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“What do you mean, not exactly?”

“Bluebell, there are only two ways out of this room. And we can’t go out the door.”

“My name’s Tildi,” she corrected. “I understand we can’t go out the door, but, well, we can’t go out the window, either.” She paused when his brows rose, and he continued to stare at her. Waiting. “Wait… you… you want us to go out the window?”

Her question ended in a squeak.

His head tilted to the side when he shrugged that time. “I’m open to other suggestions, babygirl,” he said.

She paced to the window and back. “What about the guards outside?”

“Midnight only has a few men stationed here. I took out two on the beach and three others once I got to the compound and, of course, our friend Moretti here. Half the remaining soldiers will go with Midnight. That leaves half inside and the rest outside on the grounds. Probably only five or six.”

“Onlyfive or six? Compared to our two?”

“Frankly, I’d count us as one and a half,” he said. “You’re pretty small, and you don’t know how to shoot.”

That snapped her spine stiff. Crossing her arms, she said, “We can’t all be Rambo, you know.”

Unfortunately, he was right. Their odds of going out the window weren’t great, but they were better than their odds if they stayed where they were.

She glanced out the window again. “We’re really high off the ground.” She hated heights even more than she hated small, enclosed spaces.

Hugging her chest tighter, she snagged her bottom lip with her teeth. She could do this. He wouldn’t ask her to do something that would kill her. Of course, he was used to dealing with super-human commando people.

Yeah, she was going to die.

Boone walked over to her, grabbed her shoulders, and gave them a squeeze. “You just said you trusted me. Were you lying to me, Bluebell? It’s only a two-story drop to the ground. You’ll be fine.”

“My name’s Tildi,” she corrected again. “Two… oh, only two stories? Pfft. Is that all? And here I was getting all scared and stuff.”

He frowned at her sarcasm. “I know you’re scared, little girl, but I’m gonna warn you this once to watch your tone.”

She stared up at him, eyes wide. Opening her mouth to speak, she had to snap it back shut because she had no words.Holy cow! Boone was a Daddy. He had to be. No one said things like that to a grown woman if they weren’t a Daddy.

She’d wanted a Daddy for four years. She’d been tricked into believing the man who lived across the hall from her was a Daddy, but he wasn’t. He’d turned out to be a giant jerkface. She’d kept searching until she’d been kidnapped.

She’d almost decided that kind of man only lived in Darling, Tennessee. And now, while being held prisoner by the Midnight family on the other side of the world, a real Daddy walked into her room. Things like that didn’t happen. Not to her.

Her heart skittered at a sudden dreadful thought. Had she given off any signals that she was a Little? She didn’t think so. She’d gotten good at hiding it. Most men took advantage of women like her when they realized what she was. Being Little could be dangerous.

Right now, she needed to forget about that and focus on Boone’s plan to jump out a flipping second floor window.

“I mean no disrespect, but did they teach you about gravity in your commando school?”

His lips twitched before he spun her to face the window and smacked her on the butt.

“Ouch,” she yelped, even though it didn’t really hurt.

“There’s plenty more where that came from if you don’t march.” He continued to propel her toward the window.

“Okay, okay! Talking time is over then. Aye-aye, Captain Commando.” She did her best to salute.

He glared at her. Wow, somebody had a button that could be pushed. Not that she would dare push it. Probably.

“I was an air commando, but not anymore. I’m a rancher first who’s occasionally called to act as a security specialist. For that part, I run Wilder Security.”

“Is there a difference?”