Maylee’s Daddy (This We’ll Defend Security #1)

1. Chapter One

CHAPTER ONE

MAYLEE

“ D o you want anything to eat?” Maylee asked. “I’m at our favorite place.”

It was a little hole-in-the-wall pizza place—one of the best places in Deadwood, South Dakota. Maylee and Ezra came here at least once a week for the pizza. Sometimes, she even came by herself, once or twice a week. It was that good.

Part of her knew she should try to watch her figure, but she didn’t care. The pizza was good, and she did a lot of walking for her job. Well, sometimes she did. Okay, that was a lie.

Maylee worked as a curator for the only museum in Deadwood. She was honestly surprised they had one with how small it was, but they did. It was a lot of work, going around and seeing where new art could go, which ones they were going to ask to keep, and which ones they had to send back. She was constantly on her feet and getting in steps .

“No, I’m good,” Ezra replied.

“Ezzy,” she said.

“Don’t Ezzy me.”

“Did you bring lunch today?”

“Fine, you can get me a slice of pepperoni.”

“I’ll be by you in a couple of minutes.”

The pizza shop was super close to both their workplaces. Kind of in the middle of each, which was nice. Then she didn’t have to walk so far to his office building.

“You bought them already, didn’t you?” Ezra asked.

“I did. I knew you were going to say you didn’t want any, but I also knew you didn’t bring any lunch. You never do,” she replied. “You can’t go without meals. It’s not good for you.”

“I should be telling you that.”

“I’m almost by you,” Maylee quickly said and hung up.

She was going to get a talking to about hanging up on him. They had a complicated friendship. They were best friends, and at one time they had dated. She’d broken it off because he was hiding something, something she’d asked about and he hadn’t answered.

That was the only reason she’d broken up with him. He was the love of her life, but she couldn’t live with him keeping a big secret. He went off for hours without telling her where. Ezra had insisted he wasn’t cheating, and she believed him, but she didn’t know what else it could be, and it bugged her.

Now they were just friends, best friends. Did they flirt sometimes? Yes, but there was nothing else.

A few years ago, Ezra had mentioned he would tell her when he was ready. Would he ever be ready? More than fifteen years had passed since they dated. She was thirty-eight now and wouldn’t find anyone else. If she couldn’t have Ezra, then she was going to stay single for the rest of her life.

It wouldn’t be fair to the guy if she knew she could never fully love him. Not when she still loved Ezra with her whole being.

Maylee had considered bringing up the topic of them dating several years ago, but Ezra had gotten into a relationship, so her time had passed. He was off limits, since he’d clearly moved on from her.

If she could go back in time, she would be with him. She would talk to him about the secret and let him know he could confide in her, and she wouldn’t judge whatever he was hiding.

She’d thought about telling him that now, but it was too late. There was no need for her to bring it up when he’d clearly moved on.

Sighing, she turned the corner and stood in front of Ezra’s workplace, a plain, two-story brick building. Maylee had no idea how many employees worked for This We’ll Defend Security. She knew for sure it was at least eight people, not including the boss, Justin.

Maylee had seen several men come and go, employees of This We’ll Defend Security, and she couldn’t keep track of them. She knew a few of them and she was content with that.

The building had been a law firm before the owner shut it down and moved out of the city. Justin, the owner of This We’ll Defend Security, decided to buy the building and move everyone in there.

It was nice not to have to go to Justin’s house anymore to visit Ezra. But at the same time it let other people come in and ask questions, people from out of town.

“Are you just going to stand out there all day or are you going to come in?” Hassan asked. “You know Ezra ain’t going to like you standing out here.”

“It’s warm,” she replied. “He doesn’t need to get his boxers in a twist about that.”

“I wasn’t talkin’ about the weather. You obviously weren’t paying attention to your surroundings. Anything could have happened to you.”

Maylee rolled her eyes. “All of you guys worry too much. I would have been perfectly safe. No one is out to get me, and they especially aren’t going to take me right in front of a security company. You guys have cameras up everywhere outside and inside the building.”

