Page 34 of Daddy's Wild Girl

“Bob was an unknown to me,” he told her. “Which meant that I had no idea whether he was a threat or not . . . to you. Do you know what my job is?”

“Um, to protect me?” she asked.

“Yes. I am here to protect you. Which means that anytime I stand between you and an unknown threat. You do not step around me when I put you behind me.”

“But you didn’t see the instructors as a threat yesterday. And when I was shopping with Hayes yesterday, he didn’t look at everyone like they were a threat!”

“Did any of them approach you?” he asked.

“Well, no. But what does that matter?”

“None of those people triggered our instincts. And it doesn’t matter if they’re an actual threat or simply a perceived one. A strange man approached you. I assessed that he could be a threat and stepped in front of you to ensure you were safe, yet you moved. You need to stay where you’re put.”

He did not just say that.

Bebe waited for him to take it back, but he was too busy heaving for breath.

“Fine,” she said in a curt voice. “I’ll stay where I’m put even when I know the person you think is a threat isn’t one. Happy, now?”

He closed his eyes and breathed in deeply. “Nope.”

“Makes two of us.” Standing, she stepped past him. “Guess I’ll just go and call some contractors about my back porch since I’m also not allowed to stand on that.”

Fuck.

Corbin sat in her chair after she left the room, placing his elbows on the table. He rested his head in his hands, breathing in slow and deep.

Why had he done that?

He’d overreacted. He’d acted like an idiot.

And worse, he’d upset her.

She had every right to be mad at him.

“Everything okay?” Hayes asked.

Corbin didn’t even look up. He simply shook his head. “Not exactly. I overreacted. This guy approached us. He looked rough, not like someone she would know, and I saw him as a threat. I made an assumption based on his appearance. And then I got mad at her for stepping around me and getting between me and him.”

“I mean, it seems to me like you’re right to be upset at her. If you told her to stay still, then she should have. She knows the deal.”

“Yeah, but she did greet him, so I probably didn’t need to go as far as I did.”

“Ahh,” Hayes replied. “And now you’re beating yourself up for overreacting?”

“Yeah. She’s upset at me.”

“Would you have made that judgment if she was someone else?”

“What?” he asked

“If she was another client, would you have done the same thing?”

Corbin had to take a moment to think that over. “I mean, I would have had a chat with them, but I’m not sure that I would have started pacing or kind of dragged them inside to lecture them.”

Hayes nodded as Corbin glanced over at him. The other man was leaning in the doorway, looking thoughtful. “You’re protective of her. But you’ve only known her a day.”

“I know. I need to step back.” He heaved out a breath. “Man, I even told her that she can’t walk on her back porch as it doesn’t seem safe. And that she had to get a real contractor to look at it.”

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