What was up with him? She’d seen his protective side, his bossy side, his authoritative side, his sexy side. But this playful part of him. This was different.
And dangerous.
He could make her weak.
Or maybe he could help make you the strongest you’ve ever been.
“Those are some serious thoughts, Georgie-girl. Want to tell me what you’re thinking?”
“I didn’t really think any of this through, coming here. Because of a kiss. Because you made me feel safe. How foolish was that?”
Although there was a part of her that wouldn’t mind living here in this crazy town.
He walked forward and knelt down next to the bath. “It’s not foolish at all. You took a chance. It’s scary putting yourself out there. Let you in on a secret?”
She nodded.
“I’m scared too.”
He didn’t act scared. He seemed like he knew exactly what he was doing. But she relaxed slightly at his admission.
“Now, before all those bubbles disappear and I start getting lustful intentions that you’re not ready for, how about we get you out and back into bed?”
“Lustful intentions? Really?”
“What?”
She shook her head. “Doesn’t matter. I should have expected that sort of expression from a man who says woo.”
“Are you getting mouthy with me, brat?” He shook his head. “The youth of today.”
“And how old are you?”
“Forty-nine.”
“Wow. You look good for an old man. And you’ve got barely any gray hair. Kind of a miracle, really. Mind you, it is getting a bit thin on top, isn’t it?”
“Why you little . . .” He reached out and started tickling her. She screamed with laughter. She was extremely ticklish.
Finally, he drew back, staring down at her. He swallowed heavily. Her breath heaved in and out, partly breathless because of laughter. Partly because of the look in his eyes. Like he wanted to devour her.
Darn it. She pressed her thighs together, feeling her clit throbbing.
Lustful intentions, indeed.
She had her arm over her breasts, hiding the scars there from him. But his gaze snagged on her arm and his jaw tightened.
He cleared her throat. “I know you’re not ready for anything more. So how about we get you out of there and back into bed?”
She nodded her head, not feeling capable of words right then. As he turned away, she was certain he muttered the words, fuck me. He returned with a huge fluffy towel.
“Do you need help standing?”
“No, I’ve got it.”
He held the towel up and turned his head.
“Close your eyes.” She didn’t want him spotting her other scars. She wasn’t ready to explain them.
He closed his eyes and she stood, grabbing the towel. Once it was wrapped around her, he picked her up and lifted her out of the bath. Then to her shock, he dragged her close, pressing his hard cock against her stomach. Then he kissed her. It was hot. Hungry. Delicious.
“Damn, Georgie. Just damn.”
“What is it?”
“Do you need help getting dressed?” His voice sounded almost strangled.
“No, I’ll be fine.”
“Sit down to get dressed. I’ve got to go heat up some soup.” He quickly left.
Wow. For a big guy he sure could move fast.
Ed leaned back against the wall and reached in to adjust his aching cock. He really wished he had the time to take a shower. Because he was in fucking pain. Being so close to her naked body without touching and tasting his fill was harder than he’d thought it would be.
All he’d wanted to do was sit her on that counter and devour her. To kneel between those pale thighs and eat her out. Then turn her around, press her against the counter and fuck her into oblivion.
Fuck. Having her here was a definite test of his control.
19
“Damn it.”
“Something wrong?” she asked him as he finished up a call.
“Yeah. I’ve got to go into work for a bit.” He stared down at her thoughtfully.
“I’ll be fine.” It would give her a chance to get out of this bed without him hovering. Last night, he’d insisted she have dinner in bed. She was shocked that he hadn’t insisted on feeding her himself.
While he’d been cleaning up, she’d lain down, closed her eyes, and had been out like a light. And she hadn’t had a nightmare. She wasn’t sure why, but she suspected it had something to do with the man who was tapping away on his phone while sitting on an armchair he’d pulled into the bedroom last night to eat with her.
When she’d woken up this morning, there had been a warm spot next to her and his scent had been strong. Squawkers had also been tucked into her arms, which had been kind of embarrassing. Had she sucked her thumb? She hoped she hadn’t done anything embarrassing. It had been so long since she’d slept in a bed with a man.
