Page 150 of Tempted By her Daddies

Tamsyn reached the top of the stairs and started down.

“Wait,” he snapped.

Fuck.

He regretted that tone of voice as soon as it happened. Quickly, he raced up the stairs to where she was frozen.

“What? What is it?” she whispered. “Is there a crocodile behind me?”

Um, what?

“No. No crocodile.”

She let out a deep breath. “Whew.”

“You know that we don’t actually have crocodiles here, right?”

“Yeah, but you never know when one of them will turn up, wanting a cup of tea. It’s creepy.”

“Are you talking about the children’s book?” he asked. Although hadn’t that been about a tiger?

“What? No! What children’s book? Who would write a children’s book about a crocodile who comes for tea? That sounds horrifying.”

“Um, yes, I suppose it does.” He rubbed his forehead. “But I think that book was about a tiger.”

“Oh.” She put her hand on her chest. “Thank goodness. That sounds so much better.”

It did?

This was a strange conversation but he decided to go along with it for now.

“So why did you yell at me to freeze?” she asked. “I could have really hurt myself freezing on the stairs, you know.”

“I didn’t want you to climb down the stairs on your own,” he explained.

She blinked and rubbed at her head. “Why?”

“In case you hurt yourself.”

“Umm. I’ve been climbing up and down stairs a long time on my own.”

“Yes, but when you’re Little, you shouldn’t be. Little girls don’t always pay close enough attention to where they’re putting their feet. So you should always wait for Daddy, Papa, or Roman to help you.”

“I’m thinking that you worry way too much, Daddy,” she said, shaking her head. “You are going to get even more worry lines than you already have.”

He took hold of her hand and helped her slowly down the stairs. Yeah, maybe he was being too overprotective, but he was driven by this need to keep her safe and he wasn’t going to ignore it.

He didn’t know why his body kept telling him that there was danger. It was odd considering there were no indicators.

But still, his instincts were flaring, and it was like he had a warning siren going off inside him.

Protect. Danger. Protect.

“Wait. Worry lines?” he asked as they got to the bottom of the staircase. “I don’t have worry lines.”

“Sure, you do.” She reached up and pointed to the corners of his eyes and then his forehead. “Worry lines here and here and here. I think I’ll call them Mary, Sherry, and Berry. Don’t worry, they make you look distinguished.”

And old, no doubt.

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