Page 13 of Daddy's Little Survivor

He watched out of the corner of his eye as she got up from the couch. He didn’t want her to pass out and hit her head on anything.

Walking toward the bathroom, he slowed his pace when he realized Monroe was having a hard time keeping up. He had completely forgotten she was hurt and probably didn’t have a lot of energy right now.

“Sorry about that. No one else has lived here with me,” he said as he walked into the bathroom.

She looked at him confused but didn’t say anything.

“Here’s the shower. If you want to take a bath, you’ll just pull this little lever and it’ll stop the water from draining. There’s shampoo and body wash on the sides but if you need anything else, it’s under the sink. I have bubbles and some other feminine stuff if you need it,” he said. “No one else but my friend's Li-, I mean girlfriend, has used it and that was several months ago. She gets messy when she comes over with her boyfriend.”

Michael didn’t know why he explained that when he didn’t have to. He didn’t have to tell her why he had some feminine smelling shampoo, lotion, and feminine products, but he wanted to. It was almost like he wanted to reassure her he didn’t have anyone else in his life, that he was available.

He stopped himself from scoffing out loud. He was available and had been for years. But he didn't think she would be ready for any type of relationship for a while.

“If you want me to help you take a bath, I can,” Michael said before he could stop himself.

The Daddy inside him wanted to demand that he help her. He wanted her to relax while he took care of her so she didn’t have to lift a finger.

Monroe blushed, quickly shook her head, and looked down at her feet.

“Sorry. I keep saying things I should keep to myself,” he softly said. “Promise I’ll try my hardest to not do it again.”

He wanted to promise he wouldn’t for sure do it again, but he couldn’t do that. He knew he was going to do it again because her body language just screamed at the Daddy inside him.

“Are you allergic to anything?” he asked as he walked toward the bathroom door.

“Oranges,” she whispered.

“How allergic are you? I just want to make sure so if I need to get an EpiPen, I can, or if I need to have Benadryl on me.”

“Hives and swelling.”

“Does Benadryl normally help or what do you do?”

“I think Benadryl works fine.”

Michael didn’t like the ‘think’ in her sentence. Did she not know or had it been a while?

“Thank you. You can leave the clothes in the bathroom and I’ll wash them. When you’re done, you can come to the kitchen and I’ll feed you,” he said and closed the door behind him.

He made his way to the kitchen and pulled out chicken nuggets from the freezer. Michael had these on hand for whenever Charlotte and Finn came over. It wasn’t often, but he’d made the mistake of not having them the first time and she threw a temper tantrum. It hadn’t ended well for her.

Placing them in the oven, he grabbed some baby carrots and placed them on a plate. A princess and bunny plate.

Michael couldn’t remember where he even got these plates, but he was thankful for them now. The way Monroe’s eyes lit up when she saw the cup melted his heart. He would give her anything to get that look again.

Just as he was pulling the chicken nuggets out of the oven, he heard her small footsteps coming toward the kitchen. He turned around right as she walked into the kitchen and his jaw dropped.

Even with the bruises and small cuts, she was absolutely breathtaking.

CHAPTER SEVEN

MONROE

So many thoughts had run through her head as she took a lukewarm shower. Monroe had wanted to take a hot shower like she normally did, but she didn’t want to pass out and have Michael need to come into the bathroom.

She wanted to avoid being seen naked with all the bruises, scars, and cuts that littered her body. It was probably best that he had told her not to take a scalding hot shower anyway, because that would really have hurt her cuts. She might even have screamed in pain and that would have been bad. The lukewarm water didn’t hurt her cuts, but after being in the shower for a while, it started to irritate them.

Monroe knew she needed to get them cleaned because she didn’t want them to get infected. She had no clue if he had looked at them closer to see if they needed to be cleaned or not. She wasn’t going to ask him or mention them.

---