He frowned. Glanced at his phone again. Still nothing from Macca. How long did he take to check on one small female?
“Do you not like your sandwich?” Charlie asked, still wearing the moustache. “I can make you another one.”
She tried to climb off her stool, but Clint placed his hand on her shoulder, stilling her. “He doesn’t like his sandwich; he can make himself another one. You sit. Eat.” He turned to stare at her, then grinned and grabbed a napkin, took hold of her chin with one hand and wiped at her face with the napkin.
“Hey! Stop!” Charlie squirmed around.
“You’ve got a moustache, sweetheart,” he told her gently. “There we go, all clean.” He finished by kissing the tip of her nose. “Cute as a button.”
She pouted slightly, but Kent could see the pleasure in her face. A strange longing unfurled inside him. He was happy for his brother. More than happy. Since meeting Charlie, Clint had started to change his work-a-holic ways.
“Okay, spill it. You’ve got a face like a lemon and you’re insulting Charlie by not eating the food she made for you.”
And nobody insulted Charlie and escaped Clint’s wrath. He got it. He picked up one half of the roast beef and mustard sandwich, taking a bite.
“I’m not insulted,” Charlie muttered.
Clint sent her a look. “And I better see you finish everything on your plate, little girl.”
Charlie screwed up her nose and Kent winked at her.
“You’re so bossy,” she muttered.
“You get to be bossy when you’re the boss,” Clint answered back. “And the Daddy. And the big brother.”
Kent rolled his eyes. “He’s always been like this, sweetheart. For as long as I can remember. Whenever we’d play a game, he’d always have to be in charge.”
Charlie sighed. “But at least he doesn’t spank you when you don’t do what he wants.” She went red after saying that.
Kent just laughed. “He would’ve if he could have gotten away with it.”
Clint hugged her close, kissing the top of her head to try to ease her embarrassment. She was still getting used to this lifestyle. Her Little tended to be shy around other people, although she opened up more with Kent than most people.
He glanced at his phone. Where the fuck was Macca?
“Spill it,” Clint answered.
“It’s nothing.”
“Might not be able to spank you, but I can beat your ass in the boxing ring if that’s what it takes.”
“Like to see you try, big bro,” Kent snapped back, riding the edge of his temper. Then he noticed Charlie staring at him with wide, worried eyes. He sighed. “Sent Macca in to check on Abby. I’m waiting for him to call or text me.”
Clint frowned slightly. “Something wrong with Abby?”
Kent shrugged. “Not that I know of. Eden just asked me to check on her. She’s been trying to call her.”
“So, you sent Macca? Why didn’t you go?” Clint demanded.
“I’m busy.”
“Busy picking apart your sandwich?” Charlie asked.
He raised his eyebrows in surprise, then glanced down at his lunch which he had managed to tear into small pieces. What a mess. “Sorry, sweetheart.” He got up and dumped the food. “Guess I’m just not hungry.”
“Don’t you like Abby?” Charlie asked.
He turned with a small frown. “Why would you say that?”
Charlie shrugged, looking embarrassed. “Doesn’t matter.”
“Charlie,” Clint said in a soft rumble. She peeked up at his brother. “Something you know that we don’t?”
“Oh, it’s just...I shouldn’t say. It’s not fair to Abby.”
“What’s not?” Kent asked.
Charlie glanced at Clint then him. “I’ve just noticed the way she stares at you when we’re at the diner. She, well, I think she might have a small crush on you.”
A crush on him? He remembered the feel of her lips against his, tentative and warm. The way she’d let him lead, relaxing into the kiss.
“I kissed her,” he blurted out.
Shit.
Charlie’s face lit up. Clint just seemed thoughtful. Charlie clapped her hands together, bouncing up and down on the stool. “You did? That’s great! Abby is so lovely. She’s pretty shy but once you get to know her, she...” she trailed off, her face falling. “Why do you look like that?”
“I’d say because he regrets kissing her, that right?” Clint asked him point-blank.
“It wasn’t exactly the kiss I regret. But yeah, I suppose that’s partly it.” He took a deep breath. “She’s a Little.”
“I thought she was,” Charlie said excitedly. Then she bit her lip. “Oh, you don’t want a relationship with a Little.”
“No. I’m not a Daddy Dom. And Abby, she’s definitely a Little. She needs someone who will guide her out of her shell. She doesn’t need someone to tie her up, blindfold her and paddle her ass before fucking it.”
“Maybe she needs both,” Clint said quietly.
“No. Not Abby.” He ran his hand over his face.
“You’re attracted to her, though. You kissed her.”
“Yeah, and then I made a mistake and called myself her...her daddy. I don’t know why I said it. It must have been because I knew it was what she needs. I don’t know. But I couldn’t lead her on. She’s not a casual fling type and I can’t be what she needs.”
“And you don’t think she can be what you need,” Charlie said sadly.
“And yet, you send someone to check on her because Eden is worried. You put a new lock on her door. You order new tires for her car—”
“How did you know that?” he asked. They hadn’t even arrived yet.
