Chapter 4
Chapter Four
Theo is beaming now that we’ve discovered we have mutual friends. He lifts me by the hips and stands me on the floor before squatting in front of me and holding out the pair of shapeless drawstring pants.
I grab his shoulders and bite my lip while he pulls them up. He’s a total gentleman about it, even being careful not to let them rub across the back of my thighs. When he’s done, he lifts my flimsy gown up to my waist. “Hold this for me, Little one, so I can tie the string on these pants.”
The pants are ridiculously loose and long and far too wide at the top. Even after Theo cinches them as much as possible, I still have to hold them while he turns me around and ties up the back of the gown.
He comes back to my front just as the nurse returns. She holds out an envelope. “This is a list of what to keep an eye on after a concussion as well as suggestions on what to let her eat and drink and when to resume physical activity. It’s all in here.”
“Thank you.” Theo tucks the envelope in his back pocket. “Is it still raining?”
“No, it’s stopped.”
“Great. I’m parked a few blocks away. I was hoping you could help Layla get to the front while I go get the car.”
“That’s a perfect plan. I’ll get her in a wheelchair and cover her with a blanket so she doesn’t get too chilly in that thin gown. She doesn’t even have dry shoes.” Kristen grabs my bag of wet clothes and hands it to Theo.
It’s weird how they’re making all these plans without really consulting me. I guess it doesn’t matter. Apparently I’m going home with Theo.
He doesn’t even give me a chance to respond before he cups my face, smiles, and rushes out of the room. All this is happening moments after the big man dropped a bomb on me, leaving my jaw hanging down.
His Little girl?
Now I don’t know if my head is spinning because I slammed it into the sidewalk or if it’s because my life seems to have flipped upside down or if I’m still lying on the concrete unconscious.
Nurse Kristen helps me into a wheelchair, tucks the blanket around me, hands me the teddy bear, and pushes me to the front door. All the while, she keeps up a running dialog. “You’ve hit the jackpot with that one, Layla. Theo is one of the best men I’ve ever met, and I’ve known him for years.”
“I don’t even know him,” I mutter, for all it’s worth.
She puts the brake on my wheelchair when we get to the front door. Luckily there isn’t anyone in the waiting room. I’d be mortified for someone to listen to this odd conversation. Kristen bends over to speak softly near my ear. “I saw the way he looked at you. Sometimes you just meet the right person, and you know. Sometimes the right person is running down the sidewalk in the rain and barrels right into you. Fate, I tell you. Don’t turn your back on it.” She smiles as she pats my shoulder. “Oh, there’s Theo now.”
Before I can respond to her, she’s pushing me through the door.
Theo jogs around to the passenger side of his SUV and opens the car door before turning toward me and gently scooping me out of the wheelchair.
I gasp at the unexpected way he carries me to the car and settles me in the seat. He even pulls the seatbelt over me and secures it around me and the teddy bear before bopping me lightly on the nose with one finger. “Ready?”
He doesn’t wait for a response. He backs out, shuts the door, exchanges a few words with Kristen, and jogs back around to climb in his side.
I rub my temples.
“Does your head hurt, Little one?”
I nod. “It’s throbbing.”
“I’ll go through the pharmacy drive thru and pick up your prescription before we go home, okay?”
I look at him. “Theo, you’re being way too kind. I don’t know you at all, and I can’t repay you for all this. The reason I was running down the street in the rain is because I got fired this morning, and I was hurrying home to regroup so I could get a new job. I barely have enough money to pay my electric bill next week, let alone my rent.”
Once I start talking, I can’t stop. He needs to know I’m not rainbows and sunshine.
Theo’s brow is furrowed as he reaches over and takes my hand in his. “I’m so sorry, Little one. For the next few days, I want you to just relax and let me take care of you. We’ll get to know each other as we go along. I’ll help you iron out your problems, okay?”
I shake my head, which makes it hurt worse, causing me to wince. “You can’t fix my problems, Theo, and I can’t possibly take two days to convalesce. I need to find another job immediately.”
He frowns. “Layla, there’s no way you can run all over town applying for jobs with a concussion. It’s out of the question. Give me three days to show you that you’re not alone anymore. Can you do that?”
I stare at his profile. His idea is preposterous. He can’t possibly convince me that I’m somehow his perfect Little girl in three days. No one can do that. This isn’t a cheesy romance movie. It’s real life.
