Fierce Daddy

by Laylah Roberts

  “How many chili peppers did you put in this?”

  “What? Oh, just three.”

  “Just three? What kind did you use?”

  “I got them from this specialty shop. They’re called Carolina Reapers. Have you heard of them?”

  His eyes nearly bugged out of his face. Then he drank down some more milk. That was kind of gross. She thought about asking him if he wanted a glass, but the milk was almost gone and it wasn’t like anyone else was going to drink it now anyway.

  It was all his.

  “What’s the matter? Why did you take my chili? If you don’t like it, then you don’t have to eat it.”

  She couldn’t help but feel a bit offended, though. She didn’t have to share her chili with him, after all.

  “Tabby, Carolina Reapers are the hottest chili peppers in the world.”

  “What? No, the sign said they were mild.”

  “Then the sign was wrong or you read the wrong one, I don’t know. I like hot stuff, but that chili is hot enough to burn the skin off your tongue.”

  Oh no. And he’d eaten it.

  “I’m so sorry!” she cried. “I thought I’d bought very mild chili peppers. I don’t even like things that hot. I can’t believe I got that so wrong. Sit down. Are you okay? Do you need anything?”

  “There any more milk?”

  He sat and took another mouthful of milk.

  “Yes, here you are.” She grabbed another bottle of milk out of the fridge and handed it to him. “Razor, I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize it was so hot. Really. Are you all right? Do you need to go to the hospital?”

  “No.” He shook his head. “I’m fine.”

  He didn’t look fine. He looked ill and he was still talking like he had a sore throat.

  “I feel terrible. I didn’t know. I’m so sorry.”

  “Hey, come here.” He crooked a finger at her. She didn’t know if she should go over to him. He didn’t look mad, but . . .

  Then realizing what she was doing, she forced herself to walk to him. Razor wouldn’t hit her no matter how upset he was. And if she thought he would, then she shouldn’t be working for him.

  No, she was just upset and it was messing with her instincts. She stepped over and he pointed at the coffee table. “Sit.”

  She sat. When he used that low, firm tone, it was hard not to do what he said. She had no idea why.

  “This isn’t your fault. It was an accident, okay?”

  “But I fed you really hot chili. I wish I’d eaten it first.”

  “Well, I’m glad you didn’t eat it first. At least I’m used to hot stuff. Unless you’ve got a cast-iron stomach?”

  “I probably would have died if I’d eaten it. Well, not literally.” She shook her head. “I’m still sorry, Razor. I feel terrible.”

  “Stop,” he told her sternly. “No more apologies.”

  “I think I need to give up on this cooking thing. First, I give myself food poisoning by not cooking chicken properly. Then my smoothie explodes all over the kitchen. I didn’t clean it off the ceiling quick enough, and now I think it’s got permanent blue splotches. I’m going to have to get a ladder and get up there to paint the whole thing. Oh, and now I almost put you in the hospital with too-hot chili.”

  “You didn’t almost put me in the hospital,” he told her gruffly.

  “I could have given you a heart attack,” she wailed.

  Luna started up a howl. Razor shook his head at them both. “Luna, hush. And you hush your mouth too.”

  She raised her eyebrows. “Did you just tell me to hush my mouth?”

  “Yeah, I did. Because you’re talking nonsense.”

  Nonsense? Really? Where did careful Razor go? The one who watched what he said, and kept a safe distance? Now, he was ordering her to come here, telling her to hush and that she was talking nonsense.

  She should probably take offense.

  “My heart isn’t so fragile, it can’t handle some hot chili peppers,” he told her in that delicious drawl of his.

  “Are you sure? They say as you get older that you should take better care of your heart.”

  He stared at her.

  Oh.

  Oops.

  Had she just implied that her boss was old?

  “You wanna run that past me again?” he asked in a deep voice.

  She jumped to her feet. “Nope. Don’t believe I do. What I should do is go get you more milk. Yep, I’ll get onto that right away. Bye.” She raced out of the door and was at her car before realizing that she didn’t have her keys or her handbag.

