Daddy’s Wild Girl (Montana Daddies #16)

Chapter 47

47

“ H ey, baby, can you come in here?”

A week had passed since her big spanking after riding Popcorn bareback. She’d worked up the courage to confront her father two nights ago.

And had been devastated to learn that he’d taken her mother back. He’d told Bebe that her mother swore she’d change. That she wouldn’t produce any more reality shows.

That she’d try to be a better mother.

But it was all over for Bebe. As far as she was concerned, she had no parents. Corbin had held her the whole night as she’d vacillated between tears and anger.

However, to her surprise, she’d actually woken up feeling lighter the following morning. As though cutting ties completely had lifted a weight off her shoulders.

Corbin’s family had been demanding to meet her, and they were going to visit them for Christmas. They’d head there the day before Christmas Eve and stay a week before coming back to the Ranch for New Year’s Eve. She was so nervous even though he reassured her that his mom and two sisters would love her.

Bebe walked into the living room to find Corbin sitting on the sofa. He had a number of images laid out on the coffee table.

Her heart leaped as she saw one of them.

The asshole.

“What . . . what is this?” she asked.

“Sit down, darling.” He patted the sofa next to him and feeling shocked, she sat. “Ericc is miserable.”

“What?” she asked, confused what Ericc had to do with anything.

“He’s miserable. Working a dead-end job, all of his money goes to child support and to his mother, who he lives with in a single-wide trailer. And who, by all reports, is an awful, nasty woman. Frankly, jail or death would be a relief for him.”

“How do you know all this?” she asked.

“Because I looked into him. Because I wanted to make him pay for what he did to you. But it seems life is already punishing him and I don’t want to make things better for him. So, then I went looking for the asshole. Because I can make him pay.”

Shoot. She’d hoped he’d forgotten. She shook her head. “No. No, Corbin. Just leave it alone.”

He grasped hold of her chin, holding her head still. “I can’t, Bebe. He has to pay. What he did to you deserves punishment. And it will stop him from doing this to anyone else.”

“What . . . what will you do? You won’t kill him, right?”

“Do you care if I do?” he asked calmly.

“Yes!”

“Why?” he asked, his face strangely cold.

“Because you might get caught! You might go to jail. I can’t be without you!” She swung her arms around his neck and he held her against him.

“You’re worried about me?” Now, his voice was soft.

Gosh. Men had a lot of mood swings. It was hard to keep up sometimes.

“Yes, of course I am. I love you.”

“You don’t care what happens to him?” he asked.

She leaned back. “Why would I? I hate him.”

“Then which one is he?” He gestured at the three images. “I narrowed it down to these professors. Which one, Bebe?”

Maybe she should refuse to tell him. But he wasn’t wrong. The asshole did deserve to be punished. It had taken her a long time to work out that she wasn’t to blame. That she hadn’t done anything wrong.

It was all on him.

So, with a shaking finger, she pointed at the photo in the middle.

“Good girl, baby.” He grasped hold of her chin again, this time to kiss her.

“What will you do?”

“Probably best you don’t know. But let’s just say, he’s about to lose his job, his home, and perhaps his freedom. A guy like that? The loss of his power will be enough to make him crumble.”

She slumped against him. “Just don’t get caught.”

“I won’t.” He rubbed her back soothingly.

“I still feel so dumb for falling for his lies.”

“Hey, I don’t want to hear you call yourself dumb,” he said sternly. “That will get your butt reddened.”

He lifted her onto his lap so she faced him. He ran a finger down her nose and then along her lips. She nipped the finger with her teeth and he grinned. Then, his face grew sober.

“I haven’t told you about Lindsay yet, have I?”

“Lindsay?” she asked.

Who was she?

“I told you I rarely go out on jobs, but I had to go on one a while ago because everyone was ill.”

Yeah, she did remember that.

“Well, I was guarding this movie star, Lindsay. She was having some security issues. She’d woken up to a guy standing in her room and understandably freaked out.”

“Wait, Lindsay Pierson?” she asked.

“Yep. That’s her.”

“So, you were her bodyguard for a while?”

“Yeah. The only thing is . . . she’s a bit unstable. While I was guarding her, she kept coming on to me. She’d touch me inappropriately, make rude remarks, and then everything crashed down when I woke up to her creeping into my bedroom.”

Holy. Crap.

“When I told her to get out, she absolutely lost it. Trashed the room, and tried to hit me. She actually got me with a vase. Had a gash on my head when Lennox ran in to help me.”

“What . . . what happened?”

He shook his head. “I thought it was my fault for a while. That I led her on somehow.”