And she couldn’t even remember it.
He shook his head. “I don’t want to leave you alone again. Shouldn’t have left you yesterday.”
“Nothing bad will happen. I just woke up so it’s not like I’m going to have another nightmare.”
“I don’t know how long I’ll be gone for this time, though. You need to eat and I don’t want you up and moving around on your own.”
“Ed, I feel much better today. You need to go.”
“I need to make you breakfast first.”
“Just point me in the direction of the coffee and I’ll be fine.”
He frowned down at her. “No coffee.”
“You’ve run out of coffee?” How could a person run out of coffee? Was it possible? “This is a disaster.”
“I haven’t run out of coffee,” he explained, putting his phone away in his pocket. “You’re not having any. You heard Xavier, caffeine is a stimulant. You need to cut down.”
“Oh no. Nope. That’s not happening. I might let you get away with being bossy in other areas. But nobody stands between me and the nectar of the gods. Not you or Xavier.”
He crossed his arms over his wide chest. “No caffeine. It’s not good for you.”
“I need it to live.”
He actually grinned. “So dramatic. You won’t die without caffeine.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure.”
“Tell you what, you can have one cup of coffee, after you eat something. And take your iron tablets. Deal?”
She muttered under her breath grouchily. “Fine. Deal.”
He sat on the bed, facing her. “I just want you healthy, Georgie-girl. I can’t stand the idea of you ending up back in the hospital.”
Her grouchiness faded in the face of his sincere concern. “I’m really fine.”
“Not yet. But you will be.”
While he made breakfast, she used the bathroom. When she returned to the bedroom, he was already there, setting a tray on the bedside table.
“I’ll be home as soon as I can.”
The smell of caffeine hit her and she sighed happily. Then a finger landed under her chin and he tilted her face up. “Food first. Then coffee. Am I understood?”
The stern note in his voice made her shiver in delight. But she tried to hide it behind a scowl. “I understand that you’re bossy.”
“When it comes to your health and safety, I am. So best you eat your breakfast, then have your one coffee. Call me if you need me. Shit, that reminds me. Turn on your phone.”
“Now?” She bit her lip.
He picked it up and handed it to her, waiting. “Fine.” She turned it on. It started to beep crazily. She hunched her shoulders.
“Jesus. Who has been trying to get hold of you? Is there some sort of emergency?”
“Not unless you consider my mother being batshit crazy an emergency.” She winced as she said that.
“Those are all from your mother?”
“Uh, yeah. And I need to reply before she activates the national guar
d,” she joked weakly.
“You sure you don’t need me to stick around?” Eight missed phone calls. Ten missed texts. Although none of the texts were from her mother. She didn’t believe in texting. Those were all from her brothers.
“Go. I’ll call her. She just worries a lot.”
He seemed unconvinced by that. “Okay. But call her after breakfast.”
Yes, boss.
“Now, give me my hug before I go. And a kiss.” He sat next to her and she blushed. Then she leaned in to hug him gently, giving him a small kiss on the cheek.
“I think we can do better than that,” he murmured, grasping hold of her chin and pressing his lips to hers.
The kiss went straight to her head, making her feel dizzy. When he drew back, her heart was pounding. She placed her hand on her chest. “And you’re worried about caffeine being a stimulant.”
“Ahh, but kissing is one of the best kinds of stimulants.” Then he stood. “Make sure your phone is with you at all times.”
He walked towards the door then turned back, his gaze intent as he stared at her. “We haven’t talked about consequences, but you should know that I like to spank.”
Her eyes widened. Did he really just threaten to spank her?
That was . . . it was . . . sexy? Scary? Crazy? Intriguing?
She was starting to worry that she was going to get everything she’d ever wished for. And she had no idea if she could handle it.
Georgina had just finished pouring herself another cup of coffee when she heard the front door bang. Shoot! She hastily put the mug on the counter, miscalculating in her panic. The mug went crashing to the floor, shattering and splashing hot coffee over her feet.
