Page 12 of Sawyer (Sabre Security Daddies #6)

L ele stared at her front door, trying to decide if she had the courage to open it.

She knew who stood on the other side of the door.

Saul had texted he’d be over in a minute to talk.

How did he always seem to know the perfect time to come over?

It was almost like he could see her sitting on her couch with nothing to do.

She’d managed to avoid any real conversations with Saul for the rest of the week. She’d served him at Videotopia, but she hadn’t engaged in any small talk. Once or twice, she even stayed at the bar all night.

Why in the world had she told him she’d explain everything she’d been through? Every time she thought about telling Saul about her past and why Hector had acted the way he did when he caught them kissing, her panic took over. She ended up on the floor, legs bent, with her head between her knees.

Now there was someone in her life, someone besides Hector, who didn’t treat her like dirt. Who made time for her and treated her like she mattered, because Hector was always busy. Saul made her happy inside .

People were made to seek community. It was built into their DNA.

Living in a cave on a mountain top might work for a few hermits around the world, but at least they wanted to be alone.

Everyone knew everyone in a small town like Elk Jaw.

They all did life together. Nobody did life with her, and that hurt.

It didn’t matter how often she volunteered around town, brought a meal to someone in need, or tried to be friendly and start a conversation in the grocery store. No one wanted to talk to her. They only whispered behind her back.

Thankfully, they didn’t treat Hector that way.

Everyone loved Hector. She’d never been prouder than the day he was elected mayor.

Even though it meant he couldn’t be with her during her trial.

Or come to visit her while she was in prison.

And although it hurt, she even understood when he explained that he couldn’t be seen picking her up from a prison when she got out.

What he was doing for the people of Elk Jaw was important, and he couldn’t have his name linked to someone found guilty of dealing drugs.

But none of that mattered now. There was no way anyone else was knocking on her door on a Sunday morning. Hector never knocked. The only other person who knocked on her door was the mailman. He didn’t count because he left her packages on the step and was gone before she could open the door.

Still, a promise was a promise, and after all his kindness, she at least owed Saul the truth.

Fixing her smile in place, she opened the door.

Sure enough, there he stood, looking devilishly lickable as always.

This time, he wore faded jeans and a dark gray T-shirt that stretched tight across his huge chest and arms.

“Is this a good time?” he asked.

It took all she had not to shout out, “Anytime is a good time.” Instead, she gave a smile, nodded, and stepped back to let him in.

“Are you okay? You’ve been avoiding me this week. Was it the kiss?”

“No,” she assured him. God, the kiss had been incredible. There was no way for him to know it was the first real kiss she’d ever had. “Let’s sit on the couch so we can talk.”

She sat down at the far end and pulled a pillow into her lap.

Wrapping her arms around it to hug it close, she wished she were hugging Lucky instead.

But no way was she going to sit there, holding her stuffed animal if he wasn’t a Daddy.

Sure, he acted like the ones in all the books she’d read, but she’d already embarrassed herself enough in front of this guy. She wasn’t doing it again.

He sat on the middle cushion, a polite distance from the most gorgeous man she’d ever met. Frowning, he leaned forward and lifted the lid of her storage ottoman. With a nod, he pulled out Lucky and the blanket Lele had placed her on to keep her comfortable.

“I think your friend would be better than a pillow, don’t you?”

Without a thought, she took Lucky from him and hugged her tight. She almost had a spontaneous orgasm when he wrapped the blanket around her and tucked it around her.

Her heart warmed. He’d only known her for two weeks, but he took such good care of her. “Thank you, I wanted—.” She replayed the last time he’d been in her house and all their conversations. Something wasn’t right. “Um, how did you know Lucky was in the ottoman?”

He blinked. Twice, then said, “Well, I know how important Lucky is to you, so I figured you had her close. It was obvious. This was for storage, so I made a guess.” He chuckled. “How did you think I knew?”

The heat flooding her face told her she must be scarlet with embarrassment. She had been watching too many true crime shows. It was making her suspect everyone of everything. Of course, in prison, it had been a way of life.

She shook her head. “Sorry, I guess it's just been a crazy few days.” After a pause, she decided to bite the bullet. "Can I ask you a personal question? "

He sat back and crossed his legs, resting his ankle on his knee. “You can ask me anything, Half-Pint. I am an open book."

Did she dare? If he said no, or worse, if he had no idea what she was talking about, she would be mortified. And a little heartbroken. But still, it was important. If they were going to move forward in any meaningful way, she needed to know.

So, for once, she pulled on her big girl panties and asked, "Are you a Daddy?"

He jerked back slightly, and his eyes widened. "Are you asking me if I have children? Or are you asking if I’m the kind of man who, when he sees a beautiful babygirl, with curves for days and a heart of gold, I would like nothing more than to take care of her in every way she'd let me?”

A little blush appeared on Lele’s cheeks, and she dropped her gaze. “Uhh… the second one.”

"Then, yes. In a DDlg dynamic, I am a Daddy."

Relief flooded her body so quickly she almost felt dizzy. Unable to stop herself, she said, "Oh, good."

His lips twitched, but he didn't laugh. “Do I need to ask if you are a Little? Or can I tell you that every Daddy instinct I have tells me you are and that you are exactly the kind of Little I love taking care of?” Her heart wanted to do a happy dance, but she wouldn't let it.

Not yet. Not when he didn't know anything about her.

She wouldn't get her hopes up until he'd heard her story. Until he knew the dirty secrets of who she really was. Because despite what her heart might want, there was no way he would want her once he knew who she really was.

