Page 81 of Daddy’s Fortitude

“I should be able to deal with it by myself.”

“You don’t have to do everything on your own, Aimee. Why make things harder on yourself?”

“But you didn’t ask for any of this. It’s a lot of money. Obviously, I’ll pay you back.”

He just glared at her. But she would do that. Whether he liked it or not. She’d need to add it all up. Something else she hadn’t done. When she sold the house she’d give him the profits. If there were any.

At least if all the bills were paid, she’d stop getting threatening notes. She thought about telling him about them. But she was embarrassed enough. And once all the debts were paid, then that issue would be gone. It wasn’t fair that he had to deal with all of her problems.

“I need to get to work. Can you still take me?” she said tiredly as she got to her feet.

“You’re not going,” he told her.

“Uh, yes, I am. Kirsten is probably wondering where I am.” Although she hadn’t called her. Aimee drew out her phone from her pocket to check it. But there were no messages or anything.

That was unusual.

Normally, her friend would be completely freaking out by now if she hadn’t turned up to work on time.

“I told Kirsten that you’re not going into work.”

“Why the heck would you do that?”

“Because you fainted last night and you need to go to the doctor. Now, why don’t you go lie down and have a rest and I’ll make the call.”

“No!”

23

If looks could kill, he’d be a dead man.

He had to hide his amusement. Why the fuck did he think that was cute? What was wrong with him?

His brain and his body just kept going round and round in circles, wanting her, needing her, denying that need and want.

Thank God he was sitting down and she couldn’t see how hard he was right then.

She’d never made any mention of seeing his erection the other day, so he was hoping that she’d missed that.

But if he was going to get her to obey him when it came to health and safety, he did need to lay down some rules and consequences, even if they weren’t in a proper relationship. Being her guardian meant that he needed her to obey him.

He was her guardian, her protector, the person that looked out for her. And the thing was, it had become less of an obligation, and more of a calling. He couldn’t imagine not taking care of her.

Which was a disturbing thought.

Because, at some stage, he had to let her go for both of their sakes.

He should say something about the foot stomping. Maybe he should ask her if she was a Little and if she needed him to “Daddy” her, but he wasn’t entirely sure that he was ready for that yet.

“Did you just stomp your foot? Again?”

She glanced down at her foot, then up at him, and he could tell that she was about to deny it.

So he gave a stern look.

“Well, you’d stomp your foot too if you were dealing with you.”

“Huh?”