Sheriff Daddy (Montana Daddies Book 10) by Laylah Roberts (top 10 novels to read .TXT) 📕

over at the fireplace and empty wood box. Ed was on the phone. Poor guy had been talking to someone for close to an hour.

If she was any good at cooking, she’d start dinner. But that was likely to end up in a fire or food poisoning. She’d made a fresh batch of coffee and quickly gulped one down. That was likely to get her into trouble considering that was coffee number three for the day.

Since she’d come to stay with him five days ago, she’d stopped having those crazy heart palpitations. Her stress levels were definitely lower. All due to Ed’s care and attention. She’d been spending more time in Little space.

But there was still something niggling at her.

He hadn’t fucked her. They’d played around. Had fun. But no fucking.

He said you have to ask for what you want.

But that was harder than it sounded.

You just need to be brave, Georgina.

With a sigh, she moved to the sliding door. She couldn’t start dinner. But she could bring in some firewood before the storm hit.

Putting in the code to turn off the alarm, she walked outside. As she headed towards the woodshed, she spotted a dead rose lying on the ground. A weird feeling came over her. Like someone was watching her. She stared around, but there was nothing out there. Probably some animal.

Shrugging it off, she headed into the woodshed.

That had taken him much longer than he’d expected. Now there was another storm coming in and he had to get in some firewood and get dinner started.

“Georgie-girl, sorry about that,” he said as he walked into the living room.

An empty living room.

He glanced around. The sliding door slightly open. What the hell? Why was the door open? Shit, had someone taken her? No, he would have heard. There was no sign of a fight. And the alarm hadn’t gone off. She had to have turned it off and gone outside. He moved to the sliding door then looked out. The wind was picking up and a dead rose tumbled across the ground in front of him.

Maybe there was a wild rose bush or something somewhere around here. Because that was twice now he’d seen one.

He moved his gaze around the backyard. The water of the lake was starting to chop up. Where was she? The door to the woodshed slammed shut. He always secured that.

Was she in the woodshed?

That brat.

Oh Lord.

She hadn’t really thought this through.

She had no idea if all woodsheds were like this. Dark. Dirty.

Behind her, the door to the woodshed slammed closed, surrounding her in darkness. Oh heck. Oh no. Hastily, she picked up a couple of pieces of wood and then raced towards the door. It opened suddenly. She screamed as she bounced into the huge person looming in the doorway.

They grabbed her arms, stopping her from falling. But the wood fell from her arms, one log slamming into her toes.

“Ow! Owie! Ouch!”

“Shit, Georgie. Did you hurt yourself? Damn it!”

Relief filled her as she realized it was Ed.

“Where are you hurt?” he demanded.

“I’m okay,” she told him. “It just landed on my toes.”

He swooped her up into his arms and she wrapped her arms around his neck, knowing better than to protest.

Once they were inside, he deposited her on the kitchen counter. Silently, he took off her shoes and socks then examined her toes. She tried to bend over to see how bad the injury was. Surely, it was terrible considering how much it hurt.

She leaned forward so far that she would have slid right off the counter if he hadn’t grabbed her.

“Easy. Just stay still. Wiggle your toes.”

She wriggled them, trying not to wince.

“Not broken at least. But they do look red and swollen. I’m going to call Xavier.” He picked up his phone.

“No, wait. They’re not broken. Just a little bruised. There’s no reason to bother Xavier. It’s not like he could do anything, even if they were broken.”

He seemed to be grinding his teeth together. Her own teeth ached in sympathy. Poor Ed, was she increasing his stress levels?

“Daddy, I’m fine,” she said gently.

Thankfully, he set the phone down then went to the freezer and pulled out an ice pack. He wrapped it in a clean towel then moved back around the counter and picked her up, carrying her to the sofa.

Gently, he laid her down. Grabbing a cushion, he put it under her foot then the ice pack on top.

Why wasn’t he saying anything? He was being suspiciously quiet. Shouldn’t he be scolding her?

“Daddy? You okay?”

There was a muscle ticking at the side of his jaw.

“Daddy?” He was starting to worry her now.

“No. I’m not fine. What were you doing?”

“Um, well, I was trying to get in some wood. The wood box is empty.” She waved her hand over it. “And there’s a storm coming in.”

More teeth grinding. “You do not bring the wood in. You do not go outside on your own when there is a storm coming in.”

“Don’t you think you’re overreacting?” She moved her foot around. That was getting really cold.

Suddenly, he stood and loomed over her, one hand was on the back of the sofa. The other was on the arm of the sofa behind her back.

Uh-oh. There was ‘the Ed look’.

“No, I don’t think I’m overreacting. You could have gotten hurt. You did get hurt!”

“It’s just a bruised toe. It will be fine in an hour or so.”

“If only the same could be said for your butt, my girl.”

Her mouth dropped open. “You can’t spank me for this.”

He stood up, his arms crossed over his chest. “What is your rule about putting yourself in danger?”

“But I wasn’t in danger. I was getting the wood in!”

“You got hurt! It could have been worse. What if some of the wood pile had fallen on you? What if it had knocked you over and you’d hit your head?”

“Does that happen often? The wood pile falling over?”

“No, but it doesn’t mean it couldn’t happen.”

“Ed, I wasn’t