But my head is pounding, and my butt hurts to sit on, and I’m so tired. He’s right about one thing. I might be stubborn, but I can’t possibly go job searching this afternoon. I’m out of commission at least until my head stops hurting. Why shouldn’t I let him Daddy me for a few days?
“Layla?” He glances at me when he stops at a light. “Can you do that, Little one?”
I’ve forgotten he’s asked me a question. “Yes, Sir,” I murmur. I sigh and slink into the seat. He wins this battle because I’m in no shape to fight him any longer.
I close my eyes, and I’m drifting off when the car finally stops, jerking me awake. I sit up taller and look around as Theo jumps down from the driver’s side and comes around to help me.
My eyes nearly bug out of my head, and I clutch the stuffed bear tightly when he lifts me out of the car and turns around so I see his home. “Theo… I thought you were a realtor.”
He’s parked behind the house next to a detached garage with three bays. My eyes were closed, so I haven’t seen the front of the house, but the back is spectacular. There’s an outdoor kitchen, a pool, and a hot tub.
He chuckles as he uses a keypad to open a sliding glass door, which leads into a gleaming stainless-steel kitchen. His home looks like a model home, not a place where a human actually lives. I’d be afraid to walk on the floors for fear I’d mess up the lines in the carpet or leave footprints on the tile.
“I’m a good realtor,” he tells me. “Most of my properties are commercial listings. Not residential.”
I don’t know what that means in terms of income, but apparently in his case a lot.
Theo is very careful to cradle me without touching the abrasions on my butt. He even gently protects my bandaged elbows as he carries me through the house.
I’m breathless. His home is amazing. The living room is as impressive as the kitchen, and when we reach the staircase, I gasp. It’s the kind of stairs that wind up to the top floor in a foyer that looks like a movie set. As we ascend, I look around in shock.
“I’m sorry I don’t have a room fit for a Little girl right now. I’ll start working on one ASAP. In the meantime, you’ll have to settle for my guest room.” He uses his hip to open a door on the second floor, and hurries over to a queen-sized bed to pull back the covers.
I nearly cry as he gently lowers me to sit on the edge of the bed. “This hospital gown and the pants are scratchy material. Let me find you something else to wear. Be right back.”
I can’t move as I watch him hurry from the room, and I’m still dazed when he returns moments later holding up a T-shirt. It’s obviously one of his, and it’s huge. “This will have to work for now. I’ll order you some things online while you nap.”
“You can’t start buying me things, Theo…”
“Sure I can.” He pulls the hospital blanket free and sets it on a chair before squatting down to put us at eye level. He takes both my hands in his. “Layla, my heart has been racing since I met you.”
“That’s because you were afraid I might die of a skull fracture,” I joke, surprised I’m capable of such a witty comeback.
He chuckles. “Nope. It’s because I had the strongest feeling it was not an accident that we collided.”
“You seem to be confused about what happened. We did not collide. I was rushing down the street self-absorbed, trying not to cry, in the pouring rain, not watching where I was going, and I slammed into your solid wall of manness.”
He chuckles. “Manness?”
“Yes.” I narrow my gaze at him, daring him to argue with me. “So, it was entirely my fault, and you’re being way too kind.”
He strokes my fingers. “I like my version of the story better. Fate put you in front of me, and I’m indebted to Her. It’s okay that you don’t quite believe it yet, but I don’t think it was a coincidence that the prettiest Little girl I’ve ever seen happened to slam into me on the street. Don’t you think it’s weird that we even know the same people? What are the chances you’d be Little and I’d be a Daddy and one of your best friends happens to be in love with one of my best friends?”
That part is pretty strange. He’s right. But still. I refuse to let myself hope something good could happen to me. This would be beyond good. It would be life changing.
“I’m not the sort of person good things happen to, Theo. I’m the sort of person who gets fired for being late to work three times in a month for reasons totally out of my control that don’t sound believable. I’m the sort of person who opens a milk carton to find out it went bad the day before. When I step outside in a blouse, it starts raining. When I get on a city bus, the bus gets a flat tire. When I walk past an alley, I get chased by a dog into a pile of poop.”
“Your city bus had a flat tire?” he asks incredulously.
“See? Even you don’t believe it.”
“I didn’t say that, Little one. I’ve just never heard of such a thing happening to anyone.”
“I’m bad luck, I tell you. You should take me home and wash your hands of me.”