“Don’t you roll your eyes at me, young lady. I won’t hesitate to punish you or tell Ezra. Your safety is a big deal, and you know that.”

She didn’t understand why. Sure, she was best friends with Ezra, but that was all. Nothing else was going on between them.

“Don’t understand why,” she mumbled. “If I was even taken, there are like eight guys in there who would come after me. All of you would hear me scream, and no doubt you would be able to figure out who it was. The town is pretty small. Everyone knows everyone.”

“Don’t give me any attitude, young lady. Your safety is important, and there is not going to be any talk about it,” he replied .

Maylee looked down the street. The town wasn’t dangerous at all. The police department and This We’ll Defend Security made sure it was safe. Sure, there were a few times when a shop got robbed, but nothing major. And whoever did a crime always got caught. It was a small town, and gossip spread like wildfire.

“Now, come on in,” Hassan said.

He held the door open for her, and she went in. She couldn’t wait to get to sit down in Ezra’s office. She had been on her feet for several hours, and she wanted to give them a rest.

“You need better shoes,” Hassan pointed out. “You’re on your feet a lot, and I have no doubt those shoes do squat for comfort.”

“Can’t really do comfort in my profession. I’m in front of people at the museum. I can’t just wear tennis shoes. They don’t look good with slacks or even dresses,” she replied. “And you don’t get a say in what I wear or what I don’t wear.”

He raised his eyebrow and crossed his arms. His stance got taller, which told her he didn’t like those words. When did he ever like words like that?

“I’m gonna have a talk with your boss about it. You’re on your feet, what, eight to twelve hours a day?”

“You can’t talk to my boss!” She raised her voice.

“You’re right. I can’t talk to him, but Ezra can. I’ll mention it to him so he can talk with your boss. Frank is his name?”

“Please don’t tell him. I don’t need you meddling in stuff like this. It doesn’ t concern you.”

He bent down to her eye level. She drew a shaky breath. It was never good when Hassan got down to her level. It had only happened a couple of times and they always ended up with her saying sorry because he was right.

“It does concern me if Ezra is worried about you. Can’t do his job if he’s worried about you,” he said.

Maylee stepped back and looked down at her feet. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to make him worried and not do his job,” she whispered. “I’ll keep things to myself and bring a pair of shoes before I get here so he doesn’t worry.”

“Well, shit. That’s not what I meant, young lady. I just meant we need to talk to your boss about it because he worries about your health and safety. He doesn’t want to see you get hurt or tire yourself out so much. You being on your feet so much with shoes that are shit ain’t good.”

Maylee didn’t look up at Hassan. What he said was true. She hadn’t considered the worry she’d been causing Ezra with her way of life. She needed to be more conscious about that.

“Look at me, young lady,” Hassan commanded.

She met his gaze.

“I didn’t mean to say that so you would bring an extra pair of shoes to change into before you walked into the building or not tell him things. That ain’t going to go over well. Just be yourself and let us worry about everything. Understand?” he asked.

She nodded but knew she was going to start keeping things to herself, no matter how hard it was. She needed to be aware of causing Ezra even more stress than necessary. He didn’t need that in his life, especially when he was trying to find another girl. He would have to stop worrying about her so much.

“Words, Maylee,” Hassan said.

But before she could answer, someone else spoke.

“What’s going on over here?” Justin asked.

She sighed in relief. Normally, she didn’t want to be around Justin much. He wasn’t a bad person, but he was just male dominant, and it intimidated her. Maybe he bothered her because he had also threatened her once. Had she been reckless? Yes, but that didn’t give the right to threaten her.

“Maylee and I were just having a nice chat,” Hassan replied. “Just talking about safety and health.”

“What did you do this time?” Justin asked. “About to jump off of the bridge and into the lake?”

“It was one time, and I haven’t done it since. That was also like ten years ago!” she raised her voice. “You have to stop bringing it up.”

