Page 15

“ T obias!” Immy cried out as he entered the kitchen.

“Yes?” He watched her curiously. She was a bit dishevelled, her hair flying everywhere. She wore a dark-blue apron with white owls on it and a fair amount of flour and other stuff as well.

There was a smudge of flour on her cheek and he thought there was some in her hair too. All over the kitchen island bench were piles of cookies. Was she baking all of these for a reason?

He’d kind of expected her to act a bit strange around him today after last night, but she seemed to have pushed it to one side.

Jenner walked into the kitchen then, eyeing Tobias. Then he turned to Immy. “Baby, what are you doing?”

“I’m making some cookies to tempt Tobias. I need to find out what his favorite is.”

That’s what she was doing? These weren’t all for him, right?

“For me?” Tobias asked, shocked.

“Yep. Do you see anything you’d like to try?” She pushed her hair back. “Drat. I had my hair back while I was baking but the tie snapped. They do that.”

Jenner walked over to her, pulling her hair back and tying it. Which wasn’t an easy feat when Immy was bouncing up and down on her toes.

“Have you been eating cookies as you baked them?” Jenner asked her.

“Uh-huh, uh-huh,” she said. “Gotta taste as you bake! It’s the rules.”

“Sugar high,” Jenner muttered. He grabbed a banana and placed it in her hand. “Eat.”

Oh. So that explained the energy buzzing off her.

“So which one do you want to try first?” she asked Tobias, smiling brightly.

Dear God.

Was she for real? No one did things like this for him.

“Cherry, don’t eat cookies.”

Her lower lip started to wobble.

Holy. Fuck.

He was in trouble here.

“But I will try that one.” He pointed at one randomly, knowing he’d now have to go through with trying it. But it was worth it as that wobble turned into a smile.

Fuck.

She lit up a room with that smile.

Reaching over with her free hand, she passed it to him. He didn’t even know what it was.

Tobias took a bite of the cookie as she watched on in excitement.

He watched as Jenner quickly took the banana from her hand, peeled it, then placed it back into her hand. All without her really noticing.

“Eat your banana, baby,” Jenner told her.

Tobias wasn’t fond of the other man calling her baby, but he tried to fight that feeling.

She’s not yours .

She turned to smile at Jenner, then took a bite of the banana.

Fuck.

Why was that so hot?

He swallowed the cookie quickly as he watched her eat the banana.

“Well?” she asked.

“It’s good, Cherry.”

“Yeah? That was easy! Huh, I didn’t need to make all these then since you like shortbread!”

Shortbread? He’d never had it before. But it was actually all right.

Do you really like it? Or do you like that she made it for you?

He had no idea.

“I guess I better start cleaning up,” she said.

“I’ll help you, baby,” Jenner said.

Tobias thought about sticking around, but he decided it was probably a good idea if he left. Heading out, he breathed in deep.

“You okay?”

He glanced over at Saint. “Yeah. Immy baked me cookies.”

“You don’t like sweet stuff.”

Hmm. Seemed he could have been wrong about that. Because that girl in there was sweet.

And he was starting to like her. A lot.

“Alejandro called,” Saint said. “I’m heading back to New York. You gonna be all right here?”

“Be fine.” He didn’t really think he was needed. Maeve’s stalker wasn’t likely to return when she wasn’t here.

But he couldn’t say he objected to sticking around.

Tobias sat down at the eat-in kitchen table.

He glanced at the other two men sitting there, ready for their meeting about a charity concert they were going to in California soon.

Sampson Knight and Isaiah Marks.

He’d been here for a few weeks now and, frankly, he didn’t know why he was still here.

The others had left to escort Maeve and Gray to Montana, then they’d headed back to New York.

Saint had left today and only he was here acting as a guard to all of these guys.

Although, Alejandro had made it clear that his main job was to protect Immy.

Which he understood. She was the weak spot.

These guys looked like they were capable of taking care of themselves.

Not as capable as he was, of course. Although Sampson Knight was no slouch. But Immy was the one who needed him most.

And it was no hardship to watch her. Not that she really left the property. In fact, since he’d been here he didn’t think she’d left once.

Which was a bit concerning. Either she was a homebody . . . or was she too scared to leave?

While he wanted her to be safe, he didn’t want her scared to leave her own house. He wondered if there was something going on with her and Jenner. He’d acted possessive over her the other night. And he’d noticed the way Immy looked at Jenner. Like he hung the moon and stars.

But they didn’t seem like they were together. Maybe they were hiding it.

Or maybe Jenner Knight had his head up his ass and couldn’t see the beautiful woman in front of him.

