Daddy, Sir (Dirty Daddies 2024 Anthology #6)

Chapter 5

Chapter Five

Fiona

Have you ever met someone for the first time and just know they were going to be someone important in your life? That’s how it had been for me when it came to Landon. Of course, our meeting didn’t involve any formal introduction . Glancing over to where Landon sat, eyes flicking briefly to mine before returning his gaze to the road, I felt the years melting away. The cab of his truck disappeared as my mind took me back to the canary-yellow kitchen in the house where I’d grown up.

One minute I’d been counting the cookies on the tray Mom had left cooling on a rack, and the next I was seeing a flurry of fingers the moment the timer dinged.

In less than three seconds, a completely empty tray filled my vision. Even as a kid just starting grade school, I knew how to count. When math included cookies, pieces of candy or slices of cake, I’d become extremely good at division as well. There had been an even dozen Almond Joy cookies oozing with gooey chocolate chips and chewy coconut on that tray. Two for each of the Flanagan clan as Dad called us kids. The fact there was now zero told me someone had taken more than their share.

I stomped my foot, planted my hands on my nonexistent hips and glared up at the boys busy stuffing their faces with the after-school treat.

“That’s mine!” I said, jumping up in an attempt to grab my oldest brother Jimmy’s arm as he lifted the cookie that belonged to me to his mouth.

“Go away.” At almost eighteen, he wasn’t just over three times my age, he was easily double my height.

“And so is that one!” I pointed an accusing finger at Sean who was two years younger than Jimmy.

“Does anyone else hear an annoying buzzing?” Sean asked, making a show of devouring the entirety of the cookie in two bites.

Furious, I spun on my heels to demand a confession as well as my cookies from my remaining three brothers only to stop mid accusation when I counted not three, but four boys in various stages of eating. Confused, I counted again and when the number didn’t change, I realized one of the faces was new to me.

“Who are you?” I asked, pointing my finger at the boy standing between my brothers Ronan and Nolan.

“He’s the cookie monster,” Ronan said with a guffaw as he and Nolan high-fived each other over the stranger’s head. Ever since Ronan had hit that magical age of thirteen, he’d become quite the asinine teenager, much to the delight of Nolan who, at fourteen, considered himself the far more experienced of the two.

I wanted to point out the boy was neither blue nor fuzzy, but at the sight of the cookie in his hand, I couldn’t argue he was not a thief. I didn’t care if he was what Mom called “company” or not as I hadn’t invited him to my house. Left with only one more chance of rescuing my cookie, I turned to my last hope, my twin, Finn. Not only were we the youngest of the clan, Finn and I had been what I’d heard Gramps refer to as ‘quite the surprise’. When asked for an explanation, it was my father who’d told me that our mother had birthed four boys in just over four years and had thought her family was done. He’d laughed and said he would never forget the look on her face when eight years later, Momma learned she was not only pregnant again but she was having twins.

The boy looked at Finn who was standing beside me. “Is she your sister?”

“Yeah, that’s Foo-Foo.”

“Foo-Foo? Like the bunny?”

“Yeah, because she’s always hopping around bugging us,” Sean contributed as he dug his baseball glove out of his backpack. “Come on, the guys are gonna meet us at the field.”

“What about my cookie?” I demanded.

“Grab faster next time,” Nolan suggested as he and the others scrambled for other sport paraphernalia they were always tossing to or kicking at each other.

Jimmy’s call of, “Finn, you and your friend grab a couple of footballs and come on,” had my twin abandoning me, leaving me and the outsider facing off.

Instead of instantly running off to join the others, the boy held out the cookie. “I’m Landon. I wouldn’t have taken it if I’d known it was yours. I’m sorry.”

Reaching out, I half expected him to snatch his hand back, but he allowed me to take the cookie.

“Well, what do you say?” he asked as he brushed his hands together to remove the crumbs.

“You owe me a cookie.”

I left him standing with his mouth open as I filled mine with a bite of heaven.

“It’s good to hear you laugh.”

I hadn’t realized I’d laughed aloud. “I was just thinking about when we were kids. I think the day we met I knew no matter where life took us, we’d always find our way back to each other at some point. Even when I was so hurt, so angry when you left and swore I never wanted to see you again, fate has me walking smack-dab into your office. When I heard your voice, I was surprised, but the moment I saw you standing there, I realized I wasn’t shocked.”

“Could have fooled me. I mean, with the falling at my feet and all.”

I huffed and threw my head back against the seat to stare up at the headliner of the truck. “That wasn’t shock, that was plain old being clumsy. Don’t you remember how many times I had tape wrapped around my ankles or wrists during football season?”

“Yeah, I remember seeing you scrambling up to stand on top of the cheer pyramid the night of the Homecoming Game. It was quite the impressive sight until you forgot you weren’t on solid ground and started jumping up and down. It was like watching dominoes falling in slow motion. One minute you had your feet on two guys’ shoulders, your arms spread wide, waving those ridiculous pom-poms. The next, your arms were windmilling and you toppled backward.” Landon chuckled. “By the end of the game, my dad asked my mom if she thought the Flanagans owned stock in athletic tape.”

I couldn’t help but smile at the memory his story evoked. “Wouldn’t that be considered insider trading? I mean, with five rambunctious sons and one gangly girl determined to keep up, he would have to know we’d go through miles and miles of the stuff.”

