Chapter 22
Cash wanted to grab hold of her again. To pick her up and hold her on his hip.
But he knew that he needed to take a step back.
It wasn’t fair to her if he started to act like her Daddy.
They hadn’t agreed to it. There were no terms, no conversation about limits, and she was going home in a few hours.
He was just being selfish. Taking what he wanted, and not thinking about the best outcome for her. Should he have even brought her here to LittleLand?
But watching her face as he showed her the different toys and outfits . . . he knew he couldn’t regret that decision.
“What toys do you like the best?” he asked as she walked next to him.
Every so often, she’d let out a small skip as she walked along. And a soft sigh of pleasure or a wrinkle of her nose would let him know what she thought of whatever they were looking at.
She did not approve of the discipline aisle. Or the room for naughty boys and girls. She also didn’t seem to be into the trucks and other vehicles and machinery aisle. Nor the area with the water guns, bows and arrows, and other outside games.
She definitely gravitated toward soft things. Toys, blankets, chairs and clothes. Anything soft and fluffy, she oohed and aahed over, bringing it up to her cheek to rub.
Finally, they made it to the aisle that Bonnie had told him to go down.
“Oh, good.” She started going through some packages of panties.
He took a closer look. Period panties. Good to know. They seemed to come in lots of pretty colors. The pair she chose were a pale blue with white daisies on them.
“Just one?” he asked.
“I have more at home. And it hasn’t come yet.”
Her voice sounded like it was getting raspier.
“Get two,” he told her. “Just in case.”
She nibbled on her lip, then nodded. “These are cute. Never seen ones like this before.”
“Really?” he asked.
She picked up another pair that were also pale blue, but these ones had strawberries on them.
“Okay, I’m good,” she said as she held her two pairs of panties.
She was good? What was she talking about? There was a lot more stuff that she might need. Heating pads and these patches that you stuck on your tummy that grew warm. They could be a good idea, especially while on the plane. Not that he wanted to think about that.
And then there were some zip-up waterproof bags. He bent down to have a look at them. One of them was white and thick, and said along the front, ‘Crime Scene Kit.’ Another one said, ‘Period Essentials.’
There were toys with removable bellies that could be heated up, soft eye masks, fluffy bathrobes and slippers to match. Heated blankets. Face masks and tons of soft socks.
She didn’t reach for anything, so he went through it all, drawing out two pairs of fluffy socks, one with strawberries and one with little pink bows that he thought were pretty cute.
Then he grabbed two of the face masks, as well as one of the toys that had the heating thing inside. It was actually a strawberry with eyes and little black legs dangling out the front.
He thought it was pretty cute.
“Who are you getting these for?” she asked without looking at him. She was busy staring down at her feet.
“Oh, just a cute girl that I just met,” he said teasingly, expecting that she’d get it. But she simply nodded and kept her face lowered. Did she not understand that he was talking about her?
“Addie, look at me.”
She shook her head.
“Addie. Eyes on mine.”
Immediately, her head rose and she stared at him.
“These are for you, silly.”
“For me?” Surprise filled her face.
“Of course they’re for you. Who else would they be for?”
“I don’t know. I thought you said a cute girl you just met. Oh, you really mean me?”
“We need to work on your self-esteem,” he told her. Unfortunately, there wasn’t going to be time for him to help her with that.
He led her back to the desk. On the way there, they walked down an aisle with toys and clothes.
She stopped at a few boxes of squishy toys.
The ones that you could squeeze when you were stressed.
Addie reached out one hand to touch a fake banana.
She pulled her hand back before she could touch it, though.
Well, that wouldn’t do.
He picked up a cube. It was actually quite nice to squeeze.
“What do you think of this one?” he asked, handing it to her.
She squeezed it and her face lit up.
Yeah, she liked the cube.
Picking up a hoodie, he studied it. It was pale yellow and there seemed to be something in the cuffs. Oh, were there squishies stitched into the cuffs?
“Look, there are squishies sown into the cuffs of this hoodie.”
“Ooh,” she said, squeezing the cuff.
He thought about buying her the hoodie. But it was probably enough to get the other things.
For the moment.
He could sneak back and get it later.
Cash watched her put the cube reluctantly back.
“Pink or blue?” he asked.
She shook her head. “I don’t need it.”
“All right, pink squishy it is.” He picked it up and then took her hand and led her back to the front desk.
Where Bonnie seemed to be caught in a staring match with Titus. Cash often wondered if there was something going on between the two of them. Whether they had feelings for each other.
Finally, Cash cleared his throat as it became obvious that neither of them was going to acknowledge him or Addie.
