Chapter 6
Chapter Six
Half an hour later, Grady stood in the doorway of the living room, arms crossed tight over his chest. While he’d been outside checking fences, Sage had created absolute chaos. And it was fucking adorable. Damn it.
Sheets and quilts hung from every lamp, chair, and piece of furniture. It looked like a Bed, Bath & Beyond had exploded in his living room. And there were so many of Rose’s stuffed animals scattered around their Pillow Palace, he half expected them to topple the whole structure at any minute.
What, exactly, were they wearing? It took a minute, but eventually he concluded they were mermaid outfits. Rose practically danced with excitement, and damn if Sage didn’t look cute as hell.
There Sage sat, mermaid dress and all, in the middle of what he could only describe as chaos central.
She was every bit as lively and animated as Rose, laughing, and looking far too right in his house.
Struggling not to smile, Grady shook his head and mentally inventoried the coloring books, crayons, and schoolbooks scattered across the blanket-covered floor.
Earlier, when he had looked in and seen her teetering on the top of that ladder, he’d damn near had a heart attack. It had taken all he had not to toss her over his knee and blister her ass on the spot. Now the image of him doing just that kept playing over and over in his head.
No amount of riding or fence fixing had managed to drive it out of his mind. His palm flexed at the memory, wanting to give her much more than the one swat she’d received for climbing something so unsteady.
Why the hell couldn’t he stop thinking about it?
Because you know how it would feel if her jeans and panties hadn’t been in the way, that’s why.
Fuck.
She might not have ever had a Daddy of her own, but when a man handed out rules like a Daddy, scolded like a Daddy, and wanted to spank a naughty Little’s ass like a Daddy… well, that made things complicated. Especially when that man was him.
He rubbed a hand down his face.
She’s the nanny, Kane. Not your Little. Get your head on straight.
She was twenty-six. He’d checked her application just to be sure. So much younger than him. Too much younger.
She sat there, clapping and hopping right along with Rose, too damn cute. That tracked because, if he had to guess, he’d say Sage’s Little was around five to six, about the same age as Rose.
Yet, Little or not, twenty-six or not, no one could deny the change she’d already made in Rose’s life. His quiet, serious daughter was smiling these days, and not just tiny smiles either. Full-on sunbeam smiles that reminded him of her mother.
How the hell had Sage made so much progress so soon after coming to live with them?
He’d been trying for two years to pull a smile out of Rose, and this wildfire of a woman had waltzed in and done it in a few days.
When she’d said she was good at what she did, she hadn’t been just blowin’ smoke up his ass.
His Little girl was amazing.
No, not his. Not even close to his. Which was the way it should be. Now if only he could remember that. He shook his head. It was going to be a long summer.
Sage finally caught him watching. Her cheeks turned a soft pink, but the mischievous sparkle in her eyes didn’t dim one bit. Without a doubt, that look was going to get her bottom blistered before another week was out.
Clearing his throat, he did his best to sound gruff and unaffected. “Looks like you’ve been busy.”
Sage beamed at him as if he’d just handed her the moon and stars. “We finished our Pillow Palace. Wanna come inside? We have just enough room for one grumpy, rule-loving cowboy.”
Damn, but part of him wanted to say yes. A big part.
It was those sparkling blue eyes.
He’d gotten so used to everyone in the house being sad he wasn’t sure how to respond. But those eyes did wicked things to his mind and his dick. And some stubborn, long-buried part of him wondered what it would feel like to step inside that blanket fort and let himself smile again.
His arms tightened across his chest, as if they could squeeze out his desire to give in.
Both his girls sat in the middle of the Pillow Palace they’d built, looks of hope and expectation on their faces.
Like Rose, Sage wore a sparkly mermaid costume that should have looked absurd on a grown woman.
Instead, it made her look cute, and soft, and… entirely Little.
Rose sat beside her in a matching baby-blue and purple dress, eyes brighter than he’d seen them in much too long. The looks she kept giving Sage made Grady’s heart ache. It also had him worrying if he’d already waited too long to protect his daughter’s heart from Sage’s eventual departure.
“We don’t like to be kept waiting, do we, Princess Coral?” Sage asked in a ridiculous, high-pitched, lyrical voice. “Should we sentence him to be tickled?”
Rose smiled—something he would never take for granted again—and nodded. Bands of steel tightened around his chest, squeezing so hard he had to fight for every breath. Rose looked young and carefree, just like she was supposed to.
