She sat up straight. “Really?”
They had their own charity organization that Satan’s bride ran for them. Pippa was pretty certain she just did it so that she could get her claws into Kassim.
“Yes. Really.”
“I couldn’t ask you—”
“Pippa,” he growled. “Do I need to come over there and have a chat with you, in person?”
She let out a squeaking noise as she glanced down at herself. Shoot, when did she spill icing on herself? Damn it, was it ever possible for her to eat without spilling something down herself?
“No!”
“You sure? Because I do owe you a spanking,” he told her in a silky-smooth voice.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
She needed to get off her phone and grab Mr. Buzzy. What was up with these guys today?
“That is not happening.”
“Let me know which charity you want to choose.” He ended the call, leaving her sitting there with wet panties and feeling like she’d totally been played.
Shit!
3
How was she running late? She never ran late.
Racing towards the front door of her cottage, she stopped in surprise as she saw an envelope sitting on the floor. What the hell.
Her name was written on the front in block letters. She swallowed heavily. What was this? Oh Lord, Kassim wouldn’t fire her by letter, would he?
She tore into the envelope and stared down at the contents for a long time.
What. The. Fuck.
It took her a while to register what she was seeing. Photos. Of her and Tavi. In the photocopier room yesterday.
Oh God. Oh God.
How did this person get these images? Someone had taken photos of them? But how? Wait, these were all black and white. Security cameras? But who would have access to the security cameras?
And why send these to her?
Her hands were trembling so much that she dropped them onto the floor. That’s when she saw there was something written on the back of two of them.
Stay away from them.
Tell anyone and they die.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
Her stomach rolled over at the threat. Who would do this? Her breathing grew faster. What should she do?
She placed a hand over her stomach, trying to steady her breathing. Frantically, she glanced around everywhere, as though she thought someone was going to jump out from behind the sofa at her.
Should she tell Tavi?
Yeah, probably. But the threat to them held her back. What if this person wasn’t bluffing?
But she didn’t want to be stupid. She wasn’t equipped to handle this. Maybe she should talk to Aleki. He would know who could get their hands on these images.
She groaned as her phone went off. She blanched as she saw it was Kassim calling. Fuck, she was late. What was she going to do?
Whatever it was, she wouldn’t make up her mind straight away. Grabbing the photos, she tucked them into her handbag and took off for work.
* * *
Kassim waited until all his brothers took a seat. They were in his private office next to his bedroom suite. Nobody came in here except for the four of them, not even the cleaning staff.
Aric walked in last, late as usual.
“We holding you up, brother?” Tavi asked. He inspected Aric’s hair. “You know, green really isn’t your shade.”
“Shut up,” Aric growled back. “This crap is damn near impossible to get out. Not only do I look like a giant spearmint leaf, but I’ve had Adele following me around, offering to wash my back.” Aric shuddered. “Each time she offers, I throw up in my mouth a little. When can we get rid of her?”
Kassim sighed. “We cannot get rid of Adele, she runs our charity organization.”
“So put Pippa in charge of it,” Aric told him. “She’d do a way better job, and she wouldn’t spend most of her day trying to get into our pants.”
“No, you just wish she would,” Tavi replied.
“Enough. I will not have you talk about Pippa like that. You will use respect when you speak of her.”
“Kassim, we all respect Pippa,” Tavi told him. “But that doesn’t mean that we don’t want her. Fact is, she’s gorgeous, funny, and amazing. She’s also got a body like sin that we just want to sink our dicks into.”
Kassim ran his hand over his face. “I cannot believe you just said that.”
“What are we doing here?” Tavi asked. “I have things to do.”
“What? Like cornering Pippa for a quickie in the supply closet?” Aric drawled.
“Jealous, brother?” Tavi countered.
“Absolutely. I’m too busy trying to get her to see me as more than her pranking buddy. I sent her fourteen grand worth of shoes and she’s avoiding me like I’m the plague.” He pouted.
