Page 27 of Tiger's Little Waif

Shaw was on the verge of stomping her foot in anger, but held off. After all their weeks together, she had learned the hard way that putting her foot down with any sort of force would end up with her standing in the corner after a harsh spanking. The last thing she needed was to show up to the meeting with Dan with her face all blotchy from crying.

The argument had been going on since daybreak, and Marshall was as set in his position as he had been when he announced that she would stay in the hotel room with a guard while he met with her ex-husband to find out what he wanted.

“She’s right, you know,” Kodiak said from where he lounged on the couch drinking coffee. “He may decide not to talk to you at all, if she’s not there.”

Kodiak, Harrigan, Sailor, and Sullivan had arrived a half hour earlier, just as they were planning to head to the hotel dining room for breakfast. Instead, they placed an order with room service that took two servers and a large cart to deliver.

Shaw kept her gaze on her papa, knowing if she looked away, he would take it as capitulation on her part. He frowned at her for almost a minute before sighing. “I know she’s right, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it.”

Hope bloomed in Shaw. “Does that mean I’m going?”

“Yes, but you will hold my hand every second we are out of this room, you will not speak to RBX, and if I tell you to leave, you will go without argument and find one of these men and stay with them.”

Though she wanted to argue, she nodded.

“Words, waif.”

“Yes, Papa. I will hold your hand outside the room, not speak to RBX when we meet with him, and find one of these men if we get separated.” Marshall sighed again, making Shaw think he was more of a drama queen than he wanted anyone to realize. “All right let’s see this park where we can get him alone so there aren’t any witnesses if I need to shift. The last thing we need is a report of a tiger wandering around the city.”

Kodiak looked at Shaw and winked. “Be sure and pack an extra set of clothes for him, just in case.”

Her eyes going wide, she nodded. “Yes, Sir.”

After seeing the layout of the park, and planning who would be where and when, Sailor asked the question that had been on Shaw’s mind since she’d heard Dan’s demand.

“Why do you think he wants you to bring the stuffie?”

After looking over every inch of Gio several times since hearing Dan’s message, Shaw could not see anything different. She’d also felt the lion stuffie from nose to tail, but had to admit he was solidly stuffed, and something soft or really small could be stored in the middle without her knowing it was there. She had drawn the line at cutting him open and pulling out his guts to see if Dan had put something in him. He was her best friend, and she could not do that to her best friend, stuffed or human.

“I have no idea,” she answered truthfully as she hugged her stuffie closer.

She had been embarrassed to keep him with her when the men first entered, but knowing they were all Daddy Dominants helped and Gio did help keep the nerves under control.

“Mind if I have a look at him?” Kodiak asked as he opened the big black bag he’d brought with him.

“You won’t hurt him, will you?”

Kodiak smiled gently at her as he pulled several things out of his bag. “I would never hurt Gio, sweetheart. I’m going to run this wand over him and see if he has any metal inside him to make sure he hadn’t eaten something he shouldn’t have. Why don’t you lay him on this table and hold his hand? That way he won’t get scared and bite me.”

“Okay,” Shaw whispered as she moved through the men to kneel beside the coffee table. She laid Gio out flat and kept one paw clenched between her fingers.

After a thorough wanding, Kodiak announced the lion was clean of anything metallic, which meant there was no stick drive or keys inside. After that, Marshall sent her into the bedroom to dress in clothes he had laid out and prepare to leave.

Following Kodiak’s suggestion, Shaw pulled out her backpack and packed a pair of jeans and a t-shirt for Marshall. On top of that she carefully set Gio before zipping the bag closed. Patting her pocket to make sure she had the room keycard that Marshall had made her responsible for, she put on her shoes and returned to the living room.

“I’m ready, Papa,” she said as she took his hand.

She watched silently as Kodiak opened another part of his bag and pulled out several weapons and handed them around the room. The others had been mostly silent during the morning, and remained so as they left the suite to get into place. Kodiak stayed back with them.

“Emory wanted me to ask if you would be interested in baking for a tea party,” he said as they left the room.

“What kind of tea party?” Marshall asked.

“I’m not talking to you, Chef. I’m talking to the pastry queen.”

“Oh?”

“That’s what the Littles are calling her.”