Daddy’s Lost Love

by Roberts, Laylah

  “Is this really happening?” she whispered.

  “It is.” His thumb rubbed under her eye. “You’re tired, aren’t you? You not been sleeping?”

  She shook her head.

  “What’s your bedtime?”

  Bedtime?

  “Um, I usually just go to bed when I get tired.”

  “Hmm, way I remember it, you were a night owl. That still the case?”

  She shrugged. “Guess so. I keep my own hours for my job so I can work when I like. I don’t have to be up early.”

  “What do you do?”

  “I’m an editor. Authors send me their books to edit.”

  “That’s awesome. English was always your favorite subject.”

  “Yeah.” She smiled at him shyly. “So as long as I have my laptop and internet, I’m set.”

  “Staying up all night might have suited you in the past, but you got to get more sleep, baby. I have to work tomorrow, but I’ll bring over some food and cook us some dinner.” He sighed and looked back at her kitchen with a shake of his head. “There’s nothing in your cupboards but sweets and chocolate.”

  “And bread and butter and milk,” she protested.

  He just gave her a look. “You think that covers the food groups?” He strode to the pantry and pulled out a bag of gummy bears. “This is not real food.”

  “Hey, there’s real fruit juice in those gummies. Says it on the packet.”

  “This is not the same as eating fruit,” he growled at her.

  “Well, maybe I’m just stocking up for Halloween.”

  He eyed the candy in the pantry. “You expecting the entire state of Montana to come knocking on your door?”

  “There’s not that much in there.”

  He grunted. “We need to have a chat about proper nutrition.”

  Yay. She couldn’t wait. That sounded like so much fun.

  “Don’t pout, baby. It can’t be good to live on sugar alone. Hate to think what you’re doing to your teeth.”

  So did she. Which is why she tried not to think about it. It was also why she avoided going to the dentist. Ever. That and she was scared. Totally chicken shit scared.

  “Do you want some toast before you go to bed?” he asked.

  “No, I’m not really hungry.”

  “All right then. Let’s get you into bed. I’ve got to get home and sleep too.”

  “You could stay here,” she said shyly. Then she realized how that might have sounded. “The spare bedroom is all made up, I mean. So, you don’t have to drive back so late.”

  “Thanks, but I start work early and I don’t want to wake you up. Come on.” He held out his hand to her and they made their way up the stairs. She thought it a bit odd that he wanted to come up with her. Nerves started dancing in her stomach. He wasn’t coming into her bedroom, was he?

  “Um, don’t you need to get going?”

  “Yep. Soon. This your bedroom?” He unerringly moved to her bedroom door. She nodded, not really thinking and was shocked as he walked inside. Okay, then. Jed Carson was in her bedroom.

  Holy shit. He was in her bedroom!

  She darted inside to find him standing by the bed, looking around at the mess. He glanced over at her. Most of her wardrobe was strewn around the room.

  “Umm, sorry, I couldn’t decide what to wear.” She started picking up pants and tops and shoving them back in the wardrobe.

  “Looks like a hurricane erupted in here,” he said in amazement.

  Why hadn’t she cleaned up before she’d left? Oh yeah, because she’d been running late. But she could at least have made up the bed this morning.

  He shook his head, luckily looking more amused than horrified. “Go get into your pjs and get ready for bed. I’ll tidy this up.”

  Feeling mortified, she snatched up her pajamas off the floor where she’d chucked them this morning and high-tailed it into the bathroom. It didn’t feel right leaving Jed in her bedroom. By himself. With her mess. But she also needed a few minutes to get her head on straight.

  Jed was in her house.

  He was in her bedroom.

  He wanted to get to know her better.

  He’d kissed her.

  It had been spectacular. So much better than she’d remembered. She grinned into the mirror.

  He had rules. Her face grew serious.

  He really didn’t like her eating habits. She frowned.

