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Why wasn’t she eating? Was she ill?
Worry filled Judd.
Perhaps they needed to take her back.
Beck turned her around on his lap so she was facing Judd. She didn’t look ill. Well, she was pale. But other than that, she seemed fine. Just a bit . . . embarrassed.
Judd clawed back the need to order her to eat. Instead, he reached out slowly to clasp her chin. He studied her face. “Is there a reason you’re not eating?”
“I . . .” She licked her lips. “I want to say no. But I . . . I don’t know. I never seem to be that hungry and sometimes I forget.”
She didn’t seem that certain of her answers. Worry filled him. But he knew that he might be acting irrationally. Having grown up with never enough food in the cupboards, he now had a few issues around food.
And yeah . . . he had turned that into a bit of an obsession with making sure that his brothers were always well-fed and healthy. But if he didn’t fill the fridge with good food and cook it, then Hux would just eat crap. And Beck would live on protein bars and drinks. And Owen, well, who knew whether he even needed to eat.
So really . . . they should thank him.
They’d probably be happy if he turned most of that attention on Chloe. Although she might not feel the same way.
But from now on, he was determined to ensure that she ate. However, being all bossy and intense probably wasn’t the way to get her to eat. He needed to help her relax.
They needed Hux here. He always knew how to lighten the mood.
“How about a game?” he asked.
“A game?” She was still sitting on Beck’s lap. He was surrounding her, his big body dwarfing hers. But despite their size difference, they looked right together.
He hoped to make her feel so relaxed around him that she would sit on his lap as easily.
Then stop being such a bossy, grouchy bastard.
It wasn’t that simple . . . since that was kind of his personality.
But he’d try.
He brought out the three plastic cups he’d brought with him, then grabbed a grape. Hmm. He needed a flat surface. Using the lid of the cooler, he placed the three cups upside down.
“Right, see this grape?” He held it up.
She nodded.
“I’m going to put the grape under one cup. You guess which cup has the grape and I take a bite of a sandwich. You guess wrong and you take a bite.”
She grinned at him. He was taken aback by how young she looked.
Carefree.
How much stress was she carrying on those slim shoulders? It made him want to do whatever it took to always have her looking that way.
“Ready?”
“Ready.” She leaned forward, watching intently as he put the grape under the middle cup. Then he started moving the cups around.
She had her tongue poking slightly out. It was adorable. Endearing.
And it made her seem more real. When he’d first met her, she’d seemed like an angel. Beautiful and untouchable.
Cold and removed.
But right now, with her tongue poking out, her face flushed pink with enjoyment, eyes sparkling as she sat on Beck . . . yeah, he could see how mistaken he’d been.
“Right. Which one is it under?” he asked.
“That one.” She pointed confidently to the cup on the right. “It’s that one. I knows it.”
He blinked and shared a look with Beck. She was starting to go into Little headspace. It filled him with hope that she really did trust them. Even if just a tiny bit.
He lifted the cup.
No grape.
“Oh no! That can’t be right! I was sure it was there.” Her lower lip dropped in the sweetest pout.
Fuck.
He was entranced. He had to shake himself to remember what his aim was here.
“Nope. Afraid not.” He lifted another cup to show her the grape.
She sighed. “Drat. Again! Again!”
“Uh-uh,” Beck said. “Not until you eat a bite of your sandwich.”
“Can’t I do that after?” she wheedled.
“Nope,” Judd said firmly. “Rules are rules. Would you like ham and cheese, cream cheese and olive, or peanut butter and jam?”
“Um, cream cheese and olive.”
He unwrapped the heart-shaped sandwich and held it toward her. She reached out a hand for it, but he drew it back.
“Nope. Let me feed you.”
She sucked in a breath. “R-really?”
“Yes.”
Was she really doing this?
Sitting on the lap of one man while another fed her and the third watched on with hunger in his eyes that had nothing to do with food?
“Eat your sandwich like a good girl,” Owen urged.
“Take a bite,” Judd said. There was a note of sternness in his voice that told her he wouldn’t bend.
Leaning forward slightly, she took a delicate bite.
“Hmm, I don’t know. Are we going to accept that as a proper bite, Judd?” Beck asked.
