Yeah, that had been kind of fun. Seeing the way the other woman’s mouth had gaped open.
But the thought of Gloria brought up another problem.
Sh
e turned her gaze away from the window. Night had now fallen, and she couldn’t see much beyond the truck’s headlights.
“I have work tomorrow. Late shift. Can you drive me in?”
“We’ll talk about it tomorrow, sweetheart. For now, I want you to try and relax. Forget it all for a while.”
“I don’t think that’s possible.”
“I can think of one way it can happen.” He reached the peak of a hill and down in the valley, lights blazed.
“Wow, how many people live here?”
“Probably not as many as you’d think,” he replied. “My place is up by security headquarters, it’s a bit of a rough ride so you’ll need to hang on.” He took a turn before he reached what she thought must be the main house due to the size of it. Wow, he wasn’t kidding when he said it would be a rough ride. She held on tight to the sides of the seat beneath her as she bounced around.
Kent reached across her at a particularly rough spot, placing his arm over her to hold her in place. That was unbelievably sweet even if totally unnecessary.
“Shouldn’t you keep both hands on the wheel!” She tried not to sound too demanding when really what she wanted to scream was, keep both hands on the damn wheel!
Kent chuckled. “Don’t worry, I’ve driven this path so many times I can do it with my eyes closed.”
“Well, don’t!”
“Baby, I would never. Especially not with something as precious as you with me.”
Oh boy, the things he said to her. They spoke straight to that place inside her that felt unnoticed. Insecure.
He even slowed down slightly, although she wasn’t sure that made the ride any better. When they finally pulled up outside an A-frame log cabin with lights burning from the front windows, she felt like her head was close to rolling right off her neck.
“Wait in here while I go light the fire and turn up the heat,” he said, not turning the truck off. “I’ll also carry in all your stuff.”
“I can help,” she offered.
He shook his head. “No, I don’t want you catching a chill. Just stay in here. I mean it.” There was a stern note to his voice.
She nodded her head. Honestly, she was too tired to argue even if she wanted to. The manners her nana had drilled into her dictated she offer to help, but she was pleased just to wait in the warmth. There was a chill that had settled deep inside that had more to do with the wreck her life had become than the weather outside.
“Abby, what if I said there was a way you could let all your worries go for a while and just be?”
“I’d say it sounds impossible.”
“Not impossible. But you’d need to let your Little side out. Your Little doesn’t have to worry about big girl stuff. She just needs to worry about obeying Daddy. And if she doesn’t, Daddy will deal with that. I know it’s fast and I know you’re probably not ready. But if you want me to take over, to take that role for you, then just know there is nothing I want more right now. I’ll give you some time to think. Stay here.”
He’d give her some time to think? She gaped at his back as he strode up the steps onto the large porch at the front of the A-frame. Another time she would have been more intrigued by his place. But right now, her mind was caught on his words.
The last thing she wanted right now was to think.
And yet, as exhausted as she was, wasn’t that exactly what would happen as soon as she was on her own? But how did she let her Little out?
She startled as the back door to the truck’s cab opened and he reached in to grab all the bags in one sweep.
“I can hear you thinking from here, sweetheart,” he told her quietly. “It’s all going to be okay, Abby. Nothing happens you don’t want to happen.”
She watched him walk into the house once more, this man who insisted she stay in the warm truck while he trudged back and forth in the cold. Who called her each night, telling her amusing stories about his day even though she was sure that he spent much of his day doing things that weren’t funny at all.