Page 108 of Daddy's Naughty List

She hadn’t made any attempt to get in touch with him in the two months she’d been back. She had to know he’d been keeping tabs on her for the past eleven months as best he could. Then again, he had no way of knowing if her manipulative dick of a father had told her. Either way, he wanted to be prepared in case she was visiting with Winnie.

Being prepared was important. It was the only way to keep himself under control. He’d blown that to hell and back the last time they’d been together. He still couldn’t believe how he’d taken her virginity after knowing her for only a few hours. Something about her got to him.

Not that he hadn’t studied her since she first showed up in Darling. He gathered every piece of information he could get his hands on about Belissa Jayne Carpenter. Starting with the fact that her father hadn’t given her his last name because, in the Society, only male children were considered worthy of their father’s name. Bliss had kept her mother’s name the same as Winnie had.

His cellphone rang and the tone let him know it was Reid before he even looked at his screen. Everyone had their own ringtone so he knew who he was dealing with before the conversation started. No surprises. That was his goal in life.

“I know I’m running late. I’m seven minutes out.”

“I hate it when you do that shit,” Reid growled through the phone. “Just say hello like the rest of us. And hurry up, we’ve got shit to cover and Hutch is antsy to leave. Something about getting to Georgia before she joins some women’s roller derby team she had on her bucket list.”

Connor shook his head. Hutch needed to keep his Little girl on a tighter leash. That was the only way he was ever going to keep her from pulling all the shenanigans she seemed to live for. They seemed to both get something out of it but hell if Connor knew what. Her unpredictability would drive him insane. He loved Georgia to death, as long as he didn’t have to keep up with her. Truth was, he felt that way about most of his brothers’ Little girls. That and more than a small amount of envy.

No one could deny they all walked around smiling a lot more than they used to. He was ready to have someone to smile about. He’d thought he’d be smiling about Bliss, but then she arrived back in Darling two months ago, pregnant and with twin girls. She’d given birth to Nori a month later making the number increase to three.

Three. Babies.

She’d said something about loving kids after they’d made love that night in Vegas. He’d been so dog-tired he could barely stay awake. He’d passed out while she was talking. He felt like a dick the next morning. He’d planned on talking to her about it more on the drive back to Darling, but she’d pulled a Houdini act on him.

Yeah, they’d be having words about that when he saw her again. He’d almost had a heart attack when he’d gotten back from grabbing some boxes of cereal and milk from the hotel office only to find the room empty. His grip tightened on the steering wheel at the memory. If he’d been able to get his hands on her then, she’d have had a hard time sitting comfortably on the long drive home to Darling. He still had no idea how she’d managed to lose him so fast, and on foot.

Reid wasn’t done. “This might be a lot to ask but I need you to keep an eye out for Bliss on your way. She was supposed to be here almost an hour ago to pick up Nori and the twins, but she hasn’t made it. We’ve tried to call, but her phone goes straight to voicemail. Winnie’s worried.”

Connor’s heart rate kicked up a notch. Winnie wasn’t the only one worried. Reid’s voice was tight. What was Bliss thinking? She should know better than to turn her phone off. After everything Bliss had gone through the past year, of course Winnie would be worried. Bliss could be impulsive, but he’d never considered her thoughtless.

“I’m sure she’s fine.” Probably. But with the Society and now the Lawless Warriors MC added in, he couldn’t be sure. “I’ll keep an eye out. Did you call Ivy?”

“Of course I called Ivy. Do you think I wouldn’t call her boss? The daycare line goes to voicemail and if she has a personal number, it’s unlisted. I’ve got Sawyer working on it. She probably had to stop for some diapers or shit but keep an eye out just in case.”

“You got it.” Connor disconnected, scanning the area for her car. Nothing.

Bliss was fine. She had to be. He wasn’t ready to explore why her safety and wellbeing was so important to him. It just was. It always had been. Something about her had called to him from the first time he’d seen her wandering the streets of Darling in one of those ridiculous robes the Society made their disciples wear.

She’d been handing out tracts, smiling at people, and being way too friendly. Did she have no idea how gorgeous she was? One dude walking past her stared at her so long he ran into a streetlight. What an idiot. She didn’t seem to notice the effect she had on people.

If she’d been his, he’d have been standing at her side to let people know she was taken. And when he got her home, he’d have had her bent over the back of the sofa to spank her ass for being so damn beautiful before fucking her senseless for the same reason.

She was still beautiful. She hadn’t seen him since she’d been back, but he’d seen her. She hadn’t changed at all. With a baby in her belly, she’d glowed. She still got to him, same as always, but now she had her girls to take care of.

He rolled his neck and scanned the countryside again.

His first thought after seeing Bliss’s newborn was to question if the child was his. No one else knew that because no one else knew how he lost control and royally fucked up by making love to his client. Logically he shouldn’t wish that baby was his, but he did. He longed to have children, to plant all the babies in Bliss’s belly she wanted. But he knew what having a shit father could do to a child, and since that was all he’d ever had, he wasn’t about to repeat the mistake and ruin an innocent child’s life.

That was why control was everything. He might he struggling to control his emotions when it came to Bliss, but he could damn sure control his actions. He turned the classical music up. Merry damn Christmas.

Bliss

Bliss sat in the middle of the road staring at her shredded tire and tried not to lose every stinking ounce of her holiday spirit. She’d always heard bad things came in threes. Somehow her luck had missed the memo. Glancing at the phone in her hand, she resisted the urge to throw it as far as she could. She would have, too, if it wasn’t her one remaining source of sanity.

Then Mary Poppins whispered in her right ear.Just wait for your spoon full of sugar to help this medicine go down.

Bliss straightened her back. Mary was right. Mary was always right. That’s why she sat on Bliss’s right shoulder. Not big Mary Poppins, of course. But a tiny Mary Poppins sat on her shoulder encouraging her to make wise choices.

Miranda Lambert chirped in Bliss’s left ear.Well, you know what I say, soak that tire in kerosene, light it up, and watch it burn.

Most people had good angels and bad angels sitting on their shoulders. Bliss was no different, it was just that her angels were Mary Poppins and Miranda Lambert. They gave her advice all the time, mostly in song lyrics. This time, she’d better go with Mary’s advice.

She glanced down at Tipper, Tipsy for short, her lynx stuffie. Winnie had given Tipsy to her before she escaped from the Society when Bliss was fifteen. It had been Bliss’s only connection to her sister, and she’d kept her all this time. Now Tipsy entertained Sadie and Sophie while she took care of her Nori.

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