Page 235 of Cowboy Daddies

“It suits me, really. Now isn’t the time for me to get involved with anyone long term. Not sure that I ever will again, if I’m honest. But it’s been a long time since I took care of a Little and I’ve missed it. So for a few days I’d like to take care of you, Casey. What do you say?”

What did she say?

That she liked him? That she was attracted to him? That it was good he’d laid all of this out first so she didn’t get attached. Because it would be easy to.

Should she do this, though? Could she keep her feelings out of it?

It would be good practice. You’d discover whether you like having a Daddy.

Having sex.

Crap. If it came down to sex would she have to tell him how inexperienced she was?

Probably.

That was going to be embarrassing.

Casey gazed down at what he was doing with her hand.

Oh hell. Now she felt queasy.

“Don’t look at what I’m doing, baby,” he said. “Keep your eyes up.”

“I don’t know if I can. It’s like driving past a car wreck,” she said. “You know you shouldn’t look but you just can’t seem to stop yourself.”

“Close your eyes then,” he commanded. “Keep them closed or I won’t be happy.”

“Are you ever happy?” she countered. She hadn’t really meant to say that. It just came out.

“Once, I was. I’m trying to find that happiness again.”

She winced. But more due to chagrin over what she’d said rather than from the pain of him digging into her hand for the splinters.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. It was rude.”

“I know I don’t smile or laugh much. Other than Wyatt and the ranch, I’ve found it hard to find joy in things. And even with those things, well, the ranch can sometimes feel like a never-ending thankless job. And Wyatt . . . he hasn’t been that happy with me since Elise’s death.”

“He’s grieving,” she said, hoping she wasn’t overstepping.

“I know. He misses Elise. Thankfully, he doesn’t remember all the times she let him down. The times she said she’d be somewhere and wasn’t. All the times she’d fall asleep and forget to pick him up from the bus. Or would start slurring her words and stumbling around, breaking things and yelling.”

“What . . . she what?” she asked, amazed.

“Elise was an alcoholic. But she hid it well for a long time. I don’t know, maybe I just didn’t want to see it. Perhaps I was in denial. When I found out, I tried to get her into rehab and counseling, but she wouldn’t go. I hid the car keys and I tried to be home whenever she was with Wyatt.”

God.

She couldn’t imagine what that was like for him. “You must have been devastated.”

“I was upset for Wyatt. He deserved a mother who was there for him. Who put him first. Elise was like that until the alcohol took over. I know she loved him so much. But she was putting him in danger so I gave her an ultimatum. Either she cleaned up her act, went to rehab and got help or she was out. And I would keep Wyatt. She lost it. Yelled, screamed, hit me, threw things. Thankfully, Wyatt wasn’t there at the time.”

“Then what happened?” she whispered.

As he spoke, he drew splinters from her hand. But she barely felt anything. She was too caught up in his painful story.

“She left. I didn’t know that she’d hidden a spare set of keys for the car. She took off as I was trying to clean up before Wyatt got home. I called Tex, because I didn’t want her driving like that. I knew she could hurt someone or herself, but she barely made it out the driveway before she crashed. She died two days later.”

“That’s so awful,” she whispered as he disinfected her hand and bandaged it.