Page 16 of Cowboy Daddies

Sheets and quilts hung from every lamp, chair, and piece of furniture. It looked like a Bed, Bath & Beyond had exploded in his living room. And there were so many of Rose’s stuffed animals scattered around their Pillow Palace, he half expected them to topple the whole structure at any minute.

What, exactly, were they wearing? It took a minute, but eventually he concluded they were mermaid outfits. Rose practically danced with excitement, and damn if Sage didn’t look cute as hell.

There Sage sat, mermaid dress and all, in the middle of what he could only describe as chaos central. She was every bit as lively and animated as Rose, laughing, and looking far too right in his house. Struggling not to smile, Grady shook his head and mentally inventoried the coloring books, crayons, and schoolbooks scattered across the blanket-covered floor.

Earlier, when he had looked in and seen her teetering on the top of that ladder, he’d damn near had a heart attack. It had taken all he had not to toss her over his knee and blister her ass on the spot. Now the image of him doing just that kept playing over and over in his head.

No amount of riding or fence fixing had managed to drive it out of his mind. His palm flexed at the memory, wanting to give her much more than the one swat she’d received for climbing something so unsteady.

Why the hell couldn’t he stop thinking about it?

Because you know how it would feel if her jeans and panties hadn’t been in the way, that’s why.

Fuck.

She might not have ever had a Daddy of her own, but when a man handed out rules like a Daddy, scolded like a Daddy, and wanted to spank a naughty Little’s ass like a Daddy… well, that made things complicated. Especially when that man was him.

He rubbed a hand down his face.

She’s the nanny, Kane. Not your Little. Get your head on straight.

She was twenty-six. He’d checked her application just to be sure. So much younger than him. Too much younger.

She sat there, clapping and hopping right along with Rose, too damn cute. That tracked because, if he had to guess, he’d say Sage’s Little was around five to six, about the same age as Rose.

Yet, Little or not, twenty-six or not, no one could deny the change she’d already made in Rose’s life. His quiet, serious daughter was smiling these days, and not just tiny smiles either. Full-on sunbeam smiles that reminded him of her mother.

How the hell had Sage made so much progress so soon after coming to live with them? He’d been trying for two years to pull a smile out of Rose, and this wildfire of a woman had waltzed in and done it in a few days. When she’d said she was good at what she did, she hadn’t been just blowin’ smoke up his ass.

His Little girl was amazing.

No, not his. Not even close to his. Which was the way it should be. Now if only he could remember that. He shook his head. It was going to be a long summer.

Sage finally caught him watching. Her cheeks turned a soft pink, but the mischievous sparkle in her eyes didn’t dim one bit. Without a doubt, that look was going to get her bottom blistered before another week was out.

Clearing his throat, he did his best to sound gruff and unaffected. “Looks like you’ve been busy.”

Sage beamed at him as if he’d just handed her the moon and stars. “We finished our Pillow Palace. Wanna come inside? We have just enough room for one grumpy, rule-loving cowboy.”

Damn, but part of him wanted to say yes. A big part.

It was those sparkling blue eyes.

He’d gotten so used to everyone in the house being sad he wasn’t sure how to respond. But those eyes did wicked things to his mind and his dick. And some stubborn, long-buried part of him wondered what it would feel like to step inside that blanket fort and let himself smile again.

His arms tightened across his chest, as if they could squeeze out his desire to give in. Both his girls sat in the middle of the Pillow Palace they’d built, looks of hope and expectation on their faces. Like Rose, Sage wore a sparkly mermaid costume that should have looked absurd on a grown woman. Instead, it made her look cute, and soft, and… entirely Little.

Rose sat beside her in a matching baby-blue and purple dress, eyes brighter than he’d seen them in much too long. The looks she kept giving Sage made Grady’s heart ache. It also had him worrying if he’d already waited too long to protect his daughter’s heart from Sage’s eventual departure.

“We don’t like to be kept waiting, do we, Princess Coral?” Sage asked in a ridiculous, high-pitched, lyrical voice. “Should we sentence him to be tickled?”

Rose smiled—something he would never take for granted again—and nodded. Bands of steel tightened around his chest, squeezing so hard he had to fight for every breath. Rose looked young and carefree, just like she was supposed to.

And it was all thanks to Sage.

The woman had wormed her way into his house and into his daughter’s heart. Thank goodness his heart was safe. All the feelings tugging at his chest were just a reaction to what the Little nanny was doing for his daughter. That was all. Just a normal reaction to someone helping his daughter.

The fact that it was a beautiful, sexy woman made no difference at all. Being attracted to her was natural, incidental, really. It meant nothing.