“Wait, wait, just stop.” Kassim held up his hands. He turned to Tavi. “What have you been doing with her?”
“Oh, he’s been playing with her in closets. Drags her in there, spanks her ass, dominates her, gets her off,” Aric informed him.
Tavi shot him a look. “Do you mind? That shit is private.”
“If it’s private then why the hell are you doing it in a closet of all places!” Kassim asked.
Tavi and Aric turned to stare at him, eyes wide. Okay, so he never allowed his temper to get the best of him. But . . . this . . . they . . .
He leaned his head into the palms of his hands.
“I think we broke, Kassim,” Aric whispered.
“Do you think we can get another one?” Tavi asked.
“It’s your fault, you pushed him with your fooling around,” Aric accused. “We’re supposed to be respecting her.”
“How is that not respecting her? I make sure she gets off. Well, unless she’s been naughty. Then sometimes I just get her all heated up and leave her like that as a punishment. After I take my hand to her ass.”
“I cannot believe I’m hearing any of this,” Kassim muttered.
“Hey, all of you are just jealous because I got a head start. She thinks Aric is just her friend. She’s scared of Matek because he follows her around and never talks to her. And you’re her boss. But me, I’m the guy getting her off in closets.”
Tavi sat back, looking pleased with himself.
“We are supposed to be wooing her,” Kassim told him. “Not degrading her.”
“I am not degrading her.” Tavi sat up. “You think I would do any of that stuff if she didn’t want it? If she didn’t enjoy it? She loves it. I would never treat her as anything less than our princess.”
“And if someone catches you? If they find out what you’re doing?” Kassim asked.
“People won’t care.”
“Won’t they? Maybe not the general population but the council will. There is a protocol to this we are supposed to be following. We are supposed to be showering her with gifts, time, our attention.”
“I’m giving her my time and attention,” Tavi protested. “And a few minutes alone with me is a gift.”
Aric threw a cushion at his head. Kassim wished it was something harder.
“Tavi, do you really think this is the best way to treat our future wife? It is not traditional to . . . to . . .”
“To drag her into a room, spank her ass and give her spectacular orgasms?” Tavi finished with a grin.
“Yes,” Kassim gritted out. “That.”
“Can you even say the word orgasm?” Aric teased.
“He definitely can’t say fuck,” Tavi added.
“Can the two of you be serious for once? We all agreed that we were going to court Pippa. That we all want her. Doing those sorts of things with her wasn’t what we talked about.”
“No, it wasn’t what you talked about,” Tavi said seriously. “We all agreed that we want Pippa as our wife, but if we go at your pace then we’ll all be a hundred and barely have kissed her.”
“And if we go at your pace, she’ll be a pregnant bride!” Kassim
snapped out.
“Don’t see that as being a bad thing,” Aric said. “Then she can’t disappear or change her mind.”
“The future Queen of Escana cannot be a pregnant bride.”
“You care too much about image,” Aric told him.
“And you don’t care enough!”
Tavi cleared his throat while Matek watched silently.
“It would be impossible for her to be pregnant,” Tavi told him.
“Why? Because you use protection?” Kassim asked. “You know that is not foolproof.”
“No, because I haven’t fucked her.” Tavi’s cheeks went red as they all stared at him.
“You haven’t?” Aric said. “What the hell?”
“I get her off. I tease her. Spank her little ass and scold her if she’s been naughty.”
“Pippa is never naughty,” Kassim said stiffly.
All three of them snorted.
“Are you talking about the same Pippa as us?” Aric asked. “My hair is green!”
“Yes, but that is a game the two of you play. Something else you shouldn’t do with our future wife.”
“It’s fun, Kassim. Have you heard of that before?” Aric asked sarcastically.
Kassim frowned. “Our future wife will be treated with the utmost care and respect at all times. You shouldn’t be pranking her or spanking her or . . . ” He looked to Matek who raised his eyebrows back. “I’m not sure what you’re doing with her.”