“You also went rollerblading when you had never been before and almost fell on your face. You didn’t have any padding on!”

“That was like a month ago. You really do hold onto things and never let them go.”

“When it comes to people who are important to my employees, yes. Especially when they do dumb shit like that.”

She sighed. There was no point in arguing with him about anything. It was his way or the highway.

“Now, why are you here?” Justin asked.

“Don’t want me here?” she asked .

“Didn’t say that. Just answer the damn question.”

She held up both takeout boxes. The weren’t average pizza take-out boxes but Tupperware containers the little pizza place gave out. Or maybe they just gave it out to Maylee and Ezra. She’d never seen anyone else get boxes like these. Maylee always returned them washed and dried. Maybe it was because they went there so often the owners knew them by name.

Well, everyone knew everyone by name. If someone from out of town visited their town, everyone would know. They would stick out.

“I brought Ezra lunch,” she replied. “I can leave it on his desk and go. I know when I’m not welcome.”

Justin had never been like this before. He normally said hi to her and let her go to Ezra’s office. She was never there for more than thirty minutes. She didn’t have a long lunch break, and Ezra had work to do.

“Didn’t say that either,” Justin said.

“But you did kind of imply it with your tone of voice,” Hassan pointed out.

“I didn’t say it!” she said. “You can’t threaten me for that.”

Justin narrowed his eyes narrowed at her. “You can’t bring Ezra lunch and not stay to see him. He would kill me before I could even let that happen. And I don’t mind you being here. It’s not like you stay here for hours and take him away from his work.”

“Well, obviously. I’ve got a job, too,” she replied. “I am an adult.”

“Never said you weren’t. You feeling convicted?”

“Nope. ”

Hassan chuckled, and she glared at him.

“Well, Ezra is interrogating someone right now. When he’s done, he’ll go to his office. You can wait there,” Justin said.

“Thanks,” she replied.

Maylee didn’t look at Justin or Hassan as she passed them on her way to Ezra’s office. She’d hoped when she entered the office that nobody would stop her, but that was not to be.

Somebody was always free, as well as a secretary, who also greeted people when the men couldn’t. Claire was a lovely lady, so sweet and kind, but also with a lot of sass in her.

Maylee had only interacted with her once or twice since she started to visit the office more. Ezra was normally at the front door, waiting for her to get there so he could escort her to his office. It was easier so nobody had to stop and talk to her.

Well, everybody knew who she was.

She went into Ezra’s empty office and couldn’t help but smile. Ezra had a spinny chair and she absolutely loved sitting on it. Whenever he was in the office, she couldn’t sit there. He wouldn’t allow it.

His office was on the smaller side. The desk took up the majority of the space but he had a chair in front for people to sit in. His walls were bare and white and so was his desk. He had his computer, monitor, water, and one single picture of them together. And then there was his spinny chair, as she liked to call it, the best thing in his office.

She quickly placed the food on his desk and sat down in his chair. He probably didn’t allow her to sit in his chair because she liked to spin. Not her fault it was fun.

Maylee giggled and pushed her feet on the ground to make herself her spin. She extended a hand and pushed herself from the desk. She wanted to go as fast as she could.

The faster, the better.

“What are you doing?” Ezra’s voice boomed in the room.

As she shrieked, her feet connected with the ground abruptly, stopping her. The chair tilted, and before she could do anything, she fell on the floor, hitting her shoulder super hard.

Tears pooled in her eyes as the pain radiated across her shoulder. She blinked several times before she started to move the arm that hadn’t been hurt.

“Stay still,” Ezra commanded

Heat slammed into her face as Ezra’s footsteps came closer and closer. Why had she decided to start spinning in the chair? Why hadn’t she been paying better attention to her surroundings?

Maybe then she would have been able to see Ezra entering the office.

“You’re okay,” he said, softly, as he knelt in front of her.

She was anything but okay. She’d embarrassed herself yet again in front of him. It shouldn’t matter to her, but it did. Even though they were best friends, she still loved him. She still wanted to make a good impression.

