Page 126 of Daddy's Wild Girl

Maybe she had never been with a Daddy before. Perhaps she was suppressing her Little side out of embarrassment. Or shame.

“I’ve used them,” she whispered. She crossed her arms over her chest, hunching her shoulders. “Buthedidn’t like it when I did.”

“Who? Who didn’t like it?”

“My . . . my Daddy. My ex-Daddy,” she added hastily, probably seeing the thunderous look on his face.

“Who was he?” he demanded.

She licked her lips, looking nervous. “It’s a bit of a story.”

“I don’t have anywhere else to be.”

“You need to get packed up and ready to go.”

“We have time and I don’t have much to pack. Tell me. If this is the bastard who has made you scared to get involved with me, then I have a right to know.”

He wasn’t wrong.

But she was finding it hard to get the words past her lips. She didn’t want to tell him about one of the worst times in her life.

She didn’t want him to see her differently.

“What if you don’t want me after I tell you this?” She wrung her hands together nervously.

He cupped his hands around hers, stilling them. “There is nothing you could tell me that would make me not want you.”

He said that, but . . .

“You won’t believe me until I show you I’m going nowhere. So tell me what happened and let me prove that nothing you could tell me would change that.”

She sucked in a long breath and let it out. This was the only way to know if he truly meant what he said. And at least he’d know that she meant it when she said she couldn’t be a Little again. Why she’d locked her away.

“After what happened with Ericc and my mother, I decided to get away for a while. I dipped into my trust fund and went overseas. I traveled around to places like Malaysia and Polynesia. And I know I come from a place of privilege in that I could afford to get away. Not everyone can. But I had to. I couldn’t stay around her anymore.”

She rubbed at her chest. Great, now thinking of her mother was giving her indigestion too.

“Bebe, I’m not judging you for needing to escape,” he soothed. “Anyone would in that situation.”

She breathed out a sigh of relief. “Right. Well, I tried to discover myself, I guess. What I saw over there . . . the people were so kind and welcoming. Some of them had nothing, but they were happy. I just . . . it changed the way I’d always thought about things. My mother was never happy unless she had more. More things, more money, more fame and power. I decided Ididn’t want to be like her or be in that world. What I wanted was to make a difference in other people’s lives, to help people.”

“That’s my baby. Always thinking of others.”

She swallowed heavily. “Am I? Sometimes I feel so selfish and stupid, so stupid.”

“Bebe,” he said sternly. “You’re not to call yourself stupid, understand me?”

“When I tell you the next part, you’ll think I am.”

“That is not true and I’m insulted you’d say that. I could never think you stupid. I promise you that.”

“Um, I hope you’re right.” She took in a deep breath. “I wanted to help people. Then I thought about what I was really good at and interested in. So, I thought I could become a social worker. I could start working here at home and maybe volunteer abroad as needed. I really thought I’d make a difference.”

God, she’d been so full of hope. For the first time in her life, it’d felt like she had a purpose.

“What happened? Why did you quit college?” he asked.

“Hehappened.”

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