  Oh Lord. Had she really just done that?

  A throat clearing had her slowly turning. Razor stood there, arms over his chest. Then he nodded back at the office. Did he want her to go back inside so there were no witnesses to him throttling her? Because in that case, she was going to have to decline.

  “Go get some money from petty cash. Buy us both lunch. Something without chili peppers or chicken. And grab some more milk.” Then he strode off towards the shop.

  She had a feeling she’d just been given a reprieve.

  Note to self, don’t call your hot boss old.

  Or hot.

  Dear Lord, she was in trouble.

  6

  “Tabby?”

  She spun and started choking on the bite of apple she’d just taken.

  Alarm filled Razor’s face as she attempted to heave in a breath. Luna sat up, whining. Razor raced over and started whacking her back.

  “Cough it up. Right. Now,” he demanded, holding a cupped hand in front of her mouth.

  What did he think she was trying to do? He couldn’t just expect her body to obey him. Except as he smacked his hand on her back, she managed to cough the piece of apple up. It landed in his hand.

  Ew.

  So attractive, Tabby.

  “Good girl,” Razor praised, now rubbing his hand over her back.

  Oh, Lord. How could she be getting aroused now? All he was doing was trying to soothe her.

  He grabbed a tissue to clean his hand as he walked over to the small kitchen area to grab a bottle of water. Returning to her, he opened the water and held it to her lips.

  “I can do it,” she told him, reaching for it.

  Frowning, he drew it away. “You’re shaking. You’ll spill it all over yourself.”

  Well, he wasn’t wrong there. But it was embarrassing as hell to have him holding the bottle for her. Like a baby being given a bottle. However, the water felt nice and soothing on her throat.

  Razor put the water down, screwing the cap back on. Then he reached over her, his arm brushing against her breasts as he opened her snack drawer.

  Don’t react. Don’t react.

  Did he know how he was affecting her? He couldn’t know, right?

  That same block of chocolate he’d grabbed after the great mouse incident—yes, that’s what she was calling it—appeared in his hand.

  He broke some off and gave it to her. “Open.”

  She opened her mouth and he placed the chocolate inside.

  “Suck.”

  Her eyes widened at the same time his did. Some red actually filled his cheeks and he snatched his fingers back from her mouth, as though worried she might start sucking on the digits.

  Ouch. Rejection hurt. But it especially hurt when she felt this insane attraction towards him.

  Suck it up, Tabby. You’ve been hurt worse. This is just a blip on the radar.

  Razor slid his hand behind his neck as he took a step back. “Feel better?”

  She nodded, busy sucking. The chocolate soothed the back of her throat.

  “I should check your throat, make sure you didn’t hurt it.”

  “It’s fine.”

  His gaze narrowed as though he was thinking. She’d seen him do that a few times. He looked ruffled. He’d been in his office all morning, dealing with paperwork. Which tended to make him a bit grouchy. Which was kind of cute.

  Not that she’d tel
l him that.

  She’d brought him in his coffee but otherwise hadn’t spoken to him. She’d been here for just over two weeks now and it had become their ritual. She made certain to get to the garage around five minutes before eight to start the coffee brewing, which wasn’t so early that Razor grumbled at her.

  Of course, he didn’t know about the hours of research she did at home at night. But she figured that was on her, anyway. He’d hired her with no experience, the least she could do was try to catch up. She was finally getting the hang of the accounting system and learning some of what they did here.

  She didn’t realize that a boss could be like this. She’d thought he would be happy for her to work extra hours for free. But it turned out that Razor didn’t want his employees to slave away for their job. He actually cared about their lives. When he was in the office, it wasn’t unusual for one of the guys to come in and talk to him about something going on in their lives.

  So he wasn’t just a boss to these guys, he was a mentor, a safe place, and a freaking miracle worker.

  “I could get Hack to come check on you,” Razor said thoughtfully.

