Page 19

She shook her head again.

“You want me to find you a diaper to use?” he asked.

He had no idea how he’d do that, but he figured he could find a way if he needed to.

In reply, Immy smacked a hand down on his chest.

“Uh-uh, no hitting,” he warned. “Now, you’re going to be a good girl for me. I’ll set you on your feet, give you some privacy. Afterwards, if you need me to wear you like a shirt, you can. Promise. But, pee first, yeah?”

She made the cutest grumbling noise, but let him put her on her feet. He stepped out of the bathroom.

He didn’t really want to leave her and he wasn’t entirely sure that she understood what she was supposed to be doing. But as much as he wanted to stay and help her . . . he knew that was going too far.

Fuck.

He didn’t want her to hate him.

Or worse, fear him.

When he heard the toilet flush, he let out a sigh of relief. Knocking on the door, he didn’t wait for a reply before he stepped in to find her washing her hands.

She gave a scream of shock and turned, her hand on her chest.

He guessed this meant that Little-Immy was gone.

“What . . . what are you doing?” she asked.

“Checking on you,” he said.

“You were in my bedroom?”

He tilted his head to the side. “You can’t remember the last fifteen minutes?”

“Um. No?”

Huh. Interesting.

“You opened the hotel door and let me in,” he told her, leaning against the doorway. He wanted to give her some space since she looked freaked out. But he wasn’t going to completely back away.

Last thing he wanted was for her to think she should be ashamed. Did she really have no memory of what just happened? Or did she force herself to bury it?

“I did? Oh, sorry. I can’t seem to remember.” She looked slightly ill as she said that.

He got that. It could be scary to lose moments of your life.

“I don’t remember that or coming in here.”

He might need to tread carefully, but he also didn’t want to lie to her. Or keep things from her. From what he’d observed, everyone tried to shelter Immy. Which was admirable.

But they weren’t always doing her a favor.

Sometimes she needed to know what was going on for her own safety.

“You climbed me like a tree.”

She blinked at him, her mouth opening and shutting. “I did not!”

Tobias frowned slightly. “Ahh, yeah, sweetness. You did.”

“Nope. I wouldn’t do that.” She crossed her arms over her chest and tapped her foot.

Cute.

He had to hide his grin.

“You sure did. Then I sat with you on my lap. You pushed yourself under my T-shirt so you could get close to my bare skin.”

“I did not!” she protested. But there was a concerned look on her face as she stared at his T-shirt, which was stretched out slightly.

Not that he gave a shit.

It was actually a reminder of how she’d nestled in close to his chest. Something he’d liked.

A lot.

“But you were squirming around so much that I figured you might need to go to the bathroom, so I brought you in here.”

“No,” she said with clear horror on her face.

Hell. Maybe he shouldn’t have told her that last part.

“Nothing to be ashamed of, Cherry.”

“Nothing to be ashamed of?” she squealed. Then she shook her head. “No, of course there isn’t since that didn’t happen!”

“You think I’m lying to you?” he asked in a stern voice.

Her eyes widened. “N-no. That’s not what I’m saying. I’m just . . . maybe you imagined it?”

“Cherry,” he said sternly.

“Cupcakes,” she muttered.

He frowned. “You want cupcakes?”

“What? No. I mean, sure, I always want cupcakes. But I also say that instead of swearing.”

“Instead of saying a swear word you say cupcakes?” he asked incredulously.

“Um. Yep. Is that weird?”

“Yeah. Little bit.”

She bit her lip.

“It’s also cute as hell.”

“Really?” she whispered.

“Really, sweetness. You’re sweet in more ways than one.”

“I am?”

“You are. And you don’t have anything to be embarrassed about.”

“I’m not so sure about that.” She wrapped her arms around herself. “And I don’t like that I have no memory of any of this.”

Yeah, he understood that.

“I don’t like that either.” Anything could happen to her in that state. What if someone else found her like that? “You’re not like that every morning, right?”

“N-no. I remember most mornings. I think.”

“But you never remember the mornings that you’re like a zombie?”

“Oh. Uh. Sometimes I do.” Her cheeks had a flush of pink in them as she chewed her lip.

He hated seeing her look so worried and unsure. “Come here.”

She shook her head.

He raised an eyebrow. Yeah. He didn’t think so. Tobias crooked a finger at her. “Come here, Immy.”