“I am going to help you slowly get up. If anything hurts, I want you to let me know. No keeping it a secret like I know you do. If it hurts, we stop and will figure something out,” he said.

Maylee sighed and nodded to the best of her ability. Even if she didn’t tell him something hurt, he would know. Ezra was amazing at reading her and knowing when something was wrong, or she was in pain.

It was one of the many joys about knowing him for more than twenty-five years. He probably knew her better than she knew herself. Or that was what it felt like sometimes.

“You know, I like words,” he said.

“Yes, Ezzy. I understand.”

Maylee couldn’t even remember where that nickname had come from. Maybe it was from when they were little, and she couldn’t pronounce his whole name. Who knew, but she loved it, and he hated it. There was nothing that could change her mind about calling him that.

It was her nickname, and nobody else called him that. Maybe it was because nobody else heard her call him that. She always made sure that they were alone together. She didn’t want to embarrass him, and she also didn’t want other people to hear the nickname then start using it.

Selfish, but it was true. It was her nickname, and nobody else could call him that.

“Good girl,” he said. “I’m going to carefully start helping you sit up. You let me know if anything hurts or is tender.”

She drew a deep breath as he wrapped his hands around her arm before slowly helping her up. It was an awkward situation. The armchair was in her way, and she was sitting on it, but she didn’t dare say anything.

She didn’t tell him to stop and put her back. Then she would have been on her shoulder again, and she didn’t want that .

“Are you doing okay?” he asked. “Nothing hurting?

She shook her head, and he helped her up the rest of the way. He asked if anything was hurting, and nothing was hurting yet. A little discomfort? Yes, but it wasn’t anything too serious.

“All right, I want you to sit here for a couple of minutes while I look at your shoulder. Better yet maybe I should have Perry come over and check your shoulder. He’s in the office right now,” Ezra said

She shook her head. “You don’t need to do that. Nothing hurts.”

Okay, maybe that was a lie, but nothing hurt too bad to where Perry needed to come over and check her out. Sure, he’d had medical training while in the Army, but she was fine.

“Nothing hurts?” He lifted an eyebrow. “Are you lying to me?”

Maylee sighed. “Okay, my shoulder has a little ache to it but nothing Perry needs to come over for. I’m pretty sure he has other things that are more important than looking over my shoulder.”

“He would gladly come over and look at it. In fact, I think I should call him in.”

Maylee quickly grabbed his hand and shook her head. “I think I’m okay. Just look over my shoulder and you see. You’ve had a lot of training, so I’m pretty sure you can do a good assessment.”

The years Ezra had been gone while in the Army had been the hardest of her life. She had friends in Deadwood but no one like Ezra. He understood her and was always there for her. Everyone else in town was there for her, but nobody understood.

She’d felt like an outcast while he was gone. Everybody had given her sympathetic looks when they passed her, knowing that any day she could get a call that he’d died. She’d dreaded every phone call she got while he had been overseas.

Did Ezra know that? No, and she didn’t intend to tell him. It had been more than five years since his safe return. He had been different but after five years, they had gotten back into a rhythm.

“All right. Let me look over it then,” Ezra said.

Maylee kept still as he pulled up her sleeve and started to examine her shoulder. She didn’t even attempt to look over because she wouldn’t be able to see much.

Ezra poked and prodded her shoulder. She winced a few times, and no doubt Ezra caught that.

“I think you’re just going to have a bruise, but everything looks okay. You’ll need to ice it when you get home. Preferably sooner, but I know while you’re at work, you can’t sit down and ice it,” Ezra said.

“Don’t want to do it,” she grumbled.

She did not get along well with ice. It always made her freezing cold and then she couldn’t get warm after unless she took a warm shower. She couldn’t take a warm shower every single time she wanted to get warm. Her bank balance would not like her.

“You will do it, or you’ll get in trouble,” he replied.

“You can’t get me into trouble.”