“He’s stalking her,” Aric said cheerfully.
“What?” Kassim could feel himself pale as Matek just smiled.
Somebody help him. Please.
“Our future wife also needs a firm hand,” Tavi replied. “She likes to be dominated when it comes to pleasure, but she also needs some guidance and discipline when it comes to the rest of her life.”
“What do you mean?” Kassim asked. “Pippa is well-disciplined.”
“Maybe around you,” Tavi replied. “But she can also be reckless with her health and safety. These past few months, she’s come out of her shell because she feels safe. But she still needs boundaries and rules.”
He had a point. And Kassim knew there was a playful side to her. That was why Aric was green. But he couldn’t imagine her being reckless.
“I have long suspected that she is submissive,” Kassim said thoughtfully.
“Do you know that her favorite color is yellow?” Aric asked.
“It is? I’ve never seen her in yellow.” Kassim frowned. How had he missed so much?
“All of her underwear is yellow and she sleeps on yellow sheets,” Tavi told him.
It was getting annoying that he was the one who spent the most time with her but seemed to know her the least.
“How do you know what sheets she sleeps on?” he asked stiffly. Had Tavi slept in her bed? But he said he hadn’t had sex with her.
“I saw them when I put flour . . . ahh, never mind,” Aric diverted as Kassim glared at him.
“Pippa likes a spanking for pleasure, she enjoys it when I take command, when I pin her against something. She doesn’t like being scolded or disciplined when she’s done something she shouldn’t have,” Tavi told him.
Kassim enjoyed being in control. He’d often thought of dominating Pippa, so he couldn’t really get angry at Tavi.
Did Tavi have the right idea? Should they be more forceful? Only, as her boss, he couldn’t just pin her to his desk, could he? Or order her to get on her knees . . . shit, he needed to stop thinking like that.
But perhaps he was going too slow. Maybe it was time to step things up.
“She’s a brat. She’s sweet. She’s naughty. She’s fun. She’s also a Little,” Aric told them.
“Really?” She was? That was . . . interesting. Kassim had always wondered what it would be like if their wife was a Little. In Escana people were more open-minded than other countries. Men here tended to be dominant. Many of their women were subs or Littles, some were into pet play.
He’d rarely indulged his Daddy Dom side. Only at private clubs where all subs were made to sign contracts. All of his sexual needs were taken care of discreetly. If it sounded cold, well, it kind of was. But he never wanted to give a female the wrong idea when he took them to bed.
“That a problem?” Tavi asked carefully.
“Does he not want her to be a Little?” Aric asked his other brothers.
“He’d have to relax a bit with a Little,” Tavi said.
“I can relax.”
“That’s why I started with the pranks, to help draw out that side of her. It’s as though she is afraid of people judging her.”
“Nobody here would judge her.” Kassim frowned at the idea. He’d destroy anyone who made her feel less.
“There is more to having a wife than her safety,” Tavi told him. “Than making sure she has material things. You have to look after the rest of her needs too. And you have to open up to her a bit.”
“Fine, I will try to open up. But I would ask that you be careful about your, um, trysts. We don’t want anyone seeing her in a compromising position.”
Tavi frowned but nodded.
He turned to Aric. “And less pranking. I get that it is fun and you are helping to bring out her Little side. But it could get out of hand. We must be careful to keep her safe.”
“I’d never endanger her. And I don’t think there’s anything dangerous about it.”
“Fine. Just keep it to things that don’t turn you different colors. And Matek . . .” He turned to his quiet brother. Matek gave him the least bother. Tavi and Aric were wild cards.
“How are you feeling about Pippa? You are attracted to her?”
They all seemed to wait with bated breath. Matek nodded.
“Do you have a plan for getting close to her?” Kassim asked.
Another nod.
“He follows her around,” Aric said, studying Matek.
