Cassie frowned and narrowed her eyes. “What do you mean she doesn’t know? How does she not know?”
“Got up, got dressed, waited on the steps for her to come out, soon as she did, scooped her ass up and took her downstairs to get her fed. Wanted to let you sleep a little longer. Your fuckin’ ass was exhausted. Me stayin’ last night didn’t help that, so wanted to find a way to help make up for the sleep you lost.”
She stared at him, her mouth hanging open. A moment later she snapped her jaw shut. Well, that was sort of nice, but... “You promised, Judge.”
“Promised to be out of your bed before she woke up. Did what I promised.”
Cassie smacked her free hand onto her forehead. “Wow, talk about semantics.” She glared up at him. “You knew exactly what I meant.”
“Yeah, baby, I did. But never promised to leave. Don’t like you here alone and told you that.”
“But that’s not up to you.”
“The fuck it isn’t.”
She pinned her eyebrows together and opened her mouth to argue. But as soon as he began talking, her argument was somehow forgotten.
“Whatcha gonna do about Daisy when you go back to work Thursday since your sister and her man ain’t gonna be back?”
Huh? “A college girl down the street will watch her while I work.”
He frowned. “More money spent.”
“Yes, but I’m between a rock and a hard place. I need to work to make money and I need money to pay a sitter so I can work. It’ll just put me behind for a while longer. Heather and Tyler offered to take Daisy with them. But I...” She sighed. “I can’t.”
Judge squeezed her hand gently. “Can’t be away from your girl that long.”
“Yes. And she’s my responsibility, not theirs. I feel bad enough squatting under their roof. I don’t like relying on anyone like that. Even if it’s my sister.”
“Told you, that’s what family’s for. Help you out of a jam.”
“Yes, and I appreciate everything they’ve done, but I need to get back out on my own.”
“Ain’t gonna do that by payin’ a babysitter.”
She tilted her head. “What, are you going to watch her?”
“Nope. But gonna help you best way I know how. Gonna find that son of a bitch, get him to sign those fuckin’ papers, then hand him over to New York. Will make my money that way and you don’t gotta pay a dime. And hopefully you’ll get out from underneath that fuckin’ mess.”
“Judge, while I—”
“Also gonna bring Jury over. Have her stay here while your sister’s gone. Your girl will love her. Jury will love the attention. She’ll help keep you protected.”
He wasn’t asking. He was telling.
“You don’t have to do that. Just like I love Daisy and don’t want to be away from her, you love your girl, too. It’ll be hard being away from her like that and Jury will miss her Daddy.”
“Who said I ain’t gonna be with her?”
She blinked. “Um...”
He grinned.
She frowned.
His grinned widened.
Her frown deepened. “No.”
“Ain’t askin’.”
Her eyebrows shot up. “Did you really just say that?”
“Pretty sure those words came outta my mouth.”
“I’m not sure why you think we can’t stay here alone, but—”
He took her mouth, stopping her flow of words. Well, that was a good way to stifle any objections. Her body, the traitor that it was, melted against him as she remembered all the things he had done with that mouth last night.
Good lord, a little sex and she was losing her damn spine.
She snapped it straight and broke free of his kiss. “No.”
He grinned again. “No what?”
Shit, now she couldn’t remember. “No. Just no.”
“No what, baby? No to more of my dick? No to Jury bein’ here? No to me bein’ here to take care of Jury?”
“Having Jury here is just an excuse for you to sleep in my bed every night.”
“Ain’t gonna lie. That’s true. And with every jury comes a judge.” His grin turned into a smile. “That’s me. The judge in this case.”
The man must think he was a freaking comedian. “Then I’ll skip that trial, thank you very much.”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t need a man to stay in this house. There’s no threat, the town is safe, why do we need protection?”
“You got a five-year-old little girl whose father’s a fugitive.”
“Dennis is a lot of things, but he would never hurt Daisy. Or me for that matter. He did something very stupid but he’s not a violent man.”
“Not gonna be here every night, but Jury will. Need to find Lange, so I’ll be out lookin’ for him. Deke, too. If Deke’s out, Justice will be here, too. Those two will not let any fucker in this house.”
“You bring two dogs in this house and Daisy will never stop riding my ass for a dog.”
“Then when you get settled in your own place, you get her one.”