Isaiah was more private. Tobias was good at reading people, but Isaiah was difficult to get a handle on. He seemed to spend most of his time in his bedroom, working.

And Abe . . . well, he’d also been spending a lot of time in his room.

“Sorry I’m late,” Jenner said, walking in and running his fingers through his hair.

Sampson grunted. “We need to talk about the plans for tomorrow. Isaiah is staying home and so is Abe.”

“He is?” Jenner sat up. “Do we need to get Eric here to check on him?”

“I don’t think so,” Isaiah said. “But I’ll keep an eye on him. If his headaches continue, I’ll call Eric.”

Tobias wanted to dislike Jenner, but there was no denying the concern on his face for his friend. So maybe he wasn’t a bad guy.

And you probably dislike him because of the way Immy stares at him .

Speaking of Immy.

“Shouldn’t Immy be here?” he asked.

They all stopped what they were doing to look at him.

“Why would Immy need to know this stuff?” Jenner asked him.

“She’s going too, right?” That was his understanding. He was going to be watching her while Sampson would take point with Jenner.

Although there had been no sign of the stalker.

“Of course,” Jenner said.

“But there’s no need for her to know all these details,” Sampson added.

“They’ll just stress her out,” Isaiah said.

Wow.

They really did guard her, didn’t they? And not just physically. Just then, movement off to the side caught his eye. And he saw Immy standing there in her pajamas.

They were different from her bunny ones the other night. These ones had pictures of white owls on them and were a dark blue. She yawned, rubbing at her eyes. Her hair was a mess around her head and she had a red patch on her cheek from where she must have been lying on it.

He waited for her to say something. To protest that she needed to know what they were talking about.

But instead, he watched as she shuffled sleepily forward. Jenner, who was closest to her, lifted his arm and she headed toward him.

He drew her into his lap. Tobias had to hide his surprise. He’d just decided that they weren’t involved with each other. But perhaps he’d been wrong.

Jenner immediately rubbed her back while she rested her head against his chest. She blinked at Tobias sleepily.

But it was like she wasn’t seeing him. As though she wasn’t fully awake yet.

“Sampson,” Jenner said quietly. “She’s cold. She forgot her slippers.”

Sampson nodded and got up, disappearing. Isaiah moved too. Isaiah came back first with a fluffy white blanket which Jenner tucked around her. Then Sampson appeared with a pair of owl slippers.

Hmm.

Was Immy a Little? There were a few clues here and there but he hadn’t spent enough time with her to know. And liking owl slippers and having cute pajamas wasn’t enough to go on. Then, as she continued to stare at him blankly, she brought her thumb to her mouth and started sucking on it.

Okay.

That was a bigger tell.

The strange thing was how no one reacted to her zombie-like state. So, either they didn’t care. Which he knew wasn’t it by the way they’d jumped up to help her. Hell, Sampson had even crouched down to slide the slippers onto her feet.

Or this was something she did quite often.

Someone cleared their throat and he glanced over to find Sampson frowning at him. “Don’t stare at her.”

Tobias raised his eyebrows. Of all the guys, Sampson was the one he’d thought he understood best. He just wanted to protect his family. From anything and everything. But now he was glaring at him like he’d broken some rule or commandment. Isaiah was giving him a warning glare as well.

“Immy has trouble waking up,” Jenner explained quietly.

Strangely, he’d expected Jenner to be the one scowling at him. But he looked oddly serene.

Maybe because he was the one with Immy on his lap.

Tobias figured he’d look pretty happy if he was in the same position.

“Trouble?” he questioned.

“Yeah, she doesn’t really know what’s going on for the first fifteen minutes or so,” Sampson said.

“Like a zombie,” Isaiah added. “A cute, sleepy zombie who wants cuddles rather than blood.”

“Sometimes there’s blood,” Sampson said. “Like the time that Abe tried to take her off Jenner so he could pee and she bit him.”

She’d bitten him? She didn’t seem the type to do that. Although she had a bit of sass in her, she’d seemed so sweet.

“She felt so bad about that,” Jenner defended. “She didn’t mean to bite him.”

“This happens every morning?” he asked.

“No, not every morning,” Jenner replied. “But quite often.” He rested his chin on the top of her head.

“She usually goes for Jenner, but the rest of us will work in a pinch,” Sampson said. “Now, back to the plans for the trip. It’s just three nights, then we’re back here. You’re sure you’ll be all right, Isaiah?”

“I’ve got this.”

Had anyone ever asked her if she was a Little?

“All right, so I think we have everything set. Tobias, you’re fine to stick with Immy?” Sampson asked him.

“Of course.”