“Okay, we won’t do it.”
“You know that you’re in trouble for getting up on your own, right? And for walking on your sore ankle.”
“It’s not that bad,” she said hastily. “And I couldn’t sleep.”
“Then you should have called out for one of us, shouldn’t you, naughty girl? When Wolfe finds—”
“Genevieve!” The roar went through the house.
Caleb gave her a knowing look as she grimaced. “Uh-oh.”
“Uh-oh is right. You think you’re in trouble with me, wait until he finds out you were walking on that ankle.”
“Hide me,” she said abruptly.
“You really think he wouldn’t find you?” Caleb raised an eyebrow.
“Please, Daddy,” she begged, putting her hands together.
“Oh no, little one.” He waggled a finger at her. “Calling me Daddy and giving me those puppy eyes won’t work.”
“But Daddyyy,” she said. “Please. Aren’t you supposed to protect me?”
“From people who mean you harm. Wolfe won’t harm you.”
She widened her eyes. “He thinks he gets to spank me.”
“Jelly bean, hate to tell you, he does get to spank you. So do I.”
“What? That’s so mean. Not sure I agreed to that.”
“You knew what you were getting yourself into. Although we still need to sit down and go through limits and rules.”
“We could have done that already, but you all keep changing the topic when I want to talk about any of this.”
“We’re trying to keep you from stressing.”
“Not talking about stuff makes me stress more. I start thinking too much, worrying that you’ve changed your mind about being with me and now you’re stuck with me—”
He placed his hand over her mouth, giving her a look filled with chagrin. “Jesus, baby. They really did a number on your self-esteem, huh? Don’t go spouting shit like that. It just makes me murderous. And if it makes me murderous, then you can guarantee it makes Wolfe want to go all psycho killer. Stuck with you? That’s the last thing I feel. I sometimes think I’m dreaming, since this is all I’ve ever wanted. You. Here with us.”
“Really?”
“Really.” He cupped her face with his hands. “Seems that maybe we made a mistake not talking about this. But it is not because we’ve changed our damn minds.”
“Genevieve! Caleb! Aleki! Code blue!” Wolfe yelled.
“Shit!” Caleb jumped to his feet.
“What’s code blue?” she asked worriedly.
“Emergency.”
“Blue is emergency not red?”
“Nah, red means we’ve already hit disaster levels.” He opened the door. “Wolfe, she’s in here.”
“What?” Wolfe yelled back. She’d never heard him sound like that. Frantic? Almost. . .scared?