Sheriff Daddy (Montana Daddies Book 10)

by Laylah Roberts

  “Kiesha startled me and I didn’t put the cup down fully on the counter. It slipped off and shattered. Then I accidentally stepped on a piece. Kiesha patched me up, though.”

  “How bad is it? Do you need stitches?”

  Shit. He should have asked her what that bandage was about straight away. He leaned down and picked up her food, lifting it.

  “It’s not that deep. Besides, Kiesha would know if it was bad enough to need stitches.”

  “She would?”

  “Well, she was a paramedic, wasn’t she?”

  “Is that what she told you?”

  “You’re answering a question with a question again,” she muttered.

  “Sorry.” He drew off the bandage. “Ouch, this looks sore. But it doesn’t appear that you need stitches. But I don’t want you walking on it. You need to give it a chance to heal.”

  “It’s just a small scratch, Ed. I’ll be fine. I’ve had far worse.”

  He re-did the bandage. Far worse? He didn’t like to think of her being hurt worse than this. He glanced up at her and saw that she was thinking. Hard. That was never good. He needed to find a way to jolt her out of her thoughts.

  “Stop,” he said firmly.

  “What?”

  “Stop thinking.” He crossed his arms and stared down at her sternly. “You might have had worse injuries, but those weren’t on my watch. You’re under my care now, Georgie-girl. Which means you do as I say. And for the rest of the day, I’m not letting you walk around on that foot. Understood?”

  Her face scrunched up. He knew this was difficult for her. But he also had this feeling that a big part of her wanted to submit to him. She’d just never trusted someone enough to give herself over to them. Or maybe she’d never found the right person.

  He was going to show her that she could be both strong and submissive. That she could go out there and conquer the world, then come back to him and have him coddle and take care of her.

  Georgina stared at the phone like it was a viper about to bite her.

  To her surprise, when she’d said she really needed to make a call in private, Ed had just picked her up and carried her into the bedroom without a word.

  He’d even found her a clean T-shirt of his to wear. Unfortunately, he didn’t have any pants that would fit her. And her clothes were still all drying. She should have asked Kiesha if she’d grab some comfy clothes in town for her. Except for her onesie, everything she had with her was so formal and drab.

  Come on, Georgina. You can do this.

  First, she’d send a group message to her brothers. They were the easiest part to tackle.

  Georgina: I’m fine. Was out of contact for a few days. Thanks for the concern.

  That last part was partially sarcastic.

  Satan’s spawn #1: Why were you out of contact?

  Satan’s spawn #4: What have you been doing?

  Satan’s spawn #3: Have you called Mother? She keeps calling me. I’ve got other things to do than answer her calls about you.

  And that’s why her text had been partially sarcastic.

  Satan’s spawn #5: Where are you? I sent someone around to your apartment. You haven’t been home.

  Georgina: I’m not in danger. I’ll call Mother soon. I was working.

  Satan’s spawn #2: You’re quitting that job.

  She ground her teeth together.

  Georgina: I’m not quitting.

  Satan’s spawn #2: You are.

  Satan’s spawn #6: I’m going to call you.

  Shit. She didn’t need Gareth calling her. At least it wasn’t Evan, number two, who was calling though. He was the most protective. To the point of ridiculousness. And she had no doubt that he would turn up at work, demand to see her boss, and quit on her behalf.

  She answered the call. “Gareth, I’m fine.”

  “Where are you? Why aren’t you at home?”

  “I’m on a job out of town. Not that it’s any of your business.”

  There was silence on the other end. “Since when do you work out-of-town assignments?”

  She ground her teeth together. “Maybe since I started to do field work.”

  He swore. “I fucking knew it. Damn it, squirt, you—”

  “I what?”

  “You are supposed to sit safely behind a fucking desk. You’re not supposed to do field work.”

  “You knew Mother had me benched, didn’t you?” she accused.

  “We all knew, squirt.”

  She sucked in a breath at the betrayal.