Even though he was sitting down, he was still intimidating when he crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. He always used dominance, no matter the situation.

Maylee sank in on herself and nodded. “If I can remember,” she mumbled.

Maylee didn’t have the best memory. She wrote everything down on a piece of paper or on her phone. She had tried so hard growing up to improve her memory, but it never worked. She just sucked at it, and she would for the rest of her life.

She had come to terms with that after she graduated college. That had been a nightmare, and she never wanted to do it again, with all those late-night hours studying, hoping she would remember everything for the quizzes and tests.

Ezra gently cupped her face with his hands. “Are you still having trouble remembering things?”

“Always have and always will,” she whispered. “It’s not changing. I’m thirty-eight years old. You know I’ve always struggled with it.”

“You’re okay. It just means someone needs to help remind you, and I’ll gladly do that. I’ll remind you when you first get home and thirty minutes before you go to bed.”

She nodded. They had a rule to message each other when they were heading home and got there safely. It had started before he was deployed, and even when he was overseas, she still texted him whenever she was leaving home or work.

It gave her a peace of mind, and if anything happened to her while he was gone, it would let authorities know something happened. Well, that was what she thought. All that Maylee knew about security or police work were things from what she had seen on TV .

“Maybe I should talk to your boss about you icing it today,” Ezra said, gently. “I think that would be a good idea. I don’t want it to bruise too much, and you have another five hours left.”

“Probably six or seven,” she mumbled.

She absolutely loved her job, but it did take much out of her. She was the only curator, which meant all the responsibility fell on her, which was something she didn’t enjoy much. Okay, that was a lie. She liked having some responsibility, but when she had to do it twelve hours every day, it was exhausting.

Really exhausting.

“You don’t need to ask him, though. My shoulder really does feel fine. It probably won’t bruise at all,” she rushed out before he could say anything about her hours.

Ezra did not like that she worked so much and wanted her to have down time. Maylee wanted that as well, but Frank wasn’t looking to hire another curator. He probably never would.

“Are you sure?” he asked. “No lying.”

“I’m sure. It’s lessening with every second. Before I know it, all the pain will be gone,” she replied.

She had no clue how bad it would hurt if she lifted it or moved it a lot. Hopefully, she wouldn’t have to lift her arm too much while she was with Ezra.

“If that changes, I want to know immediately,” Ezra said.

“I will. Promise,” she replied. “Thank you.”

Eza helped her rise then sit down in another chair—one that didn’t move.

“It was naughty for you to spin in the chair.” He folded his arms. “You know I’ve talked to you about not doing that. It is dangerous.”

Maylee glanced down at her lap before looking back at him. “But it’s so much fun to do.”

“But it’s dangerous. You knew, and yet you still did it.”

She was starting to feel bad. He didn’t like it when she did it. Well, he had told her not to do it again, and she had. Any time Ezra talked to her like that, she felt so small. Something she couldn’t explain well. Maylee had read about it a few times, but those were just fiction books. It wasn’t real life.

“You’ll be writing lines for that,” Ezra said.

Maylee whined. “I absolutely hate lines. Can’t I have a timeout in the corner or not be able to talk for ten minutes?”

“Tough luck. You’re doing lines while we eat lunch. I don’t want to hear it. You knew it was naughty, and yet you decided to do it.”

Ezra rummaged through his desk drawer before pulling out a piece of paper. He grabbed a pen and set both in front of her.

“I want you to write ‘I will not spin on Ezra’s chair anymore or any spinny chair’ twenty-fives times,” Ezra said.

Maylee glared at the piece of paper and pen. She did not want to write the phrase twenty-five times. That was so many.

“Or it can be fifty or even one hundred times,” he added.

She shook her head. “Twenty-five times is enough.”

“Get going while I get the food out of the containers and get drinks.”

Maylee picked up the pen and started to write out the phrase. It sucked already, and she wasn’t even done with the first one. How was she going to be able to do it twenty-four more times?

“What would you like to drink?” he asked.

“Soda, please,” she replied.

