Page 182 of Daddy's Naughty List

Tami and Archer had met her at the urgent care. She hadn’t wanted to go, but Tami had insisted. The dog that bit her had all its shots, thank goodness. Tami always made sure of that. It had been that kid’s fault. If the housekeeper’s five-year-old hadn’t pulled Mister’s tail, the sweet dog would have never chomped down on her upper arm.

Tami had a zero-tolerance policy. They would never clean that yard again because the dog couldn’t be trusted. Melissa had tried to convince her the kid should be banned, but that hadn’t worked. Tami knew the family would slack on keeping the child indoors after a short time.

Melissa looked at the next keyhole and sighed. This was going to take forever. She heard a whistle and swapped the keys over to her right hand. Gritting her teeth, she opened the locks as quickly as possible, ignoring the pain.

Her new next-door neighbor made her uneasy. She’d just opened her door when he reached their level. Melissa waved before snatching the grocery bag off the handle and rushing inside.

She ignored the “Hey! Wait!” and hurriedly closed the door and locked it. Looking down at the mangled bag, Melissa sighed. It looked like she’d eat smashed peanut butter sandwiches for a while.

Her eyes landed on the clock. Six-ten. She’d missed her date. Melissa knew she owed him a phone call.

She put the jar of generic peanut butter and bread into the refrigerator. It was the safest place for anything. There was a slight pest problem, despite Archer’s attempts to keep her apartment free of rodents.

Pulling her phone out of her fanny pack, Melissa called Rocky.

He answered immediately. “Melissa, I thought you’d changed your mind. You haven’t, have you?”

“I’m sorry, Rocky. I got hurt at the next house I serviced. Urgent care took a while, and they had to fill out paperwork for the dog bite.”

“Are you okay?”

“My arm hurts, but I’ll survive. I’m sorry I’ll miss meeting you.”

“I’ll put an order in for a pizza to go and come to you. You have to eat,” Rocky told her. “What do you like on a pizza?”

“Anything but peanut butter,” she tried to joke, but it sounded too true to be funny.

“Got it. We have the same taste. Peanut butter on a pizza sounds almost as bad as broccoli—my least favorite food.”

“At least it would be broccoli and cheese. That’s a good combination,” she said, knowing she was babbling with nervousness and reacting from all that had just happened. “Maybe I’m not good company tonight? We could do this another time.”

“I need to check on you, Little girl. I won’t stay if you don’t want me to.”

The concern in his tone made her blurt, “I can’t wait to meet you.”

“Then I’m on my way as soon as the pizza’s ready. I want you to eat something. I know you missed dinner.”

He was so perceptive and focused on her. “Thank you. I am hungry,” she admitted.

“The app gave me your address. I’ll be there soon.”

“Park under a light,” Melissa suggested.

“We have a lot to talk about.”

She looked at the phone after he disconnected. That last statement had sounded just how she’d imagined the Daddies in those books she devoured over and over again.

Booming bangs on her door made her turn to look out the peephole. It was her neighbor. “Sorry. I can’t have company now.”

“A package was delivered to me by mistake. It has your name on it.”

His voice even sounded slimy. She shivered, completely weirded out. He’d never come to her door before but had cornered her in the hall repeatedly.

“Just leave it by the door. I’ll get it in a few.”

Retreating into her small apartment, Melissa looked at the sparsely decorated room. She had a couple of chairs that would hold him if he wasn’t too large. Melissa had found them on the street and cleaned them up. She picked up a few things in the family room that were out of place before heading for the small bedroom to grab some fresh clothes.

Melissa took off her fanny pack and set it on her bed. She opened it and took out a trash bag they had given her at Urgent Care when she’d admitted she didn’t have one to put over her arm when she showered. After stashing that under the bathroom sink, she stripped and set her uniform shirt to the side. She’d have to soak the blood out of it. Tami had told her she’d replace the shirt, but it might take a while.

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