Page 190 of Broken Daddy

“All of that for me? Why?”

He crouched in front of her. “Because you deserve nice things in your life, baby. And you deserve to be treated kindly.”

Lord.

How was she ever going to return to normal life?

40

Two days passed before she had a chance to pay Hayes back for all of his kindness. He had spent the last two days hovering over her, doing everything for her.

She’d barely been allowed out of bed, let alone do anything else. He’d helped her shower, made her food, and brought her things to entertain her.

But, thankfully, he’d had to go up to JSI headquarters this morning. After getting her dressed, he’d made her promise to sit on the sofa and watch television while he was gone.

That wasn’t happening.

As soon as he left, she got up and started searching for cleaning supplies. She’d start with the bathroom and work her way around the cabin.

Not that it was dirty or anything. But it wouldn’t hurt to clean everything and it meant he wouldn’t have to do it.

So far, it had just been the two of them. They hadn’t seen anyone else. Packages would turn up on the porch, along with groceries.

Her Little now had all these amazing things, but she just wasn’t sure she deserved them.

Hayes wasn’t her actual Daddy. He was just acting as her Daddy because he knew she needed it.

He did a lot of things because he knew she needed them.

It was odd, but there were no photos of May anywhere. Well, nowhere obvious. She knew that the other woman hadn’t lived here, but she thought there might have been one photo of her.

But as she started cleaning, Devi realized this was a lot harder than she’d thought it would be. She had to keep pausing to catch her breath and make sure that her spinning head didn’t mean that she’d land on her butt.

She instinctively reached for things with her bad arm and then was brought up short by the sling and the pain that sliced through her, making her feel nauseous.

By the time she’d finished the shower and basin, she’d had enough and she still had to do the floor.

Mopping with one arm wasn’t actually as easy as it sounded.

As she stuck the mop in the bucket, she heard a noise from the living room.

“Hello? Devi? Where are you?”

The male voice made her cry out in shock and she managed to tip the bucket of soapy water all over the floor. “Oh no!” she cried.

“Devi? You okay?” that same voice asked.

“You better go in there, Zeke. She might be hurt,” a feminine voice said.

Zeke? Hayes’ friend Zeke? Oh no. She looked terrible. She was wearing some loose pants and a T-shirt with the arm cut out of one side. Plus, now, she’d splashed the floor and herself in water.

“What if she’s naked?” Zeke asked.

“Well, ask her,” the woman replied.

“Uh, Devi? Are you naked?” he asked.

“No,” she said in a high-pitched voice. She knew she should leave the bathroom, but she was kind of scared to walk on the wet floor.