Clint raised an eyebrow, his expression telling him he was an idiot. “I know everything that happens on this ranch. You care about this girl, you’re attracted to her, the only thing that doesn’t gel with you is that you don’t think you can be her daddy and you don’t think she can be your submissive in bed. That right?”
“Yeah. I guess.”
“Bullshit.”
“What?” Kent glared at his brother.
“That’s bullshit. Kent, you haven’t been serious about a woman for years. Even the girlfriends you did have didn’t last long. Why was that?”
He shrugged. “We grew apart.”
“They weren’t fulfilling your needs,” Clint countered. “You may think you only want a sub in the bedroom, but you’re nearly as much of a control freak as I am.”
Kent snorted. He turned to share that joke with Charlie, but she was nodding. “You are. You just hide that part of you better than he does.”
“See no point in pretending to be something I’m not,” Clint said. “You can either love me or hate me.”
“I’m not a Daddy Dom. I travel all the time. I work crazy hours. I have a lot of responsibility. I can’t be responsible for a Little.”
“Just because someone is a Little, doesn’t mean they’re helpless,” Charlie countered. She frowned. “I’m not in this lifestyle twenty-four-seven. You know that.”
“Every relationship is different,” Clint said. “Not everyone could live the way we do. Even though Charlie isn’t Little all the time, I’m still the dominant one in our relationship. I make the rules. I enforce them. You know all this. And you might think you don’t want that, but I think you do. You can’t turn your dominance off at the bedroom door. And that’s part of the reason your relationships fell apart.”
“Because I was too controlling?”
“I like to think of it as protective,” Clint countered. “You’re looking at this all wrong. A Little is a responsibility, sure. But being a Daddy Dom, it’s all a stress relief. It helps me shut off everything else. I focus on Charlie. What she needs. And it feels right. It feels good.”
Charlie sent his brother a small smile.
“I don’t know how to do this. I don’t know if I want to do this.” Why hadn’t Macca called?
“I know that. It’s why I sent Macca to check on her.” His hands tightened into fists. Why hadn’t that bastard called him?
“Ah, you’re matchmaking. He’s a good choice.”
Charlie nodded her agreement. “Macca’s really sweet. Hot too.”
Clint scowled at her. “What are you doing, noticing how hot he is?”
“Oh, so you think he’s hot too?” Charlie teased.
“Brat. You are in so much trouble,” Clint said with a mock growl.
Right now, he didn’t care how sweet or hot Macca was, God help him, he was going to rip him a new one for taking so long. Just then his phone rang and he snatched it up.
“Took your fucking time,” he snarled into the phone.
There was a beat of silence. “Didn’t realize I was being timed, chief.” There was an odd note to the other man’s voice. As though he was holding back.
“Well? She okay?”
He fully expected the other man to say she was fine, because if she wasn’t then she surely would have called him, right? It had only been a few days since he’d seen her.
“I don’t think she is.”
It was like a punch to his gut and he froze. “What? What the fuck do you mean? What’s wrong with her?”
He was aware of Clint and Charlie staring at him, but he tuned them out as he listened to Macca.
“She was acting funny. Jumpy. Wouldn’t open the door all the way, like she was hiding something. And she’d dropped some groceries on the floor.”
Dropped her groceries?
“She’s clumsy,” Kent said slowly, thinking that through.
“I don’t think that was it. She didn’t even mention the mess on the floor. She was nervous. High-strung. I’m going to stick around and watch her place for a bit. Got a bad vibe.”
And Macca’s instincts were rarely wrong.
“I’ll come in.”
“It’s no problem for me to stay here,” Macca replied. “I’m here already. Wait, she’s leaving. I’ll follow her. Crap, she’s driving in her shitty car with those bald tires. Need to get her new ones. She lied to me about that too.”
“What? Lied to you about what?”
“About getting new tires. She’s gonna have an accident on those ones.”
“I’ve ordered her new tires,” Kent snapped. “You don’t need to follow her, I’m coming in.”
He knew he should just leave Macca to discover what was wrong with her.
But that felt like it was his job. So maybe Abby wasn’t what he thought he wanted. Perhaps he still didn’t know if he had it in him to be her Daddy. But he also knew that the idea of her in some kind of trouble made his heart race with panic and his skin go clammy. The urge to go to her was overwhelming.
He cared about her. Wanted to protect her. And he really wanted to kiss her again.
Only you make up the rules for your relationship. It can be whatever the two of you need it to be.
He glanced at Clint. Damn, he hated when he was right. As though his brother could sense his thoughts, he smirked.
So maybe he’d been looking for the wrong thing all this time. Or he’d been searching for a type or relationship when all he needed was a person.
Abby.
“Really, chief—”
“I’m coming in,” Kent told the other man firmly. “Thanks for checking on her for me. Follow behind her, keep me updated so I know where to find you both.”
“You want her?” Macca asked, surprising Kent.
He didn’t reply.
“Because if you don’t, you should know I like her. She’s cute, funny, and pretty damn adorable. And she sure as shit needs help. So, if you don’t really want her, then leave her to me.”
“I want her,” Kent ground out.
Well, he was all in now.
“You want any pointers, let me know,” Clint said, a shit-eating grin on his face.
Perfect.
Chapter Ten
“Where the fuck is your cunt of a brother?”
