AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Uh huh. Get dressed, brat, before I decide your bottom needs to be a lot redder than it already is.”
To his never-ending surprise, she didn’t hop up and yank her leggings on like he’d expected. Crossing her arms under her head, she grinned up at him and wiggled her hips, as if daring him to follow through.
It was another hour before they got to the hot chocolate, and MaryAnn was still wincing by the time they sat down for dinner.
* * *
Carefully pullingthe bedroom door shut behind him, Dean crept down the stairs to his office. James and Bryant were waiting on his call, but it had taken him longer than he’d expected to get MaryAnn down for the night. Not that he was really complaining, since her hyperactivity had translated to multiple orgasms for both of them. He just hated to keep them waiting. Especially since he hadn’t heard anything else from his contacts with the police since that singular tip earlier that afternoon.
Settling into his office chair, he pressed his thumb to the fingerprint reader he’d installed after MaryAnn had snuck onto his computer to call Olivia. While he was fairly certain the punishment she’d gotten would keep her from trying such a thing again anytime soon, he figured it couldn’t hurt to keep the temptation out of her reach. It was something he’d been meaning to do for awhile anyway, but obviously he’d gotten sloppy.
And he couldn’t afford to be sloppy, not when her life was on the line.
A few minutes later, James and Bryant’s faces filled the screen side by side. For twins, they weren’t as similar as one might have expected, but there was certainly no doubting they were brothers.
“Any news?” Bryant snapped out the second the call connected.
“Nothing new. Are the girls on lockdown?”
“Yes.” The slight grimace on James’s face had Dean’s lips twitching, but he managed to hold back the smile. “Olivia isn’t taking it well.”
Which meant, Dean assumed, James had his hands full convincing her to stay put. “What about Shannon?”
Bryant rolled his eyes. “You’d think I’d asked her to move to some remote desert island with no internet access for the next thirty years.”
“So, she’s taking it about as well as you’d expected,” Dean said, giving into the urge to grin.
“And then some. I don’t know how long I’m going to be able to keep her locked down without a complete mutiny. Or without permanent damage to her ass. She’s sleeping on her tummy tonight because she tried to sneak out to go ‘check on Liv’ as she claimed.”
“Why don’t you lock them down together? Might keep the mutiny at bay.”
“That’s an idea.” The corner of James’s mouth tilted up. “We have plenty of room here, little brother.”
“I’m letting that little brother comment slide because it’s a good idea and I’m grateful for the reprieve. We’ll be over first thing in the morning.”
Dean nodded, quietly relieved his friends had a plan to keep their women safe. He had enough to worry about with his own little girl without stressing out about Shannon sneaking off. “Give me about a twenty-minute heads up so I can make sure I have men in place for the drive.”
“Will do.” Bryant’s expression cleared and a mischievous grin replaced his scowl. “How’s MaryAnn?”
“Good.” And that was all he was going to say about it.
But his plans for remaining tight-lipped evaporated when James raised his eyebrows. “Did you talk to her? About Annie?”
“I did.” Fuck. Apparently, he was talking about this whether he wanted to or not. “I told her everything, or all the salient points at least. It went better than I’d expected.”
“And now…” James prompted, in tandem with Bryant waving his hand as if telling Dean to get on with it, so clearly his brother had clued him in to what was going on.
“Now we’re… I don’t know what we are. I’m letting her explore her Little side while she’s here and I have punished her a few times. But I’m not ready to be a Daddy again, and she knows that.”
“It sounds to me like you already are her Daddy,” Bryant said, his eyes narrowing. “Just because she’s not actually using that title doesn’t mean that’s not what’s happening.”
“I know. It’s complicated. I’m complicated, and I know damn well she deserves better.”
“I didn’t say that. Did I say that, James?”
A smirk tugged at the corner of the elder Monroe’s lips. “I didn’t hear you say that, Bryant.”
“You two are just a barrel of fucking monkeys.” Irritated, though he couldn’t tell if it was with himself or them, Dean scrubbed a hand over his face. “Look, as soon as they catch Nate, MaryAnn can get back to the business of putting her life back together. Y’all can take her to some parties or something, let her meet a nice Daddy without a shit ton of baggage, and she can live her best Little life. All right?”
