“I did? How?”
“I couldn’t find you. I had no idea where you went. I couldn’t find a phone number for you anywhere. I started calling motels and lucked out with the caravan park. When I walked into that cabin and saw you lying there, injured and ill, I felt sick myself.”
“But you don’t even know me.”
“I know you’ve been taking care of my nan and I know she must care about you. She wouldn’t let just anyone close. Or tell me to look after them.”
“You don’t have to—”
“But I want to,” he said in a kind but firm voice. “That’s what I’m not getting through to you. I wronged you. Yelled at you. Scared you. Then you hurt yourself. You were ill and alone and if I hadn’t found you. . .” He took a deep breath. “I don’t want to think about that. Even if none of that had happened, my nan asked me to look out for you. I assume she meant she wanted me to make sure you were taken care of once she passed. So, this is what will happen. I’ll wait for the doctor. I want to ask him about your care. Then I’ll go visit my nan. I’ll be back before dinner. If you’re a good girl, I’ll even bring you back a treat.”
A treat? Like she was five?
“When you’re discharged, I’ll take you back to Nan’s place and help you get better. Once you’re back to a hundred percent, we’ll work out where to go from there, okay?”
She shook her head. “People don’t. . .they don’t do that for strangers.”
“But we’re not strangers, right? You don’t want to go against my grandmother’s wishes, do you? You’re going to need someone to look after you when you get out of here and to find another job, a place to live. Take my help.”
She sniffled. “I hate being sick. Feeling helpless.”
“I get that. The feeling helpless part. No one wants to feel like that. But just because you let someone help you doesn’t make you weak, okay? It can be difficult to ask for help and I think it makes you brave.”
“I’ve never been brave. I’m a coward.”
“Uh-uh, enough of that.” He tapped her lips. “Talking bad about yourself is akin to lying. It gets another entry in the naughty girl book.”
She narrowed those blue eyes at him, studying him. He knew he was pushing things. She could well tell him to piss off and if she wanted him gone there wasn’t much he could do. He wasn’t sure why he felt so strongly that he needed to take a true guardian role with her. Part of it was guilt, part of it was his grandmother, but those two things alone wouldn’t make him feel this attraction to her.
This possessiveness.
“I don’t like this naughty girl book thing.”
“As long as you don’t do anything naughty then you don’t need to worry, do you? Be a good girl and you won’t get punished.”
She took in a sharp breath and he realized he was pushing her too far. Ease back, man.
“Sorry. I’m coming on a bit strong. My grandmother always told me I was a tad too bossy.”
“Just a tad,” she managed to tease. She even managed a small smile. She was always so serious, looking out at the world as though she expected it to bite her. He promised himself he’d make her smile more often.
He took her hand in his. “D
o you remember our chat about BDSM on the way to the hospital?”
He could see her thinking. “A little.”
“You had a fever, so I wasn’t certain you’d recall much at all. You asked me if I was a Dominant and I told you that I’m a Daddy Dom.”
“Oh.” Red filled her cheeks. Was that interest in her eyes?
“I like helping people. I like caring for a Little in all ways. I—”
“I’m not a Little,” she blurted out, interrupting him.
Hm. Was she in denial or did she not want to admit the truth to him?
“Little girl, it’s rude to interrupt Daddy when he’s talking,” he told her in a voice filled with warning.