  Hmm. There was one thing she knew about the new Jed. He was a force to be reckoned with. She had no doubts he was used to getting his own way. And she wondered exactly what that meant for her. She got changed then brushed her teeth. All she could do was see where this went.

  She’d just have to do her best not to fuck it up.

  * * *

  Jed tidied up the bedroom with some amusement and a little bit of horror. For someone who hated his cutlery being out of place, this could be an adjustment. Obviously, Daisy wasn’t terribly concerned about putting things away. Although everything was clean, just in a bit of a mess.

  He got her clothes quickly hung up in the wardrobe and into drawers then turned his attention to the bed. He wondered if he should check on her. She was taking a while in the bathroom. But then, women did, didn’t they?

  He studied her bed. It was large with a wrought-iron headboard which she’d twisted more fairy lights through.

  He pulled back the covers and something flew off, landing on the floor near his feet. He frowned as he stared down at the piece of worn cloth. He picked it up. Faded and soft, it looked like a rag. But why would a rag be in her bed? He drew it to his nose. It smelled like her. Something stirred his memory. An image. Didn’t she have an old blanket like this as a child? Was this what was left? That was sweet.

  He wondered if she slept with it? For comfort?

  He stared over at the door musingly, thinking about the abundance of candy in the kitchen. Didn’t mean she was a Little.

  What if she was? Well, that changed things. His plan had been to get her more comfortable with him. Get her into bed. Get her out of his head. How was he going to approach this, though? If she was, then she might not know it. Or not want him to know since she had no idea of what he was. Should he bring it up with her? Or test her?

  She was so jumpy and unsure. And he didn’t blame her after the way he’d acted. He didn’t feel like the straight-forward approach was quite right. At least not yet.

  So, he tucked the piece of blanket under the pillow and quickly made the bed as he heard her open the bathroom door.

  “Oh.” She paused as she entered the bedroom. “You really didn’t have to tidy up.”

  He shrugged. He kind of did. That mess. . .well, it would have driven him nuts to leave it.

  “And you made the bed.” Her eyes widened and he saw her looking frantically around. Probably for the bit of blanket. Which was more of an indication that it was something special to her. Something she didn’t want him knowing about.

  “Come on,” he said gently, watching her closely. “Let’s get you all tucked in.”

  Before he’d seen that piece of blanket, he’d intended to just kiss her and leave before she climbed into bed. Not now. He held up the blankets. Waited for her to protest. She looked from him to the bed.

  “In you get,” he ordered, deliberately using his Dom voice.

  She didn’t even hesitate. She climbed in. Let him tuck the blankets around her.

  All right. This didn’t mean anything. She was probably in a bit of shock. And she might be submissive without being a Little.

  He sat next to her, staring down at her. She gaped up at him with wide eyes. He reached up and fingered the fairy lights twisted through the rungs of the headboard. “You always loved fairy lights.”

  She relaxed slightly. “I know. They’re so pretty. And there’s something about them that’s comforting. Whenever I look at them, I feel happy.”

  He wondered if she’d kept the lights, he’d given her so many years ago. Of course not. No do
ubt they’d died a long time ago.

  He stared down at her. “Want a bedtime story?”

  Her expressive eyes went even wider. She shook her head.

  “Probably just as well,” he muttered. “Not sure I know any.”

  “You don’t?” Suddenly she grinned. “Maybe I should tell you one about the princess and the dragon.”

  “Oh yeah? Dragon, huh? I suppose he turns into a handsome prince with a kiss or after finding love or something like that.”

  “Oh no, this dragon is always a dragon. Breathing fire and stomping around bad-temperedly.”

  “That so?” He narrowed his gaze at her in mock-warning, loving the way her eyes danced with amusement. Even if it was at his expense.

  He could take it. Especially if it put that carefree look on her face. When he’d known her, her life had been hard. He wondered how life had been since? What she’d been doing? Why she left him?

  “Jed? You okay?”

  He forced himself to smile down into her worried look. “Of course. So, is he a handsome dragon?”

