Total pages in book: 145
Estimated words: 146666 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 733(@200wpm)___ 587(@250wpm)___ 489(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 146666 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 733(@200wpm)___ 587(@250wpm)___ 489(@300wpm)
His face was filled with fear as he spotted her.
“Baby!” He rushed over and drew her into his arms, hugging her tight.
Shit. Was he shaking?
“I’m all right,” she told him, guilt filing her. She wrapped herself around him. “I’m fine.”
“I was driving home when I got the alert that the fire alarm had gone off. I thought it might have gone off by mistake, but then, you didn’t answer the phone. Shit, baby. Shit.”
“I’m so sorry.” She jumped and he caught her up against him, his arm under her ass. “It was the lasagna. I forgot about it and it caught fire.”
“On fire?”
“Well, I didn’t see flames, but when I opened the oven door, there was lots of smoke.”
Her adrenaline spike was starting to fade, leaving her feeling shaky and ill. She buried her face in his neck, soothing herself with his scent.
“Daddy,” she sniffled.
“Baby. Shit. Did you breathe in the smoke?”
“Just a bit. I’m okay, really. I ran outside.”
“You did right, baby.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t answer the phone.”
“No, no. In a fire you get straight out. Don’t go wasting time looking for your phone or anything else. You did the right thing.”
Right. So why did she feel so bad?
Maybe because you scared him half to death and nearly burned his house down.
“I’m so sorry, I wrecked your house,” she cried.
“No, you didn’t. Shh.”
“I’m so sorry.” Shoot.
Get it together, Greer.
“Come on. I need to check you over and turn off the alarm. Wait here.” He put her down and looked her over. “Shit, you don’t have any clothes on.” He drew off his jacket, then picked her back up.
“Wally worm! He’s inside.”
“I’ll get him. You come sit in the truck. I’ll turn the heated seats on.”
“I love heated seats.”
Two hours later, Hack sat on his bed with a sigh. He felt exhausted. After getting the alarm shut off, he’d tried to air out the place. But the kitchen stunk of smoke. He might have to get the place professionally cleaned.
Luckily, his bedroom door had been shut, so they should be able to sleep okay tonight.
Fuck. He’d been so fucking worried when he’d gotten that alert. He’d been so scared that he’d arrive to find the house on fire with Greer inside.
She was currently in the bath. He’d just taken a shower in his bathroom and gotten changed into sweatpants and a T-shirt. He should go and see how she was doing.
Yeah, because that’s why you want to see her. It’s not because you need to be with her.
He walked over to the bathroom across the hall that had the bath. He knocked on the door.
“Greer?”
No answer. He frowned, worry filling him. He’d checked her over, but what if he’d missed something? What if she’d fallen and hit her head? “Baby, I’m coming in now.”
He opened the door slowly so she could protest if she needed to. Only to find the bathroom empty.
His heart skipped a beat. Where the hell had she gone?
“Swear to God, I’m going to put a tracker on that girl. Greer? Greer!”
He stomped through the house to find her on the kitchen floor . . . scrubbing it.
“Greer?” he asked softly, his anger disappearing at her almost frenzied cleaning.
“Oh, were you calling me?” She was dressed white and blue striped pajamas that had ladybugs all over them.
She would have looked adorable if it wasn’t for the stress visible on her face.
“Yes, I was.” He crouched down next to her. “What are you doing, Ladybug?”
She gave him a confused look. “Cleaning.”
“I can see that, but why?”
“Because I made a mess. I’ve got to make it right. I’ve got to clean it up.”
“Hey. Hey, stop. Please.”
She kept scrubbing.
Hack studied her for a moment. Maybe he needed to be mindful of her state of mind, but he couldn’t handle this. “Greer, stop. Right now.”
She froze, then looked at him. “But I have to clean it up.”
“There’s nothing to clean, baby.”
“It still smells.”
“Yeah, and that’s likely in the drapes. Maybe the carpets.”
“I should clean those. Right. Silly Greer. Idiot.” She smacked her hand against the floor.
“Whoa. Absolutely not,” he said sternly. Standing he reached down and picked her up.
“Hey!”
He set her down on the kitchen counter. “You are not to hurt yourself. You have a safeword for when everything gets overwhelming. And you’re not to speak badly of yourself either.”
“Oh. I didn’t mean to . . . it didn’t really hurt.” But there was a guilty look on her face. “Are you going to punish me now?”
He gave her a surprised look. “Right now?” Sure, he’d been going to spank her when he got home for not calling him immediately after her run-in with that asshole.
But no fucking way was he punishing her when she was so obviously upset.
“Yes. Right now. I deserve a big punishment. I was so naughty.”
“How were you naughty?”