“Ouch. Darn it!”
“Georgie? You okay? Where are you?”
To her surprise, it wasn’t Ed that called out. Seconds later, Kiesha appeared in the kitchen, a huge duffel bag over her shoulder. Her hair was braided and twisted into two buns and was wearing long, striped socks with a pair of cut-off shorts and an oversized sweater. How was she not cold?
“What happened? Are you okay?” Kiesha asked.
“Yeah. I just dropped my cup of coffee.” Which she hadn’t even had a sip of. Typical. She’d downed her first cup almost as soon as Ed had left the house. He’d never know that she hadn’t eaten first. And she’d needed that cup. Desperately. Then as she’d glanced through her messages from her brothers, each one more demanding and bossier than the next, she’d decided that she needed another cup before answering them. Then calling her mother.
There wasn’t enough caffeine in the world to help her with that.
“Crap. Stay where you are. You’ve got bare feet. If you step on a piece of that, you could get hurt. Did you burn yourself?”
“I’m fine. Just clumsy.”
“Yeah? You don’t really strike me as the clumsy type.”
“Well, I wasn’t expecting anyone.”
Kiesha grimaced. “Sorry, bestie. I would have texted, but Ed won’t give me your number.” As she spoke, she was grabbing a broom and pan from a cupboard. Obviously, she knew her way around Ed’s house.
“Here, hand it to me,” she said. “I’ll clean it up. I made the mess.”
“Uh-uh. You have bare feet. Here, I’ll lift you out of the way.”
“Kiesha!” She stepped back as the other woman reached for her. Like she could lift her?
Unfortunately, she stepped right onto a piece of ceramic. Sharp pain sliced at the sole of her foot.
“Fudge!”
“What? You want fudge?” Kiesha asked, staring at her strangely. “I haven’t made any in years, but I think I could try.”
“No, I say fudge instead of swearing,” she explained as she limped her way over to the counter and sat on one of the kitchen stools.
“Oh. That’s weird.”
Really? That was weird. This whole town was insane and her using fudge instead of fuck was weird?
“My mother doesn’t believe that women should swear,” she explained. Then she thought about that for a minute. Here she was at thirty-four, using ridiculous words like fudge instead of fuck because of her mommy. Maybe Kiesha was right the first time. She was weird.
“Shit! Are you bleeding?” Kiesha asked.
Georgina glanced over at the kitchen floor. There were spots of blood across the white tiles.
“Shoot! Is there something I can use to clean that up?”
“Who cares about cleaning it up? Let me look at your foot. Ed is gonna kill me if I let you get injured.”
She stiffened. “Did Ed send you to babysit me?”
“No. He has no idea I’m here. I waited until he was definitely gone until I snuck in. I’ll get the first aid kit, we need to stop that bleeding. Shit, did you burn yourself?”
She looked at where Kiesha was pointing to the top of her feet where there were splotches of pink. “That’s nothing. I can barely feel it.”
Unlike the cut which stung like a bitch.
“Stay there.” Kiesha wiggled a finger at her then raced off.
With a sigh, she glanced over at the mess. How was she going to explain the broken mug and the cut on her foot?
Kiesha returned, practically skidding along the floor in her fluffy socks. They went up over her knees and were striped black and white with a panda’s face at the top of them.
They were freaking adorable.
“I love your socks,” she blurted out before slamming a hand over her mouth. Darn it. She really needed to stop blurting out what she was thinking.
“Thanks!” She drew out another stool and patted it. “Put your foot up here. Don’t worry, you’re in good hands. I worked as a paramedic for a few years.”
Wow. She’d done a lot in her life. What had Georgina done? What difference had she really made? Kiesha made quick work of cleaning up her foot.
“How come you waited for Ed to leave?” she asked. The other woman was wrapping a white bandage around her foot. Kind of overkill she thought, when a Band-Aid would work, but she’d wait to remove it until later.
“Cause I’m supposed to be at work.”
“Umm, Kiesha, Ed just went into work. He’s going to notice you’re not there.”
