So warm. Ivy rubbed her face against the lightly furry material. That didn’t feel like Lucky’s fur. Hairy sheets? She didn’t remember those from yesterday. Blinking her eyes open, Ivy stared down into deep brown eyes that crinkled with amusement.
“Are you blowing your nose on me, Little girl?”
“No,” she answered, horrified that he would even suspect that. His chuckles shook her body and only then did she realize she’d draped herself over his hard frame.
“Oh! I’m sorry.” Ivy wiggled toward the side to slide off him, but Steele’s hands spanned over her back, holding her in place. “Steele. Let go!”
“I like you here, Little girl. You fit perfectly.” He flexed his hips upward slightly to press his thick erection against her.
“Oh!”
“I think you should call me something different now, Little girl,” he reminded her.
“Daddy?” she guessed, still trying to figure out how to slide off.
“Exactly. I’m glad you agree,” Steele said, finalizing their pact.
“Wait! You want me to call you Daddy… Like all the time?”
“Yes, Little girl. You’ve used it before, but now we’ll make it official. There will be times you’ll use my legal name because you want to avoid conflicts with others who wouldn’t understand. Like at the bank, for example.”
An image of her racing across the lobby with widespread arms, calling Daddy, flashed into her mind. “That would definitely not be appropriate if I want to keep my job.”
“Probably not, but we don’t need to worry about the bank now.”
“I know I’m not irreplaceable, but they have to be scrambling without me to make the schedule and approve all the upper-level accounts.” Her mind churned with all the small and big jobs she did every day. Who was taking all this on? The bank president was not the type of person to roll up his cuffs voluntarily to help.
“What’s two hundred and forty-seven plus eleven hundred minus seventy-nine?” Steele asked.
The numbers rattled around in her brain, and what would have been ten seconds max for her to solve seemed unsurmountable. “I don’t know,” she whispered. “How can I not know?”
His hand smoothed over her back as the other lifted to cup the uninjured side of her head. “You banged yourself up pretty badly, Little girl. You have to give yourself time to heal. That’s why the doc doesn’t want you to go back to work.”
“I should have just stayed still in that dumpster and waited for them to come back and get me. I hurt myself for no reason.”
“What do you think they would have done if all the Shadowridge Guardians would have been at their bikes when they returned? Would they have waltzed up to the dumpster and retrieved you or driven past, maybe trying again later? How many times would they have stopped back to get you?”
She looked at him and shook her head. Those guys would have given up on her quickly. Whatever they’d thought she could do for them, they wouldn’t have risked getting caught—and they sure hadn’t cared what happened to her.
“You were fucking brilliant to figure out a way to get people’s attention and not lay there accepting your fate as someone’s victim. You always fight back when your life is at risk. Even if you’re hurt, you never give up.”
“I’m not brave like you. I should have fought harder when they first attacked me. There wasn’t much I could do tied up and wrapped in that bag.”
“There were three of them and one of you. You survived to fight another day. I’m damn proud of you.”
“You are? But I didn’t escape. You had to save me.”
“We can all use someone in our corner. I’m glad to have the Guardians behind me as well. I’m also glad to have one scrappy Little on my side.”
“Thanks, Daddy.” She deliberately used the name he preferred and loved the effect it had on Steele.
He cradled her head in one hand and turned their bodies to reverse their positions. Looking down to meet her gaze directly, Steele demanded, “Say it again.”
“Yes, Daddy,” Ivy said with a bit more ease. She enjoyed making Steele happy.
“Damn, Little girl. I was never going to let you go before, but now…”
“I’ll have to go back to my real life some time, St… Um, Daddy.” She made a face when she bobbled, using the right name.
“It will get more familiar, Ivy girl.” He brushed the hair from her face tenderly to not touch her bruising. “We’ll need to adjust a few things. You live on the other side of town.”
“Yeah, it’s a little quieter there. That’s good after working in the hustle and bustle of the bank, but lonely at other times.”
“Sounds like you need a companion,” he suggested, raising his eyebrows suggestively.
She swallowed hard and admitted, “I don’t know if my neighbors are going to approve of a motorcycle gang boyfriend.”
“First off, the Shadowridge Guardians are not a gang. We’re a motorcycle club. We aren’t thugs or criminals… Well, no one is now. Some have a shady past, but they’ve changed their priorities.”
“But you all look like a gang,” Ivy suggested.