  “Oh yes, very handsome. But very grumpy. And bossy.”

  “Sometimes a dragon has to be bossy in order to keep his princess safe and happy.”

  She sighed, but a smile danced at the corner of her lips. “Yeah, dragons are good protectors.” She turned to her side and yawned. “That’s why I’ve always liked them.”

  He ran his fingers through her hair, massaging her scalp gently as he reached over and turned off the lamp. This left only the fairy lights she had strung along her headboard glowing.

  He guessed she didn’t like the pitch-black.

  Lots of people don’t. Doesn’t mean anything.

  No, but things were adding up.

  A small snore escaped and he had to grin. His baby was tired. He leaned in and brushed his lips across her forehead. He liked that she felt comfortable enough to fall asleep with him here. It worried him that she might be too trusting, she didn’t know him anymore.

  He sat and just watched her sleep. She let out a low murmur, her forehead crinkling. He knew he should leave. He had to get up early. He needed to get some rest himself. But it was hard to tear himself away from the gorgeous image she made. Making a sudden decision, he reached under the pillow next to her and grabbed out her blankie, tucking it in next to her hand. He froze as she moved, hoping he hadn’t woken her.

  But she simply grabbed the piece of blanket and tucked it in under her nose, rubbing it back and forth in a gesture that made the hard wall around his heart melt slightly. He had to harden it back up.

  Her thumb slipped into her mouth and his heart nearly stopped. All right then. Suddenly, he realized exactly what he was doing. She wasn’t going to be happy if she woke and found him watching her like this.

  He slowly stood and leaning down, lightly pressed his lips to her forehead. “Sleep well, baby girl. Daddy will be back tomorrow.”

  Calling himself Daddy felt right. More right than he should let it be until he knew for sure that was what she wanted.

  6

  She was a mess.

  She’d been a bundle of nerves all day. She hadn’t been able to sit still. So instead of getting any work done, she’d spent the day cleaning and tidying.

  She didn’t want him to think she was a pig after seeing her bedroom last night.

  But he’d have to actually turn up for him to see how tidy the house is.

  She stared at the clock. It was after six. He wasn’t coming. Something had turned him off. Maybe it was falling asleep while he was still in her bedroom. Crap. Had she done something while she was sleeping? What if she’d snored? Talked in her sleep? Sucked her thumb?

  She froze at that thought. Shit. Why hadn’t she thought of that until now? She paced up and down the living room, her hand on her rolling tummy. When she’d woken up this morning, she’d been holding her blankie, her thumb in her mouth as usual. What if he’d found her blankie? Seen her acting like a child?

  No man wanted that.

  Yep, she’d totally fucked this all up. She was such a dork. An idiot.

  She sunk down onto the sofa feeling completely dejected when the doorbell rang.

  Maybe it was the sexy bras and panties she’d ordered. She’d never owned anything sexy in her life, but if she was going to start dating, she couldn’t exactly wear her princess panties and white cotton bras.

  She opened the door without looking, expecting the delivery man to be on the other side.

  But there stood Jed. Two bags of groceries in his arms and a scowl on his face.

  “What are you doing here?” she asked breathlessly.

  His eyebrows rose. “Did you forget that I was coming over tonight?”

  “Uh, no, I just, I thought that maybe you weren’t. . .it’s after six.”

  He nodded. She noticed then that behind the scowl he was wearing that he looked tired. “Sorry. I should have called. I worked later than I thought I would. Have you eaten?”

  “What? No, I haven’t. Oh, come in.”

  Daisy, get yourself together.

  He stepped forward, but he stopped when he was standing right in front of her. He looked from the door to her. Umm, what did he want?

  “I’ll lock the door,” she said suddenly, remembering his words from last night.

  “You look to see who it was before you opened the door?”

  Her breath caught in her throat. Um. Uh-oh. By the very serious look on his face as he asked that she got the feeling he was not going to like hearing her answer.