Abby jumped, her heart racing. She turned away from where she’d been unlocking her car to see the big bruiser from the diner parking lot the other night standing in the shade of a huge tree. He took a puff of a cigarette as he glared at her.
At least she’d put down the bag of groceries. Going back a third time to the store definitely wasn’t in her budget.
“Well? You said you was gonna find out an address for me. Where is the bastard?”
“I-I don’t know,” she stuttered out. What if he’d come to her house? What if he’d seen Max?
Then maybe Max wouldn’t be your problem anymore.
She pushed aside the traitorous thought. Max was her brother. She was meant to protect him.
Like he’s always protected you? Her wrist still throbbed. He’d terrified her. She was having to dig into the money she’d earmarked to pay off Mr. Markovich to buy more groceries. Did he really deserve her protection?
She didn’t know. She only knew that wouldn’t be right to give him up to this terrifying man.
“You don’t know?” he asked in a low, scary voice.
She shook her head. “N-no. But I’m s-sure he’ll call soon. I’ll find out w-where he is.”
“You better not be messing with me, girlie,” he growled. “Or you’re gonna pay. I will be back and you better have answers for me or I start to get nasty. And you don’t want that.”
He turned and walked off. She leaned weakly against the car door. What was she going to do?
“FUCK, WHO THE HELL is that?” her brother snapped as they heard a vehicle pull up outside. He stood and stomped over to the front window. Max had nearly lost his mind when she’d told him about the man approaching her in the grocery store parking lot. Not because he was worried about her, he’d been more alarmed that she might have said something.
She was sick to death of paying his debts. Of feeling unsafe. Of lying to kind men who were checking up on her. Maybe she should have said something to Macca and maybe he would have told Kent and...
Nope, can’t think like that, Abby. Kent regrets kissing you. He’s not going to be interested in your troubles. No matter what he said about calling him if you need him.
You don’t need him. You only have yourself to rely on.
Max turned away from the window to give her a strange look. “How much time you spendin’ with those Sanctuary dipshits?”
“What?” Hope filled her. “Did Macca come back?”
“It’s not Macca. It’s that stuck up, thinks-he’s-better-than-everyone-else-because-he-was-a-SEAL, Jensen dickhead.”
Kent? It was Kent? Butterflies flew through her stomach. Even though she was expecting it, she jumped at the knock on the door.
“Well?” Max questioned.
“Abby! I know you’re in there. Open the door please.”
“I-I hardly know him.”
Max narrowed his gaze. “You’re fucking lying to me.” He strode to where she sat on the sofa then leaned down. His rancid breath filled her face. “Don’t you fucking lie to me.” He took hold of her shoulders and shook her. His touch was too tight, and he shook her like a rag doll, making the low-grade headache she’d developed when she first realized who was in her house explode.
“Max, stop! I don’t know him that well. I helped his sister, that’s all.”
“Abby, open the door,” Kent demanded.
“I need to go get rid of him.”
“Fine. But don’t let him in here.” Max sat back on the sofa and put his feet up on the coffee table. She wanted to push his feet off. Tell him this was her fucking house and he better fucking respect that.
Yeah, she was all brave inside her head. Instead, she tugged at her sleeves to make sure her bruised wrist wasn’t visible and headed towards the door.
Funny, she’d always thought Kent had a lot of patience.<
br />
She opened the door and there he stood, dressed in dark jeans and a deep blue shirt. He seemed tired. But still gorgeous as ever.
“About time.” He looked at her suspiciously. “What took you so long?”
She stepped out and closed the door behind her. She thought he would step back. Instead he stood his ground, and she found herself nearly pressed up against him. So, she slid to the side and moved to the porch railing. She turned and leaned back against it, keeping her hands behind her just in case her sleeve slipped.
Because she knew Kent would lose his shit if he saw her wrist.
What if that was a good thing? He’d get rid of Max. You could confess it all, the whole mess, ask him to take care of it. He owes you a debt.
No, he didn’t. She only did what she would have done for anyone. And their debts hardly matched. Besides, it wasn’t fair to drag him into her mess.
She didn’t want to be in her mess.
“I was cleaning the bathroom and didn’t hear you,” she lied. She kept her gaze averted.
“You know that saying, liars, liars, little girl?” he asked, surprising her.
She frowned up at him. “I can’t help being short you know.”
His eyes widened. Then understanding crossed his face. “I wasn’t calling you little girl because of your height.”
Then why?
Wait, did this have anything to do with him calling himself daddy the other night? She’d figured that was just some sex thing. You know, something men said.
“And you didn’t answer me.”
Answer him? About what? Oh right. “Of course, I do. Liar, liar, pants on fire.”
“How do you think their pants go on fire?” he asked.
“Um, never really thought about it. Why?” This was a weird conversation. “Spontaneous combustion?”
He snorted. “I prefer to think of it meaning that if you lie your bottom will end up in flames from the spanking that will follow.”
Okay, seriously. Now she was really confused.
“Um, what does that have to do with anything?”
“You just lied to me. I want to know why. And I want the truth.”
Daddy's Sweet Girl (Montana Daddies, #3) Page 10