“No.”

“Immy,” he said in a low, stern voice. “Do as you’re told.”

“I don’t have to do as you tell me,” she grumbled even as she started walking toward him.

“Actually, that’s exactly what you have to do. Come here.”

She was only half a foot away when he reached out and drew her into his embrace. He wrapped his arms around her, rocking her back and forth. Eventually, she relaxed into his embrace.

“I embarrassed myself,” she whispered.

“Nope,” he said, wrapping his hand around the back of her neck and squeezing lightly. “You didn’t.”

“I did. And I don’t even remember doing it. Acted like a . . . like a . . . baby. So ashamed.”

Fuck no.

He wasn’t having that.

He lifted her up into his arms. She let out a squeal, holding on tight.

“Tobias!”

They were now face to face and he gave her a stern look. “Don’t start that shit with me, Immy.”

“What shit?” She pushed back against his chest, but if she thought he was going to let her go . . . she needed to think again.

“Being ashamed. You have nothing to be ashamed of.”

“I climbed you like a tree! And stretched your T-shirt. I need to replace that.”

“You’re not replacing anything because I’m not getting rid of this T-shirt. I’m going to wear it proudly.”

She gaped at him. “I don’t understand.”

“Immy, you’ve got nothing to be embarrassed about because I thought you were cute as fuck.”

“You . . . you did?”

“Yep. And I’m glad that you trusted me to take care of you in that instance. I just hope that you knew I would look after you.”

“I . . . I don’t know. I know I take a while to wake up properly. Sometimes, I just lie in bed until I’m more fully awake. Other times, I go searching for one of the guys. I know I’m a grown woman who shouldn’t need cuddles to help her wake up?—”

“Did you hear me say that?” he demanded.

“Um, no.”

“No. Because who gives a shit if you’re grown or not. If you need fucking cuddles, then you’re gonna get cuddles. Understand?”

She was staring at him with wide eyes.

“Understand?” he growled.

“Uh-huh. Uh-huh. I understand.”

“Good. So what did we agree about what happened?”

“That I’m not to be embarrassed or ashamed and if I need cuddles then I darn well get cuddles.”

Suddenly, his sternness flipped into amusement. The man had more moods than she did pajamas.

And she had a lot of pajamas.

“That’s right, Cherry. All the cuddles.”

Darn it.

That sounded so nice that she wished it was true. But she wasn’t sure that she should accept those cuddles from him. She didn’t know him that well.

Although she enjoyed his company. And he was basically a friend of Cat’s. A friend of a friend was her friend.

That was the saying, right?

“Do you think you could set me down?” she asked.

“Hmm. I’m thinking about it.”

“Umm. Well, do you want to think quicker? Because I need to get hold of Jenner about this afternoon.”

“Fuck. Yep.”

“You know you owe a lot to the swear jar now, right?”

“We’re not at the house, sweetness. No swear jar.”

She grinned. “I brought it with me.”

That wiped the smile off his face. “Darn it. Gonna be fucking broke, aren’t I?”

For some reason, that made her giggle.

Maybe he was right. Perhaps she shouldn’t be embarrassed. Well, she’d try not to be.

Climbing him like a tree was still a little bit embarrassing.

But he didn’t seem like he was annoyed. If anything he was fiercely insistent that she get all the cuddles she required.

And when she thought about it . . . that was kind of sweet, right?

“I need a subscription rate.”

“What?” She blinked at him in confusion.

“You know, pay five dollars a week, swear as much as you want.”

“I don’t think you quite understand the concept of a swear jar,” she informed him. “It’s supposed to deter you from swearing.”

“Not happening. You can’t get a leopard to change its spots. You just have to accept it the way it is.”

“I . . .” Shoot. He was right. Why hadn’t she thought of that? “You’re right. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you feel like I was changing you.”

“Didn’t say I felt that way. Just telling you I’m gonna be broke because of that swear jar. What’s it going towards anyway?”

“I really want to go on vacation to Florida and I want everyone to come with me. Like a family holiday. None of them know. I wanted it to be a surprise. I’ve been saving my own money, too.

I don’t have a lot of expenses, mainly because Jenner won’t let me darn well pay for anything.

The swear jar supplements the savings.” She shrugged.

“That’s a sweet idea, sweetness,” he told her.

Well. Maybe.

But she also wanted to curb their swearing too.