Tempted by her Daddies: Chapter 50

“What the fuck happened?” Alexei snarled as he walked up and down the inside of the plane. “What the hell went wrong?”

“Someone tipped him off,” Salem said numbly.

“What?” Alexei whirled on him. “Why would you say that?”

“Why else would all the weapons be gone? Think about it. Why else would he not be there?”

“Maybe the intelligence was wrong.”

Salem turned to Mark Roberts, another member of their team.

“The intelligence wasn’t fucking wrong,” Alexei snarled.

Roberts held up his hands, appearing concerned. He should be. Alexei was on a knife’s edge.

“Sorry, man. It was just a suggestion.”

The other members of their team who were on the plane all looked at Alexei warily.

Salem knew he had to get him to calm down. This was a huge blow to their morale, to their mission and he didn’t know how Riordan was going to react.

Fuck.

What a mess.

“Alexei, sit down. We’re close to landing,” he said calmly. “Everyone, we’ll go straight to headquarters to debrief.”

There were a few groans, but they all nodded.

“This was a major clusterfuck,” Alexei said.

Salem nodded. It really had been.

“I don’t understand what went wrong,” Roman said as the driver stopped outside their house.

Salem hadn’t had the energy to navigate public transport tonight.

“I know. I don’t know what happened, either,” Salem said.

But he still thought a leak was the most likely explanation even though Riordan had shot him down quick.

That bastard rubbed him the wrong way.

“It’s not your fault, though,” Salem added. Roman had met them when they arrived home for the debrief at headquarters. Salem hated that Tamsyn had been left alone, but they’d needed Roman for the meeting.

Roman nodded glumly.

“Has our girl been okay?” he asked as he unlocked the front door.

“She’s been bringing me food and drinks while I’ve been working. She’s wonderful.”

The door opened and a whirlwind threw herself at him. He closed his arms around her. This is what he’d needed.

His girl.

“I’m so sorry it all went wrong,” she said as he carried her into the living room and sat with her on his lap on the sofa.

He raised his eyebrows at Roman.

“Roman didn’t tell me anything. Other than you weren’t successful. You’ve been working so hard, too.”

They had.

So hard that he felt like he’d neglected her these last two weeks. Cupping her face between his hands, he kissed her soft and slow.

When he drew back, she had a dreamy look on her face.

“Missed you, baby.”

“Missed you too,” she said. “Where’s Alexei, though?”

“He needed some time to decompress,” Salem explained. “Did you get into any mischief while I was away?”

“Who me? Never. I’m a good girl.”

“Sure you are.”

“But you look stressed. Maybe I could find a way to help you relax?”

“Hmm . . . what would you suggest?” he asked.

“I’ll just go and find something to do,” Roman said, stepping back.

“Stay,” Salem snapped. Then he cleared his throat. Shit. He needed to calm down. He wasn’t Roman’s team leader right now. He was his roommate.

And his co-boyfriend.

Okay. That was weird.

“If you want,” he added.

“Tamsyn?” Roman asked.

“Please stay, Rome,” she said huskily.

“What do you want me to do?” Roman asked.

“You know what I really want?” Salem said instead of answering Rome.

“No. What?” she asked.

“To go have some Daddy and Little one time. What do you say, Roman?”

Roman nodded. “I would like that.” There was a breathless note to his voice.

“I think our girl looks like she needs some play time. What do you think, Roman? Shall we take her to the playroom?”

“Ooh, yes, playtime!” She clapped her hands together while bouncing on his lap. “I love playtime.”

“Good thinking,” Roman said. “I’ve also just remembered that she owes me some lines. She can do them while in the playroom.”

“What? Nooo!” she cried. “Dada, that’s so mean. Little Tamsy wasn’t naughty. Big Tamsyn was.”

Hmm. This was interesting.

What had their girl been getting up to? He stood with her in his arms and carried her, cradled against his chest, up the stairs.

“Well, would you like to get punished as Tamsyn instead of Little one?” he asked as they entered her playroom. “Because Tamsyn usually gets harsher punishments than Tamsy does.”

“What? Nooo! So unfair. Fine.” She sulked, her lower lip poking out.

“It won’t be so bad, darling girl,” Roman said, falling for her look. “It’s not too many lines to do.”

“How many?”

“Uh, twenty-five?” Roman replied.

“Wait. What did she do?” Salem asked.

“Daddy, you weren’t here. This is between me and Dada.”

“Nope. That’s not going to fly. What did you do?” Salem frowned but at the same time his tension was lessening. He could feel the stress of his failure disappearing.

“She said that she didn’t need a bra because she had nothing to support.”

“Hmm, putting yourself down is a serious rule breach,” he told her. “And it demands more lines, I think.”

“Nooo, Daddy, you are so mean.”

He glanced over at Roman to gauge his feelings. “She can’t be let away with things like that.”

“I didn’t mean it in a bad way. It was just the truth. I don’t have much in the boob department. That’s not a negative thing, anyway. It can be a good thing. I don’t have to wear bras if I don’t want to. I don’t have back issues. Maybe I was saying it in a positive light.”

He could see that Roman was thinking. “Fifty lines saying that you will not disrespect your body.”

She groaned and stomped her way over to the desk.

He moved to Roman. “Good job.”

“Is she really upset at me?” Roman asked.

“No. In fact, it probably helps her feel more secure knowing that you will always follow through on what you say. She just likes to grumble a bit.’

“I do not grumble!” she told them as she started writing. “And yes, it makes me feel more secure.”

He grinned.

In less than an hour he’d gone from being completely stressed and worried to smiling and relaxed.

And that was the power of his girl.