Daddy’s Wild Girl (Montana Daddies #16)

Chapter 50

50

H er cries woke him in the morning and he sat up, turning to her. She was still sleeping, caught in a nightmare.

“No! No! Corbin! Daddy!” she screamed.

“Bebe, I’m right there. Open your eyes, baby. Do as I tell you. Wake up, now!” He took hold of her shoulders, shaking her slightly.

She opened her eyes with a gasp and then threw herself at him, letting out a moan of pain as she obviously moved her injured foot.

“Easy, Bebe. I’m here. Don’t hurt yourself. Daddy is here. I’ll take care of you. Shh. Shhh.” He lifted her carefully onto his lap and wrapped a blanket around her front. Then he rocked her back and forth.

“It’s all right. You’re safe.”

“I killed him,” she said in a tear-filled voice.

“He deserved it. He was a bad person, and I don’t want you feeling guilty,” he told her firmly. “Do you hear me?” Reaching down, he tilted her head back. “You will not feel guilty.”

“I . . . I don’t. That’s just it. It was him or us and I chose us. So I don’t feel guilty . . . but it keeps coming back to me. Him lunging. Me firing. Him . . . dropping . . .”

“You’re right. It was him or us. And I will always choose us,” he told her fiercely. “I hate that this is upsetting you.”

“This is going to make my therapist happy,” she said.

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“Well, he’s been talking about putting in a pool for ages, we’re probably going to make that happen with how much therapy I’ll need.”

He stared down at her for a long moment, then he smiled.

“Sorry. Too soon?” she asked.

“No, baby. Perfect timing.” She was going to be all right. He’d make sure of that.

Bebe tried to hide her grimace as she shifted around. Corbin had cooked them some more soup for breakfast. At least it was something warm in their bellies.

Unfortunately, it was still snowing outside and wasn’t showing much sign of stopping.

“We’re going to have to wait until it stops to head out of here,” he told her.

Right.

And to think she was looking forward to the snow.

She hissed out a breath.

“You okay, baby? I’m sorry, I can’t find any painkillers here.” He lifted the blanket over her feet to examine her foot. “Shit. Still swollen and bruised.”

Yeah, but it wasn’t just the pain in her ankle that was the issue.

“Um, where’s the bathroom?”

He grimaced. “Ah, baby.”

Oh no.

She didn’t like the look of that face. “What?”

“There is no toilet, darling.”

“Then . . . where do I go?” She knew the answer. Of course she did. But she didn’t want to hear it.

“Outside.”

She was shaking her head before he even finished. “No. Nope. Not happening.”

“I should have realized you’d need to pee. Come on, let’s get more clothes on you and take you out.” He’d dried her clothes in front of the fire, but she was just wearing her underwear and top. She didn’t want to put her pants and jacket on and go outside to pee.

And what about when she had to do other things?

“No. I’m staying here.” She crossed her arms over her chest so he knew she meant business.

“Baby, you cannot hold on.” He gave her a firm look. And crossed his arms over his chest.

Uh-oh.

Level four. Not good.

“I don’t need to go.” No more soup for her. Not until she was near a working toilet.

“Yes, you do. Come on, it’s no different from when Daddy helps you go those other times.”

But it really, really was.

Once they were both fully dressed, he lifted her into his arms and walked outside.

“This sucks. This really, really sucks,” she grumbled. “If Sebastian came back alive, I’d kill him dead again!”

“Just because you have to go potty outside?” he asked.

“Yes!” she cried.

He hadn’t put a shoe on her sore foot, probably because she couldn’t stand on it, she guessed. But how was she going to pee on one leg?

The snow was still coming down and should have been pretty and magical. Instead, it was cold, and all she wanted was her cabin with her fireplace, a cup of hot cocoa and lasagna.

“I want lasagna.”

“When we get home, I’ll make you a huge tray.”

“With garlic bread.”

“You got it,” he said as he stopped and set her down on her good foot, holding her steady. He kicked a small hole in the snow and then stood behind her, supporting her while he undid her pants and drew them and her panties down to her knees.

“Right, crouch back as though sitting on the toilet,” he told her. “I’ll hold your weight.”

“And I want hot cocoa with lots of whipped cream,” she said, completely humiliated. “And tiny marshmallows.”

“Of course, you deserve those marshmallows.”

Darn right, she did.

“I can’t do it,” she wailed.

“Sing the pee song with me,” he commanded.

Oh. Heck.

They sung it together and she started to go.

After she was finished, he did her pants back up and lifted her into his arms again, this time, cradling her against his chest.

“You’re a good girl. Well done. Daddy is so proud of you.”

Well.

She guessed if Daddy was proud of her, it wasn’t so bad to pee in the snow.

“I did do a very good job, didn’t I?” she murmured.

“You did, baby. Best pee in the snow I’ve ever seen.”

Yeah, that’s what she’d thought.