She didn’t want to tell him about that incident. She didn’t want to seem even more pathetic in his eyes.
He already knew she wasn’t quite right.
“Addie, are you okay? You’ve gone all quiet, withdrawn.”
How was that any different from how she was any other day?
“I’m sorry you had a nightmare, and I wasn’t here.”
“It’s okay. You’re not my dad.”
She should have thought that through more before she’d said it.
Because a large part of her would like him to be her Daddy.
And that was simply impossible.
“You don’t owe me anything, Cash,” she told him. “And don’t feel like you have to be here if there are other things you need to do.”
He eyed her for a long moment. “Are you trying to dismiss me, baby?”
Dismiss him? When he put it like that, it sounded crazy. Cash Savage wasn’t a man who was easily dismissed. That was clear to see. And no woman in her right mind would do that.
Then again, no one was accusing Addie of being in her right mind, were they?
She snorted softly.
“What are you smiling about?” he asked.
“No one would dare to dismiss you,” she told him.
He made a scoffing noise. “You would be surprised. But you’re not going to dismiss me so easily. You crawled into my truck. That means you belong to me.”
Had he gone insane?
“No, I do not belong to you.”
“Hmm, well, your life is in my hands. I kept you safe, protected you, helped you find your sisters. You owe me.”
Shit.
She couldn’t even argue with that statement. She totally owed him.
“Breathe, Stowaway,” he told her. “I’m not going to ask for your life in payment, or for anything you don’t want to give.”
Then what was he going to ask for? Because this was all sounding rather ominous.
“What it means is that I am going to stick around, and I am going to keep you safe. So don’t try to run me off again, understand?”
“I wasn’t trying to run you off,” she told him. “I just thought you might have something better to do.”
“More important than looking after someone who belongs to me? No, I don’t.”
She felt a flutter in her heart but squelched it quickly. Because he didn’t mean it the way she wanted him to. She wasn’t his woman. She was more like a pet dog or a cat or a canary.
Yeah. She was the equivalent of Cash Savage’s canary. Protected, petted, looked after, but not lusted after, not desired.
It might not be what she wanted, but it was more than she’d ever hoped to have.
