Daddy's Boss

“You release me?” she asked.

“Yes. I want you to be here with me.”

Now that made her … happier. “You don’t want me to leave?”

She watched Dawg look away, and she saw the control he was showing her. “I don’t want you to leave, Lori.”

Biting her lip, she tried not to smile.

Pushing herself up and out of the water, she grabbed his jacket and yanked him into the pool.

He broke the surface and she giggled, wrapping her arms around his neck, not caring that his guards could see them.

“Well, then you’re going to have to get used to having me around.” She held onto him tightly. “I don’t want to leave.”

His hands gripped her ass, and he held her tightly.

“You’re going to stay?”

“Well, besides the fact I’ve got nowhere else to go, there’s also the little problem that I don’t want to go anywhere else. I happen to like you, Mr. Hampshire.” She pulled his head down for a kiss.

The moment his lips touched hers, she felt like all of her worries had finally left her. She only ever needed to worry about him.

“I’ll take care of you, Lori,” he said.

“I still want to work.” She whispered the words against his lips. “I’m not a kept woman.”

“I didn’t expect anything else. You work for your keep. Be careful, I’ll start taking rent from you.”

She giggled.

“Did he upset you?” Dawg asked.

She kept her arms around his neck, not wanting to let him go. “Yes and no.”

“Do you want me to kill him?” he asked.

Lori shook her head. “No, not kill him. At least not yet.” She chuckled. “He’s still my dad. I just … I don’t want anything to do with him.”

“That’s fine. I’m not going to judge you.”

She looked at his neck, his pulse slowly beating against it. “When I needed him most, he was there,” she said. “That one time with that guy.”

“He’s still your father, and even when we have shitty ones, we still need it.”

“Did you love your dad?” she asked. “You don’t talk about your parents.”

“They both were killed. Erm, it’s hard to really say. My mom was fantastic. She hated this life, but she dealt with it, and she always did it like she was royalty. Always had her head held high, and never let anyone tell her she was wrong or anything. My dad is difficult to say. He had to make his sons hard and tough. There were times I was sure he hated our training, ready to take over, but he did it. He had no choice.”

“You look so sad.”

“I don’t know what I’ll do when I have a son. This life, it’s not for the faint-hearted.”

“You’re the head of your crime thing, right?”

“Yes.”

“Why not Paul?” she asked.

“He’s my baby brother, and he doesn’t have what it takes to lead,” he said.

This was the most they’d ever talked about his life and what he did.

“I want to try,” she said.

“Try what?”

“I want to try and understand everything that you do. I can’t say that I’ll ever accept it, but I won’t ever judge you,” she said.

This was a giant leap, but August’s words kept repeating in her head. Going over and over, and even though she hated what Dawg stood for, she also knew he wasn’t a bad man. People respected him, and he had a lot of men working for him as well. She seen the pride they all showed, and none of them looked like they were there out of force.

He pushed some of her hair off her shoulder. “You want to give this a real shot?”

“Yes. I want to give us and this a real shot. No father and no contract. Just the two of us. Dependent on each other.”

“Okay, well, I can say that before we move on to that, then you’ve got to wear my ring.”

She frowned. “Wear your ring?”

He released her and reached into his jacket pocket.

Dawg showed her the ring, and her heart began to pound. It was an engagement ring, and her mouth went dry.

“You’re proposing?” she asked.

“Lori, I’ve wanted you for a long time, and I’ve been patient. I know you couldn’t accept me easily, and I didn’t want you to. I want to marry you. Be your husband, and be the rock that you’ve been looking for.” He held her hand, and she didn’t fight him as he slid the ring on her finger.

It fit perfectly.

“I think it’s safe to say you were always meant to be mine.” He kissed her lips. “I hope you’ll say yes.”

She stared at him for the longest time. “Do you love me?” she asked.

“Yes.” He didn’t even hesitate. “Do you love me?”

“Yes.” Nor did she.

“Then how about you tell me what your answer is?”

“Yes, I’ll marry you.”

He pulled her close into his arms.

His lips slammed down on hers. She held him tightly together, and she wasn’t afraid. She loved this man, and even though his proposal surprised her, she was so happy. Gloriously happy. She couldn’t remember a time she’d ever been more so.