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“I’ll say this once and I want you to hear me so I never have to say this again. If you’re going to let me be your Daddy, Saoirse, then you need to understand that you come first. Always.”
She swallowed hard, shaking her head. “We’ve been dating for two weeks.”
“I’ve been waiting for you foryears. I want to be your Daddy. I don’t offer that lightly. I completely understand what it means and what I’m asking of you, to give yourself over to me as my Little. It’s a huge ask, baby. My commitment to you in return is to put you first. Your health. Your happiness. Those come first. Do you understand me? Do you want me to be your Daddy?”
She nodded. “More than anything.”
“Then I want to make sure you understand. What comes first for me?”
“My health,” she whispered. “My happiness.”
“That’s right.”
She waited and when he didn’t say more, she let it sink in. Bone-marrow deep.
She smiled at him. “Daddy.”
He grinned back. “Baby.”
Saoirse wasin the indoor pool, her hands under Little Alex’s back as she helped him float, when Carrie popped her head through the doors to the pool area.
“Saoirse, Chief Berringer called from the gate. He says there is someone asking to see you.”
Saoirse frowned. Everyone she knew in Montana was part of the Ranch. They’d know she was teaching swimming lessons until lunchtime. None of her friends or family would come all the way to Montana to see her without letting her know they were coming.
Then hope burst brightly through her. “Sutter?” she asked. “The pool cleaner?” Even before Carrie shook her head, Saoirse knew it couldn’t be her Daddy because Chief Berringer knew him from Sutter’s many trips to the Ranch.
Carrie shook her head. “It’s a woman, a Ms. James. She said she met you in London.”
Saoirse blew out a breath as the hope of seeing her Daddy died. She glanced at the clock on the wall. Ten minutes until the end of this lesson and her lunch break.
“I’ll be with her in fifteen minutes if you could ask her to wait for me?”
Carrie nodded and disappeared back through the doors.
Alex turned his big blue eyes up at her. “We can be done for today if you want.”
Saoirse smiled down at him. “No, we can’t, because you’re just about to float on your own. And I can’t enjoy my lunch until I see that.”
Alex spread his arms out to the side. “I’m going to do it this time.”
“I know you are because you’ve been doing it while I’ve been talking to Carrie. Do you feel my hands on your back?”
Alex’s eyes lit with delight and he splashed his hands in the water. “I’m doing it? I’m floating by myself?”
“You are, buddy. That’s exactly the way to do it. Stay relaxed. Spread your body out. Breathe nice and even. You’re floating. All by yourself.”
His grin buoyed her through the rest of the lesson. After she dried off and pulled on her staff uniform, she walked through the Main Building to the lobby with a spring in her step.
Only to be stopped in her tracks by the sight of Sutter’s mother sitting in one of the lounge chairs. She was scrolling on her phone when Saoirse walked in, but looked up at the noise of the door, and smiled.
Saoirse felt the smile scrape against her skin like a razor.
She had a moment to think. A moment before she’d be standing in front of Cordelia James. She glanced over at the reception desk, where Carrie was busy typing something into a laptop. She caught Carrie’s eye.
Carrie’s sunny smile fell at Saoirse’s expression.
Saoirse tapped her ear before she sat down across from Mrs. James. “Hello, Mrs. James, can I get you anything? Water? Soda?”
