Total pages in book: 248
Estimated words: 236036 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1180(@200wpm)___ 944(@250wpm)___ 787(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 236036 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1180(@200wpm)___ 944(@250wpm)___ 787(@300wpm)
“I think we’ve heard enough,” Jeb said hastily.
A giggle surprised him and he glanced down to see that he’d placed his hands over Casey’s ears.
Shit.
What was he doing?
He snatched them back. “I am not a caveman.”
“You’re bossy and protective and you always think you’re right,” Aggie pointed out.
“That’s because I am always right. The two of you know each other?” Jeb asked.
To his surprise, Casey’s face grew guarded. “Only slightly. I’ve come into the diner a few times. The meatloaf is amazing.”
Aggie pointed at her. “You need to come in more. You’re too thin.”
Aggie thought most people were too thin. But was Casey looking thinner? Her face seemed more drawn and those dark marks under her eyes had grown.
Was she not eating or sleeping well?
And why was he concerned? She wasn’t his to take care of. He was only helping with her foot because he felt like he was partially to blame.
Although she had bumped into him.
“Want me to call for Doc?” Aggie asked, moving closer to see her foot. “Ouch, that looks sore.”
“It’s really fine. And I definitely don’t need a doctor. I’m just going to head off. Wait, where is my other sandal?”
“Why the hell are you wearing sandals in spring?” he demanded.
“The sun is shining!” she protested.
“It’s barely sixty-one degrees outside. That’s not warm enough for sandals. You wouldn’t have been burned if you were wearing proper shoes.”
“It wouldn’t have been burned if you hadn’t bumped into me and dropped your coffee!”
“Little girl, I was not the one who bumped into you. You crashed into me.”
She gasped, her hand going to her chest dramatically. “I am not little! I am perfectly formed.”
“Hear, hear!” Aggie cheered. “We don’t all need to be built oversized and overdeveloped.”
Overdeveloped? What the heck did that mean?
“Aggie! We need you out here!” someone called out from behind the door to the bathroom.
“Coming!” She turned to him, shaking her finger. “Don’t boss the poor girl around so much. Be nice.”
Casey gave him a smug look. “Aggie said be nice. Do you know how to be nice?”
He leaned down with his hands resting on the edge of the counter. “You know how I said I could be a pain in your ass?”
“Yes.” She gave him a wary look.
“Well, I wasn’t meaning figuratively. You give me too much sass and I will put you over my knee.”
Her mouth dropped open in shock. “You wouldn’t!”
“Try me.”
“You can’t do that without my consent. That’s not safe practice.”
“And what do you know about safe practice?” he murmured.
“I know all about safe, sane, and consensual. And spanking me is not sane or consensual.”
“So you’re saying I need your consent to be in charge of your discipline?”
“Yes! But I don’t need discipline. And I won’t be giving any consent.”
“And what if you do need discipline? Because it seems to me that you need a keeper, little girl. You just seem to keep getting yourself into trouble.”
Chapter Seven
Casey gaped up at him.
He wasn’t serious right now, was he? She was constantly in trouble? He was the one that kept getting her into trouble. And there was no way that she would ever consent to him disciplining her.
And that wasn’t interest or arousal that she felt at the idea.
No. Nope. Not happening.
“I’m only in trouble because you keep getting me into trouble!” she cried.
“Me?” he asked. “I keep getting you into trouble, little girl?”
“How many times do I have to tell you that I am perfectly formed? I am not little.”
“Maybe I wasn’t talking about your size,” he murmured.
Before she could figure out what the heck he meant he drew her foot out from under the freezing cold water.
Casey breathed out a sigh of relief, that water was freezing cold.
“Then what were you talking about?” she snapped.
“That’s a conversation for another day. Keep still, stop wriggling around. I need to check your foot. It still looks red and sore. We’re going to the medical center.”
It was just a small burn. He was completely overreacting.
“I don’t need a doctor,” Casey told him.
Also, she couldn’t afford a doctor. But she definitely wasn’t going to tell him that. The last thing she wanted was a lecture about how much trouble she got into.
“I still think it’s your fault that I’ve gotten into so much trouble lately,” she said. “You got me arrested!”
“No, I called Happy to move you along. You got arrested because you were sleeping in your car in a public park. Something that we need to have a discussion about.”
No, they most certainly did not have to have a discussion about that.
“Wait . . . how did you know that I got arrested for sleeping in my car?”
“This is a small town and there isn’t much that I don’t know.”
Sheesh, arrogant much?
“Right, come on, enough procrastinating. I’m taking you to the medical center to get checked out.”