Total pages in book: 173
Estimated words: 174632 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 873(@200wpm)___ 699(@250wpm)___ 582(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 174632 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 873(@200wpm)___ 699(@250wpm)___ 582(@300wpm)
“Yes. You’re right. Sorry. I agreed to that. But I don’t have to accept gifts. And you shouldn’t be buying me anything.”
“We want to spoil you,” Ian said.
“You hardly know me.”
“We know we want to spend time with you, get to know you and your Little,” Ian told her.
“But you shouldn’t spend money on me,” she protested.
I’m not worth it.
“What we do with our money is our business, Little girl,” Ian told her.
“What if one of you buys me a snake? Do I have to accept it?”
“No one is going to buy you a snake,” Ian answered her. “How about all reasonable gifts?”
“Is a glass dildo considered a reasonable gift?” Jack pondered.
“Jack! It is not!” She looked at Ian to back her up.
“Actually, I don’t believe there’s anything wrong with a glass dildo,” Ian mused.
They were bonkers.
“Right, onto the rest of the rules,” Ian continued. “Maggie will not do anything to deliberately put herself in danger or hurt herself.”
“Okay.” That one seemed easy to agree to. She nodded.
“She will not speak badly about herself.”
Blimey.
“Really?”
“Really,” they both said sternly.
She huffed a breath. “Fine.”
“Maggie will accept help from her Tops,” Ian added.
Yikes.
She wrinkled her nose. “What sort of help?”
“Any sort of help we think you need, Little girl,” Ian told her sternly.
Dear Lord. Maybe it was a good that this was just temporary.
“I’m also going to add that she will tell her Tops when she needs something,” Ian said.
Jack nodded.
“And that she will prioritise her own self-care.” Ian wrote in the book as he spoke. “Eating. Sleeping. Resting.”
She huffed out a breath. “You guys make it sound like I can’t look after myself.”
The silence was damning.
“I think that will do for the moment.” Ian closed the notebook. “We can add other things as they come up.”
“Nothing more will come up,” she said. “I can barely remember all of those as it is.”
Ian leaned in and kissed her forehead. “We just want to look after you. Is that so bad?”
Darn it. He knew just how to take the wind out of her sails.
“I guess not,” she muttered.
“What do you want to do now, Little girl? Some coloring?”
“I want to see what Jack is drawing.”
Jack turned his drawing around. It was a caricature of someone getting probed by a huge, tentacled alien. She let out a surprised giggle. Especially as she saw that the person being probed was Ian.
“Like it?” Jack asked.
“Yes! Can I color it in? Please?”
“Of course, baby. I drew it for you.”
Ian groaned and lay back on the bed. “The two of you will be the fucking death of me.”
Wow.
She took in the incredible detail. “You’re so talented.”
Jack shrugged. “Here you go, baby. Have at it.”
She settled in, carefully coloring in Ian first. A feeling of lightness filled her. This was perhaps the happiest and most at ease she’d felt in years.
Which was a bit scary if she thought about it too hard.
So she decided not to.
“Get on, you tricky things,” she muttered as she tried to get a shoe onto Ziggy’s foot.
It was early evening.
The night nurse came to take care of Uncle Willy, and she, Ian, and Jack were going to have a movie night.
First, though, Jack was checking the perimeter while Ian made dinner for them all. And she had nothing to do but put different outfits on Ziggy. The knock at the door barely registered as she struggled to put some tiny shoes on Ziggy.
“Ratbum!” she muttered as her hand slipped. Ziggy dropped and the shoe went flying.
Smacking Jameson in the face.
Oh. Oops.
“Oh God, did I hurt you?” She shuffled over to the edge of the bed and stood, ignoring the twinge in her hip. “I’m so sorry. I’m such an idiot. Did it get you in the eye? Those suckers are small, but they’re well-made. Like proper shoes. Can you see okay?”
She peered up at him. He was gaping down at her. “Here, come with me. I’ll get you an ice pack.” She took his hand and tried to tug him to the bed.
“What are you doing?” he asked, sounding incredulous.
“I’m trying to get you to sit down so I can look after you. I have to go downstairs to get an ice pack. If you won’t sit, then at least stay there. Okay? Be right back.”
She turned toward the door, holding back a wince of pain. Shoot.
“Whoa. I don’t think so.” Jameson grabbed her shoulders to stop her.
She let out a yelp of surprise and he let go of her immediately, giving her a horrified look.
“My apologies. I didn’t mean to just grab you. Are you all right?”
Great. Now she had polite, distant Jameson. That made her want to tease him a bit. Ruffle him up.
“No! I don’t think I am! Oh! Ohhh!” She stumbled away, turning to face him.
His face was filled with horror. “Bloody hell! What’s wrong? Here, lie down.” Picking her up, he carried her to the bed. Then he grabbed his doctor’s bag. “Where does it hurt?”