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God, when his voice went all Southern, magnolia-dripping, deep as night and twice as dark it really did something for her. Like go all gooey soft and submissive kind of something.
“I didn’t fire Sebastian.” Chef was looking between them like an observer at a tennis match. “My meeting with Jenkins was about something else entirely, so everyone can stop berating me for something I never intended to do. Also, Sebastian, stop frothing at your very proper Southern mouth at the thought of someone hitting on Tiff. Seth is doing it right now.”
Sure enough, the baby was currently trying to get his little mouth in the vicinity of her boob.
“Nah, he’s just hungry all the time.” Big Tag yawned. “He tries to suckle everything. The kid’s an optimist. Thinks there’s milk everywhere. Charlie sent him with a bottle. I’ll get it.”
The man looked beyond tired and she could plainly see the bag his wife had sent along. “It’s fine. I’ll feed him. Why don’t you take a nap or something?”
He flipped up his sunglasses and for once there was zero sarcasm in his tone. “Are you sure?”
“Of course. You know I love babies.” She also liked helping out. She especially enjoyed helping out people from work or the club. They were always appreciative and they tended to be quick to help others. It was one of the things she adored about the club. When she’d moved from one crappy apartment complex to another because she’d found way better light at the second, the Doms of Sanctum had been there to make everything simple.
They were a family and helping was what families did. Big Tag didn’t have to allow her into his club. She hadn’t paid a membership and neither had her friends, but he let them in and only required that someone work the childcare center every night. She had an in to a club she loved and all it cost her was a few hours of doing something she’d do for free.
Big Tag stood up and reached for the bag, handing it to her. “Thank you. You have no idea how much even twenty minutes will help. I appreciate your kindness very much, Tiffany. Sean?”
“There’s a cot in the back room. Eric used it when he would watch the barbecue overnight. Feel free, brother.” Chef turned his gaze back to Sebastian. “What I was going to explain to you was that I need you to share the apartment with Tiffany. There are two bedrooms so you’ll each have some private space. She’s training the waitstaff for Eric’s restaurant so she’ll be working the same hours as you. I was going to put her up at Eric and Deena’s, but their guest bathroom sprung a leak and it’s going to be weeks before it’s back to being usable. Apparently it flooded the guest bedroom as well. Sharing the apartment with Tiffany would allow the two of you to get on the same page so you could look like a D/s couple for the purposes of training Milo Jaye, and it would spare me the expense of not only having to rent something for her, but also of getting her a bodyguard.”
She felt her cheeks heat even as she pulled the bottle from the cooled bag it had nested in. What had her father done? They’d had a very restrained and loving argument about this and she’d thought she’d won. It looked like her dad was good at going around her. “I don’t need a bodyguard.”
“Why does she need a bodyguard?” Sebastian wasn’t looking at her at all.
“I don’t.” This wasn’t an issue.
Big Tag had stopped at the door. “Because there’s the possibility that her ex-boyfriend could get out of prison and she’s the one who put him away. His name is Bobby Len McMurtry and he’s spent four years locked away because Tiffany testified against him. He’s up for parole and the last thing he said before they took him away was that he would kill her for ratting on him. If you won’t watch out for her, I’ll put a trained guard on her ass twenty-four seven. She won’t be able to work and I’ll need to find someone else to bottom for you because I really need Milo to let Adam off the hook. It’s all up to you. If you say no, she goes into protective custody until I can figure out how serious this asshole is and Adam likely loses years of his work. But really, give it some thought. We wouldn’t want to put you out because you didn’t want to spank a pretty girl and help a guy find himself the way we helped you.”
He walked out and Tiffany had to admit that the man knew how to make an exit.
Sebastian sighed heavily. “I’ll take responsibility for her. How long a time period are we talking about? And we’re going to need a contract.”
Chef nodded. “I’ve got one right here. Tiffany, why don’t you feed Seth while Sebastian and I get down to business? Unless you have someone else you want to negotiate for you?”
“I’m twenty-eight years old.” And Seth was turning a nice shade of red. He squirmed in her arms, a sure sign that he was getting ready to tune up. She couldn’t shove the cold bottle at him. He needed it warmed up. Still, the idea of not being in on the negotiations rankled.
Almost as much as the resigned way Sebastian had given in. He could be a little more enthusiastic.
Chef started to reach for the phone. “All right, then. I’ll call your father. After all, he’s the one who called me so I could keep a watch out for McMurtry.”
“Yes, you can negotiate for me.” He really knew how to kick a girl in the puss. She tried to imagine her intellectual father coming to grips with a D/s contract. Why did the Taggart brothers have to live in the Dark Ages? She supposed this was one of those trade-off things her father always talked about. No light without dark. No joy without pain. No unpaid workers helping to move her without dudes who acted like she needed a guardian.
Sebastian looked grim as he sat down in front of Chef. “We’ll go over the contract this evening after we’ve settled in. Are you packed?”
“Oh, I wasn’t going out to Fort Worth until tomorrow.” It would give her a little time to get everything ready. She hadn’t expected things to move so quickly, and she definitely hadn’t expected the whole D/s couple thing.
She’d totally expected the sharing the apartment thing since she’d been the one to flood the second floor of Deena and Eric’s house. Not really, of course. However, she’d been the one to convince Deena to tell that particular story to everyone so she could have a shot at Sebastian.
That was all she needed. A shot. She needed to push them together in a situation where they were forced to stay close and then he would see how sparkly and awesome she could be and he would fall madly in love with her.
Except she hadn’t counted on the D/s stuff.
She would take tonight to reexamine her plans. Tomorrow she would go in with a smile and fresh ideas about how to win over her very grumpy hottie.
“I’ll be leaving at two. I want to avoid the traffic,” he stated solemnly.
“That’s a good idea.”
“Excuse me, darlin’,” he said, his eyes steady on her. “Let me make myself plain. We will be leaving at two so we can avoid the traffic.”