Kassim could feel a headache going on. “Matek, you cannot stalk our future wife.”
Matek just smiled.
“Matek, you cannot scare her,” he warned.
“Not scaring her, protecting her,” Matek rumbled.
“Yes, but does she know that?” Kassim asked.
“Spoke to her.”
They all froze. “You spoke to her?” Aric asked. “Like actual words.”
“Yep. She leaned against me. She likes me.”
It sounded like something small but most women tended to be scared of Matek. So, okay. Perhaps this would all work.
“Just try not to stalk her too much, all right?”
Did he really just tell his brother not to stalk their future wife too much? What was his life coming to?
“Do you think she’s all right?” Aric asked. “She’s seemed a bit off these past couple of days.”
Tavi frowned. “I feel like she’s avoiding me.”
“She made bacon and pumpkin cupcakes today,” he told them. “With vanilla icing.”
They all shuddered. You could normally tell the mood she was in by her cupcake flavors. When they were sweet, she was fine. But when the weird flavors came out . . .
“It might be an off day,” Kassim said.
“She could be on her period,” Aric added.
Kassim frowned. “Aric!”
“What? It’s a natural thing. Happens every month. If we’re going to take her for our wife, we have to deal with it. Why not be open about it?”
He had him there. “Let’s just get back on track. We all agree to go gently with her. Woo her more traditionally.” There was comfort in the traditions, the rules, the control it gave him.
Tavi sighed. “I suppose.”
“Fine,” Aric said. “But I would like to point out that there is little that is traditional about Pippa.”
“Matek?” Kassim queried.
He just grunted. Kassim wasn’t sure if that was a yes or no, and he generally spoke fluid Matek. Oh well, Matek would do his own thing anyway. He just hoped Pippa didn�
�t realize that one of her future husbands was stalking her.
4
“Pippa, quick! Let’s go!”
“What?” Pippa looked up from where she was finishing off an email. Satan’s bride had strolled out of Kassim’s office after lunch wearing a smug grin, an evil stench trailing in her wake.
Okay, that last part was made up. Still, in Pippa’s mind, underneath that beautiful exterior was a green-skinned, garbage-smelling, wart-face, infested old witch.
If only.
She’d left Pippa a list of tasks, some of which were definitely not in her job description.
So why am I about to make her pedicure appointment? She’s treating me like I’m her secretary. Tell a bitch to take a hike.
Damn, that would be funny. She stifled a yawn. She’d sat up most of last night with a lamp on and the police baton her granddad had given her years ago by her side. Sure, the damn thing was heavy as hell and she wasn’t sure how well she could swing it, but she’d give it a good go.
What was she going to do?
Vivi bounced up and down in front of her desk, wearing a pair of black shorts and a pink T-shirt, a backpack on her shoulders.
“Let’s go!”
“Go? Go where? Are you meant to be out of the house? I thought you were still ill.”
“I’m over that. I had a small cold. I’m fine.”
“A small cold? That’s not the way Wolfe made it sound.”
Vivi snorted. “Doctor Wolfe strikes again. I swear the internet has a lot to answer for. By the time he got through putting in my symptoms, he’d decided I had cancer. He was doing research on the best specialist. Honest to God, he was minutes away from having them flown in. Luckily, Caleb somehow talked some sense into him. The man needs to chill out. Way too intense. He’s going to give himself a hernia.”
Pippa had to giggle. “Well, I’m glad you’re all right. I tried to visit but I got a Wolfe lecture. And then he told Kassim who forbade me from trying to visit again.”
Vivi raised her eyebrows. “He forbid it? Can he do that? I mean, I know I’m new to this place, and I know he’s the head honcho and all, but does that mean he can forbid things?”
Pippa shrugged. “I guess so. It’s not like he does it all the time. I think he didn’t want me getting sick because then I wouldn’t be able to do my job.”
Claimed by her Daddies Page 5