“Promise?” she asked.
Three spankings to her fine ass later on? That was definitely a promise I was happy to make. She’d gotten three promises out of me that day.
“I promise,” I whispered in her ear and then snuggled into the side of her neck giving her a tender kiss there.
The raven-hair beauty sighed and relaxed in my arms, falling asleep within minutes.
As I held her in my embrace, I knew I’d promise her damn near anything.
ChapterNineteen
GEMMA
The next fewweeks passed in a blur.
I’d recovered well but what I hadn’t done was gone home.
There were a few different reasons for that.
For one, Bodie, along with our friends, wanted eyes on me at all times. Two, I was nervous since it seemed that the accident and shooting were meant for me personally from what the guys found out from the cops and witnesses.
I knew before someone was trying to scare me. But kill me? That was a totally different story.
And last, but certainly not least, neither Bodie nor I had wanted me to leave his bed even though all we’d done was sleep, much to my dismay. He’d been adamant I needed a full recovery.
Speaking of sleeping arrangements, that was kind of funny. While the two of us had behaved, we still kept it hidden from his daughters that we’d been in the same room. After they went to bed he would come in and he would leave in the morning before they ever got up. They’d thought he was sleeping on the couch.
I knew we should teach our kids to be honest, but at the same time, I fully supported Bodie’s innocent deception when trying to do right by his girls. And it wasn’t a secret that was hurting them but protecting them from being confused or even from getting too attached to the idea of me being there.
I had to go home sometime, right?
But I like it here.
Maybe it was me who should have been more careful because I felt like I was the one getting too attached. Not only to Bodie, who’d been so sweet and caring, but also to the girls who thought it was their mission to nurse me back to health. It was all so endearing and I knew when the time came, just down the hall or not, I would miss them all.
Speak of the devil…
No sooner than my thoughts had gone to the three of them as I lay lazily in bed not wanting to move away from the scent of Bodie that surrounded me on the sheets, I heard shouting and the sound of people stomping down the hall like a herd of elephants.
“Hey, you two, Gemma needs her sleep.” I could tell he was trying to catch them as he whispered at the same time.
I giggled because right after he said it, the door burst open and two tiny princesses made a beeline for the bed. Just as they both launched into the air to take a spot on the mattress, or more like on me, Bodie snagged them around the waist, one in each strong arm.
That made me think about his big, protective arms, wrapped around me each night and how good they felt.
Yeppers, it was going to be a tough transition back to my own bed for sure.
“Gemma, help us, we want to say goodbye!” Peyton screeched as both girls wiggled like worms in their dad’s embrace.
Bodie gave me an apologetic look. “Sorry, I didn’t quite catch them fast enough.”
“They’re fine, put them on the bed. It’s you I’m worried about.” I gave him a teasing grin. “Daddio is losing his speed and stamina in his old age.”
He softly set the girls on the bed and then gave me a naughty smirk, that luckily the girls couldn’t see. Not that they would have understood it or his next words.
“That’s four.” He winked.
My face flushed knowing he was talking about spankings.
