seeing him with her, to see him as a Daddy, no matter how submissive he was with me. But I never considered myself anything more than a very possessive, dominant lover. At least, not until Declan. The first time he called me Papi, it opened up a whole new world to me, and I… I still wouldn’t have said I was a Daddy or a Dom. Yeah, I wanted a side of kink with my fucking once I met him, but meeting Marcie threw open doors that meeting Declan only cracked. Holding back and taking things slow, fuck having conversations I knew we needed to have, none of it seemed as important as jumping into the deep end.
“Papi! Is he alone?”
“No, colibrí. Foster and Scott are up there, too. I’m downstairs guarding the door to Katie’s room. And before you ask, Lucia, Heidi, and Celeste are in the room with her.”
All the air went out of her sails, and I watched her deflate. Her eyes grew wide, and her hands flew to her face, imitating Kevin fromHome Aloneperfectly.
“It’s okay. This time. Only because you forgot yourself and called Declan Daddy and me Papi without thinking about it.”
I chuckled as her eyes rounded even more. “Colibrí, your eyes are gonna pop out of your head if you’re not careful. When Daddy and I get to Nashville, the three of us are having a serious talk.”
Worry bloomed on her face, and she nibbled her lip, turning it puffy and pink. And completely fucking kissable. Blood rushed south as my dick took notice.
“There’s no need to worry,pequeña. Now, quit chewing on your lip.”
The pouty flesh popped free, and I wanted to groan at the sight. The plan had been to fly into Nashville by tomorrow. Now, who knew when we’d get back to our girl.
“How do you know?”
“I’m Papi. I always know. There is nothing to worry about.”
“But what if…”
“What did Daddy and I tell you about what-ifs?”
“That they only caused more worry or something like that.”
“Close enough. If there was something you needed to be worried about, I would tell you, baby girl. I wouldn’t make you suffer.”
A loud huff followed the deep exhale, and I bit my cheek to keep from laughing at the dramatic beauty Declan and I were determined to strap our wagon to.
“If you’re sure…”
“I’m positive. This isn’t a conversation the two of us can have alone. Daddy needs to be present. It wouldn’t be right of us to exclude him, would it?”