“You wouldn’t do that!” she said fiercely.

“Thanks for the support, darling. It turns out that she was on drugs, which were making her hear things and imagine things that weren’t there. She agreed to go to rehab if I didn’t press charges.”

“That was generous of you,” she muttered. Bebe wasn’t sure she felt so generous.

“I think she’s only recently come out. My point is that you can’t blame yourself for other people’s actions. That’s on them. Not you.”

She sighed. “You’re so wise. How did you get smart?”

“It’s the glasses.” He grinned. “They make me smarter.”

Bebe giggled. “And cuter.”

“Cuter? Cuter! I think I want to be handsome. More masculine. Definitely more dominant.”

“Nah. Cuter.”

“Why, you little brat!” He started tickling her, placing her on the floor and straddling her hips as he tickled her sides.

“Daddy! Daddy, no, stop!”

“Daddy isn’t going to stop until you admit that he’s the most handsome Daddy in the world!”

“You are! You are, Daddy! You’re so handsome. I’ve never seen someone as handsome as you. But you have to stop!”

He stilled, looking down at her.

“You are so beautiful,” he whispered.

“And you’re so handsome, Daddy.”

Leaning down, he kissed her. Then he drew back. “Right, you need to pee. Then do your hand exercises.”

Boo! Hand exercises sucked.

“And then Daddy has a surprise for you.”

Ooh. Well, she did like surprises.

Twenty minutes later, she was dressed up in seventeen layers of clothes and following Corbin through the woods on a path she hadn’t taken before.

“Daddy! I don’t need this much clothing! I’m too hot.”

“It’s getting colder. They’re forecasting snow in a few days.”

“Ooh, snow! Can I go tobogganing?” she asked

“I think we can arrange that.”

“Yippee!” She jumped around, clapping her hands while he stood and smiled at her.

“You getting a bit of cabin fever, baby?”

“Just a bit. I can’t start classes until the new year, and there’s nothing to fix up or do around here.”

“Well, I think I might have something that will interest you.” He took her hand, and five minutes later, they entered a clearing where the most gorgeous cabin stood. It was similar to their cabin but larger with a wraparound porch. Smoke trailed out of the chimney.

Whose house was this?

“Now, there’s nothing structural and all the wiring and plumbing is sound. But I thought there might be a few things here that you’d like to fix up. Especially the nursery.”

“Nursery? Someone with a baby lives here?”

“Yeah. Me.”

She blinked at him, unsure what he meant. Then it hit her. “You mean this is your house?”

“Well, I’m hoping it’s going to be ours. For me and my baby.” He ran his finger down her nose. “What do you think?”

“But we have a house.” And she loved their cabin.

“Hmm, but there’s nothing there for my girl to work on. And it only has one bedroom and she needs a nursery. Somewhere for all her toys.”

“I don’t have many toys,” she whispered.

“Well, Christmas is coming and Santa will be here soon to hear your wish list.”

Oh God. That’s right. Santa came to visit Sanctuary.

“What do you think?”

“I think I want to look inside!” She bounced around, feeling so happy. “Let’s go, Daddy! Let’s go!”

Grabbing his hand, she tugged him into the cabin. As soon as she stepped in, she got the feeling of being home.

Bebe loved their small cabin, but this was . . . it was magical. Tall ceilings with wooden beams. Wooden floors that could use a sand and polish. A massive stone fireplace that just needed cleaning.

The kitchen definitely needed updating, but she could see where they could put an island. White marble countertops and navy cupboards.

Oh, it was amazing.

She went from room to room. There were three bedrooms and two bathrooms. The bathrooms needed an update as well, but it wasn’t anything she couldn’t handle.

When she walked into the third bedroom, she knew it would be perfect for her nursery.

Corbin walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her. “I thought that this would work as your nursery. A crib over in the corner. Wallpaper with a woodland scene with squirrels. A soft rug on the floor. Storage. Maybe a rocking chair so Daddy can feed you your bottle in it. Even a change table for when you wear diapers during your nap.”

They hadn’t gotten that far yet . . . but she could see it. She could see it all.

And she wanted it so badly.

Bebe turned to him. She could hardly believe her luck. “It’s really ours? Really? Truly?”

He picked her up and spun her around, and she put her hands up into the air, laughing excitedly.

“It’s really ours, precious girl. So, do you like your surprise?”

She wrapped her arms and legs around him. “Daddy, this is the most amazing surprise in the world. And I’m the luckiest, most spoiled girl in the world to have you.”

“That’s good. Because I’m the luckiest Daddy in the world to have you.”