“Oh, I know. I’m the one who called him. Might have exaggerated how much we needed him in there so I could get a bit of alone time with you. Great plan, huh?” Kiesha smiled at her widely.
“It’s a terrible plan.”
Kiesha’s face dropped and she took a step back. “You didn’t want to see me?”
There was something vulnerable in her face. A hurt that went deep. Shoot. She hadn’t meant it like that.
“Of course I want to see you, we’re besties, right?”
Kiesha grinned. “Too right, rubber ducky. I needed to see my bestie and Ed was hogging you.”
“But Kiesha, he’s going to be furious when he realizes you called him into work when you didn’t really need him.”
“Eh, what’s he gonna do? Fire me?” Kiesha swept up pieces of ceramic.
“Yes,” she replied, as she stood. Ouch, standing on her sore foot wasn’t going to be fun today. But it wasn’t like she hadn’t had worse.
“He does that and I’ll tell his mom. Don’t worry. Pretty sure my job is safe. I’m amazing at it, after all.”
She couldn’t help but smile. “And so modest too.”
Kiesha grinned. “Why bother with modesty? Never been something I’ve suffered from.”
“Here, let me clean up the rest.”
“Nuh-uh. You need to rest. You still look kind of pale. Ed didn’t keep you up all night, did he?” Kiesha wiggled her eyebrows suggestively.
“No!” she protested. “Nothing like that.”
“Huh, I felt sure that put you two in close proximity and fireworks would go off. Or are you not attracted to him anymore now that you’re living with him? Is he smelly? Messy? Bossy?”
“He’s definitely bossy. But I’m not living with him. I’m just staying her
e for a while.”
“Nothing else?”
“We’re seeing where things go.”
“Ahh, nice, nice,” Kiesha said, seeming distracted. “So if you were to put a number on when you thought you might sleep with him, would it be a few days, a week . . . “
“Umm.” She might never have had a female friend to talk through stuff like this with, but even she thought that was a weird question.
“Never mind. Don’t answer that.” Kiesha waved her away as she went to help. “I can still win without inside info.”
“Win what?”
“Nothing.” Kiesha smiled widely. “There, that looks better. Sit. I’ll get you another coffee. I’m great at making coffee. Ask Ed, he’ll tell you. He loves my coffees.”
He did?
“Have you eaten?”
“Um, Ed made me breakfast.” She just hadn’t eaten it. Yet. “It’s in the bedroom.
“Ugh, no doubt he made something healthy. I have something better.” Kiesha picked up the duffel bag she’d brought in and slammed it down on the counter. “Open that up. Want creamer? Ed only has the boring, plain stuff.”
“That’s fine.” She opened the duffel bag and reached in, pulling out a box which held . . . a vibrator. She stared down at it. “Oh shoot, sorry, Kiesha. I didn’t mean to invade your privacy.”
Did she forget she had this in here? Georgina was blushing as she put the vibrator back in the bag.
“What’s wrong? Don’t you like it?” Kiesha asked as she stood on the other side of the counter. She set their coffees down and pushed the bag to one side. Grabbing the box with the vibrator in it, she put it on the counter. “If you don’t like this one, I have a few others. I wasn’t sure what you’d like.”
“What . . . why . . . it’s for me?”
“Yeah, of course. Oh, did you think it was for me? Why would I bring my sex toys over here? That would be weird.”
Uh-huh. It would. But then so was this conversation.
“I figured you’d be bored.”
“And you thought that a sex toy would relieve the boredom?” Had she hit her head? Was this all some sort of weird dream?
“Works for me when I’m bored,” Kiesha told her.
That was something she really didn’t need to know. The other woman started pulling out other things. There was another vibrator, but this one was apparently waterproof. There was a set of butt plugs, a rubber dildo, a vibrating egg with a remote control, a vibrator that was curved, presumably so one end could be inside your pussy and the other end inside your ass. And the last thing she drew out was a big bottle of lube.
Sheriff Daddy (Montana Daddies Book 10) Page 15
