“Go on up to Uncle Case’s. I gotta talk to Dee for a bit.” A puzzled look crossed the young boy’s face before he did as he was told. Running across the field, she watched as he stumbled his way to the house she’d missed that must belong to Case.
“Is everything okay, Dom?” She worried, turning to him.
“No, Deidre, it’s not. Let’s go inside.
Deidre. He didn’t call her that unless she was in trouble.
*****
Just before coming out back, Dom had received a phone call from a contact overseas. Turns out her father wasn’t waiting for him to bring her home. He was on his way to the U.S., presumably for her. He still had his associate looking into any information he could on why Bradshaw even wanted her to come back home. Because that, in all honesty, was the most puzzling question he had.
The only reason he’d even agreed to find her in the first place was because she was his, and he’d planned to make sure she had the life she deserved free from her father. Things had changed quickly, though, and now he had new mission. Protect her at all costs. There wasn’t a thing he wouldn’t do to keep her with him.
When they entered the house, she went to sit at the table when he grabbed her hand pulling her to his chest. She refused to make eye contact with him so he swooped down and captured her lips with his own.
That got her fired up in a hurry. She was like a firecracker. A mix of passion and need waiting to explode, and he was ready for it all.
He sipped at her lips at first. Taking small nips before plunging his tongue into her mouth. Her moans of need fueled his own. Pulling her closer, breasts pressed against his chest, and her needy cunt rubbing against his hard cock. He was tempted to take her right there, but the timing was wrong. When he finally got her naked under him, he wanted no interruptions.
“Soon, Princess,” he promised as he pulled away from her lips.
Walking her into the living room, he sat in the big leather chair pulling her into his lap. “What’s wrong, Dominic?” she asked softly.
Sighing heavily, he dreaded having to tell her. “I won’t let you go, Deidre, not for fucking anything.” At her nod, he continued. “Bradshaw is on his way to the U.S.”
She stiffened in his lap. He would never fully understand why she felt the way she did about her father, but he needed for her to understand she belonged here now.
“I should leave.” She tried to get up from his lap.
“Like hell. You will stay here. He’s not taking you. He’s not going to lay eyes on you until I know exactly what it is that he wants from you. So far, my intel isn’t telling me much. I have a contact in London that’s gathering as much info as he can. And Case will be looking into it, too. We will know soon, Princess, until then you stay put.”
She still didn’t relax on his lap. “What if it’s bad?”
“Then I’ll deal with it.”
“But what if it’s something truly horrific, Dominic? You said he traded my life for his own. How can anything he wants from me be good? I can’t…You shouldn’t…I need to leave, Dominic. I can’t, and won’t, put you or Jaxson in danger. I refuse to take that risk.”
Grabbing her chin in a bruising grip, he waited for her eyes to connect with his. “Deidre, have I ever gone back on my word?” Head shake. “Have I ever let you down when it counts?” Another head shake. “Then please, let me handle this. If I find out it’s worse than I think, then we’ll readjust and come up with a plan. Until then, you stay put. No matter what. Understood?”
“I couldn’t bear to see you hurt is all,” she murmured cuddling into his chest and warming his heart.
“You won’t, Princess,” he promised, hoping he could keep it.
Seven
A few days later, Deidre was sitting on the back porch watching Goldie and Honey interact in one of the paddocks Dom had set up for them while Jax napped, and he and Case were looking into things with her father. She felt like she was in limbo again.
No one made her feel unwelcome, but she still felt like she was intruding and that was playing with her head. Dom claimed she was his, but he hadn’t tried to kiss again since telling her that her father was coming. They hadn’t heard anything else on that front other than he wouldn’t be able to find her.
Dom had bought the land he owned under his grandmother’s maiden name, so it wasn’t easily traced back to him. But she still lived in fear he would figure out her whereabouts. The worst part was, she didn’t fully understand why she was afraid. Just a feeling in her gut of foreboding.
Angela, Dom’s housekeeper/nanny, hadn’t been around too much either making her impression of being the outcast more real. She felt horrible she was preventing the other woman from doing her job. Casey had assured her this was how things were when Dom came home, but she wasn’t sure it was true. There were times when it felt like Dom was expecting to have Angela under foot, but then she wasn’t there.
Dee and Jax had fallen into a small routine over the last few days. Every morning at sunrise when the rooster crowed, he would crawl into bed with her, and they would talk about all sorts of things. His love of the farm, how much he missed Dom when he went away, and how fantastic his Unca Case was. He would ask her all sorts of questions about Ireland and what it was like there. She tried to remember as best she could, but she hadn’t been home in so long it was hard to recall. But she remembered the emotions her thoughts invoked. The feel home and love. Of freedom.
Eventually, he would fall asleep beside her satisfied with what she’d told him, but that morning, his questions had gotten harder. He asked about her family, then went on about how his dad was his hero, and rightly so. Dominic was amazing with his son, but she was having a hard time recalling when she hadn’t felt hatred for her own father. Trying to change the subject back to her mother and the adventures they had was futile because Jax always wanted to know more about her “da”. She got to the point where she told him it was time to sleep again. Thankfully, he’d been too tired to argue.
As soon as he was out, she left the bed and went outside and had been there ever since. The guys all seemed to know to leave her alone, which was a welcome relief, except she found she wanted Dom’s arms around her, his heat encasing her in warmth.