My Fantasy Daddies (My Daddies)

Prologue

Esme

If Ignite’s purpose was to get me hot, it fell short. All around me, people were laughing, drinking, flirting, while I sat on a private couch, watching. I’d seen a few people making out and even a couple sneaking into the bathroom to hook up.

Yet I couldn’t have been less hot if I were sitting on an iceberg in the middle of the Arctic Ocean. Maybe if it were Amelia with me rather than my sister, I would have enjoyed myself. But no, I had to put up with Eloise instead. My gaze went to the bottle of champagne in the ice bucket, my fingers itching to wrap around the slender neck.

My sister was home from college for the weekend for a little family bonding. But that was just code for she wanted to see her friends who were still local. Depending on whose perspective my family dynamic was viewed from, some would say we were close, some would say we didn’t know each other well enough to even count as family. Sometimes I wondered which one was more true. Especially when Eloise informed our parents she was going to Ignite, and they told her to take me along.

Why the fuck would I want to do that?

That wasn’t just some random thought, but a question I’d screeched so loudly at Maman that I could have broken glass.

I loved my sister. Truly, I did. But she was not exactly my favorite person. She was definitely not in my top five on a good day—barely made it into the top one hundred on a bad one. Not even our thirty-thousand-square-foot childhood home had had enough space for us to cohabitate peacefully together as kids.

Perhaps if Eloise hadn’t made everything a competition, we would have gotten along more. But there was never any peace between us. She was older by three years, which meant she could do anything first. First didn’t mean best, though.

Jealousy wasn’t my scene. Too much work for someone who didn’t matter to me. Yet my sister let it rot her mind, at least where I was concerned. It wasn’t good enough that she got to experience many things before I even cared enough to want to do them. She needed to do everything better than me, but the majority of the time, she couldn’t. Which was when the true shitshow began. I refused to let anyone make me feel less-than, especially for no other reason than some idiotic rivalry. Blood didn’t give her the right to treat me like shit.

She craved one-upping me.

Maybe that was how it was for all sisters, but I detested it. With her, the smallest thing became a race or contest of who did it better. Grades. Awards. Guys. Friends. She was so focused on the unimportant things that she never had time to savor the true beauty of life.

Which would have been fine if she didn’t continually try to intrude on my inner serenity with her pettiness.

No one was going to rob me of my peace.

I learned at a young age how to deal with my sister’s bullshit. Overall, it was a good life lesson, because it taught me not to accept anyone’s poor treatment. But fuck, that got old fast.

Eloise and I hadn’t simply gotten into shouting arguments growing up. Hair-pulling as most sisters engaged in? We got bored with that by the time I was three and moved to more inventive ways of causing excruciating physical pain.

Even that became a competition, one she had yet to win. We had drawn blood, literally and often. I’d once picked up a vase and broken it over my dear sister’s head, then proceeded to hold a shard of the piece of French history to Eloise’s delicate throat until she apologized to me. I can’t even remember what she’d done to make me angry, but I did remember the terror in her eyes.

After that, I thought she would stop. But no. She had to keep going. Keep antagonizing me. There was no being the bigger person with Eloise, because that would only make her jealousy that much worse. So when she wanted to go toe-to-toe, I indulged her.

Her going off the college was a nice break from all the insanity she stirred until I couldn’t see anything but red. When she came home for breaks and occasional weekends, I attempted to avoid her so I wouldn’t have to engage.

Yet Maman wanted us to spend time together on purpose?

No fucking thank you!

But that was what our bodyguards were supposedly for, as Papa had reminded us. I almost smirked at the memory. Our personal security had been set in place not because we were billionaire Arnaud Barbier’s cherished daughters, but to keep me from actually killing my elder sister. Papa could joke all he wanted, tell himself he had hired Otto and Astro and Eloise’s two buffoons to ensure we were protected from anyone who would try to use us to get to him. But we all knew the real reason for the guards.

Papa said he only feared three things in life— Maman , Eloise, and me.

If he gulped a little when he said my name while laughing it off, no one ever called him on it. But we all knew.

Eloise, especially.

My gaze flickered to where Otto and Astro were standing, ever vigilant. I tolerated the two of them because I liked them. They were very much in my top ten favorite people. We got along well, which couldn’t be said for many people. I tapped my nails on my glass, noting they were far enough away with Eloise’s guards to give us the illusion of privacy, but close enough that if I suddenly picked up the bottle of champagne, they could stop me before I bludgeoned her to death with it.

Most likely.

I wasn’t going to test that theory. Eloise hadn’t done anything to set me off. Yet. Except tap-tap-tap away on her phone. That wasn’t a good reason to smash her beautiful face in with a five-thousand-dollar bottle of bubbly.

Definitely not a good reason—but still a reason.

