He crouched down, searching through the basket at the bottom of the coat closet for some smaller gloves. “Can’t have you getting a chill. I don’t think I have any gloves that fit. Oh and I know you met Caley. I just meant you might have heard of her pen name. Caley is an author. She writes Daddy Dom books, she goes by the name CJ Bennett.” He spotted a pair that he thought might do. They were too small for him. “Ah-huh, here’s a pair!”
He turned, only to find she’d disappeared. What the hell? What happened to her? He’d thought she was just a bit nervous about meeting with Doc? Had she become so scared that she’d run off?
“Mari-girl? Mari? Where are you?” He strode into the living room, through the kitchen and then into the bedroom. Finally, after calling for her and searching everywhere, he thought of the closet.
Opening the door, he found her crouched on the floor. He breathed out a sigh of relief. Logically, he knew that she hadn’t been in danger. It wasn’t like Tiger could have snuck in and snatched her out from under his nose.
But still that fear had held him by the throat for a moment.
“Mari-girl? What happened? Why did you run off?”
She put her hands over her eyes, taking deep, shaky breaths. What was going on? Was she scared?
“You’re not really scared of going to see Doc, are you? I told you that Daddy would look after you. Mari?” he asked.
“No, it’s not that! Why didn’t you tell me that Caley is CJ Bennett?”
Huh? This was why she’d panicked and run off to hide in the closet?
He sat down. They were going to be late and Doc wouldn’t let him hear the end of it for months to come, but he could hardly carry her there, kicking and screaming.
Well, he could. But he wouldn’t.
“Mari-girl, come out here.” He reached a hand out to her.
She stared at his hand. “I’m not going. I can’t. Not like this. I have to . . . to . . . oh man. I can’t meet her!”
With a deep sigh, he reached in and drew her out onto his lap. When she attempted to struggle, he gave her one sharp smack on her ass.
“Ow,” she complained but she stilled in his arms. He knew it hadn’t really hurt. It was more to get her attention and help her settle.
“Stay still, little girl,” he warned. She needed a bit of firmness right now. And he was going to have to make it clear that she wasn’t to run from him like she had. “Now, tell Daddy what the problem is.”
“She’s my favorite author!”
“And that’s a problem because . . .”
“I . . . I . . . I don’t know,” she finished lamely. “I guess I got excited and scared and nervous and then it just all became too much.”
“So you ran away from Daddy?”
Her mouth dropped open then she grimaced as though realizing she might just be in trouble.
“I wasn’t running from you, Daddy. I just . . . I’m not sure why I ran in here. I was overwhelmed.”
“Okay, I don’t get why you’re so scared to see Caley. I thought you’d be excited.”
“It’s just . . . I don’t know . . . it’s kind of like meeting the President or royalty or something.”
He had to bite back his smile. “Right. You’re nervous then.”
She nodded her head.
“Got it. What I could have told you if you had mentioned all this instead of running off, is that Caley is extremely sweet. She likes her privacy which is why I didn’t mention this before. But I know you wouldn’t tell anyone what her pen name is. You’ve seen how gossip works in Wishingbone.”
“Oh, I’d never say a word. Wait, she’s got two daddies, right? Doc and his brother? Wow.”
“That’s right. She does. And remember, you’ve already met her, you know how nice she is.”
She thunked the palm of her hand against her forehead. “I did CJ Bennett’s nails.” She spoke with wonder. He had to bite back another smile, because he wanted her to know that he was very serious about this next bit.
He set her on the floor so she was facing him and gently grasped hold of her chin. “I want you to listen to me now.”
“Yes?”
“You’re not to run from Daddy like that again, understand? Not when I don’t know where you’ve gone or why. I was worried when I couldn’t find you.”
“I’m sorry, Daddy. I didn’t mean to worry you.”
“I know it was just instinct. And given some more time, Daddy is hoping that you run to him rather than the closet for safety. But if you keep doing it, then Daddy might just have to buy you one of those baby leads.”
Her eyes went wide. “I won’t, Daddy.”
“All right, let’s go. We’re already late.”
Marisol studied Doc as Linc pulled up outside his cabin. It was larger than Linc’s place and it was clear that it had been added to.
“Doc has a clinic at JSI headquarters as well, but they just built this extension and he decided to add a clinic here too. I think he just doesn’t like leaving Caley for long. They all have their own office.”
That was a good set-up. She moved her gaze back to Doc, he didn’t look happy. In fact, if he’d been a cartoon character, steam would be coming from his ears.
She leaned back in her seat, waiting for Linc to come get her. He opened her door, and then undid her seat belt, lifting her down. In truth, it was a relief to get out of the hot truck. She was wearing so many clothes and Linc had had the heater blasting as they’d driven here. She was starting to overheat.
“You’re late,” the other man barked. He was handsome, with dark-blond hair, a neatly-trimmed beard and piercing blue eyes.
“Sorry,” Linc called out. “Bit of a delay. Mari panicked when I told her that Caley writes books as CJ Bennett.”
Doc’s eyes narrowed as he stared down at her. She huddled into Linc, her hand firmly wrapped in his.
“And why would that make you panic? Don’t you like Caley’s books?” he snapped.
“What? No!” Her eyes widened. “I love them. I love her. I can’t believe I met her and I didn’t even know.”
“Ah, you’re a fan?” Doc’s face softened and she swore he nearly smiled. Maybe.
“Her biggest fan. I’m so nervous now.”
“She’s writing at the moment. She’s having problems with a character, so if you hear someone occasionally yelling, just ignore it.”
“Ohh.”
“Come in. It’s cold out. Although I see you’re wrapped up for the arctic.” Doc sent Linc a look as they followed him into what had to be the waiting room. It held a sofa, two armchairs and a coffee table with some magazines on it. There was an open door to her left that she saw opened into an exam room. There was another closed door to her right. She wondered if that led to Archer’s office. And the wall directly ahead of her had another door that she thought must take you into the main part of the house.
Hot air assaulted her and she started to sweat. Gross. She tried to pull off her scarf. Linc helped her pull it off.
“Poor girl is sweating under all those layers,” Doc told him.