But that couldn’t happen now. He was a great Daddy, but he was not father material.
Focusing back on the matter at hand, he crossed his arms over his chest. “Okay, I’ll bite. What do you mean you were talking to guacamole?”
She looked at him with sympathy, as if he were the dimmest bulb in the chandelier. Judging by her expression, it was flickering and about to burn out entirely.
“Guacamole, Dad—um, I mean, Connor. My car… It’s green. Avocado-green, like guacamole. So I named her Guacamole. Get it?”
Her Little stared up at him, eyes eager for him to tell her how clever her joke was. He’d realized in Vegas that she pretty much lived in her Little headspace. How did that work with three babies? Could three brand new lives depend on someone who still carried so much childlike brightness inside her?
Part of him was thrilled to see she hadn’t lost her innocence and joy. Most of him worried about what would happen to her and those babies without someone around to care for all four of them. Because, whether he wanted to admit it or not, the thought of them alone in the world sat in his chest like a stone.
CHAPTER TEN
She’d had to explain the name of her car. What was up with that? It was perfectly obvious… green car, Guacamole. Simple.
She worried her bottom lip with her teeth. Did he think she was weird? Hopefully not, because he was the smartest person she knew. So, if he thought she was weird, then she was. And no one wanted to hang around someone who was weird.
One of the things she’d looked forward to the most in moving back to Darling, other than finally having Winnie back in her life, was fitting in. Darling was a town for Littles and their Daddies and Mommies, for fudge’s sake. This was supposed to be the place where people like her belonged, where nobody blinked when a grown woman cuddled a stuffie or colored with glitter pens. If she didn’t fit in here, she might as well give up.
That thought sobered her right into her Big headspace. Mary and Miranda didn’t talk to her in her Big headspace. Her Big space was lonely.The only reason she loved it was that she could take care of Sadie, Sophie, and Nori there.
She stayed in Big space for them. Well, she tried. Sometimes it was hard. The weight of being the responsible one pressed down on her chest until she could barely breathe.
“Sorry,” she said. “I appreciate you stopping to help, but I’ll figure it out. I know you have a meeting to get to. I wouldn’t want to hold you up. If you don’t mind, could you please tell Winnie what happened and that I’ll call her as soon as I can?”
She did her best to make her voice come out polite and determined, the way it did when she was trying very hard to be a capable adult. But all her words earned her was another frown. No, not a frown, a scowl. Seriously, the man could scowl like it was an Olympic sport.What had she done wrong now?
Connor studied her through narrowed eyes before glancing back at her car. Glaring at her, he snarled, “Don’t move.” He grabbed the key to her car from the ignition and opened the trunk.
Thank goodness her spare tire wasn’t visible until the storage compartment was opened. She stepped toward him. “You don’t have to do that. I’ll take care of it.” Even if she had absolutely no idea how.
She hadn’t realized he could narrow his eyes any further, but he could. He pointed to the ground at her feet. “If you move from that spot, you will be one very sorry Little girl.”
A shiver scraped across her entire body and settled between her thighs. As her pussy pulsed, her Little tried to take back over. She couldn’t let that happen. She was an adult, and as such, she could handle her own problem. Somehow. Even if her body seemed determined to betray her every time he used that tone.
She didn’t move from her spot. Apparently, her survival instincts were stronger than her pride. Connor pulled the carpet away and spun the screw thingy to get the cover off the spare tire. Dread skittered like hundreds of spiders across her skin, cold and prickly and impossible to ignore.
She glanced at his shiny black muscle car that must have cost a fortune. He probably thought everyone should drive around in a souped-up hotrod. Well, some people had other priorities,like diapers, formulas, and electricity bills. She had those other priorities. She had to pay for all those things, not to mention the endless parade of baby wipes and laundry detergent that came with three little girls.
Of course, a car like that had other uses. She’d read more than one book where the Daddy had bent his Little girl over the hood of their car and pounded into her from behind until she saw stars.
Connor grabbed the cover of the spare tire well, and that shiver snaked up her spine. He noticed, of course, and quirked a brow. “You cold, Trouble? Let me get your tire changed for you. Then you can be on your way.”
He was being nice, all things considered, but why hadn’t he mentioned what happened in Vegas? Despite what the ads said, it didn’t feel like what happened in Vegas stayed in Vegas. It dangled like a giant weight above her head by a string. She’d been waiting for that string to snap for two months. She couldn’t take it anymore.
“Why are you helping me after what I did to you in Vegas?”
Yep. She just blurted the question out before she could stop herself. Why would you dip your toe in the ocean when you could just high-dive off a cliff? Her heart began to pound.
His eyes darkened for a split second, and then he was smiling again. “I wouldn’t mind discussing that with you one day. But not on the side of the road. And not when anyone could happen by and see.”
Wait, what?
“What is it you don’t want them to see?”
He widened his stance and crossed his arms over his chest. “Trouble, the kind of discussion I plan to have with you about Vegas is going to take place with you across my lap. Trust me when I tell you it is not something you are going to want anyone to witness.”
There was her Daddy For A Day. She was beginning to wonder if the man standing in front of her was some pod person like inThe Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Still did, really. The Connor she remembered had never looked quite this calm while threatening her bottom.