“Water or chocolate milk.”

“Soda.”

“That wasn’t one of your options. Water or chocolate milk.”

“You aren’t the boss of me,” she said, looking up at him.

“Think again.”

Panic shot through her and she blurted out the first thing that came to her mind. “Water.”

Maylee didn’t want to drink the yucky water. She should have picked the chocolate milk. That was her favorite, and she didn’t know why she hadn’t picked it. Okay, she had been panicking because he used his commanding voice.

Ezra didn’t use it often, but when it did, it made her want to obey him right away. It also turned her on every time he used it. Made her all tingly and wet down there.

“Be a good girl and continue to write those lines while I get our drinks,” Ezra said.

Every time he called her a good girl, she could melt. Her insides felt all gooey but at the same time it felt like fireworks were going off inside of her. Maylee loved it when he called her a good girl.

He had only started doing that recently. Along with being even more bossy than normal. She had no idea what had changed, but something had. Not that she was complaining, but it was weird.

She sighed and continued to write the lines. Her hand started to cramp around the third one. How was she really going to finish writing all twenty-five of them?

“Hand not used to writing so much?” Hassan asked.

“Get the fuck away,” she growled.

His eyes went wide, and he shook his head. “Bad girl. You know cursing ain’t lady-like.”

“Good thing I ain’t a lady around you.” Maylee had no clue what that even meant, but she had just blurted it out.

Hassan started to laugh. She hoped he hadn’t seen her writing the lines, but that obviously wasn’t true. He had asked her if she wasn’t used to writing that much. But that didn’t mean he knew she was writing lines.

“Why are you laughing?” Ezra asked.

“I asked your girl if her hand was not used to writing so much. She had a colorful choice of a word in her sentence. I told her it ain’t lady-like to say that, and she said good thing she ain’t a lady around me,” Hassan replied.

“Maylee.” Ezra’s voice carried a twinge of disappointment. “You know cursing isn’t tolerated.”

She wanted to tell him it was okay in this instance. She didn’t like it when she had to write lines in front of people. Yes, it wasn’t her first time getting lines. She had gotten them twice during the past three weeks.

“I’ll leave the two of you be,” Hassan said. “Be a good girl.”

Maylee shrank in her chair, embarrassed or maybe weird about what had just happened. All the other times she had to write lines were in her own home or his. Never out in public.

“I’m taking my lunch now,” Ezra called out.

He came back into his office and closed the door. Turning toward her, he stared at her with two water bottles in his hand. What was he going to say? Add more lines because she said one curse word?

“Why’d you curse, Lee?” he asked.

She looked away. “He saw me writing lines,” she whispered.

Maylee didn’t know what to make of the whole situation. She felt small and out of her depth right now.

“Oh, baby,” he said, gently. “I forgot to close the door. I’m sorry.”

Tears pooled in her eyes, and she blinked several times, trying to get them to go away. Now wasn’t the time to cry. No matter how gentle and soft his voice was. No matter how his voice made her want to bawl her eyes out and be held.

“I should have closed the door when I left. It was my fault and I’m sorry,” he said. “Will you forgive me?”

She nodded, still not looking at him.

“Can you look at Da. Can you look at me?” he asked.

Maylee wanted to know what he was about to say. His name didn’t start with a D, but she knew a word that did.

“I really am sorry about that. Next time we’ll wait until we get home to do it.”

She looked at him and nodded again.

“Now, here’s your water. We’ll take a little break from writing your lines while you eat, and we’re going to have a discussion.”

“What discussion?”

“I need to tell you something,” he started. “I go somewhere every weekend, and I want to tell you where and why. ”

She shook her head. “You don’t need to tell me anything.”

“But I really do. It’s long overdue. I go to a club over the weekend. I don’t stay there, but I visit a lot. I want to tell you what I am.”

Everything was making sense now. She had suspected that he was one, but she wasn’t for sure. Reading books and real life were two completely different things.

“That you’re a Daddy Dom?”