9. Chapter Nine
CHAPTER NINE
MAYLEE
M aylee rose and dropped her pizza on her plate. “I need to go,” she rushed out. “I. Shit. I really need to leave.”
There was no way she was going to stay in the room when Hassan, Perry, and Justin all heard her call Ezra Daddy. What were they going to think? Were they going to make fun of her for that? Make fun of Ezra?
She took a step toward the door, but all three of them were in her way.
“Freeze!” Daddy commanded.
Her face heated up as she stood there, looking down at her feet. How could she have done that? Why couldn’t she have told Daddy she would only call him that in private?
“I really have to go,” she whispered, her voice breaking towards the end.
“Look at me,” Daddy said.
She shook her head. There was no way she would be able to look at any of them again. She had embarrassed Daddy in front of his boss and two colleagues.
“Look at me, now,” Daddy commanded.
Unable to disobey him, she looked up. It was the deepness of his voice along with the command. He had only ever done it to her twice, but it was always effective.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. I really need to go. I promise not to tell anyone,” she cried out.
“Maylee,” Daddy said, gently.
She shook her head. She didn’t want him to talk to her in that tender voice. It was going to make her cry, and she didn’t need to cry in front of all of them. She had already called Ezra Daddy. How much more could she do to embarrass herself?
“Everyone in the office is a Daddy,” Justin said. “You calling Ezra Daddy doesn’t bother any of us one bit.”
She goggled at Justin. Was he telling the truth? That couldn’t be. There was no way all of them were Daddies. Maylee looked back at Daddy.
“It’s true.”
She shook her head. “No way.”
“I promise, all of them are Daddies. Now, come here.”
Maylee stayed put. She still needed to leave.
“Now,” he commanded and pointed between his legs.
She started toward him before she realized what she was doing. “Stupid legs,” she mumbled.
“They aren’t stupid. They know who to listen to.”
“No, they don’t. They obviously aren’t listening to me. I’m the owner. ”
“Are you? They listened to me so that makes me the owner of your legs.”
Maylee grumbled under her breath. That was not fair.
Daddy cupped her face with his hands. “I want you to know I wasn’t embarrassed you called me Daddy in front of them. I was the one who said it first.”
She looked away from his eyes. His stare was too intense, and she didn’t like it. Maylee didn’t know how to feel about everything. She was embarrassed and nervous. It was so out of her comfort zone. If only she had asked Daddy to close the door when he said he would spank her then maybe this wouldn’t have happened.
“Look at Daddy,” Ezra said, gently.
She met his gaze, and he gave her a smile.
“Such a good girl,” he whispered. “Sit on my lap.”
Maylee looked back at all three men who were still standing in front of the door. Was she really going to sit on his lap with them in the room? Justin gave her an encouraging nod before she looked back at Daddy.
“Come on,” Daddy encouraged her. “They don’t mind one bit. It’ll help you relax.”
She wasn’t sure about that. If anything, it seemed like she would freak out more sitting on his lap with them there.
“Maylee. Do you trust Daddy?” he asked.
She sighed and nodded. There was no doubt she trusted him with her whole life. He hadn’t done anything to break that trust. Well, he had kept the secret from her for years, but it hadn’t put any strain on their friendship. She had merely pushed it to the back of her mind and hadn’t thought about it much. But now she knew the secret .
“I wouldn’t ask you to sit on my lap if I didn’t think it would help you,” he said. “Now, come on. On my lap.”
She crawled into his lap, her legs on either side of him.
“Head on my chest,” he commanded.
She placed her face where his neck and shoulder met, and let out a breath. She wasn’t fully relaxed, but it was a comfortable position.
“We’ve got a couple possible jobs that could be coming up,” Justin said.
“Johnson, David, and Micah are all on a job together,” Hassan said.
“What are they doing?” Daddy asked.
Daddy started to rub her back as they talked. She was slowly starting to fully relax in his embrace.
“Such a good girl,” Daddy whispered.
“They are protecting some huge athlete. A woman weightlifter,” Hassan said.
“She does CrossFit. They think she might have a stalker, but they aren’t sure. Johnson, David, and Micah are guarding her until she competes while also finding out who is sending her the messages,” Perry said.
“Why can’t they just track the number?” Daddy asked.
“Burner phone that can’t be traced. Antonio has tried, but there is nothing he can do. He’s hoping the person messes up soon and he can catch them,” Justin replied.
Maylee slowly brought her hand up to her face. The urge to suck her thumb was becoming too great. She wasn’t fully relaxed, and she felt like sucking her thumb might be the thing she was missing right now .
Daddy looked down at her as she gripped onto his shirt. Maybe holding his shirt would do instead.
“You can suck on your thumb if you want to,” Daddy said.
She wanted to so badly but with Hassan, Perry, and Justin in the room, she wasn’t comfortable.
“Can you pass me my jacket?” Daddy asked.
Maylee had no clue who he was talking to or what he was going to do with his jacket.
“Shhh,” Daddy whispered. Maylee hadn’t even realized she had started to whimper. “You’re okay. I’m going to place this over your head, and you can suck your thumb and relax.”
She pulled her head away from his neck and looked at him. His smile eased everything inside her.
“You’re okay. I’ll take care of everything. You just relax and fall asleep. Daddy will message your boss you’re taking the rest of the afternoon off. Nope. No arguing. You need this.”
She sighed and pushed her face back into his neck. He was probably right in her needing this. So much had happened the past few days. She hadn’t been sleeping well since she’d agreed to go to the club with Daddy nor had she slept well last night thanks to everything they’d done.
Daddy placed the jacket over her head. She relaxed as she placed her thumb in her mouth and started to suck. He rubbed her back and she felt herself slowly starting to fall asleep.