  “Because there’s no peephole. Which means you need to look through the side window. I didn’t see you looking through the side window.”

  And of course, he would notice. The damn man saw everything.

  “I knew you were coming,” she said hastily. Whew. Good excuse.

  But the look on his face said he wasn’t buying that one. “Seems to me you thought I wasn’t turning up. Also seems to me that you should be checking anyway, even if you do think it’s me, that doesn’t mean it is. That’s another rule.”

  She was going to need to get these written down. Before she could question him, though, he’d taken off down the hall towards the kitchen.

  Okay, then. She hastily shut and locked the door. When she reached the kitchen, he was already unpacking bags.

  Her eyes widened as she took in all the food. “How many people you cooking for?”

  He snorted. “This ain’t all for tonight. This is for you to eat over the next week.”

  “Week? This is enough to last me a month.”

  He shot her a look. “Well, since you won’t be filling up on sweets and chocolate, I expect you’ll be able to eat most of this.”

  Umm, say what now?

  She frowned over at him. “If I need groceries, I can just order them online.” That sounded a bit bitchy and ungrateful. But he didn’t get mad. He just continued to unpack. She sighed.

  “You don’t like going to the grocery store yourself?” he asked.

  She didn’t really like going anywhere. She knew she should make more of an effort to get out. But the trip to Sanctuary Ranch and last night’s disastrous date had shown her that getting out and about was overrated.

  “Not particularly,” she told him. “You really shouldn’t have bought all this.”

  “I like to eat.”

  “I can see that.” She looked him over. You didn’t get muscles like that from living on air.

  “You like what you see?” he asked.

  Her eyes widened. “Nope.”

  He froze.

  “I really, really like what I see.” Then she blushed. She sounded like a complete dork. Jesus, she wished she knew how to talk to men. She’d never had a problem talking to Jed back when they were teenagers. But she was hugely out of practice. “You know, you’re okay.”

  He grinned. “Okay, huh? I can see I might have to add some time to my work out.”

  “You really don’t,” she said hastily. “Real
ly. You’re perfect.”

  “Nobody is perfect.”

  She wasn’t so sure about that. Because when she looked at him, she didn’t see a single flaw. The man was ripped. Sexy. Strong. While not classically handsome, he had the sort of face that caught your attention and held it. That was if you could get your eyes off the rest of his body.

  “Hope you’re hungry. We’re having steak, mashed potatoes and spinach for dinner.”

  Spinach. Ick.

  “I take it from that look that there’s something you don’t like in that list.”

  “Spinach is gross.”

  “You’ll try it.”

  She shook her head. “Nope. I’ve tried it before. Yuck.”

  He just gave her a look. “How long since you’ve have it?”

  “Umm.” Truth or lie? Maybe something in between. “Can’t remember, but I remember it was like eating slime.”

  He rolled his eyes. “I promise it won’t taste like slime.”

  She felt her lower lip drop out.

  “And no pouting or you don’t get any ice cream afterwards.”

  Hey! That wasn’t cool. But she quickly stopped her pout. Then she thought about what just happened.

  “I’m an adult,” she pointed out.

  He ran his gaze over her, leaving a wave of heat in his wake. “Yep. You sure are.”

  “So, you can’t take away my dessert.”

  “I’m cooking so it’s my rules.”

  Well, that sucked meatballs. Hmm, meatballs sounded quite good. Maybe she could convince him to make meatballs and spaghetti. No disgusting vegetables in sight.

  “Maybe we should have meatballs,” she suggested. “I could go get some ground beef.” What was she doing? Did she really want to go to the grocery store right now? With Jed here, in her house?

  That was a big fat nope.

  Jed turned and looked at her. “You like meatballs?”

  “Sure,” she said happily.

  “All right, I’ll cook them another night. Tonight, we’re having steak, spinach and mashed potatoes.”

  She sighed. Long and loud. She saw his mouth twitch, but his gaze remained stern.

  “So, when I cook it’s my rules?”