  He wasn’t for real, right? She remembered Hack. Could still hear the noise as Luther knocked him unconscious. It had been a cowardly move. The other man hadn’t even seen Luther coming.

  “I don’t need anyone to check me.”

  Razor frowned.

  “Once, Luther kicked me so hard in the back that there was blood in my pee, but he wouldn’t let me go to the doctor. I survived. I’ll be fine.”

  The thunderous look that filled his face made her still.

  Oops. She probably shouldn’t have said that.

  “What?” His voice was chilling.

  “Nothing.” She gave him a bright smile. Totally fake. And the way his gaze narrowed told her that he wasn’t buying her bullshit.

  There went that tick by his eye. Shoot.

  “Repeat what you just said.”

  “Um, nothing.”

  His hands clenched, then released. She eyed him, worried about his blood pressure.

  “Please don’t look at me like that.”

  She jolted in surprise at the pleading in his voice.

  “Like what?”

  “Like you think I would hurt you. I’d never harm a fucking hair on your head.”

  “I know you wouldn’t. I know you’re not going to hurt me.”

  “Then why do you look so worried?”

  “Um, I guess I was concerned about you.”

  He stared at her for a long moment. “Me?”

  “You’re upset. It’s not good for your blood pressure. Maybe you should sit down. I’ll get you some water.” She stood and hustled him into her chair. Then she grabbed him a bottle of water. “Here you are. Drink that down.”

  “Thanks, I just . . . wait!” He stood and glared at her. “What are you doing?”

  “What?” she asked innocently.

  “Oh, you know what. You’re trying to distract me because you don’t want to repeat what you said before about Luther. But it’s not working.”

  Drat.

  “Okay, you’re onto me. But it wasn’t important.”

  “It was fucking important. I . . .” His voice trailed off and he took a deep breath. “Sit. I need to go for a walk. I want all that water gone by the time I get back. Luna, stay.”

  He strode out of the office before she could say anything. Now, she felt terrible. She wished she’d never said anything to him about Luther.

  Sitting, she looked down at Luna, who came over to rest her head on Tabby’s lap. “I think I upset your Daddy.”

  Luna just whined.

  She kept working and sipping on her water, watching the front door. About fifteen minutes later, it opened and Luna rushed over to Razor, who patted her.

  “Good girl, Luna.”

  Darn it. Was she jealous of a dog?

  Then he turned his dark gaze to her. “I’m sorry I reacted like that. Hope I didn’t scare you.”

  “You didn’t. I know not all men are abusive. I know you’re not.”

  “Good. Sure you’re okay? Do you need to go home?”

  “No, I’m fine.”

  Another nod. He seemed subdued, a bit distant, and she didn’t like it. Not one bit. Darn it, why had she mentioned Luther?

  “I had a piece of paper with me earlier. Have you seen it?”

  “Um.” She looked around her desk, then saw it on the corner. “Here.”

  “That’s it. Could you put through this order for me? I’ve got to go run some errands.”

  “Sure thing,” she told him.

  “Actually, first, could you grab the lunch orders for the guys and phone it in? I’ll pick the stuff up on my way back. Come on, Luna. You’re with me.”

  The dog licked her hand on the way out, almost like giving her a kiss goodbye. It was seriously cute.

  He was buying them lunch again? Surely, most bosses weren’t like this. As he left, she grabbed up a pen and a pad and walked out to the garage.

  A long, low wolf whistle greeted her. She looked over at Tommy, who was leering at her.

  “Hey, sexy thing, you want to come out with me tonight?”

  Urgh, she’d rather roll around in pig shit.

  “No, thanks.”

  “Aww, come on. I’ll make it good for you, promise.” He made a crude gesture with his hand, then erupted into a braying laugh. She glanced around. It wasn’t that she was shocked by the gesture or his come-on. But she was surprised he was being so blatant in front of the others. But then she noticed that Dart and Sav, the two people most likely to take him to task, were down at the other end and unable to hear him.

