Being Their Baby (22 page)

Liz smiled warmly at Josh and squeezed his upper arm. “I’m sorry I sort of brought her in here without any plan,” she admitted. “I should have been here more, paying attention.”

Charlie sighed as he continued to massage his shoulder. “Well, I like to think between the three of us, we can get her in the right state of mind and erase some of the past damage she’s been through.” He glanced at Josh, who looked like he was a soldier about to charge into battle. “Okay, Captain America—what’s the game plan?” he smirked.

Josh smirked back, then pointed Liz toward the fridge. “Liz, get this asshole some ice so he can go snuggle up to the little girl back there before she wakes up alone. I think things are going a little fast for her sexually, and she seems anxious to please us all, so let’s not take advantage of her. I gave her the birth-control shot, but I don’t plan to go that far with her for quite a few months. Not even if she begs us—I want her to feel like she’s 100% part of this family before we do that.”

Charlie nodded. “What about your new born-again announcement that you’re a two-woman man?” he challenged playfully as Liz brought him a bag of ice from the freezer and pressed it under his business jacket and onto his shoulder. He chewed down a curse at the pressure and the cold.

“Hey, I mean it, too. No more Bachelor Josh. I’m committing. Besides,” he added casually, “I said no sex, not that we’d treat her like a
nun
. And,” he added, holding up a finger. “I want her to get out of that stupid job and working on her studying full-time. I know stupid teenagers, and she’s not one of them. I don’t know how far she’ll want her education to go—but I’m willing to pay the bills for it as long as she goes to college
nearby
.”

Liz’s mouth dropped open. “
You’d
foot the bill?”

Josh crossed his arms across his chest with confidence. “Yeah, me. Why are you saying it like that?”

“The only thing you spend money on is booze, babes, and beaches,” Liz reminded him flatly.

“And hockey,” Charlie added quickly.

“Well, since I’m now in a
nearly
monogamous relationship with an eighteen-year-old, I’m going to say I don’t have to worry about the booze or the babes. The beaches won’t be a problem—I have a conference in a couple months in Daytona and then one in Maui. Besides, babe, I’m done with my residency, you know. I have over a hundred thou just sitting in my bank with nothing better to do. If you or Charlie pays for her, someone might find out and ask questions about your relationship with her and you have reputations you have to keep squeaky clean. Anybody asks, say that you’re with Charlie, and she’s with
me
. I’m a young doctor, for God’s sake; people expect me to rob the cradle a little and buy things for a sexy little thing on my arm. If she calls me Uncle Josh in
public
, nobody would even bat an eye, I guarantee it.”

Liz pursed her lips and lifted her eyebrows. “That could work,” she admitted, then looked at Charlie and added, “We can bring a little into public once we have a way to introduce her! If she’s in a relationship with your brother, then people will assume she’s not in one with
us
, even though she’ll be with all three.”

Charlie thought about it. Normally he had the main relationship in this circle—Liz or Josh might move in and do a scene or two or even enjoy a night or even a week with one of his baby girls, but they’d never liked a girl this much, and certainly never in an equal amount. He would actually have to
share
his little this time.

He grunted his approval anyway. “I’m gonna go see Sophie,” he told them, walking out of the room with a grimace.

“Hey, do you want me to look at that shoulder, old man?” Josh joked.

“It’s a shoulder, not a vagina,” he replied without turning back. “And I wouldn’t want you to even if you were a
real
doctor.”

Josh’s tone sounded less than amused. Snarkily, he replied, “Real nice, bro. Love you, too.”

It was twenty degrees outside, and even though the entrance of the pool house was only about thirty paces, it was grueling. It felt like a physical barrier between him and Sophie, and he wasn’t fond of barriers. No—if sleeping with Josh was going to start becoming her habit, then Josh would have to start sleeping in the main house.

He opened the door and quickly found himself frowning. Inside the nearby laundry room, a pile of dirty clothes—with Sophie’s panties on top of them all—was in plain sight. His first thought, Charlie was ashamed to admit to himself, wasn’t that Josh took advantage of her: it was that the only person who should be taking off his little girl’s panties was
him
.

