Zander frowned. “Saber needs to go, too.”
“You know him?” It was weird Zander turning up like this. He never came to the ranch.
“Got some business with him.”
“So this is personal?”
Zander just stared at him. “My guys and I will find Tiger. Figure things out from there. Deliver a message. Marisol needs to stay here, under close watch. We can’t have them figuring out where she is. Gonna tell Kent to lock down everyone as much as possible. Nobody leaves the ranch alone.”
“Do you think that’s necessary?” Linc asked. “He doesn’t know where she is.”
“If he’s obsessed with her, he’ll be searching for her. And you’ve been seen with her recently. He might be a dumb fuck, but he’s not that stupid.”
Zander just grunted and opened the office door. Then he stilled. “You need a proper car seat for her.”
Before Linc could answer, he was gone.
25
“So he’s going to track down Tiger?”
Linc looked up from the whiteboard he was writing on to see that Marisol had barely touched her lunch. Shit. His fault. He knew better than to talk about anything upsetting when she was eating. Her mood affected her hunger.
“He is. And he’s the best tracker there is. He’ll find him.”
“He’s unusual,” she said carefully.
“I know. But if he says he’ll do something then he does it. Now, that’s enough talk about that. Eat your lunch, please. Or would you like Daddy to feed you?”
She pulled a face but spooned up some lunch. “But—”
“Marisol, I’m serious. That’s going down as a rule.”
“What is?”
“No serious talk while eating. Now, after lunch we’ll go through your rules then you can have a nap while I work. After your nap, would you like to read?”
She crossed her arms over her chest with a glare. “I don’t need rules. I definitely don’t need a rule about not talking about serious stuff while eating.”
“Really? Because you don’t seem to be eating.”
“Maybe I’m just not hungry.
“Or maybe you need Daddy’s help.” He dragged her plate over towards him, stealing her fork.
“Hey! Daddy!”
“Since you’re not eating, Daddy is going to help you.” He spooned up some food. “Open wide like a tyrannosaurus rex.”
“Daddy!” She laughed. “I’m not a dinosaur.” But she opened her mouth obediently.
“That’s it. Good girl.”
“You’re meant to say open up for the choo-choo train.”
“I am? That doesn’t seem nearly as exciting. What about here comes the princess’s unicorn flying through the air, ready to land?”
She opened her mouth and he gave her another mouthful. “That’s better, Daddy.”
“You’re a good girl to open your mouth so obediently for Daddy.” He wiggled his eyebrows at her. “I’ll have to remember that for later.”
She blushed as he’d thought she would. “Daddy!”
“What?” he said with mock-innocence. “I was talking about for dinner. Dirty-minded girl. Here comes another unicorn!”
After she’d eaten enough to satisfy him, he sent her into the living room to read while he tidied up. He looked down at the whiteboard of rules he’d started creating. Picking it up, he walked into his office to grab another whiteboard as well as a spare notebook.
When he walked into the living room, she looked up, her gaze narrowing in on the whiteboards.
“It was a two-pack,” he explained with a grin.
She rolled her eyes.
“Right, time to talk about rules. Put down your eReader, please.”
“But I’m reading, Daddy.”
“You can have ten minutes of reading time before your nap, but you need to put the eReader down and listen to Daddy.”
“Don’t wanna.”
He had to bite back a smile at her show of rebellion. He took it as a sign that she was now more relaxed around him. Although he didn’t intend to let her see how amused he was.
“Marisol. You have until the count of three to put the eReader down and listen to Daddy.”
She didn’t appear to even hear what he said.
“One.”
She didn’t look up.
“Two.”
Nothing.
“Three.”
He plucked the eReader out of her hands and turned it off. She sat up straight. “Hey, what do you think you’re doing?”
“No more reading until after your nap.”
“What? Noooo. That’s not fair!”
“Daddy needs to talk to you about your rules. And you need to pay attention. Which you can’t do with your eReader in your hands.”
“Daddy. That’s just mean.”
“Daddy is very mean,” he agreed, writing on the rules’ whiteboard.
“And I don’t need a nap.”
“Sure you don’t, teeny.”
“I won’t sleep. I’ll just lie there, bored out of my mind.”
“As long as you stay in bed for the whole hour, that’s fine,” he told her.
“A whole hour! This is cruel and unusual punishment.”
“It’s terrible,” Linc agreed as he continued to write on the whiteboard. “Not sure how you put up with me. I figure you’re only with me because of my looks.”
“You’re definitely good eye candy.”
He put down the whiteboard and leapt towards her, tickling her until she begged for mercy.
“I have to pee.”
He chuckled as she raced off to the toilet. Little brat. When she returned, he was looking down at his list of rules with satisfaction.
“There, I think we’ve got most of the rules. No doubt more will come up but I reckon that covers it for now. What do you think?” he asked her as she sat next to him, turning the board towards her.
Marisol gave him a skeptical look.
“What? You think I missed some? Let’s see what we’ve got. Mari’s list of rules. No lying. She must talk to Daddy if something is worrying or upsetting her—”
“Those rules apply to Daddy too, right,” she interjected.
“Of course. Next rule. No going anywhere without Daddy’s knowledge. That’s not me being a controlling jerk. It’s about safety. I simply want to know where you’re going and when you think you’ll be back. You can’t leave the ranch until we’ve decided that it’s safe. And until you’re more knowledgeable of the ranch, I’d prefer that you didn’t walk around on your own. If you want to visit one of the other Littles or go on a walk, tell me. I’ll take you. I don’t want you getting lost. Okay?”
“Yeah. That’s probably a good idea.”
“If someone like Abby comes to visit and asks you to go to her place or one of the other Littles’ houses, just send me a text okay? Not trying to keep you locked up. But I would like to know where you are. Coming home and finding you gone would have me panicking and sending out a search party.”