I turned my head to look at him. The amused expression on Landon’s face shifted as did the color of his eyes. They darkened just the slightest to an almost steel-gray blue. It was enough to have my mind moving to a far more intimate memory I’d only shared with my diary until now.

“Do you know why I climbed up to the top even though I think I twisted or sprained something all the time?”

“Because you couldn’t hop high enough to see over the heads of your squad mates?”

I smiled. “Very cute. Though I suppose that was also true, the reason was so I could watch you. You’ve always had this ability to read an opposing team, know exactly which player to throw the ball to, and when the outcome of the play depended on just you. The way you moved, the effortless way you dodged the defensive players was like watching a ballet.”

Landon’s laugh warmed me as did his smile as he flicked on the blinker and pulled into a parking lot. “A ballet huh?”

Realizing how unlikely that must have sounded, I still nodded. “Yes, a ballet… only there was a whole lot more grunting and a great deal of butt slapping. Hey, do you think that has anything to do with, well, you know… planting the kink seed in you?”

“Seeing as how I never had the slightest desire to play anything other than sports with the guys, my first reaction is a vehement denial,” Landon said as he pulled into a space. “But when paired with the fact I did my damndest to win every game just so I could watch you contorting your body and screaming out in pleasure, I have to consider it a possibility.”

We looked at each other and grinned. “Very well put, Cap—no, you said that was the wrong rank, though you said you were in the military. What rank did you leave the service with?”

“Major, but I didn’t leave, not completely. I’m still in the Army Reserves.”

“Ahh, can’t give up all that bossing people about, huh?”

“I’m not sure I’d call it bossing. More like offering leadership to those who need to know they are in a safe place before they can let go. That they are going to be okay under my watch.”

Though his expression gave nothing away, I knew he wasn’t talking about anyone in the service, at least not those serving in the armed forces. Was he referring to his clientele… or perhaps some special someone. Someone who’d taken my place?

Seriously, Fiona? You haven’t been his special anyone since you were a teenager. Just be glad he didn’t kick you to the curb now that you do need his help.

Was I the only person whose inner voice seemed to constantly be calling her out?

“Um, Landon, when I said I think we were always meant to be, I didn’t mean I-I expect you have to believe the same. We were kids back then and hearts were easier to break and hurts were bigger.” I paused, not having planned on going this deep this fast, but suddenly knew I needed to say it. “What I mean is, I’m not asking you to pick up where we left off as if nothing has happened. I know I’m not what you wanted, and I’m not expecting anything… well, outside of this case, that is. I’m afraid I’m going to be a little selfish as you… your team make me feel safe for the first time in a very long while. But if it’s going to be awkward or difficult for you or if there is a Mrs. Major Westerly or a woman you’re dating or a… a submissive you’re Mastering, then I?—”

“There isn’t,” Landon said, cutting me off.

“No?”

“No. Not for a while now.”

“Oh—”

“I know you said you’d never married. Not currently dating?—”

“Because I’m not. I’ve never really been one for casual dating.”

His eyes closed for the briefest moment, then opened. “What about playing? Any current Dom?”

“N-no.”

My breath caught in my throat as he reached for me, his hand slipping behind my waist to pull me closer, his other moving to splay against the nape of my neck, fingers twining into my hair. My sex sent up a shout of need when he fisted his hand and tugged my head back.

“In my office, do you remember how you asked me how I could know you were going to punch me a second time?”

“Yes.”

“It’s because I know you, the true you. Granted, I might not know everything about what you’ve done in the last few years, but I’ve known the little girl inside the grown woman since she was five years old. Years may go by, paths may diverge from the one we thought we’d take, but a hundred years could pass and I’d still know you.”

He came closer, lowering his head until I could feel his breath on my lips.

“And you asked about cookies. Babygirl, I can’t eat one unless you are there to share it with me. I stopped asking myself how that made any sense a long time ago. I just accepted the fact that when you stared up at me with your flaming hair and blazing emerald eyes, you weren’t just an angry skinny little kid. You were an ancient Irish goddess demanding justice… and I was lost. I may have stolen your cookie, but know you stole my heart that day. I guess I was just waiting for you to come knock some sense into me.”

With tears in my eyes and my heartbeat pounding in my ears, I moaned, “Don’t… not if you don’t mean it. I-I don’t think I could live if you walked away from me again.”

“I haven’t lived since the moment I did.”

His forehead rested against mine. Our words whispered and yet resonating as loud as thunder.

I’d loved him and lost him. What was to keep me from losing him again? Words were so easy to say, but what I felt now wasn’t the infatuation of a girl on the cusp of womanhood. It wasn’t one whose entire life experiences had revolved around herself, her needs, her desires. For the first time, I understood Landon would never have left me without a good reason even if I didn’t know what that reason could be. I just knew it was one that had nothing to do with not loving me. Which meant he’d left me because he loved me.

I finally understood love wasn’t made of words in a fairy tale promising a happy ever after. It was a connection that could bend but would never truly break. Love was made of the flesh and bone of his arms around me. It was sinew and muscles as he held me so tightly against him that we were not two people, but one. It was the breaths we each took and then shared as his mouth descended to cover mine.