“We look like a motorcycle club. I’ll save an old lady’s cat, fix someone else’s kitchen sink, and change a teenager’s tire. Then your snooty neighbors won’t look down on my bike and tattoos.”
“I don’t mean there’s anything wrong with you. I know you’re a good guy. You just don’t wear khakis and a button-down shirt.” An image of his muscular body hiding under yards of fabric, with his tattoos peeking out, popped into her mind. Yeah, he’d look good even in that.
“Don’t even consider it, Little girl. That’s one thing that won’t ever happen,” Steele told her in a definite tone that brooked no argument.
‘I could get a dog.”
“You’re not replacing me with a fucking dog, Little girl.”
“No! I didn’t mean that!”
“That reassuring,” he said with twitching lips, cluing Ivy in that he was trying not to laugh.
“Do you always stay here?” she asked.
“I do. We could live here. It’s not fancy. I like to be here in case the club needs me.”
“All your friends are here. It’s safe.”
“We’ll stay here until they catch whoever targeted you. Then we’ll make the tough decision.”
“We’ll stay together?” she asked, studying his face. Ivy didn’t know how she knew he was the man she’d hoped to find. They just clicked together.
“I’m never letting you go, Little girl.”
“Okay, Daddy. Wow! That does get easier,” she marveled before adding, “Daddy? I have to pee.”
“Go, Emerald Eyes. It’s time to get up. Start thinking about how we can make love without rattling your head,” he said, easing off and allowing Ivy to scoot off the mattress.
“Make love?” she echoed before squeezing her legs together and running for the bathroom.
By the time she and her red-hot cheeks emerged from the bathroom, Steele was already up and easing his jeans closed over his morning erection. That didn’t help her blush at all. She froze in the doorway.
“Come on, big eyes. Let’s get you dressed and grab some breakfast. Got anything you’d like to do while I work today?”
“I wish I had my phone,” she mumbled, trying to say something as he stalked forward. The view of his bare chest just kept getting better with each step he took.
“No electronics.”
“Maybe the doctor didn’t mean for a full week. A glance couldn’t hurt,” she suggested.
“No electronics, Little girl.”
His commanding tone made her bristle. “You know, you really don’t get to make all the rules.”
“The doctor set out that rule. I’m just enforcing it,” Steele corrected as he halted in front of her. His gaze fixed on her face, and Ivy knew he watched her reaction closely.
“Fine. I’d like to go get my car today. I have an extra set of keys at my house. Maybe Carlee or Remi could take me over there.”
“I’ll drive you after work. There are still guys out there who threatened you. I’ll call the police today to check on the progress of picking them up. Until they find them or I find them, you’ll have a Shadowridge Guardian escort.”
At the mere mention of the guys who had attacked her, Ivy’s rebellion evaporated. “Surely they’ve given up now.”
When he didn’t answer, Ivy whispered, “Why did they target me?”
“I don’t know, Little girl, but they made a huge mistake.”
“Maybe I don’t want my car,” she said.
“It shouldn’t sit in the parking lot. We’ll go get it this evening and bring it to the compound.”
“Okay.”
“Let’s get you dressed. As cute as you look in my shirt, I think you’ll be more comfortable in a few more layers.”
With no fuss, Steele helped her dress. When she was ready, he steered her into the bathroom and carefully brushed her hair. Ivy had avoided taming her wild tresses because of the bruising on one side of her head. Steele was patient and finessed all the snarls and tangles away.
“That feels so much better,” she sighed gratefully.
“I’m glad. I won’t braid it or put it into a ponytail like you usually wear it until your scalp is less sore.”
“How do you know I usually wear a ponytail?”
“That’s how you’d styled your hair before being wrapped in a sack.”
“You are very observant,” she wryly commented.
“Some people are that important. Let’s go.”
When she resisted, Steele turned to look at her. “What’s wrong, Little girl?”
“I need something to do. I can’t just hang around all day—I’ll go batty.”
“Let’s stop at the play area. Maybe you’ll find something there to help pass the time.”
“There’s a play area. You mean like for kids?” she asked skeptically.
“Don’t knock it until you look. You can also learn how to work on a bike if you’d like. One of the guys will let you help them with a simple job.”
“I’m not very mechanical.”
“Faust will teach you,” Steele assured her.
“Isn’t he the guy that’s always mad?” she asked nervously.
“He’s a good guy. I can always depend on him. You can, too.”
“O-Okay.”