Page 48 of Daddy's Wild Girl

But also, not really his business.

As he walked downstairs, he received an alert that the alarm had been deactivated.

Was she going somewhere?

Heart racing, he moved faster. He looked around the first floor for her and was just about to call for Hayes when he noticed the door off the kitchen that led to the back porch was slightly ajar.

Had she gone onto the back porch? The contractor she’d gotten had said they could safely walk on it, but it would need replacing in a year or two.

Heading out onto the porch, he looked around worriedly.

“Bebe?” he called out into the dark. Sunrise was around six-thirty here so it was starting to grow lighter, but he still couldn’t see her. “Are you out here?”

No reply.

Shit.

Why the hell would she have left the house without telling them?

Wait. The air changed. He could feel it. She was here. Then he heard a rustle. A creak of the roof.

“I’m up here.”

Up here?

Stepping farther out onto the porch, he turned and looked up.

To where she sat.

On. The. Freaking. Roof.

Corbin adjusted his glasses, certain he must be seeing things.

What the heck did she think she was doing? Had she even had that roof checked? Was it safe to sit on?

“Don’t move,” he barked.

Fuck. He hadn’t meant to sound that harsh, but his heart was racing in fear.

She seemed to freeze. “What is it? Do I have a spider on me? I have a spider on me, don’t I? Or is there something behind me?Oh God. What is it? A pigeon? Is it a pigeon? I hate those things. They’re so darn evil.”

“Bebe, just hush,” he said firmly. “There’s no spider or pigeon.”

Well, he hoped there wasn’t. He couldn’t actually see if there was or not.

“Then what’s wrong?” she asked, sounding genuinely confused.

“What’s wrong is that you’re sitting on a roof that you don’t know can support your weight.”

“Oh, I know it can.”

“You do?” he asked in surprise. “How?”

“I’m sitting on it, aren’t I?”

He didn’t . . . he couldn’t . . . what did he even say to that?

“Bebe, that doesn’t mean that the roof can support you! It just means that it hasn’t collapsed yet!”