Page 6 of Daddy’s Little Charmer (Daddy #36)

Nico cleared his throat to get Christian’s attention. “Um, sir.”

Another moment of silence. “Where is she?”

“Well, she handed me back the phone and said you were unreasonable and then walked off. We are now walking down the sidewalk behind her.”

“Jesus, where are you headed?”

“I’m not sure, hold on,” Nico said and covered the phone with his hand. “Harmony, where are we going?”

“The store.”

“She said the store,” Nico told Christian.

“Goddammit,” Christian cursed and then sighed. “Can a person have a heart attack because of frustration?” he asked no one in particular.

Nico bit his lip again to keep from laughing. If he kept it up, he wouldn’t have a lip by the time Christian got there.

“I’m not sure, sir.”

“Keep with her. I’ll meet up with her when I get back to town. Keep me updated.”

Nico grinned and shook his head as he pocketed his phone and caught up to the other two, who were walking a few yards ahead of him. He listened to their argument about baseball being better than football. Since Connor had been a football player, he assumed Harmony was for baseball.

They walked a few blocks and then turned a corner. The guys were a bit shocked when they saw several businesses open on the street and a lot of people. The neighborhood actually looked pretty decent.

All along the way, Harmony waved and talked to most of them. It didn’t matter how rough they looked. She made a point to acknowledge them. Nico wasn’t surprised when she seemed to know all about them and asked about their families.

They stopped in the grocery store, and she grabbed a basket, which Connor took from her. They walked up and down the aisles, stopping to talk with someone or just reading labels.

An old lady stopped them and pointed at the guys. “Who might these young men be, Harmony?”

Harmony looked over her shoulder. “Um…” Harmony chewed her lip. She didn’t want to call them her bodyguards, even if that’s what they were.

“We’re her cousins from out of state,” Nico supplied and smiled.

The woman nodded her head, hugged Harmony, and moved away from them.

Harmony turned and watched the lady walk away. “I hate to lie to her, but I didn’t know what to say.”

“It’s all right. Just call us cousins. It will make it simpler.”

Harmony smiled and nodded. “I agree. Now tell me how long you guys are staying?” she asked as she looked over the spices on the shelves in front of them.

“We’re with you until Mr. Sharp gets back.”

“When is that?” she asked with a frown.

“Tomorrow afternoon sometime,” Connor said.

Harmony suddenly stopped and turned to them. “He’s making you spend all day and night?”

Nico nodded. “Yes.”

“What exactly does he think you can do besides be bored?”

“Watch over you. It’s our job,” Connor said simply.

****

Harmony thought about it for a moment. She doubted they would leave if she ordered them to.

She also thought that talking to Christian wouldn’t get her anywhere.

She could always call the cops, but she didn’t want to hurt the guys’ feelings or get them into trouble.

It wasn’t their fault they were here. She nodded when she decided she had a snowball’s chance in Hell of getting them to leave.

“Well, then we need to get enough food for you all and maybe some magazines or books.”

“You don’t have to worry about us,” Nico said.

Harmony turned and started walking away from them as she kept talking. “I don’t have a TV, and my books are probably some you wouldn’t read. How about spaghetti for dinner? I make a mean sauce.”

“You don’t have to do that,” Nico said again and then stopped and took a step back when she advanced on him to poke him in the chest again.

“If Christian is determined to make you guys stay with me, I will darn well make sure you’re taken care of.”

Nico watched her turn again and talk out loud about what she’d need to get. He scowled at Connor when he tried to hide his smile. He knew he looked like a wuss, but the woman was crazy. Very sweet, but a little crazy.

They made it out of the store with several bags each. It had taken a while to get out the door because Nico had to argue with Harmony about who was buying. She told them she was buying a few things for other people, not just them, but it didn’t matter to the guys.

Nico won that round when he discussed how they were twice her size, and there were two of them, so in effect, she would be feeding four people. Nico secretly guessed she gave in because he had her so confused.

“Come this way,” Harmony said and turned the opposite way from her place. She took them to a shop several doors down.

When the door closed behind them, the scents hit the men hard, and both stomachs started growling.

Hearing the sound, Harmony giggled and set her bags down in a corner behind a small round table. “This is a place I treat myself once in a while. I wish I could eat here every day, but I have school to pay for. I know you haven’t had breakfast yet.”

The men dropped their bags by Harmony’s stack and followed Harmony. They watched a small Mexican woman come around the counter and hug her, speaking rapidly in Spanish. They were shocked when Harmony spoke back to her in fluent Spanish.

Harmony turned and introduced them. “Mrs. Sanchez, these men are my cousins, Connor and Nico. Guys, this is Mrs. Sanchez, and she makes the best Mexican food on this side of town.”

The older woman walked back behind the counter after a short discussion. Immediately, three large cups of coffee were set on the counter.

“You guys like coffee?” Harmony asked.

“Yes,” they both replied.

Harmony took her cup over to the small table. She grinned when the men adjusted the chairs so they faced the door, allowing them to sit at the table and drink their coffee. She smiled over their shoulders toward the counter.

“I hope it’s okay if I ordered you guys a burrito?”