  “You weren’t ever supposed to be given field work,” he told her gently.

  “Ouch. Your belief in me is uplifting.”

  Except, they hadn’t been wrong, had they? Her first real taste of danger out in the field and she’d frozen up. Maybe being an FBI agent wasn’t right for her. It wasn’t like any of it had lived up to her expectations. She’d been doing it for five years and had she really made a difference?

  “Evan is going to flip his lid when he finds out you’re doing field work. And Mother . . . “

  “Look, the field work didn’t work out and I’m taking some time off. But I don’t need all of you getting into my business about where I am and what I’m doing.”

  There was a beat of silence. “It didn’t work out. What does that mean? Did something happen?”

  “Just . . . I need some time to think, okay? Nothing is working out how I thought it was and I just need to think about where my life is going.”

  “Shit, squirt, now I’m really worried about what happened.”

  “Don’t be. I’m fine. I’m with friends. I’m safe. Okay?”

  “Friends? What friends? Has Marcus done a background check on them, because—”

  “Gareth! Are you listening to yourself? I don’t need Marcus doing a background check on my friends. Or Evan turning up to threaten them. Or Spencer throwing his weight around. I am fine.”

  “All right. Let’s make a deal.”

  She rolled her eyes. “What’s your deal?”

  “I’ll keep the others from coming looking for you. And with Evan, that’s going to be fucking damn near impossible, if you check in with me every day.”

  She knew that was a good deal. “Done.”

  “Every day, squirt. You miss a day and I’m letting them loose. I also want to know where you are. And before you protest, we both know that I can find out. You think that Marcus can’t track you down?”

  “Fine, I’m in Wishingbone, Montana. But if any of you turn up here, I’m not talking to any of you again.”

  “We’ll leave you be, as long as you check in with me. Love you, baby sis.”

  “Love you too.”

  Overbearing brutes.

  21

  Ed ended his call to Kiesha. She’d been full of excuses for her behavior this morning. But he wasn’t impressed. He’d given her a stern talking to. Whether she’d actually listen, he had no idea. While they were talking, he’d put all the sex toys back into her duffel bag. Georgie seemed really embarrassed by the toys. Not that she should be. In fact, a few of them could come in handy.

  Grabbing an orange, iron tablet, and a bottle of water, he checked in on Georgina and found her lying on the bed, her foot resting on a couple of pillows, her phone to her ear.

  She looked over at him. Her face was a cold mask. He hated that look on her face. She was clearly listening to someone talking. Her mother, he guessed.

  Setting the orange, pill, and water down, he gave her a pointed look. Then he headed outside to grab some wood for the fire. He thought she might like to lie on the sofa in front of the fire this afternoon.

  Sleeping with her last night had been heaven and hell. He’d retrieved her parrot from the bag of stuff he’d grabbed from the motel room. While shoving everything into the washing machine, he’d found a cute onesie with a drop seat. He’d washed that as well, but hadn’t mentioned it to her. The last thing he wanted was to embarrass her.

  As soon as he’d settled
the toy in her arms, she’d grabbed it in one hand and placed her thumb in her mouth, sucking.

  Fuck. That had nearly killed him. When he’d climbed into bed, she’d rolled towards him, wrapping herself around him. Needless to say, he hadn’t gotten much sleep.

  But it had been one of the best nights of his life.

  As he gathered up some wood, he stilled. A feeling ran over his skin. Almost like he was being watched. He turned, looking around. He’d learned to listen to his instincts over the years. But he couldn’t see anyone out there. Wind whipped around him. Another storm was coming in. He hoped Georgie wasn’t scared of thunder.

  Then again, if she was, he’d have to comfort her. There was nothing he liked more than to snuggle with a woman. He didn’t give a fuck what that did for his alpha reputation. If anyone thought less of him for liking a cuddle, they could kiss his ass.

  Shaking it off, he turned to walk towards the house and saw a dead rose sitting off to the side of the woodshed. That was weird, he didn’t have any rose bushes on his property.