If I wanted a boring Saturday trying to ignore my sister’s existence, I could have stayed home and finished my chemistry homework. There was only one person I would have willingly brought with me to Ignite, but Amelia was trapped at home with her horrible family.

While Eloise and I struggled to get along, that was nothing to Amelia’s relationship with her stepsister. Elsa Pearson was a raging bitch. I didn’t typically allow myself to care enough to hate someone, but I made an exception for Elsa. Her abhorrent treatment of my best friend had ensured that I made it my life’s goal to inflict as much misery on Elsa for eternity.

Instead of being with the one person I adored most in the world, I was forced to drink fucking champagne and people-watch while Eloise clicked away on her phone. She was so damn irritating with the tap-tap-tapping of her fingers on the screen. It was my first time in Ignite, but I knew Eloise favored this club over others in the city. Why, I couldn’t even comprehend. The place was just like every other club in New York City.

Logically, I knew that I couldn’t actually hear my sister’s fingertips pressing the keys over the level of noise from the music and the crowd, but I swore I could. It made me twitchy when people had the typing sounds turned on for their phones. Something Eloise was well aware of. And she always—fucking always—turned on her haptics when she was with me, the psychotic pute .

Releasing my breath slowly, I tipped my glass back and swallowed the contents in one gulp, wishing it were a shot of tequila instead of the expensive bubbles.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

I could feel the tapping, like someone holding an electrode to a nerve with every button she touched, tapping me. Over and over and over again.

Leaning forward, I reached for the bottle of champagne from the ice bucket. I was only going to refill my glass—honest. But before my fingers could wrap around the neck of the bottle, a guy in jeans and a light blue polo dropped down onto the cushion beside me. His cologne hit my nose before his ultra-white smile glowed at me.

“For fuck’s sake,” I grumbled in French.

“Hey, gorgeous. I’m Brad. What’s your name?”

Brad.

That had to be the most unattractive male name I’d ever heard in my life. Especially with the way he pronounced it.

Buh-Rad.

Cue the smolder.

Gag.

Did guys practice that look in the mirror until they thought it was perfect? Probably.

A nerve ticked high on my cheek, causing my lashes to twitch ever so slightly, and his megawatt smile got bigger. Whoa, that was harsh on the eyes. Did he bleach his teeth every night, or were those veneers?

His arm draped along the back of the couch, and he leaned closer. The smell of beer was nearly as bad as his choice of cologne. Had he bathed in that shit? It was more eye-watering than that smile that could be seen from the space station.

Frowning at Buh-rad , I spoke to Eloise in French. “Why the fuck do you like this boring-ass club so much?”

Confusion darkened Brad’s eyes for a moment until he recognized what language I was speaking. Once he did, his smolder only grew more nauseating. “You’re French. That’s hot.”

“Otto.” I barely had my guard’s name out of my mouth before he slapped a hand down on Brad’s shoulder and squeezed.

His protests as Otto escorted him away barely registered as Eloise’s gaze shot over my shoulder. Something shifted on her face. Her breaths suddenly came in choking inhales. Curious, I found myself turning my head to see what had caused such an instant reaction.

My eyes found and stopped on them in a heartbeat, sending my pulse skyrocketing. There were hundreds of people around us, yet they stood out among the masses. Three men were standing close to an archway, with two members of the club’s security on either side of the entrance.

A stoic dark-haired man stood in the middle in a suit that fit his massive body so damn perfectly. A whimper left me as I took all of him in. Christ. Ink climbed his neck, stretching up and into his short-cropped dark hair with a sprinkling of gray. His hands were thrust into the pockets of his slacks as he nodded at whatever the man to his right said. He reminded me of a bear with how big and grumpy he looked.

Hello, Mr. Bear. Maybe I can make you smile.

A hum vibrated my throat as I took in the man on his right. Dark-blond hair, a little longer than his friend’s, was pushed back from his face. He had on a suit similar to the dark-haired beast at his side. Expensive. Bespoke. Customized to fit such a large physique. His grin was what caught my attention first, even though he was powerfully built everywhere. He had so much amusement and genuine affection in his eyes that I ached to know what he was saying.

Oh, Mr. Golden Lion. Tell me something that might make me purr.

But before I could really focus on him, the guy beside him stepped closer and ducked his head toward both the stone-faced, dark-haired man and his companion. I expelled a hiss, my eyes dancing over every inch of the third man. His light brown hair. Those sharp features. His half smile as he nodded toward the bar. Tree-trunk-sized legs. Hands that were easily double if not triple the size of my own.

Hi there, Mr. Panther. My name is Esme, and I want to call you and your friends Daddy.

Age and their body sizes were the only things they had in common, but that was definitely okay. Boys my age, or even a little older, were tools. Just like Buh-rad. But these three? They screamed sex appeal.

