Page 86 of Daddies' Captive

“Nope. Not at all,” she lied. “I knew it would all work out.”

Brooks eyed her like he didn’t believe her. “You’re not lying to me, right, Aunt Effie?”

Uh-oh.

Steele stiffened behind her.

“Me?”

“Uh-huh. You.” Brooks gave her a stern look.

Shoot.

“All right, I was a bit upset. But I wasn’t scared. Not with you there. And Steele.”

His gaze went up to the man behind her. “Right, Mr. Steele. Good to meet you.”

And her too-grown-up-for-her-own-good nephew held out his hand. Steele reached around her to shake it.

“You too, Brooks.”

Brooks cleared his throat. “You brought my aunt here?”

“Yeah. She was in a rush. Wanted to make sure she got here safe.”

To her shock, something like relief filled Brooks face.

“Spitfire, can you go wait in the car while I talk to Brooks?” Steele asked.

“Um, what?”

He squeezed her around the waist again. “Car. Wait. Go.”

She sent him a look. Was he seriously ordering her to the car so he could talk to her kid? What was he going to say to him?

Steele leaned in to whisper to her. “Trust me?”

Did she trust him? The guy who’d insisted on buying her slippers because her shoes were rubbing her feet? And had bought her gloves because hers had worn out? The guy who came in each day to eat her baking?

Yeah, she guessed she did.

“You okay, honey?” she asked Brooks. “I can take the rest of the day off if you need me to.”

“I’m good, Aunt Effie. And I want a moment with Mr. Steele too.”

“Just Steele,” he said predictably.

She sighed and turned to walk off to where Raul was parked. Raul must have been watching because he got out and opened the door for her.

“Buckle up, Miss Effie,” he reminded her.

She climbed into the back of the car, shocked to see it had been completely tidied. Shoot. She felt terrible that Raul had had to tidy up her mess.

He’d put all her things into a small basket he must have had stashed somewhere. Her hairbrush, mirror, tampons, gum, and Slowly the sloth were all in there.

Oh my God.

Had Steele seen Slowly? What must he think? Was he wondering why the heck she carried around a toy sloth?

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