“There are things I need to tell you before you say something like that. You need to hear my story. It's really long, and if you decide I'm not worth it at any point, you don't have to listen to the whole thing. I'll understand if you want to leave. It's okay. I am used to it.”

He reached out and placed a hand on her knee, giving her a gentle shake. “Half-Pint, there's nothing you can tell me about who you are that would make me want to walk away from you.”

She hugged Lucky tighter to her chest. Feint heart never won, fair Daddy. If she wanted to be with him, she needed to know he loved her for who she really was. And he needed to know who she was before he made that choice.

She sank back into the corner of the sofa. "All right, but you may want to get comfortable."

He smiled. “I'm already comfortable, Half-Pint, and I really want to hear your story."

She couldn’t get through this looking at him, so she turned her gaze to stare at the ottoman.

“When I was 11, my mother was killed in a car accident. Up until then, my life was pretty normal. A year later, my father remarried. I loved my stepmother. She was really great. And I got a stepbrother out of the deal.”

Saul nodded but didn't speak, which was good because she needed to get this out before she changed her mind.

“When I started seventh grade, my life kind of fell apart. I seem to always be in the wrong place at the wrong time whenever anything bad happens. Back then, it started off small. Graffiti on the side of the drugstore. Candy stolen from the gas station. Little stuff, but then it got worse. By the time I was in high school, the town had started having problems with bigger issues like drugs and gangs. And somehow, my name got linked to those as well. I could never understand why.”

Her memories had pulled her in so deeply, she jumped when he asked, “You say ‘linked to.’ What exactly do you mean by that?”

“I mean, anytime drugs were found, or the gangs did something bad, I was taken to the police station and questioned about how I was involved. When anything happened, really. I was always the first suspect.”

“But why would they question you?”

She shrugged one shoulder. “I don't know.

Rumors would start, usually at school, that somehow had me in the area whenever the trouble happened.

It always seemed to be at a time when I couldn't prove I wasn't there.

So, even though they couldn't charge me because they couldn't prove I was there, everyone believed I was guilty.”

“You’re telling me that although you were the suspect, you didn’t do any of those things?

“Not one. I never understood why they even suspected me.”

“And you say this started happening shortly after you started seventh grade? Wasn't that also shortly after your father remarried and your stepmother and Hector came to town?

“I guess,” said Lele.

“Does that not sound suspicious to you?”

This was why she needed to talk to him. She needed to make him understand.

“I can see why you’d think that. But you weren't there. My stepmother was wonderful, but she was a very mild, timid person. She loved me, but she was never one to come running to my defense publicly. She was much too reclusive and shy.”

But at home, she’d been wonderful. She always had time to listen and hold Lele when she cried about anything that was going on.

“My father always spoke up for me. But no one believed him either. And he couldn't be at school, where the worst of the bullying and name-calling happened. That's where Hector came in.”

Saul leaned closer. “Yeah, I'd like to hear about Hector.”

“Hector was amazing. He stood up for me when no one else would. He was always there, telling people they needed to stop talking about me. He defended me every time. Sometimes he even got into fights. All because of me.”

Saul leaned back again. Was he getting all that Hector had done for her? She couldn’t tell .

“I don’t like hearing you blame yourself, Half-Pint. If none of what they said was true, then those fights weren’t because of you. It sounds like Hector was just doing what a brother should. Did you ever find out who was starting the rumors?”

She shook her head again. “I tried, but either no one knew, or they wouldn’t tell me. I got the feeling they were scared to mention the name of whoever started it.”

He was quiet, and she could tell he was thinking. The silence and pensive look on his face made her nervous. Her nerves settled when he said, “You do understand that you were the victim here.”

“Then you think I’m telling the truth?” she hardly dared to hope.

He reached over and pulled her chin up so he could look directly into her eyes. “Yes, I do.”

She offered him a faint smile at the tone of revelation in his voice. “Where were you when I was in high school? Another champion would've been nice.”

His hand rested back on her knee, giving her a gentle squeeze. “Babygirl, if I had known you then, you better believe I would've been your champion.”

She huffed a silent laugh. “I would have let you," she said.

What would it have been like to have someone else who actually believed her? Maybe even believed in her. It had just been Lele and Hector against the world.

Saul crossed his arms over his chest. “So, tell me. Do you have any good memories from school?”

Finally, a topic she could enjoy. “I never was much into sports or music or things like that, but the one thing I loved was video games. I loved co-op role-play games online more than anything, even back then. It turned out I was really good at it. When I graduated from high school, I was going to a college that specialized in game design. ”

He nodded. “I’ll have to challenge you to a game. Where’d you go to school?”

She tried to smile, but the expression on his face said she didn’t succeed.

He tensed. “I never got to go. My dad won a trip to Hawaii. He and my stepmom were so excited. While they were there, they went out on a small boat for one of those dinner cruises. An unexpected storm blew up, and the boat went down. There were no survivors.”

“Fuck, Half-Pint. I’m sorry. That must have been hard.”

Understatement of the year. She blinked back her tears.

“Yeah. I didn't feel like leaving home to go to college.

Hector was the one who convinced me to get my degree online, so that's what I did. I graduated two years later, just before my 20th birthday. I was actually at the top of my class. Big companies all over the country were interested in having me come work for them.”

“Of course they did. And whoever you chose was lucky to get you on their team.”

How had someone so nice... a Daddy no less… come into her life? He was perfect.

“That’s really sweet of you to say.”

“It may be sweet, but it’s also true. So, which company did you choose?”

She wished she had something happier to tell him. “I never got to accept any of those offers. That’s the summer I was arrested.”