Total pages in book: 184
Estimated words: 188108 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 941(@200wpm)___ 752(@250wpm)___ 627(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 188108 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 941(@200wpm)___ 752(@250wpm)___ 627(@300wpm)
“You’re so tired, aren’t you, Little one?” he crooned. “Let’s brush your teeth and then you can go to bed.”
“I don’ts gots a toothbrush,” she muttered.
Wait. Had she just said gots?
That was strange. Was she slurring her words? It must be the fatigue.
“Sorry. I meant I don’t have a toothbrush.”
“I know what you meant. It’s all right if your Little slips out. Daddy doesn’t mind. In fact, I would encourage it.”
Was that what had happened? And she hadn’t even realized it?
Wow.
“And you don’t have to worry about anything. Because Daddy has it all sorted,” he said soothingly.
He picked her up, putting her on his hip. It was a strange position to be in. Weirdly, she felt kind of shy so she followed her instinct and buried her face into his chest.
“That’s it, Little one. Just do what feels good to you.” He set her on the counter, and she let out a small protest, reaching for him.
Wait.
What was she doing?
Dear. Lord. She was acting so needy.
“Sorry,” she said, pulling back on that part of her that wanted to cling to him like a baby monkey clinging to its mama.
Salem gently tilted her face back. “There’s no need to be sorry. I like you holding onto me. But I just need to brush your teeth and your hair.”
Her hair?
Urgh, yeah. No doubt it was a wild mess.
He crouched down and drew out a toothbrush still in its packaging.
Oh. They were well prepared.
It made her wonder how many women had slept in this room.
Don’t think like that.
They’re allowed to have pasts.
And it can’t have been anyone of significance since there were no women listed in any of her information packs about them.
He would have tried to exploit that angle if he could have.
“Evette keeps all of the bathrooms stocked with the essentials in case we have visitors,” Salem told her. “You’re the first visitor I think we’ve ever had, though. Probably just as well, Alexei would likely scare away anyone who came to stay.”
She could see that.
Relief filled her to know that they didn’t have overnight visitors.
He put some toothpaste on the toothbrush, then held it up. Tamsyn reached out to grab it, but he pushed her hand away.
“I didn’t say you were going to be brushing your teeth, did I?” he told her. “Open up.”
Her eyes grew wide in surprise. “Um, I—”
Before she could fully question him, he’d pushed the toothbrush into her mouth and was brushing. She opened her mouth out of habit and he continued to brush her teeth.
This was nuts.
She’d gone from doing everything herself to basically doing nothing.
Well. She guessed she should be grateful that he’d let her pee on her own.
Don’t say anything or he might try to help you next time.
“Spit.”
God.
Turning her head, she spat into the sink.
“Open again.”
“Salem, I can—”
“Nope.” He placed the toothbrush back in her mouth and started brushing again.
Sheesh.
How dirty did he think her teeth were?
“Spit,” he said after pulling the toothbrush out of her mouth. She spat and he filled up a glass with some water and held it to her lips. “Rinse.”
Tamsyn gave him a disgruntled look but took a sip and rinsed her mouth out.
Then he took the glass before patting her mouth with a cloth.
“I can brush my own teeth, you know.”
“I assumed so since they’re not all rotten,” he replied calmly. “But why do it when I can and I’m happy to? In fact, I almost need to.”
He needed to clean her teeth?
Weird kink but she supposed she couldn’t argue with it. Everyone had things they liked that might not be everyone’s cup of tea.
No need to yuck on someone else’s yum.
He crouched down again and came up with a hairbrush and some ties.
“Evette really stocks the bathrooms with hair products?” she asked. She’d seen them during her snooping, but she’d been unsure what to think.
“Yep.”
He lifted her off the counter and carried her into the bedroom.
“My legs work okay.”
“I know that. Again, it isn’t about what you can do. It’s about what I need to do. Does it upset you to have me take care of you?” he asked as he set her down on the bed.
“No,” she whispered. “It doesn’t.”
Quite the opposite in fact.
“Good.” He drew back the covers. “Get into bed, Little one. I’ll sit behind you and do your hair, but you should get comfy. It could take a while.”
Wincing, she reached up to feel her hair.
Oh yeah.
It was in a bad state.
But she decided it was a waste of time to question him. This seemed to be something he enjoyed doing.
So she got under the covers and he settled in behind her to brush her hair. Reaching over, he grabbed a remote from the bedside table, turning on a kids’ cartoon about some dogs. It was set in Australia.
“Oh, I’ve seen some things about this show, but I’ve never watched it,” she said.