  He moved towards the house. Opening the door, he put the wood beside the fireplace. Then he locked the sliding door and set the alarm. He usually did that at night. But for some reason, he felt the need to do it now.

  A sigh came from behind as he finished stacking the firewood. He turned with a frown to find Georgie limping into the room.

  Right. That was it. There was going easy on her because she was just out of the hospital and didn’t yet know all the ins and outs of what he expected from her. But disregarding his orders time after time couldn’t continue to go unanswered. For her sake as much as for his.

  “Are any of my clothes dry? I’d like to get dressed.” She’d pulled her hair back into a bun. She looked stiff and formal.

  Nope. He wasn’t having that. Any of it.

  “What do you think you are doing?” he asked calmly, standing slowly. He didn’t want to startle her. Not after knowing that there was some secret in her past. A man who had hurt her.

  “What does it look like I’m doing?” she asked in a cool voice.

  The mask was back.

  “What happened during that call?” That had to be the reason she now looked like this.

  “What makes you think anything happened?”

  He narrowed his gaze at her. All right, so she wasn’t ready to tell him. Fine. But that didn’t mean he was going to let her get away with disobeying him.

  “What was the rule about walking?”

  She scoffed. “That was a stupid rule. I can’t not walk for the rest of the day. And just because I’m staying with you, doesn’t mean you get to order me around. Or tell me that you’re going to spank me. I’m not sure why you think that is funny, but it’s not.”

  “Oh, I don’t think it’s funny. Believe me.” He moved over to where she stood, glaring at him defiantly. Then he leaned down. “And neither will you soon.”

  He hauled her over his shoulder and gave her four sharp slaps on her ass. Which was only covered by his T-shirt and another pair of his boxers that were tied at the waist. Most of her clothes were dry. He’d already checked them. But he liked her like this. In his clothes.

  “What are you doing?” she screeched, trying to fight her way off his shoulder. He had to grin, even though he now had a hellcat on his hands. He’d rather have her like this than how she’d been just before. “Put me down you-you pig bottom munching, onion farting, garlic breathing man!”

  Oh, her insults were hilarious.

  “No,” he told her. “I don’t think I will. I think I like you just where you are. Besides, this gives me easy access to your ass.”

  “You had no right to spank me! This is police brutality.”

  “For one, that wasn’t a spanking. That was a couple of taps to get your attention.”

  “Fudge!”

  He wondered if she knew how cute it was that she didn’t swear.

  “And second, I’m not acting as the sheriff right now. I’m acting as your man.”

  “My man?”

  “Yep. Your man. Meaning, you’re my girl.”

  He set her down gently on the kitchen counter. But he left his hands on her thighs so she couldn’t jump down.

  “Now, let me have a look at your foot, make sure it hasn’t started bleeding again.”

  “It’s fine.”

  “Georgina, I’m tired of hearing you say something is fine when it’s not.” She stiffened and he gazed up at her. “What’s wrong?”

  “Are you tired of me?”

  He frowned. How had she jumped to that conclusion? It seemed her self-esteem had taken a nosedive.

  “No, Georgie-girl, it doesn’t mean that at all. It means that I want you to tell me the truth.”

  “The truth is that I’m fine to walk.”

  “Yeah?” he asked as he pulled off the bandage. “Then how come you’re bleeding again?”

  She huffed out a breath. “It’s nothing.”

  “It is to me. Your health and safety are important to me.”

  Her gaze hit his and then her shoulders slumped as she let out a breath. “Drat. I’m sorry. Talking to my mother, it makes me feel,” she paused for a moment, thinking, “inadequate, inept.”

  He frowned. “I’m sorry talking to her makes you feel that way. But when I see you, I don’t see someone who is either of those things. I see someone who is strong and smart and caring. And I plan on making you see that too.”

