Page 43 of Daddy's Wild Girl

“Jesus, Hayes.” Corbin ran his hand over his face. “You don’t really think that, do you?”

Hayes was silent. Then he shook his head. “Maybe before I met her. Before I got to know her. But she’s too . . . authentic. She works hard. She’s polite to people. She’s never once asked us to do anything for her, even when she fucking well should. So, nah, I don’t think that’s what’s going on. She’s not like they write about her on social media. But who believes that shit anyway?”

“Wait. You read social media?” Corbin gaped at Hayes.

“I’m not completely out of touch with what’s going on in the world, you know. I’m not a dinosaur.”

“Yeah, but you are an antisocial prick who hates most people.”

“What? I am not.”

“You growled at that sweet little old lady who stepped up close to you while you were looking at the cheese today.”

“Yeah, well, she needs to learn about personal space.”

“Uh-huh.” Corbin walked into the kitchen, finding it empty.

Strange. But he guessed Bebe must have gone upstairs to get changed or something.

Maybe she’s just a spoiled,lonely, little rich girl with mommy issues.

Ouch.

Ouch. Ouch. Ouch.

Bebe paced her bedroom, trying to push those words out of her mind.

But they just wouldn’t leave.

Spoiled.

Lonely.

Mommy issues.

The last one was true. She wouldn’t even bother to deny it. She had deep-rooted mommy issues, and she was certain if they knew about her life growing up with that woman, they wouldn’t blame her for those issues.

But as for the rest . . .

Bebe knew what most of the world thought of her. She’d seen the stuff about her on social media. She knew she shouldn’t look, but it was like a sickness. The more she tried not to look . . .

The harder it became to stop herself.

And once she started reading . . . well, she couldn’t stop.

However, she’d forced herself to build a thick skin. Those people online were strangers. All they knew was what they saw or read. So they couldn’t make an accurate assessment of her as a person.

Only people who knew her could do that.

Which is why it really hurt that Hayes thought that. Sure, they’d only known each other a week. But they were basically living together so it felt like they knew each other.

She hadn’t stuck around to hear anything else after that.

Face it . . . you just didn’t want to hear if Corbin agreed with him.

No. It was one thing for bossy, grouchy Hayes to think that. But it would completely destroy her if Corbin had agreed with him.

So she’d fled through the kitchen, then up the stairs to her bedroom.

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