Charlie chided himself inwardly. He and his little brother had shared girls their entire adult lives and hadn’t thought twice about it. He wasn’t going to start acting territorial with him now.

He walked into the bedroom and stopped at the foot of the bed, watching how the tiny young woman curled up in Josh’s sheets so that only her face and a couple of her blond curls draped across the pillow. Somehow, maybe because of her long, dark eyelashes and cute button nose, she was as adorable to him as a boxful of fluffy and clumsy puppies and kittens. He found himself looking around, as if he wanted to find someone else nearby who he could call over and bring the cuteness to their attention.

Instead, he carefully sat next to her on the bed. He looked down at her for a long moment. No wonder Josh didn’t have the heart to wake her. She wasn’t a peaceful sleeper; she looked like she was sleeping with intensity—in fact, as if she were dreaming about something that needed her undivided attention. But she was so sweet. He couldn’t help himself, and eventually began brushing a couple of loose curls away from her porcelain-like face.

Her eyelashes fluttered, partially opened, and then she rolled up more tightly into the covers. “Mmm,” she grumbled groggily, “what time is it?”

“Nearly six,” Charlie answered.

She frowned. “It’s too early,” she complained.

“Six pm,” he specified.

Her eyes shot open. She looked straight ahead, her body stiffened, and then she sat up so quickly that her untamed curls fell over her face. “Wha—?” she blurted as she flipped her hair back over her forehead to peer at Charlie. “Daddy!” she gasped, her eyes rounding nervously. “I’m really, really sorry. I promise I—”

Charlie couldn’t be more pleased that her first reaction was to call him ‘Daddy’ instead of Charlie. He had worried that the progress he’d made since she came there had been lost already because of what had happened between them during the night. “Sophie, you’re not in trouble,” he clarified, trying not to chuckle.

She blinked. “You mean… you’re not mad? Josh said you and Mommy’d be pissed.”

“First, little girls don’t say words like ‘pissed,’” he informed her firmly. “Second, we were worried for you. We didn’t know where you were; I was checking
snow banks
for you all morning until Liz called and told me Josh had you. But I’m the one who’s sorry. I tried to get you to open up and tell me what your needs were, and then I dismissed them when you did.”

He combed her hair back tenderly with his fingers. “I’d never mean to hurt you like that, Sophie. I meant to come and talk it out with you before you went upstairs, but I’d already said the wrong thing by then…
done
the wrong thing. Daddies make mistakes, too, you know. So, I’ll take it slower with you and really try to be more attentive to your needs. If you want, we can even put the age-play in the back drawer. We can date like normal people do. And if you want to try age-play later on with me, or Liz, or Josh, then we’ll do that. On your terms, so—”

She was blinking at him, looking very intent on his words, yet she began to raise an eyebrow wearily at him until she cut him off. “Daddy,” she said firmly. “I
like
age-play.” She straightened her shoulders. “I think… It’s actually way hotter than I thought it’d be, and I’m getting the hang of it still, but I’ve read that book Liz got me front to back about a million times. If I don’t like it, I don’t know why I’d read it so much. I mean,” she added as he was opening his mouth to reply, “when you drove me home yesterday, I was hoping you’d do daddy stuff, like make a snack and watch a movie with me and read to me until I fell asleep… and I was really happy when you did.

“And then, I was even happy when I was watching the third or fourth—I think they’re all the same, really—
Friday the 13
^th
. I was
hoping
you’d wake up and take me to bed. I was just hoping it would be your bed, or that you’d stay in mine with me…” Her shoulders slouched as she added sadly, “I get lonely, and I was having nightmares, and you make me feel… safe. Not that Liz wouldn’t do a good job, but she’s a girl, and it’s different when it comes to nightmares and stuff. Anyway… That’s why I wanted you. I wanted
more
daddy, not less, and not just during the day, I guess.”

Charlie didn’t know what to say for a moment. He had a momentary flash of shame for not acting much like a daddy earlier. She needed someone to care for her, and best of all, she
wanted
it, too. For most of two weeks, he probably was acting grouchy enough only to remind her of the environment she’d just come from.

