“That’s right. Never. I would never let anyone harm you, Mari-girl. Because you are precious to me. Even if I wasn’t there, Doc wouldn’t be mean. I promise you. Bossy, yes. Mean, never. Remember, he’s got his own Little girl.” He reached into the closet for a hat and scarf for her. “You might even have heard of her.”
“Of course I’ve heard of her. I’ve met her, remember?” she said as he wrapped the scarf around her neck and then plonked the hat on her head, covering her eyes. “And is all this necessary? It’s not that cold and we’re driving.”
He crouched down, searching through the basket at the bottom of the coat closet for some smaller gloves. “Can’t have you getting a chill. I don’t think I have any gloves that fit. Oh and I know you met Caley. I just meant you might have heard of her pen name. Caley is an author. She writes Daddy Dom books, she goes by the name CJ Bennett.” He spotted a pair that he thought might do. They were too small for him. “Ah-huh, here’s a pair!”
He turned, only to find she’d disappeared. What the hell? What happened to her? He’d thought she was just a bit nervous about meeting with Doc? Had she become so scared that she’d run off?
“Mari-girl? Mari? Where are you?” He strode into the living room, through the kitchen and then into the bedroom. Finally, after calling for her and searching everywhere, he thought of the closet.
Opening the door, he found her crouched on the floor. He breathed out a sigh of relief. Logically, he knew that she hadn’t been in danger. It wasn’t like Tiger could have snuck in and snatched her out from under his nose.
But still that fear had held him by the throat for a moment.
“Mari-girl? What happened? Why did you run off?”
She put her hands over her eyes, taking deep, shaky breaths. What was going on? Was she scared?
“You’re not really scared of going to see Doc, are you? I told you that Daddy would look after you. Mari?” he asked.
“No, it’s not that! Why didn’t you tell me that Caley is CJ Bennett?”
Huh? This was why she’d panicked and run off to hide in the closet?
He sat down. They were goi
ng to be late and Doc wouldn’t let him hear the end of it for months to come, but he could hardly carry her there, kicking and screaming.
Well, he could. But he wouldn’t.
“Mari-girl, come out here.” He reached a hand out to her.
She stared at his hand. “I’m not going. I can’t. Not like this. I have to . . . to . . . oh man. I can’t meet her!”
With a deep sigh, he reached in and drew her out onto his lap. When she attempted to struggle, he gave her one sharp smack on her ass.
“Ow,” she complained but she stilled in his arms. He knew it hadn’t really hurt. It was more to get her attention and help her settle.
“Stay still, little girl,” he warned. She needed a bit of firmness right now. And he was going to have to make it clear that she wasn’t to run from him like she had. “Now, tell Daddy what the problem is.”
“She’s my favorite author!”
“And that’s a problem because . . .”
“I . . . I . . . I don’t know,” she finished lamely. “I guess I got excited and scared and nervous and then it just all became too much.”
“So you ran away from Daddy?”
Her mouth dropped open then she grimaced as though realizing she might just be in trouble.
“I wasn’t running from you, Daddy. I just . . . I’m not sure why I ran in here. I was overwhelmed.”
“Okay, I don’t get why you’re so scared to see Caley. I thought you’d be excited.”
“It’s just . . . I don’t know . . . it’s kind of like meeting the President or royalty or something.”
He had to bite back his smile. “Right. You’re nervous then.”
She nodded her head.