Page 26 of Protecting Little Phoebe

It sounded like he needed to look after someone… while she needed someone to look after her. Win-win? Maybe. She wouldn’t lie. She was nervous. He barely knew her and once he did… he might decide he didn’t like her.

“What’s going on in your head, sweetheart?” he asked, cupping her cheek with his hand.

He was so nice and warm, and she couldn’t help but turn her head so she could nuzzle into his hand. “It gets loud in there,” she confessed to him.

“I bet it does, little girl,” he replied. “I can help quieten it, but only if you tell me what’s going on. What is it? What are you thinking about?”

“I want you too. I’d be mad not to want you. You’re gorgeous. I just worry that if you get to know me that you won’t like me. That you might find me too much. I can be, you know. I try to tone it down, but I’m not always successful.”

“Hey,” he murmured, rubbing a thumb over her lower lip. “You don’t have to tone anything down. I just want you to be yourself.”

“Nobody ever wants me to be myself,” she warned him. “I’m a lot.”

“I can handle a lot and I happen to think you’ll be perfect no matter what.”

She snorted. “That just goes to show that you definitely don’t know me well.”

“Then we’ll get to know each other, and you can decide if you want someone who is bossy and sticks his nose into your business whether you want it or not.”

“And you can decide if you want someone who is a bit too much,” she said. “Too loud, too excitable, too immature, too much of everything.”

“Good,” he said. “But I will warn you now that is the last time you will put yourself down without consequences. If we’re dating, then there will be rules. And not just for your Little. So you might want to prepare yourself for that.”

“But you put yourself down.”

“I don’t see bossy and interfering as bad things. That’s just something other people might think.” He winked at her.

“What sort of rules are we talking about?” she asked.

“Well, you know some of them. No talking badly about yourself. Keeping yourself safe and healthy, which includes dressing for the weather and always having your phone charged. But it also includes things like not skipping meals, telling me if you’re not feeling well or are upset. Texting me if you’re going somewhere and when you get there. Not walking around at nightalone. Taking your vitamins and any medication. Following all doctors’ orders. Eating regularly and healthily. Those are just a few things off the top of my head.”

Phoebe knew that her mouth was open and that she was gaping at him. “Those are just a few things off the top of your head? You mean there’s more?”

“Yes, there will definitely be more. I can have them ready for you by tomorrow.”

“I might need you to write them down,” she told him. “Because I don’t think I can remember all of that. Let alone more.”

“I can do that. I’ll get you a notebook and write them in it.”

Awesome. Uh-huh. “You’re very organised, aren’t you?” she asked.

“Yes. I am.”

“Does it annoy you when other people aren’t organised?”

“Hmm. When I work with them, yes. In my social life, sometimes. It depends. If you need help with organisation, I am happy to help.”

“Maybe,” she said. That might be a recipe for disaster.

“Come on, you need to get to bed. Do you trust me to help put you to bed?”

“I, um, yes?”

“You don’t feel very sure.”

“I am,” she said hastily. “I’m just not sure what that means.”

“Let me show you?” he asked.

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