He patted his lap. “Come here, baby girl,” he invited. She skootched promptly toward him, hampered slightly by the extremely large shirt she had been sleeping in. He helped her settle on his lap and then he put his arms around her. “Thank you for giving me another chance, sweetie,” he told her. “I’m going to be the daddy you need, okay?”

She nodded and wrapped her arms around him.

“If you run away and worry me like that again, though, you’re going to get tanned raw,” he added after a moment of holding and rocking her back and forth on his lap.

She gave a single wry chuckle. “I know,” she admitted. “I won’t do that again.”

He put his nose in her curls and drew in a deep breath. A deep calm washed over him. It was a new day, and he was a daddy who had his baby girl.

Chapter Ten

Six Months Later…

Liz watched as Sophie, dressed in a short skirt and a plaid cardigan, poked at her Froot Loops with a sneer on her pink, pouting lips. Sophie had been with them over five months now, and she had absolutely blossomed. Before Christmas she had been looking rather sickly, but now that she was eating—and eating something other than smoothies and frosting—she had a beautiful pink hue to her cheeks.

What was never cute was when Sophie was grumbling something hostile under her tongue. Liz was sick of it. “Drop the attitude, missy, right this second,” Liz ordered, pointing a finger sharply in Sophie’s direction.

Sophie slammed her spoon down on the table. “I wasn’t
doing anything
,” she snapped like a teenager who needed a good paddling. “You’re the one who’s embarrassed over me,” she added grumpily.

Liz rolled her eyes. Sophie was trying to manipulate her—again. It wasn’t as if Liz didn’t constantly do things with her. Maybe in the beginning of their relationship, Liz had dropped the ball on several occasions, but that wasn’t the case anymore.

If anything, Liz felt like she had been stretching herself a little thin. Liz was trying to be everything for everyone nowadays, and she was barely even getting good sleep because of it. As far as Sophie was concerned, Liz had made the time to take her consistently out on lunches and dinners, or stayed in for a movie night with popcorn, and just last weekend she had taken Sophie to a spa for a
full weekend
. Sophie’s complaint rose Liz’s hackles. “This is a big deal for me, and I’m just taking one guest, and that guest is going to be
Charlie
. That’s final, Sophia.”

“It’s always
final
,” Sophie snipped. “You never care about
my
opinion or
my
feelings.”

“All right, young lady,” Liz said, sharply putting the coffeepot back in its holder. She turned and pointed to the corner on the far side of the room. “Get your ridiculous little butt in the corner,
now.
”

Sophie’s mouth dropped open, aghast. “I’m eating breakfast!” she said, pointing at her cereal as if she’d just been quietly eating it and not throwing a mini-tantrum all morning.

Liz looked at her threateningly. “Do I need to
put
you in the corner?”

Sophie shrunk down in her seat. “No,” she pouted, obviously not wanting for Liz to come over there and spank her bottom a bright red before she physically led her there.

“Then get moving.”

Sophie groaned, pulled herself out of the breakfast nook, and marched toward the corner, stomping her feet when she had her nose only a foot away from the corner of the room. She had her arms crossed tightly in front of her. The posture was less than pretty, and less than what was required of her.

Liz marched to the corner. “You’re not new here. Hands on your head, Sophia Lynn. You should be walking on eggshells with me right now.”

Sophie turned at the sound of Liz’s approach, wide-eyed, but Liz just spun her back around, lifted Sophie’s skirt, and peppered her with about six or seven loud, crisp spanks that had the girl already pleading for reprieve.

When Liz got Sophie back into place and released her, Sophie rushed to finally put her hands above her head like an obedient girl. Liz, feeling less than satisfied with Sophie’s new behavior, tucked the back of Sophie’s skirt into the waistband, exposing her white cotton panties. Liz then pulled Sophie’s panties down to her thighs, which made the girl’s knees buckle together in response. “Mommy, no!” Sophie pleaded.

Liz straightened and grabbed one of Sophie’s pinked ass cheeks firmly, causing Sophie to gasp. “Does Mommy deserve to deal with whiny little girls all morning?” she asked.

“No,” Sophie gasped, wincing.

“Were you a whiny girl?” Liz scolded.

Sophie nodded hesitantly.