  A couple of the guys looked over at them with frowns, but didn’t say anything.

  Seemed she was on her own then. Well, she was used to that.

  “Yeah, I’ll pass.” She looked him up and down, then turned away.

  “What the fuck was that look about? Am I not good enough for you, princess?”

  Just ignore him. Keep moving.

  She definitely wasn’t ordering him any lunch. The asshole could starve.

  “Fucking snobby bitch.” That last part was muttered, and she was the only one close enough to hear it.

  But she couldn’t ignore it. She’d been taught to be silent. To put up and shut up.

  She didn’t have to follow those rules anymore.

  Turning, she sneered at him.

  “Yeah, Tommy. That’s right. You’re not good enough for me. I’d rather go out on a date with a pig than you. That clear enough for you?”

  He turned red as a few of the guys started chuckling. She moved around, taking everyone else’s orders.

  She skipped Weasel Dick.

  Asshole.

  Fifteen minutes later, she’d hung up with the sub place and was about to start putting through the order that Razor had given her when the phone rang.

  “Hello, Montana Custom Bikes, you’re speaking with Tabby.”

  “Put Razor on.”

  Her eyebrows went up at the demand. “Who can I say is calling?”

  “Get him. Now.”

  “I’m afraid he’s not here, currently. If you’d like to leave a message—”

  “Listen, girlie, I don’t care if he said to hold his calls. I want to talk to him. Get him now.”

  “Sir, if you’d just tell me your name, I’ll leave him a message.”

  “Stop trying to think, and get him on the damn phone, you little bitch.”

  Oh, hell no.

  She hung up. Then she winced as she realized what she’d done. Shoot. She really should have gotten Dart and let him deal with the rude asshole. There was no way he’d talk to the gruff giant that way.

  What if he was a big client? Had she just hung up on someone important?

  Crap.

  She went back to her list, but her mind wasn’t on it and she was shaking. Maybe she should go tell Dart about the call? But he was busy, and the asshol
e hadn’t called back. She nearly had the order ready to send through when the door slammed open and an older man walked in. He’d probably been muscular once, but all that muscle had mostly gone to fat. He wasn’t attractive, with a bulbous nose and broken blood vessels across his cheeks.

  He stormed over. The stench of booze hit her nose, making her grimace. “You the bitch that hung up on me?”

  Shit, shit, shit. “Excuse me?”

  “Don’t give me that uppity tone. Go get Razor. Now. My money is as good as anyone else’s and I’m this far from going somewhere else.” He held up a finger and thumb.

  She swallowed nervously. But she made herself stand her ground. She wished Luna was here with her. “Razor isn’t here right now, as I told you on the phone.”

  “I want to speak to him. I want to know why the fuck he’s not taking my job and I want to know now.”

  He attempted to storm past her to get into Razor’s office. She didn’t know why she did it. It wasn’t like Razor was in there. Or that there was anything of importance that Razor wouldn’t want this guy to see.

  But that was Razor’s office. And since he wasn’t here, she wasn’t going to let this asshole inside.

  So she jumped out of her chair and stood in front of the door, arms splayed wide. Like she could actually stop this bulldozer of a guy.

  She stood her ground. Until he grabbed hold of her arm. Hard.

  “Get out of my fucking way!”

  “Let go of her,” a chillingly calm voice said from behind the big man.

  The smelly boar in front of her dropped her arm and half-turned. “I’m here to talk to Razor.”

  She peered around the other man to see Sav standing in the doorway of the office. He looked calm, his arms crossed over his chest. But there was something in his eyes that made her think he could snap at any moment and that wouldn’t be good for any of them. She didn’t know Sav’s story. He was quiet and kind of brisk. But she didn’t want him getting into trouble.

  “Razor’s not here,” Sav stated.

  “I don’t care about his fucking excuses, I want my bike.”

  Sav’s eyes narrowed and she gulped. Uh-oh.

  “You’ve got to pay for your bike,” Sav replied.

  “I paid a deposit.”