Tempted by her Daddies: Chapter 35

Tamsyn was kind of bored.

It was Friday afternoon and Roman had worked from home for the most of the day, while she’d puttered around doing some cleaning. But not much.

And now she was out of things to do.

Roman had rushed out of here about forty minutes ago, saying that he was late for a meeting he’d forgotten about.

And, yeah, she was stuck here with nothing to do.

Although she knew what she should do . . . but she just didn’t want to spy on them anymore. She didn’t want to do anything that asshole wanted of her.

But she had no idea how to protect them and herself. She had a bad feeling that she could only do one of those things. And if it came down to it, she knew just who she was going to sacrifice.

“Yoo-hoo! Anyone home?”

A female voice made her jump and she glanced over at the doorway. She was lying on the sofa in the living room. How long had she been here? Who was that?

She sat up, just as an older woman with salt and pepper hair and hazel-colored eyes walked into the room.

“Oh. Who are you?” she asked, taking a step back and eyeing her warily.

“Um, I’m, uh, I’m Tamsyn.”

Great.

Like that meant anything. The woman just stared at her in confusion. “Tamsyn?”

“Yes.”

“What are you doing here? How do you know my son and his friends? And where is Salem?”

Wait.

This was Salem’s mum?

Oh heck.

What did she do? How did she explain who she was?

“He’s still at work,” she said. “I’m, um, the cleaner. I mean, I took over cleaning while Evette was gone.”

Salem’s mum looked her up and down skeptically. “Do you always lie around on your employer’s sofa while you’re supposed to be working? And has this room even been cleaned? The floor looks dirty.”

“Um.” She glanced down at the floor. Actually, she had intended to do that. But before he’d left for work, Salem had made a fuss again about her not being their cleaner.

She guessed she should be grateful since she hated cleaning. But it also made her look really bad in front of his mum.

Which, surprisingly, she didn’t like.

Had he told his mum about her? Well, no, he can’t have or his mum would know who she was.

It wasn’t like they’d been together that long.

Would he be mad that she’d met his mum?

Oh hell.

“Isn’t Evette back?” his mum asked.

“She was meant to be, but she has a sore stomach.”

Salem’s mum let out a small huff. “Well, that’s too bad. Evette is an excellent cleaner.”

And she wasn’t.

She got it.

“So you can leave now,” the older woman said.

“I’m not finished for the day, though,” she protested.

“It seems that you are, considering that you were lying on the sofa rather than working. I don’t want my son spending his hard-earned money on someone who is taking advantage. So I will finish cleaning and you will go.”

Oh heck.

What did she do now? And her phone was upstairs.

“I have to go upstairs and get⁠—”

“No, no. You don’t need to go anywhere but out the door.” His mum moved forward, her gaze narrowing as she took in the empty bag of potato chips, along with a half-eaten block of chocolate.

Yeah, she might have found those in the cupboard and helped herself.

In her defense, she had planned on replacing them. Somehow.

Or at least she was going to hide the evidence before the guys got home.

Shit.

“You’ve been lazing around and eating their food? Do you really think that you could take advantage of them like this? Shame on you. They are good men and you are just a lazy user. Out!”

Right.

Shit.

Tamsyn rushed out of the living room, past Salem’s mum.

She didn’t know why those words hit her so hard. It wasn’t like his mum knew the truth. That she wasn’t actually taking advantage of them.

But aren’t you? Or taking advantage of their feelings for you.

Shit.

She slid her shoes on and reached for her coat. Where was it? The only other jacket in here was one that Salem had bought her the other day. It didn’t feel right to take it somehow, so she just drew on her old sneakers and headed out the door.

A sense of melancholy, of wrongness hit her and she wanted to turn back. She wanted to go back into that beautiful house and explain exactly who she was.

But who was she, really?

A liar.

That’s who.

And even if Salem’s mum didn’t know who she was, she knew that she wasn’t good enough for her son.

No, it was best that she go.

In the back of her mind, she knew that she should wait for the guys. That she should knock on the door and demand her phone and call them.

But that voice was easily silenced as she walked down the footpath.

Perhaps this was a good thing. She was getting far too close to them. If Salem’s mother could see the truth about her, then she was certain she would tell him.

And then he’d know and so would the others.

That she was definitely bad news and no good for them.