  Ed had left her on one of the stools at the kitchen counter with her thoughts while he made them some lunch. She hoped it was something light. She’d managed two segments of orange before her mother had picked up that she was eating while talking to her. A major faux pas.

  She’d had to tell her mother that she’d taken some time off to visit a friend to get her off her back. She just hoped like hell that she didn’t try bothering her boss with questions about what was going on. At least her current boss didn’t have ties to her mother like her former one had.

  He’d promised that he wouldn’t divulge anything that had happened. She felt embarrassed having to ask him to keep it all to himself and the pitying look he’d given her had almost killed her.

  “Here you are.” Ed set a large plate of mac and cheese in front of her.

  He seriously didn’t expect her to eat all of this, right?

  “Is it enough? Do you need more?”

  Enough? How could she possibly fit any more on the plate? It was already bulging. She glanced over at his plate, to find it in a similar state.

  Then again, he was more than twice her size. Of course he ate that much.

  “Umm, no, I definitely don’t need more. How come you don’t have a dog? You look like you should have a dog. A German shepherd or maybe a lab. Yeah, a lab would be good.”

  He gave her a confused look. “There a reason why you want me to have a dog?”

  “Oh, no, you just look the dog type.” And then she’d be able to sneak it some food under the table.

  “The dog type?”

  “Uh-huh. The dog type.”

  “Sorry, to disappoint you. Not really around enough to take care of a dog. Or any other kind of pet.”

  “Yeah, I know what you mean. I thought about getting a potted plant. But figured I couldn’t be relied on to keep it alive either. Maybe a cactus. That wouldn’t need much care.” She pushed the food around on her plate, hoping that it looked like she was eating. “We’re a good pair, huh? Both married to our jobs. Guess there’s a reason we’re both single.”

  She tensed after saying that. Why did she say that?

  Gently, he put his knife and fork down. “I think you can make anything work if you want it badly enough. Even long-distance. Although it wouldn’t be my choice. Obviously, you need close supervision or you get yourself into trouble.”

  “I do not!” She glared at him.

  “Be hard to spank you if you broke the rules. I could save them all up but when we got together, you’d have a really hot ass ev
ery time.”

  “You are not spanking me, Ed Granger!”

  “What’s the saying? About protesting too much?”

  She wasn’t doing that. Was she?

  Like you haven’t dreamed about being spanked for years.

  “Now that I think about it, I realize that I didn’t get my hug and kiss when I got back earlier. That was naughty of you.”

  “Kiesha was here! And she’d filled your kitchen counter with sex toys.” She wondered where those had gone. Not because she wanted to use them or anything. Just . . . yeah, curious.

  “Hmm, as an excuse I’ll take it. If you kiss me right now.”

  “Now?” she squeaked.

  “Right now.”

  She leaned over and brushed her lips against his cheek. This was just a kiss. Just a kiss.

  Right.

  With Ed there was no just anything . . . a kiss was so much more. A look. A touch. A word.

  And for some reason, she just seemed to naturally look to him to take the lead. It baffled her. It was part of the reason she’d run a few months ago. Because she’d felt this desire to submit. To give everything to him.

  That wasn’t the person she was supposed to be.

  A James is a leader, not a follower.

  Yeah, well, as she’d often suspected, she wasn’t a good James.

  “Don’t look so scared. I won’t bite. Unless you want me to.”

  Leaning down, she gave him a quick peck on the lips. He grasped her around the waist and lifted her onto his lap. Then his arms were around her. A blissful feeling of security stole over her, threatening to turn her weak as she leaned back against his arm. He slid his tongue into her mouth, playing with her, teasing her, making her pussy grow wet.

  His hand grasped hold of the back of her neck, adding to her sense of being held, of being owned.

  What was wrong with her that she liked that?

  “That’s better,” he murmured.

  “If you kiss like that every time you leave or come home . . . “

  “Yes?”

  “I won’t object,” she blurted out. Okay, she hadn’t actually meant to tell him that.

  He smiled and ran his finger along her lips. “Me neither.”