“Well, I think you’re the best luck I’ve ever had, and I’m not taking you home. I’m going to give you some medicine for your headache and then order you some chicken noodle soup from the best restaurant in town. When you wake up, it will be here.”
My tummy growls, and my mouth waters. That sounds so good.
“Did you eat breakfast, Little one?”
I cringe. “No. I didn’t have time. I would have grabbed something at the restaurant when I arrived, but I was late, and then I got fired.” My shoulders droop at the reminder.
“How about if you change into this T-shirt while I go make you a nutritious drink. How does that sound?”
My tummy rumbles again.
Theo chuckles. “I’ll be right back.” When he stands, he kisses the top of my head before he leaves the room. Or have I imagined that part?
It takes me a minute to realize I need to hurry up and change before he gets back. I certainly don’t need him to see me naked. This is all entirely surreal.
I’m shaking as I stand, and I wince as I carefully lower the giant hospital pants down my legs. It’s impossible to see the back of my thighs, but I’m aware they are scraped up.
I drop the gown next and pull the T-shirt over my head seconds later. It nearly reaches my knees. I’ve needed to pee for over an hour, so I’m relieved to see there’s an attached bath in this room. I rush inside, use the potty, wash my hands, and I’m back on the bed, pulling the covers up before Theo returns.
Holy moly, he’s holding a bottle. Like the kind a baby would use with a nipple. It’s filled with a white liquid.
Theo sets the bottle and two smaller bottles of medicine on the nightstand, sits on the edge of the bed, and gently lifts my head forward so he can tuck another pillow behind me, propping me up. “How young is your Little, Layla?”
I stare at the bottle as he lifts it and shakes it a bit. “I don’t know,” I murmur, eyeing the bottle.
“Do you ever use a bottle, Little one?”
I shake my head, which hurts and makes me wince.
“I bet you’ll like it. Bottles are perfect when you need to get some calories in bed or when you want to sit on Daddy’s lap.” He holds it out. “Try it?”
I tentatively reach out my hand.
He uses his other hand to gently lower my wrist. “Let Daddy do it, Layla.”
My heart races when he calls himself Daddy as if he were my Daddy. It sounds so nice, but I won’t let myself think about the possibility. I’m already going to be very sad when this ends—and it will because I’m not lucky enough to find a forever Daddy. It would be dangerous for me to think of Theo as my Daddy, but it surely won’t hurt if I let him feed me, will it?
I lean back against the pillows and open my mouth.
Theo is so pleased; he beams as he pops the nipple between my lips. “It takes a second to get the hang of it. Wrap your tongue around the nipple, figure out what’s comfortable, and start sucking.”
I do as he says, and soon I’m sucking hard. Whatever is in the bottle is delicious, and I’m suddenly famished. It tastes like a vanilla shake. I wish the hole were larger so I could guzzle it.
Theo brushes a lock of hair from my face with his free hand. “Slow down, Little one. You’ll get a tummy ache if you drink too fast.”
I try to slow, but it’s so good. Eventually I start to drift off.
Theo jiggles the bottle. “Try to finish it, Layla. Then you can nap. I’ll check on you every half hour or so to make sure you’re still doing okay.”
Soon I’ve drunk enough for his satisfaction, and he gently eases the extra pillow away and helps me lie back. He carefully tucks the blankets around me and kisses my forehead.
My mouth seems to want to continue sucking, so I absentmindedly bring my thumb to my lips.
Theo stands and tucks the stuffed bear in my arms. I think he’s left the room for good, but a minute later, he’s back. I can hear his footsteps, but I’m too tired to open my eyes. I whimper when he gently tugs my thumb from my mouth. “This will be better for you, Little one.”
Something else slips into my mouth. A nipple. It startles me, so I open my eyes to see Theo holding a pacifier in my mouth. I try not to panic. It’s not like he doesn’t know I’m Little. Apparently he likes his Little girls to play at a younger age.
The truth is the nipple feels so good in my mouth, and I easily start suckling. It calms me. It feels good. Why have I never tried a bottle or a pacifier before? I’ve never considered experimenting with a younger age. It wouldn’t be practical since I live alone and don’t have a caregiver.
Managing bottles and pacifiers on my own would be tedious. I’ve hovered at a slightly older age in my apartment and at the Dungeon. But this feels…nice. I might like it.
I’m smiling behind the pacifier as I drift off.