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“I do. I should tone it down. You want me to tone it down?”
“Don’t care.”
She obviouslydidcare. “I’ll tone it down. Number one apology: I’m sorry that I got angry and asked you to leave the other day. It was unacceptable. You didn’t do a fu— asinglething wrong.” He managed to stop himself before he cussed again.
“Apology accepted. I know that sometimes tarot readings can stir some powerful feelings. There’s nothing wrong with getting angry.”
“Yeah, but I shouldn’t express it like a dam—” he stopped himself again. “Like a child. Apology number two: I should have explained why I was gonna call the cops before doing it. I’m sorry.”
“But you’re not sorry for calling the cops?”
“Nope. Had to do it.”
“Why?”
He took a long sip of his drink.
Fuck it. Here goes nothing.
“Esmeralda, I care about you. I don’t know how long I’ve felt like this. Feels like it’s always been this way.”
Her eyes widened. “You… care about me?”
“Mmmhmm. I know I’ve always seemed gruff. You probably think I’m an asshole. I mean, um, an A-hole. I’ve never been good at relationships. Not just romantic ones. Not that thisisromantic.” He was struggling here. He’d never been good at expressing himself. Still, he kept going. “And not that it isn’t romantic. Not that this is even a relationship. Ugh. All I mean is, I’m going to look after you. You need someone to take care of you. To stick up for you. To believe in you. I can feel it. Ever since we bumped into each other at the Den, my Daddy side has been going wild.” Without realizing, he reached out and took hold of her hand, gently stroking the top of her knuckles.
“I called the cops,” he continued, “because I didn’t have a choice. My Daddy side was screaming at me that I had to do it for your safety, whether you felt it was the right thing to do in that moment or not. Let me ask you a question. Are you a fan of confrontation?”
“No,” she admitted.
“How do you feel about upsetting people?”
“Hate it more than just about anything else in the world.”
“That’s what I figured,” he smiled. “So of course you didn’t want to call the cops. You just wanted to see the back of that guy and hope that you’d never see him again, right?”
She nodded.
“Normally, I’d have beaten the cr…ud out of him. But I didn’t want to do that because thenhecould have hadmearrested, and I don’t want to be apart from you.” It was like he’d turned on a faucet. Now that he’d started talking, he just couldn’t stop. “I want to help you, babygirl. If you want me to. I want to help you with your issues. I want to help you with your self-esteem, with your money problems. I can see a beautiful, shining gem inside you, and I want to help the rest of the world to see just how perfect that gem is.”
For a moment, for a perfect, silent moment, she just stared into his eyes. She was so beautiful — so insanely, unattainably perfect. He was crazy to think that she’d ever agree to something like this.
“A-are you asking if I want you to be my Daddy?”
His heart pounded in his chest.
I believe in me.
Time to be bold.
“That’s exactly what I’m asking. It’ll be your choice. And if we do it, then we’ll do it properly. Contracts, documents, safewords, whatever you want.”
She bit her lip. Her perfect, kissable lip.
“Take your time to think about it. I know you’re vulnerable right now. You don’t need to rush into an—”
“Yes,” she said. “The answer’s yes.”
So much relief. “Good. Then I’m not going to let you out of my sight. Which could prove alittletricky.”
