“Oops, sorry!” Kiesha said.
The man caught her by the arms, frowning down at her. “Should you be on roller skates? What if you’d fallen? You could have hurt yourself!”
He had an accent. Maybe Australian or New Zealand.
“Calm down, man. You’re not my dad!” Kiesha skated off while the man looked on after her, shaking his head.
Georgie couldn’t help but giggle. She loved this place.
She tried to roll off Ed without waking him. She’d just made it to her side of the bed when a large arm wrapped around her waist.
“Where do you think you’re going?” he asked huskily.
“Gotta pee.”
“Come straight back.”
She sighed and shook her head. “I was going to go put some coffee on.”
“I’ll do that.”
Okay, they needed to have a chat about him not babying her. But first, she had to pee. When she got back to bed, he was gone. Grabbing one of his T-shirts, she put it on then she padded out to the kitchen. He turned as she entered and sat at the counter.
“Go back to bed, I’ll bring your coffee to you with breakfast. I’m going to make scrambled eggs.”
“I’m not hungry.” It was too early to think about food.
He gave her a look.
“But I guess I could eat something.”
He grunted.
It had been over a week since her kidnapping. Her brothers had gone home a few days ago, but they’d all talked about coming back to visit. She still hadn’t heard from her mother. It made her sad, she was her mother after all. But she also felt relieved. As though a tumor that had been dragging her down had been removed.
And now that it was no longer sucking her energy, the life from her . . . well, she felt lighter. Happier.
So, while it was sad that her mom was basically out of her life, that was her choice. And she wouldn’t lose any sleep over it.
Thankfully, Marisol had been released from the hospital after only a day, although she didn’t think that Linc would let her leave the ranch anytime soon. If ever.
“I’m not eating it in bed, though. Ed, I’m not going to break.”
“I know that.”
Did he? Because that was how he’d been treating her. As though she was fragile. And the first few days, she’d enjoyed it. She’d needed it.
She’d known his fussing was due to the fact that she’d been in danger. But it had to end at some stage. And she figured today was the day.
“I’m not treating you like you’re delicate,” he countered.
She gave him a knowing look. “You barely let me out of your sight, unless you have something urgent at work and then you make sure someone is going to be with me. I’m not allowed to do anything more strenuous than lift a glass of water, and even then you put it in a sippy cup and feed it to me.”
He stared at her for a long moment. “I nearly lost you.”
She softened. “But you didn’t. I’m stronger than I look.”
“I know you are. Does that mean I can’t fuss over you? Take care of you?”