Page 34 of Daddies' Captive

“I won’t let anything affect my ability to do this job,” she told him fiercely. She wasn’t going to give him an excuse to back out of this. “I’ll work really hard and you won’t have any reason to find fault with my work.”

“Easy, Spitfire,” he said in a voice that held a hint of softness. Which was shocking in a man who looked and spoke like he did. “Wasn’t asking to find an excuse to get rid of you before you even started.”

Do you believe him?

To her surprise, she did. “It’s an old back injury. Really, my back is good most of the time.”

“All right. Come on,” he said gruffly. “I’ve got work to do and you need to go home to bed and sleep off your twinge.”

She stood, trying to hide her wince. She really did need to get home. Those pills would make her sleepy and she wanted to get home to bed.

She held onto the bag of chips. She’d take the rest home for Brooks. He loved chips.

Then she heaved her handbag up over her shoulder.

Steele held out his hand. What did he want? A high-five?

She slapped her hand down on his.

He stared at his palm, then up at her. “What was that?”

“A high-five?”

“Yeah, Spitfire. Wasn’t after a high-five. Give me your handbag.”

“Uh, why?”

“I’ve had a sore back before. I know what makes a sore back worse. And one of those things is carrying unnecessary weight. So give me your handbag.”

“You can’t carry my handbag. That’s . . . that’s preposterous.”

His lips twitched. “Big word there.”

“I know some big words,” she muttered. She wasn’t completely ignorant.

He eyed her curiously. “Was just teasing you, Spitfire. Didn’t mean to hit a sore spot.”

Crap. She was being too sensitive. “Sorry.” She smiled up at him.

“Now, I’ve got shit to do. Handbag. Let’s go.”

“It’s not heavy.”

He sighed. “Handbag. Go.”

Okay, when he got grouchy, his sentences grew shorter. That was good to know.

She handed it over.

“Jesus, Spitfire. Doesn’t weigh much? This thing weighs a ton. What have you got in here?”

“My life,” she replied. And it was true.

“If that was the case, wouldn’t you also have your hat, scarf, and gloves in there?” Steele grumbled. “Forgetting them in this weather isn’t smart.”

Hmm. He seemed rather upset about this, so she decided to keep quiet.

“Come on. Let’s get you quickly out to the car.”

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