Page 14 of Daddy’s Fortitude

Very annoying.

Uh-huh. You keep trying to tell yourself that. That you’re annoyed rather than turned on.

Great. Now even her inner voice was working against her.

“That was a one-in-a-million occurrence,” she told him. “I’ve never come that close to being run over before.”

“That close?” he asked. “But you have experienced other incidents like that?”

“No, nothing like that.”

Because it hadn’t been a car, it had been a runaway forklift that she’d forgotten to engage the brake on.

So not the same at all.

“I don’t like being lied to.”

“Just as well you’re not being lied to, then, huh?” she countered.

He eyed her like he didn’t believe her.

She smiled just to make her lie more believable.

“You need me,” he said.

“I do not!” Unless he was talking about a romp in bed. Did people still say romp? God, she was so out of the loop, she didn’t even know.

Maybe they’d never said romp. Maybe she was just an idiot.

“What are you thinking?” he asked.

“Nothing.” She smiled again. Damn, that was hurting her cheeks. When was the last time that she’d properly smiled?

Too long ago, she was guessing if it was straining her cheeks like this.

“Why do you keep smiling like that?” he asked.

“Like, what?”

Was there something wrong with the way she was smiling? She touched her lips.

“How do I smile?”

“Like if you don’t smile you’ll scream.”

Holy moly, she was going to have to watch herself around this man. He was far too perceptive. He barely even knew her, and he saw things that people who had known her for years didn’t.

Smile or scream was kind of her mantra.

“Look, I really appreciate you coming to check in on me. That’s more than most people would have done. And I’m sorry for your loss as well, but I don’t need any help. I’m doing okay on my own. I hope you will have a nice time staying here until the funeral. I suppose I will see you there.”

She attempted to shuffle him toward the door. Only, Ammo was a big guy, and he wasn’t going to be moved unless he wanted to be. His shoulders seemed like they were twice as wide as hers, and the top of her head wouldn’t even touch his chin. And then there was the fact that he didn’t look like he had an ounce of fat on him. She had no idea how he achieved that.

“I promised Charlie I’d look after you if something happened to him.”

What? He’d promised Charlie what? Why would Charlie extract that promise from anyone?

“You promised Charlie to look after me if he died?”