And it was all thanks to Sage.
The woman had wormed her way into his house and into his daughter’s heart. Thank goodness his heart was safe. All the feelings tugging at his chest were just a reaction to what the Little nanny was doing for his daughter. That was all. Just a normal reaction to someone helping his daughter.
The fact that it was a beautiful, sexy woman made no difference at all. Being attracted to her was natural, incidental, really. It meant nothing.
Keep telling yourself that, buddy. Only eighty days to go, and it will soon be seventy-nine.
He stifled a groan. Who was he kidding? If he wasn’t careful, this Little wildfire would burn past his defenses and straight into his heart, leaving nothing but ash when she moved on.
Sage helped Rose adjust her glittery crown, then slipped on her own darker tiara as if they were real undersea royalty. Long and flowing fabric swirled around her legs, and Grady had to force his eyes away from the way it clung to her legs and ass.
“Today we are mermaid princesses doing our lessons,” Sage announced cheerfully. “Mermaid princesses are very smart, so we have to do our letters and numbers extra well.”
Rose nodded solemnly, but her little face was lit up like fireworks on the Fourth of July. Everything in him wanted to forget about the ranch and join in their fun.
I’ll bet they have room for King Poseidon.
Oh, for fuck’s sake.
Grady’s jaw clenched so hard he didn’t think he’d ever be able to pry it back open. He was there to make sure the woman he’d hired was doing her job, not to get caught up in Little play. No matter how much the fucking Daddy inside him wanted that very thing.
He pried his arms away from his chest and held up his hands. “Sorry, ladies. I’ve still got work to do.” Their faces fell at his words. Yeah, he was the biggest fucking asshole on the planet.
Grady checked in several times over the next couple of hours. Once they were coloring letters, another time they were counting starfish stickers, and then playing learning games. Sage turned everything into a song or story, pretending Rose had answered even when she stayed quiet.
But each time he stopped in to check, Rose was participating more. Pointing. Choosing. Even giving the tiniest little nods.
Each time he watched from a distance, not wanting to break the mood that had Rose so responsive. Eventually, Sage caught his eye. Her tender gaze lasered straight to his heart before heading further south. What was it about this woman?
With a lift of his chin, he beat a hasty retreat to the kitchen. With Sage working so hard, the least he could do was take care of lunch.
Thirty minutes later, he returned to the family room, a picnic basket full of goodies in hand, and waited until Sage looked at him. The second their eyes met, her face brightened, and that familiar blush tinted her cheeks an adorable pink.
Would her cheeks have that same blush when she came on his mouth as he licked up every drop of her sweet cream?
What the hell?
Now was not the right time for that kind of thinking. There was no right time for that kind of thinking.
His cock, however, didn’t agree. By the way it throbbed, his cock wanted to find out the answer to his question. Fortunately, his cock wasn’t in charge because he wasn’t sure his heart would be able to take it.
Grady cleared his throat, trying to sound as gruff as possible. “Lunch.”
He stepped into the Pillow Palace without waiting for an invitation and set the big wicker picnic basket down. Sage’s eyes locked on him as he opened it.
For himself, the sandwiches were simple, the same thick ham and cheese on good, sturdy bread he ate most days. But for Sage and Rose? For them, he’d gone all out.
He’d cut their sandwiches into seashell and starfish shapes, as any decent Daddy would do. They were mermaids, after all. He’d also cut star-shaped watermelon slices and included multi-colored goldfish crackers.
He’d even poured blue “ocean punch” with floating blueberries into two small bottles with striped straws. Rose clapped her hands and bounced up and down on the blankets, thrilled by the treats Grady had provided.
With no hesitation, Sage joined in Rose’s celebration, every bit as excited. Laughing, her blue eyes sparkling, she unashamedly threw herself into a rousing chorus of “Under the Sea,” while Rose silently mouthed the words.
And Grady had almost missed all this. He’d come a hair’s breadth from heading back out to the barn.
Sage kept catching his eye and smiling at him, like she was so proud of him for being there. It would have irritated him, but that brilliant smile held nothing back. He couldn’t even pretend to be upset. It was all he could do not to shuffle his feet like a damn teenager on his first date.
Scratching the back of his neck, he pointed to the food. “Well, go ahead. Lunch isn’t going to eat itself.”