Total pages in book: 153
Estimated words: 154595 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 773(@200wpm)___ 618(@250wpm)___ 515(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 154595 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 773(@200wpm)___ 618(@250wpm)___ 515(@300wpm)
“Yep. Sit back.”
He helped her, as though he thought she wasn’t capable of sitting on the toilet by herself. Then he stood there, staring at her.
“What are you doing?” she asked. This new, hyper-attentive Gray was going to take some getting used to.
“Waiting for you to pee.” He frowned. “Are you having trouble? You need to drink more. You don’t want a urinary tract infection. Does it feel sore to pee?”
“I don’t know! I can’t pee with you standing there!”
“Why not?”
“My bladder is shy.”
“You can do anything in front of me, girl.”
“Clearly I can’t. Because I really need to pee, yet I can’t because you’re standing there staring at me.”
“Fine.” He sighed, giving her a look like she was the one being unreasonable.
The guy was insane.
Then he turned, giving her his back. “Better?”
“No, it’s not better! I’m changing your nickname from Grumpy Bear to Insane bear.”
“Kind of a stupid nickname if you ask me.”
“You’re crazy and no one is asking you. Can you please give me some privacy before I burst?”
He sighed. “I’ll go get you your clothes. Do not move from that toilet. I mean it. You move and next time I’m staying in here or you’re using a bedpan.”
As he walked out, he was muttering something about diapers and red bottoms.
Dear Lord.
The man was a complete tyrant.
Although she’d already known that, so she couldn’t really complain. But threatening her with a bedpan? That was just mean. She wanted to show him that she wasn’t scared of him, of giving up some control. But peeing was a hard limit.
Except . . . she was a tiny bit intrigued by the idea of diapers. Not using them but maybe the feel of them.
Urgh. She really wasn’t sure what she wanted.
But she did manage to pee before he returned. He glanced over, giving a grunt of approval as he saw her sitting where he’d left her.
Dear Lord.
She was starting to understand his grunts. She had to grin.
“What’s funny?”
“Oh, I just realized I’m starting to become fluent in Grumpy-Bear-speak.”
“What the hell is that?”
“You know. This.” She let out a small grunt of thanks as he lifted her up, then carried her to the sink. Setting her down, he turned on the tap, then pumped some soap on his hands.
“What the hell was that noise for?”
“It was a grunt of thank you. I thought you’d easily understand, Grumpy Bear.”
“I understand you’re a brat.”
To her shock, he gently took hold of her hands and started washing them. She glanced into the mirror and let out a squeal of horror.
“What? What is it? Is the water too hot? What’s hurting you?”
“I’m not in pain,” she cried. “Look at me! Oh my God! I look terrible.” She tried to straighten up her hair. It was all tangled. She had dark smudges under her eyes and her skin was so pale that she looked ill.
“You do not look terrible.” He carefully drew her hands from her hair and dried them. “Don’t say that.”
“I can say it if it’s true, Daddy.”
Oh.
Whoops.
They stared at each other in the mirror. He broke their stare-off first. Picking her up, he turned her, setting her on the counter next to the sink. Cupping her cheek, he leaned in and kissed her. She melted against him, until she remembered that she hadn’t brushed her teeth since yesterday morning.
Drawing back, she smacked her head against the wall behind her.
“Ouch! Owie!”
“Fuck. Why did you do that?”
“Because I have stinky breath,” she cried, reaching back to rub her head. “And now I have messy hair, stinky breath, and a sore head.”
“Sore head, huh? I ought to give you a sore bottom as well for talking about yourself like that.”
She sniffled, feeling tears dripping down her cheeks. “Grumpy Bear, that’s not nice.”
“Let me look at your head and for the record, I like you calling me Daddy better.”
“Really?” she asked as he turned her side-on so he could check the back of her head.
“Don’t say things I don’t mean, girl,” he replied gruffly.
Funny how his blunt approach was more soothing and reassuring than if he’d tried to actually be soothing and reassuring.
She guessed she liked the way he was. Because she knew he wouldn’t lie to her. Or beat around the bush with his words.
She had to take him as he was.
And how he was, well, it was pretty damn perfect.
“No bump. Girl, you need to be more careful,” he scolded, turning her back and putting his hands on the counter on either side of her. “Your breath doesn’t stink. You don’t look terrible. And the next time you say anything like that, or pull away from me because of something ridiculous like that, I’m going to put you over my knee.”
“What if spanking is a hard limit?” she asked as he searched under the sink for a new toothbrush and toothpaste. He put some toothpaste on the brush.