Marisol jumped for her, but it was too late, she fell to the floor with a thump.
“Ouch.”
“Oh God! I’m so sorry. This is all my fault. I shouldn’t have frightened you and made you fall. Are you hurt? What can I do?” Marisol crouched down beside her, her breath coming in sharp pants.
“Whoa. First of all, honey, take a breath. I’m fine. I just fell on my butt. Happens all the time. Basically a daily occurrence.”
“It is,” a deep voice agreed from behind Marisol. She turned to find a tall man with chestnut-colored hair had walked through the door from the waiting room and she hadn’t even noticed. “What did you trip over this time, poppet?”
“My own feet,” Caley said dryly. “As per usual. You’re home early. Finished with your head doctoring?” The man stepped around Marisol then leaned down, effortlessly picked Caley up and set her on her feet.
Marisol scrambled up as well.
“Archer, this is Marisol. Remember, I told you about her, she came from the spa to do our nails for Charlie’s bridal shower? And now she’s staying with Linc.”
“Ahh, yes. Nice to meet you, Marisol.” Archer had kind eyes and a warm handshake. After he let her hand go, he glanced down at Caley. “How sore is your butt? Does it need a rub? Maybe a magic kiss? Perhaps I should inspect it and see.”
Caley rolled her eyes. “Don’t mind him, he thinks he’s a comedian.”
But she could see Archer was rubbing Caley’s bottom for her. Caley sighed, leaning into him.
“You stopping for the day, poppet?” Archer asked.
“My book is terrible,” Caley wailed. “I can’t make any of it work. At this stage, I’m never going to get it ready in time to send it to Daisy. It’s just one, giant crappy mess. I’m going to be up all night trying to fix it.”
“You’ll be going to bed at your usual time,” a familiar bark came from down the hall. Marisol peered round to find Doc walking towards them with a frown. Linc was behind him. He sent her a wink.
“No cookies. Doc lied,” he told her with a sigh.
“And now all the cookies are gone!” Caley wailed, throwing her hands up in the air. “Will the blows never stop coming?”
“Hush,” Doc told her, walking close and grabbing one of her hands gently, looking it over. “There’s still some cookies left. I just told Linc there were none because I didn’t want him eating them all.”
“Jeez, Doc. I feel so loved.” Linc shook his head.
“You’re not loved. I love Caley. She gets a cookie. You don’t.”
Archer sighed. “It’s hard to be your brother sometimes.”
“Just sometimes?” Linc asked dryly.
“What about Marisol? Does Marisol get a cookie?” Caley asked. “She looks like she could use one.”
“I think I’ve got some sugar free ones she can have,” Doc replied.
“You don’t eat sugar, Marisol?” Caley asked with interest.
“I’m diabetic,” Marisol explained shyly, wishing she could kind of disappear now. Even if it was fascinating watching Caley with her two Docs.
“Really? That’s great!”
“Um, it is?”
“Argh, Caley, think about what you just said.” Archer nodded over at Marisol.
“Oh no, I’m such an idiot.” Caley reached for her with the hand that Doc wasn’t holding. “I didn’t mean it like that. I’m so sorry. It’s just the character in my story has diabetes and I’m having trouble figuring everything out. I can’t believe I said that. Forgive me?”
“It’s okay,” Marisol told her.
“Oh good. So would you mind?”
“Um, mind what?” It was hard to keep up with Caley.
“Would you mind answering some questions for me? Or maybe even reading through the story to make sure what I’ve written is accurate? Do you like reading?”
“M-mind? I would love to! I love your books. I’ve read all of them. Several times.”
“She got nervous about coming here when I told her your pen name,” Linc explained.
“Nervous? To meet me? You don’t have to be nervous. I’m just Caley.”
“Just Caley is beautiful and smart and sweet,” Archer told her. Wow, he was so sweet.
“Your hands are swollen,” Doc snapped. “You need to sit with some heat packs on. Have you not been using your dictation?”
And Doc was so grumbly. She guessed they evened each other out.
Caley looked instantly guilty. “The words aren’t coming, so I switched to typing.”
“Caley,” Doc growled in a disapproving voice. “That’s going on your chart.”
With a sigh, Caley pouted up at Doc. “My characters aren’t behaving. What was I supposed to do?”
“Once your hands start hurting, you’re supposed to stop,” he told her.
“You’re not winning this one,” Archer told her with a soft pat on her ass. “Come on, let’s go find some cookies and get your heating pad ready. You can talk to Marisol while you sit.”
Caley looked over at Marisol. “But I need to take notes.”
“I can do that. I don’t mind,” Marisol offered. “Or I could write things out as I’m reading your story.”
“Oh, I couldn’t ask you to do that.”
“Please. I’d love to help. I just . . . your books have helped me when things haven’t been so great in my life. I’d lose myself in them. I’ve read them several times. To help you in any way, would be amazing.”
“I think that’s one of the nicest things anyone has ever said to me.” Caley slipped her hand around Marisol’s arm. “Marisol, I think you are my new best friend.”
24
Marisol was riding a high as they drove home.
“Can you believe Caley wants my help? Mine? And she’s sending her manuscript to me so I can beta read for her?” She jumped up and down in the seat.
“Whoa. No jumping around while I’m driving.” Linc shot his arm out to hold her against the seat, shooting her a firm look.
She sighed at him. “Daddy, we’re not even on the road. I don’t even need to wear a seatbelt.”
“You most certainly do. I catch you without one and you’ll get a spanking every night for a week.”
Uh-huh. She didn’t think so. Linc could never spank her that much. And she could barely feel the one she’d had this morning.
“You think I won’t do it? I will. And before you tell me that one this morning didn’t hurt that bad, that was just a light reminder. It wasn’t a proper spanking.”
It wasn’t?
Hmm.
“Sit in your seat. Seems I do need to order the full car seat for you.”
“You do not!” Bad enough she was getting a booster, but a proper seat with harness was not going to happen. Was it? She shot him a sideways glance.
Damn, he looked pretty serious.
He parked outside their cabin. She couldn’t believe how today had gone. Not only was she getting help with managing her diabetes, but she now got to beta read for CJ Bennett. She’d taken notes as Caley asked questions, both of them eating a cookie, hers was sugar-free, with milk while the men all drank coffee.