Guys were normally too obnoxious for me to take notice, but suddenly, my radar was homed in and ready to fire. Mr. Golden Lion brushed fuzz off Mr. Bear’s suit. Something warm uncurled low in my belly.

Touch me like that, Daddy.

Oh shit.

Biting my lip, I forced my eyes to look away, but only two seconds later, I was drawn back to them. I was so caught up in watching them, it took me a minute to realize where they were standing.

Ignite had a secret club within its walls. Inferno was a sex club owned by T.M. Pearson. I knew about it because my parents were members. I figured Eloise indulged in the perks of being a Barbier, including the pricey membership to Inferno. But I didn’t want to think about my sister partaking in a sex club.

Mr. Panther threw his head back, laughing at whatever his blond friend had just said. I had to blink a few times, transfixed by the sheer masculine beauty of watching that man laugh.

That warm feeling turned into a blaze, and I couldn’t bite my lips together in time to trap the moan that slipped free. I wanted to hear him. It made me irrationally angry that I was being denied the sound.

Clenching my fingers into a fist, I sat back. As I moved, Eloise came back into focus beside me, and every muscle in my body tensed.

Eloise was looking right at them, licking her lips like she wanted to taste them.

Ex-fucking-scuse me?

While white-hot rage began to build in my head, my sister stood and smoothed her hands down over her hips. She shimmied, and I wasn’t blind to the fact that the three delicious men were now looking our way.

Eloise smirked down at me. “To answer your question from earlier, they are why I like coming here so often. Parker, Benson, and Malcolm make the experience so much fun, I simply cannot resist. They are why I came home this weekend. And they are here for me and only me.”

My heart jumped into my throat, making it hard to swallow as I shifted my gaze from Eloise to the three. Mr. Bear took a step forward. Anticipation and something hot tightened low in my belly.

Come to me, my Bear.

But in the next moment, Mr. Golden Lion grabbed his arm, halting him.

No! Come to me.

My eyes commanded them. Begged. Instead of hearing my silent plea, not one of them moved, and my heart broke. None of them were smiling now, but I could feel their gazes on us as if it were a physical touch.

I didn’t beg for anything—ever. But I would have for them. Would have done anything if it meant they were moving across that crowded floor, coming for me.

“You…with all three of them?” I choked out.

No way that was my voice. All weak and destroyed. Clearing it, I fought down the lump of emotion in my throat. No, nope, no. I was not going to be baited. Eloise was just being a bitch.

But my heart was aching. Fucking throbbing in my chest. Ready to detonate from pain. If Eloise so much as guessed at how much agony the thought of her with those three daddies caused me, she would never give me peace. She took competition too far way too often.

Astro and the two other bodyguards moved closer to us. Eloise’s buffoons stepped behind her, one of them holding a hand out to the side, as if to urge my sister in that direction. Toward the entrance of Inferno.

Toward the three daddies.

“Don’t wait for me. I’m sure your guards can get you home. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Her gaze flickered from me to the three beast-like men and quickly back again. “Or maybe not. No worries, though. I keep a go-bag in the back of my car.”

She gave me a finger wave and walked away. I turned my back to the crowd, unable to watch her leave with them. I couldn’t.

Why did it feel like my heart had splintered?

Several minutes passed, my mind in complete chaos as I tried in earnest not to think about Eloise with those three. What had she called them? Parker, Benson, and Malcolm. She knew their names. She knew what they looked like without those suits on.

They knew what my sister looked like naked.

No. I wasn’t going to think about that. Or them. With her. Fuck no!

Two hard bodies sat down on either side of me. Astro bumped my shoulder playfully, nodding toward the bottle of champagne still in the bucket of ice. “You finished with that?”

“Thought for sure she was going to beat someone like a pinata with that bottle,” Otto mused from my other side. “My money was on Eloise.”

Astro shot his partner a grin in agreement before dropping his attention back to me. “You ready to roll?”

Hands still fisted, I touched one to the center of my chest, pressing down hard in hopes of alleviating the heaviness there. Astro and Otto knew Eloise’s guards well. It was kind of a job requirement to better aid them in keeping my sister and me well from each other more often than not.

“Does she know them?”

Surprise flickered across Astro’s face before he shrugged. “I don’t know who she comes and goes with while in Inferno. Never thought to ask before. That’s her business. As long as it doesn’t affect you, I don’t ask questions.”

But this does affect me. It fucking hurts.

And that pissed me off. She knew it had bothered me that she was going off with them. She fucking knew. As if she expected it to cause me pain. But that was ridiculous. I’d never seen any of those men before. There was no way she could have known it would upset me if she left me to hook up with some random group of guys.

But the glee on her face as she stood up had told me she was all too aware of my sudden jealousy, and she had taken great pleasure in rubbing my face in that fact.

“But they all walked into Inferno together, if that’s what you want to know.”