Sheriff Daddy (Montana Daddies Book 10) by Laylah Roberts (good book club books txt) 📗

“You knew Mother had me benched, didn’t you?” she accused.

“We all knew, squirt.”

She sucked in a breath at the betrayal.

“You weren’t ever supposed to be given field work,” he told her gently.

“Ouch. Your belief in me is uplifting.”

Except, they hadn’t been wrong, had they? Her first real taste of danger out in the field and she’d frozen up. Maybe being an FBI agent wasn’t right for her. It wasn’t like any of it had lived up to her expectations. She’d been doing it for five years and had she really made a difference?

“Evan is going to flip his lid when he finds out you’re doing field work. And Mother . . . “

“Look, the field work didn’t work out and I’m taking some time off. But I don’t need all of you getting into my business about where I am and what I’m doing.”

There was a beat of silence. “It didn’t work out. What does that mean? Did something happen?”

“Just . . . I need some time to think, okay? Nothing is working out how I thought it was and I just need to think about where my life is going.”

“Shit, squirt, now I’m really worried about what happened.”

“Don’t be. I’m fine. I’m with friends. I’m safe. Okay?”

“Friends? What friends? Has Marcus done a background check on them, because—”

“Gareth! Are you listening to yourself? I don’t need Marcus doing a background check on my friends. Or Evan turning up to threaten them. Or Spencer throwing his weight around. I am fine.”

“All right. Let’s make a deal.”

She rolled her eyes. “What’s your deal?”

“I’ll keep the others from coming looking for you. And with Evan, that’s going to be fucking damn near impossible, if you check in with me every day.”

She knew that was a good deal. “Done.”

“Every day, squirt. You miss a day and I’m letting them loose. I also want to know where you are. And before you protest, we both know that I can find out. You think that Marcus can’t track you down?”

“Fine, I’m in Wishingbone, Montana. But if any of you turn up here, I’m not talking to any of you again.”

“We’ll leave you be, as long as you check in with me. Love you, baby sis.”

“Love you too.”

Overbearing brutes.

21

Ed ended his call to Kiesha. She’d been full of excuses for her behavior this morning. But he wasn’t impressed. He’d given her a stern talking to. Whether she’d actually listen, he had no idea. While they were talking, he’d put all the sex toys back into her duffel bag. Georgie seemed really embarrassed by the toys. Not that she should be. In fact, a few of them could come in handy.

Grabbing an orange, iron tablet, and a bottle of water, he checked in on Georgina and found her lying on the bed, her foot resting on a couple of pillows, her phone to her ear.

She looked over at him. Her face was a cold mask. He hated that look on her face. She was clearly listening to someone talking. Her mother, he guessed.

Setting the orange, pill, and water down, he gave her a pointed look. Then he headed outside to grab some wood for the fire. He thought she might like to lie on the sofa in front of the fire this afternoon.

Sleeping with her last night had been heaven and hell. He’d retrieved her parrot from the bag of stuff he’d grabbed from the motel room. While shoving everything into the washing machine, he’d found a cute onesie with a drop seat. He’d washed that as well, but hadn’t mentioned it to her. The last thing he wanted was to embarrass her.

As soon as he’d settled the toy in her arms, she’d grabbed it in one hand and placed her thumb in her mouth, sucking.

Fuck. That had nearly killed him. When he’d climbed into bed, she’d rolled towards him, wrapping herself around him. Needless to say, he hadn’t gotten much sleep.

But it had been one of the best nights of his life.

As he gathered up some wood, he stilled. A feeling ran over his skin. Almost like he was being watched. He turned, looking around. He’d learned to listen to his instincts over the years. But he couldn’t see anyone out there. Wind whipped around him. Another storm was coming in. He hoped Georgie wasn’t scared of thunder.

Then again, if she was, he’d have to comfort her. There was nothing he liked more than to snuggle with a woman. He didn’t give a fuck what that did for his alpha reputation. If anyone thought less of him for liking a cuddle, they could kiss his ass.

Shaking it off, he turned to walk towards the house and saw a dead rose sitting off to the side of the woodshed. That was weird, he didn’t have any rose bushes on his property.

He moved towards the house. Opening the door, he put the wood beside the fireplace. Then he locked the sliding door and set the alarm. He usually did that at night. But for some reason, he felt the need to do it now.

A sigh came from behind as he finished stacking the firewood. He turned with a frown to find Georgie limping into the room.

Right. That was it. There was going easy on her because she was just out of the hospital and didn’t yet know all the ins and outs of what he expected from her. But disregarding his orders time after time couldn’t continue to go unanswered. For her sake as much as for his.

“Are any of my clothes dry? I’d like to get dressed.” She’d pulled her hair back into a bun. She looked stiff and formal.

Nope. He wasn’t having that. Any of it.

“What do you think you are doing?” he asked calmly, standing slowly. He didn’t want to startle her. Not after knowing that there was some secret in her past. A man who had hurt her.

“What does it look like I’m doing?” she asked in a cool