Salem couldn’t ever remember getting home from work this early. Sometimes, he’d sleep in the break room to avoid coming back here.

But not anymore. There was actually a spring in his step as he walked to the front door and unlocked it.

Because he couldn’t wait to see Tamsyn.

An alert beeped on his phone.

Shit. More unrest in Ireland? What the fuck was going on? Criminal activity was high. Patrick O’Connor was just going to gain more popularity with his call for softer gun laws, despite his sometimes conservative views in other areas.

Salem pushed that out of his mind. He’d done some shopping during his lunch break today, something that he never usually took, and he was carrying those bags. He just hoped that she liked what was in them.

The stuff he’d chosen was a bit different than the things she’d picked out. But those were Little clothes. And these were things for adult Tamsyn.

Even though she seemed to like to wear her Little clothes all the time.

He was hoping that he could convince her to slip into Little headspace for the entire weekend. Maybe they’d take her on that trip to the seaside.

Yeah, maybe he should suggest that. And they could see if they could take a three-day weekend. She’d look adorable building a sandcastle.

As he opened the front door, the scent of cooking hit him.

What the hell? He knew that Tamsyn couldn’t cook. Roman had told them about the sandwich she’d made him. What did she think she was doing, trying to cook?

Or had he ordered in?

“Hello? Tamsyn?”

“Hello. Salem. I’m in the kitchen.”

Salem froze. Because that was most assuredly not Tamsyn.

So where was she?

He rushed into the kitchen, still wearing his coat.

“Salem! I didn’t expect you so early.” His mother turned to smile at him. She was standing at the stove with something cooking on the stovetop. There was a wooden spoon in her hand.

“Mum, what are you doing here?” he asked, glancing around.

No Tamsyn.

Shit. Had his mother intimidated her so much that she was hiding out upstairs?

“I’ve come to make you dinner since you missed last Sunday night dinner. You said you were also busy working this weekend so I thought I would come to you.”

Bollocks.

He had said that. Because he hadn’t wanted to go to dinner last Sunday night and leave Tamsyn. He’d been worried that she would insist on going home. And that wasn’t acceptable to him or the others.

Speaking of which . . .

“Ahh, right. That’s nice of you. Is Roman upstairs?” Tamsyn had to be with him.

“No. I don’t know where he is. I thought he was, but when I went to check his room was empty.”

Shit.

“You didn’t touch anything, did you?” he asked urgently.

“No, of course not,” she huffed. “I know not to touch his stuff anymore.”

She’d gotten it into her head one day that she needed to tidy up Roman’s room and she’d moved everything around, not putting it back right.

Roman had been in a grouchy mood for weeks over it.

“Good. Wait, he’s not up there? Then where the hell is he? And where is Tamsyn?”

“Tamsyn? Well, she’s where she’s meant to be,” his mother replied.

A bad feeling filled his stomach. “What do you mean by that?”

“She’s gone home.”

“Home? Shit.”

“Salem! Language!” she snapped.

“Why would she go home?” This was meant to be her home. “I’ll need to call her.” He grabbed his phone from his pocket and started calling her.

But it went to voicemail.

Shit.

“Why are you calling her? Do you owe her money?” his mother asked. “Don’t pay her. When I got here, she was lying on your couch and eating your food. She left a mess and hadn’t hoovered the living room. I did that before I started dinner.”

“Wait . . . what?” He couldn’t even comprehend what she was saying. “Of course I don’t owe her money.”

He needed to check in with her, though as she hadn’t mentioned needing any money.

You should insist that she give up her apartment and move in with you.

He was definitely starting to think more and more like Alexei.

“Mum, she’s not my cleaner, she’s my girlfriend.”

The wooden spoon dropped straight onto the floor, sending splatters of tomato sauce everywhere. But his mother didn’t seem to notice as she gaped at him.

“She’s . . . you . . . what?”

“Tamsyn isn’t my cleaner, she’s my girlfriend.”

“You have a girlfriend?” she cried before throwing her hands up into the air. “Hallelujah!”

Salem sighed as his mother did a small dance of joy.

Really? Was it such a revelation that he had a girlfriend? Sure, he hadn’t had one in years. And certainly none that his mother met.

Or the rest of his family.

“You will need to bring her to Sunday dinner,” his mother bossed as she picked up the wooden spoon she’d dropped. “I can’t believe you haven’t told me before now. Why did you keep it a secret? Wait, why did she tell me that she was your cleaner, then?”