Both men perked up and sat shocked as two massive plates and one small one was set on the table, taking up all the space. Harmony giggled while they ate as the men moaned and rolled their eyes over the wonderful breakfast.

Connor wiped his mouth with a napkin. “That was the best breakfast burrito I’ve ever had.”

Nico nodded as he finished off his own.

The men grinned when Harmony sat back in her chair and spoke to the owner again, and the older woman clapped her hands happily.

Harmony turned back to them. “I told her what you said. You’ve made her very happy.”

“How do you know how to speak Spanish so well?” Connor asked curiously.

“My grandmother was from Mexico, so I grew up with both languages. After she passed, my father and I kept it up so we wouldn’t lose it. I know if I don’t practice, I start to forget.”

“Where’s your family?” Nico asked.

“I don’t have any left. I mean, I have Roberto, the man who manages Christian’s strip club, but he isn’t really my uncle. He and my dad were in the Army together, so he feels responsible for me for some reason. But otherwise, I don’t have any family.”

Harmony pushed away from the disparaging feeling she always got when she thought of it. There was nothing she could do but make the best life she could for herself.

“Are you ready?” Harmony asked and stood. She took a sack from the owner and tried to pay. The three left the small shop after another disagreement over who was paying, which Nico won again, just barely, and headed back to her place.

A few times, the men would stiffen when people would approach her. A group of men who sat around on a stoop called out to her. She smiled and waved to them, then spoke to them in Spanish.

Close to the apartment, a prostitute came up to hug her.

“Guys, this is Sunny. She befriended me the first day I moved in.”

“Sunny, this is Nico and Connor, friends of mine.”

“Nice to meet you, ma’am,” both men replied respectively and nodded.

They could tell the woman was a bit taken aback by their politeness. Both men were shocked when Harmony handed her a wrapped burrito and then dug a few items out of her grocery bags and handed them to her. They hugged again and walked off.

They caught sight of a guy they thought was the pimp leaning against the building, staring at them and smoking a cigarette.

“Does he ever bother you?” Connor asked.

Harmony knew who they were talking about. He was the only one in the neighborhood she didn’t like. He treated Sunny horribly and was the laziest person she’d ever met. Instead of getting a job, the jerk put a woman on the street to support himself.

“At first, he tried to sweet-talk me, but that group of guys we just talked to...”

“The gang?” Nico asked.

“Yes, I think so. Anyway, I think Sunny said something to them, and they said something to Porter, the pimp, because he hasn’t bothered me and actually stays away from me.”

Nico and Connor kept glancing at each other. Harmony went straight down the first-floor hallway instead of up the flight of stairs to her place and knocked on one of the doors. A very old, tiny woman answered.

“Hello, Mrs. Owens.”

“Oh, you are such a dear,” she said with a smile and then moved out of the way to let them in.

Harmony handed the last burrito to the woman and then had the men put the bags down so she could go through them. She pulled out bread, milk, oatmeal, and a few other things and set them on the counter. The older woman hugged Harmony.

The guys glanced at each other. The older woman was as tiny as Harmony, but much frailer. Her hair was pulled back into a tight bun at the base of her head. Her clothes were old, along with everything else they could see, but everything was spotless.

“I don’t know what I would do without you.”

Harmony smiled. “I’m the one who’s lucky to have you. I’ll bring some spaghetti by later.”

“Oh, my, I love your spaghetti. Are you boys staying with her?”

Harmony answered before the guys could. “Yes, these are friends of mine, Connor and Nico. Guys, this is Mrs. Owens. She’s a retired teacher.”

“Such handsome boys. You take care of my girl.”

“Yes, ma’am,” they both answered and followed Harmony back to her apartment. They set the bags down on the counter in her small kitchen and then moved out of her way and into the living room.

Nico made sure the door was as secure as the flimsy thing could get, while Connor checked the windows. They both looked at each other in disgust. The locks wouldn’t keep a toddler out of her apartment.

The guys sat on the long sofa and the old chair and listened to Harmony hum as she gathered ingredients and started her sauce.

They looked around her small, but very neat, apartment and could tell she’d tried to make it look as nice as possible by throwing blankets over the old, faded chair and sofa and lace doilies on the tables to cover up scratches and other marks.

Nico’s eyebrows rose, and he glanced at Connor, who looked just as confused as he felt at what Harmony was saying in the kitchen.

The guys got up and went to the doorway when they heard her having what sounded like a conversation with someone instead of just talking to herself. Both men stiffened in shock.

“Holy shit, are you feeding a fucking rat?” Connor blurted out and shivered.

Harmony frowned over her shoulder at him. “Please don’t yell. You’ll scare him. This is Danny.”

“You’ve named a rodent?” Nico asked in shock.

“He’s a mouse, and frankly, I don’t care what he is. He’s nice.” Harmony turned back to the mouse that sat on a short stool in the corner, and she fed him crackers.

Nico pinched the bridge of his nose and bit the inside of his cheek. He was torn between cursing about the situation and laughing his ass off. He guessed she wouldn’t be happy with either, so he kept his mouth shut.

The rest of that afternoon, both men lounged around in her tiny living room, played on their phones, read the magazines they got at the store, or got much-needed sleep they’d been deprived of the night before, standing in front of her door.