Bonnie jumped and turned to stare at him. “Oh, hi. Sorry. Didn’t realize you were there.”
Titus sighed. “And that is why you cannot go out playing detective. You have no instincts for it.”
Bonnie’s face fell. Cash glared at Titus.
“I think you’d make a great detective,” Addie said.
It surprised him that she’d spoken up like that in front of Titus.
Titus turned to frown down at her. To Cash’s shock and delight, she stepped behind him. It meant that she trusted him to take care of her. It also meant she was scared and felt like she needed protection.
“Do not stare at her like that.”
Titus raised his eyebrows, not looking at all concerned. But then he huffed and walked away.
“He doesn’t mean to be so grouchy,” Bonnie said. “Sorry if he frightened you, Addie. He’s actually a big softy on the inside. He’s just concerned that I’m going to go do something stupid.”
“Are you okay?” Addie asked.
Bonnie waved her hands. “Me? Of course. Titus is overreacting. I would be an excellent detective. I’d have everything solved quickly.”
Cash wasn’t sure that he agreed, and he knew that Titus and Dante definitely wouldn’t.
“You need to keep yourself safe, Bonnie. No going out and playing detective.” Cash gave her a firm look.
She huffed. “I have the cutest detective outfit,” she told Addie. “I could totally figure out who is creating all of these problems. Just like that.” Bonnie snapped her fingers.
Or, at least, she tried to. Her fingers made no noise as she pressed them together and attempted to flick them.
Bonnie sighed. “Oh, I forgot that I never mastered how to snap my fingers. Huckleberries and blackberries.”
“What?” Addie asked.
“I’m trying out new ways of swearing without swearing, like saying ‘shoot’ instead of ‘shit.’ When I was growing up, I heard so much of it.
Every second word was ‘fuck’ or ‘shit’ or ‘damn’ or whatever.
I swear I came out of the womb swearing, sometimes I almost think my first word was a swear word.
Anyway, Dante never liked me swearing, so I tried to clean up my act.
But since I’ve been here, I’ve been starting to get into bad habits, let’s just say.
So I’m testing other interesting words that I think might work instead of swearing. ”
“And you’re thinking about going down the berry avenue?” Cash asked, feeling amused.
“That’s definitely where I’m going this week. Next week, I might try breads.”
“Breads?” Addie asked.
“Yep, like sourdough. Wouldn’t it be really satisfying when you hit your toe or something and you go, ‘Sourdough’? Ooh, I like that. I think sourdough could work.”
“I really think it could,” Addie told her with a smile.
Bonnie sighed and leaned her forearms on the desk. “I really like you, Addie. You’ve got Bonnie energy.”
“Bonnie energy?” she asked.
“Yeah, it’s a good thing. Trust me.”
Bonnie rang up the purchases using his staff discount, which was apparently fifty percent. He’d had no idea, since he’d never actually bought anything from LittleLand before. He should probably check with Ralen, because he wasn’t sure that LittleLand was even turning a profit.
It didn’t really matter if it was or it wasn’t. Dante would bankroll her, but he knew that Bonnie wouldn’t want to be bankrolled by her stepbrother forever.
“See you later, Addie. I hope to see you again.” Bonnie walked around to hug her. “If you’re ever back in Billings, you come visit me, yeah? Here’s my business card. Just send a message to that email address, all right?”
Addie took hold of the pale blue-and-pink-colored business card and nodded. “Thanks, Bonnie.”
Cash gave Bonnie a hug. “You behave yourself, understand?”
Bonnie stepped back with a gasp of horror, her hand on her chest. “How dare you say something so abhorrent!”
Addie let out a small giggle, and Bonnie winked at her.
Cash just rolled his eyes and grasped hold of Addie’s hand. On his way back through, he found Ralen sitting at Bonnie’s kitchen island, drinking another smoothie.
“You’re addicted to those things,” Cash told him.
Ralen just grinned. “They’re good for you. They give you stamina.”
“Stamina?” Addie asked. “Are you going to be in a race?”
“Hopefully, Trouble, hopefully.”
Addie gave Cash a confused look, but Cash just shook his head. She didn’t need to know what Ralen actually meant when he was talking about stamina.
They headed out to Cash’s truck and got in, heading back to Callahan Security.
As he drove, he thought about the fact that he’d had to drop everything at Dante’s call. And that finding Ortega might take precedence over looking after Addie.
Not that it really mattered since she was leaving soon.
It was just frustrating as fuck that he couldn’t put all of his time and attention into her.
Cash was grateful to Dante. He’d saved his life. But sometimes he wondered if it had been worth the price he’d paid.