“I wasn’t keeping it a secret, mum,” he said. “And she was our cleaner. That’s how we, uh, met.”

Because you didn’t tell your mum that you first met your girlfriend at a BDSM club.

“Oh. Wait. So you’ve only known her a few weeks?”

“Yes, which is why I hadn’t told you about her.”

“But that still doesn’t explain why she said nothing. And why was she here alone?”

“She wasn’t meant to be. Roman was supposed to be home.” And he wasn’t going to tell his mum that she’d been staying with them.

There were some things that your mother didn’t need to know, no matter how old you were.

“And I don’t know why she didn’t tell you that she is my girlfriend. Perhaps she was taken aback by my mother just turning up without an invitation.” He shot her a stern look.

But his looks didn’t work on his mother, unfortunately.

It could have something to do with the fact that she’d given birth to him and changed his diaper as a baby.

“Pfft, I don’t need an invitation. I’m your mother.”

“And I live with two other guys.”

“Who don’t care if I visit.”

She wasn’t wrong. They didn’t care. But they might if they found out that she’d driven Tamsyn away.

Not that it was her fault.

No, this was all his fault. He should have prepared Tamsyn better. His mother did these impromptu ‘pop ins’ now and then. Although he had thought Roman was going to be home all day.

Right.

None of that matters now. You just have to find Tamsyn.

“I have to get in touch with her,” he told his mum. “I’m going to try calling her again.”

“Of course. I feel terrible about the way I talked to her. Please explain that I had no idea she was your girlfriend.”

Should he tell her that Tamsyn wasn’t just his girlfriend?

No.

That wasn’t a conversation he needed to have right now.

First, he tried calling Tamsyn. Still no answer. Shit.

He shot off a message to the group chat.

Salem: Just got home. Mum is here. She met Tamsyn, but Tamsyn told her that she was our cleaner. Mum told her to leave as she thought she was being lazy and now I don’t know where she is. She’s also not answering her phone. Roman, I thought you were home all day today?

No answer. Crap.

He wasn’t even sure where she lived. But Roman had her fill in a temporary employment agreement and NDA, so that would surely have her address.

As he walked down the hallway, he called her again.

Then he froze.

Was that the sound of a phone ringing? Was she here? Had she come back?

He held his phone to his ear as he pinpointed where the noise was coming from.

Her bedroom.

He rushed inside and then he saw her phone sitting on the nightstand, charging. They’d picked up a charger for it the other day when shopping.

Fucking hell.

She’d left without her phone? He opened her closet. All of the clothes he’d bought her were in here. And so was her old, ratty jacket that he’d replaced.

Then another thought occurred to him, and he rushed down the stairs to the coat closet.

“Salem? Are you all right?”

“Bollocks,” he muttered.

“Salem! Language!” his mother scolded.

Salem took a deep breath in and let it out slowly. He wanted to snap at his mum but it wasn’t her fault.

“Sorry, Mum.” He didn’t tell her that he’d just realized that she’d left without the coat, scarf, and hat that he’d bought her.

Because they were all sitting in the coat closet.

He hoped that she hadn’t walked far without a coat on. It was another cold day today. And he hated to think about her walking around in the cold.

She’d even left her beloved roller skates.

Perhaps she’d just left for a couple of hours to get away from his mum.

As he headed back upstairs to go check Roman’s office, his phone buzzed.

Roman: Sorry! I had a meeting. I’d forgotten about it. Where has she gone?

Salem: Back to her place, I guess. I’m just going to go find her address.

Alexei: Don’t worry. Stay with your mum.

Salem: I need to find Tamsyn.

Alexei: I can track her phone.

Salem: That won’t help much when her phone is here.

Roman: She left without her phone?

Salem: Yes. And without her coat or scarf or hat too.

Alexei: Fuck. Why would she do that?

Salem: My mum probably scared her off and she didn’t know what to do. I’m worried about her.

Alexei: Send me the address.

Roman: Wait. I remember it.

He sent through an address. Fuck, that was likely an hour away and it was peak traffic. Even on the underground, it would take a while.

Alexei: I’m not that far from there. Maybe twenty minutes away. Meet me there with the car.

Salem: Done. Tell us when you find her.