Chapter 6

Chapter Six

“I haven’t asked what you do when you’re not vacationing in New Zealand, Little Fish,” Caesar said as he lifted a chicken nugget to her lips.

She snatched the nugget from his fingers so fast he was lucky she hadn’t nicked him with her teeth. She giggled as she chewed and swallowed. “Sorry. Sometimes, I take on some shark tendencies.”

He chuckled. “I see that.” He lifted his hand and examined his fingers, pretending to make sure he’d escaped unscathed. “I better use a fork to feed you from now on.”

She made that delightful giggling sound again. “I could feed myself, you know.” She pointed toward the plate of nuggets, fries, and apple wedges he had in front of him. He’d intentionally ordered one large serving from the kitchen so he could Daddy her all evening.

He pulled the plate dramatically farther from her. “Nope. Daddy’s job.”

She sighed, but she was grinning. “To answer your question, I’ve been working as a traveling nurse for five years. It’s very rewarding, and I get to see so much of the country. I didn’t renew my contract when it ended last week so that I could take this extended vacation to New Zealand and become a treasure hunter instead.”

Caesar was impressed. “A nurse. That’s a very tough job. What an amazing woman you are. Only very special people can take care of the sick.”

She shrugged. “I enjoy it. I like helping people.” She pointed at the plate of food. “I burned off a lot of calories rock climbing with Rocco today. Are you going to feed me or what?”

He grinned as he lifted a fry to her mouth and then pulled it back before she could snatch it out of the air. “Depends. Are you going to bite me with those shark teeth?”

She shook her head and crossed her heart with her hand. “Promise.” After chewing and swallowing the next bite, she added, “Unless you ask me to.”

He lifted his brows. “I think my Little girl has a naughty side.”

She shrugged. “Maybe. I don’t know. I’ve never been Little with anyone before, but I had lunch with Sadie again today, and she told me there are five Littles living here at Danger Bluff and, together, they like to make mischief.” Isla tapped her lips, obviously thinking before she continued. “Hey, there are five other apartments up here. The ones with the pictures on the doors. Are those the Littles Sadie was referring to?”

“Yep. There are six men on my team. All of them have found and claimed their Little girl since we moved here. I was the last man standing.” He offered her an apple wedge.

She accepted it. After swallowing, she spoke again. “Sadie said Rocco rescued her from a dangerous situation.”

It was time to fill her in on more of the details. “He did. We all did. And we continued to do so for the rest of the women who have joined our family. All six of my team members owed a marker to our benefactor, a man who saved all of us from a previous, desperate situation.”

“Like the one where Mindy left you for dead with a spear through your leg,” Isla guessed.

“Yes. Now, we work for a man named Kingsley. He brought us all together here to return the favor and save others from perilous situations. After Sadie was Celeste, and then Zara, Juniper, Lyra, and now you.” He watched her closely as he gave her this information.

“Me?” She sat up straighter on the stool. The only thing she was wearing was the T-shirt he’d given her after they’d had sex. He hadn’t even let her have her panties back.

“Yes, Little Fish, you.”

“But I’m not in danger.”

He drew in a breath. “I believe you probably are. We just don’t know where it’s coming from yet.”

Her eyes were wide. “How could anyone know that?”

“Kingsley knows things none of us understand. Somehow, he knew you were in danger even before you arrived. That’s why I was assigned to protect you.”

Isla gasped. Suddenly, she jumped down from the stool and backed up. She kept moving until she hit the wall and plastered herself to it. Her eyes darted to the door and then down at her T-shirt. She wanted to bolt.

Fuck . Caesar stood. “Isla…”

She shook her head and then bolted for the bedroom.

He followed her and stood in the doorway, watching as she gathered her clothes from all over the floor. “Isla, listen to me.”

She turned around and glared at him. “You tricked me.”

“No, Little Fish. I swear.”

“I’m a job. You were hired to…to-to-to… I don’t even know what you were hired to do, but you lured me into your bed.”

He needed to remain calm and help her see that wasn’t the case. “Isla, I did not manipulate you. Yes, I was assigned to protect you from an unknown enemy, but that fact is irrelevant. You’re my Little girl. That just happened.”

She glanced around and then shuffled backward toward a door she likely suspected was the bathroom. In her confusion and frustration, she probably didn’t remember which door led to the master bath. “What about Sadie and the other women? How did they end up in relationships with your teammates? That’s not believable, Caesar.” Her voice shook.

“To be honest, none of us understand it any better than you do, Isla. Kingsley is some kind of all-knowing matchmaker. That’s our best guess.”

“That’s crazy. All of you are crazy.”

She hadn’t even met over half of his makeshift family, but he couldn’t blame her for what she was feeling. If he were in her shoes, he’d be just as skeptical—perhaps more so from being burned badly by Mindy. “Sit down and talk to me, please.”

She shook her head, her thick brown hair flying around. “I need to get out of here. I need space to think.” She turned around and yanked open the door behind her. It did not lead to the bathroom.

Isla gasped and froze on the threshold. “What is this?” she asked, her voice trembling.

“It’s a playroom.”

She took a tentative step forward, keeping her clothes cradled in her arms. “Whose room is it?”

“Yours.”

She jerked her head around to shoot daggers at him. “Mine? It can’t be mine. We just met.”

“The furniture has been there since I moved into this apartment. All of my teammates are Daddies. We knew it. Kingsley knew it. He also knew we wouldn’t be satisfied in a vanilla relationship and that when we finally met our special Little girl, we would move her in and be glad we already had the basics of a room started.”

“Basics!” Her voice rose an octave. “This room is not basics, Caesar. It’s a Little girl’s underwater heaven.”

At least her words indicated she liked what he’d done. “I know. I started it right away when I met you.”

“That was three days ago. No one could have put up this under-the-sea wallpaper and arranged all these additional matching blue accessories in three days.”

“Sure, they could. I did.” He took a tentative step closer to her. “I ordered everything from town. Someone picked it up for me, and I hung the wallpaper after work last night.”

“Did you sleep?” she asked in a shrill voice.

“Not much. I wanted it to be special when you saw it for the first time. I’m sorry it happened while you’re so upset.” He was truly sorry. This wasn’t how he’d intended for her to see the room. He knew she’d gotten confused, thinking this was the bathroom while she’d been so clouded with mistrust.

She took another tentative step farther into the room. It was a good sign. Also, her shoulders lowered an inch. “Why did you do this?” she murmured.

“Because I knew you were mine the moment I met you. It doesn’t matter that I was assigned to protect you, but it does make me feel even more fierce about ensuring your safety. It would kill me if anything happened to you, Isla.”

She had her back to him, but her grip on her clothes loosened. “I don’t know what to believe.”

Suddenly, an idea came to him. “Did someone in your past hurt you, Little Fish?”

She sniffled. Bingo .

He took another step toward her. Only a foot separated them now. “Remember how skeptical I felt when you told me about your treasure hunt? I was burned in the past, too. Mindy did a number on me. I haven’t trusted easily since then. But then I met you, and I knew I needed to suspend my mistrust of people and let you into my heart. I believe everything you’ve told me about your grandfather and the map you have. I’m going to help you look for it. Do you know why?”

She shook her head but didn’t turn around.

“Because you’re passionate about it. It doesn’t matter if we find anything or not. What matters is that we’re going to have fun looking. Together. We share a love of diving, and I bet we have dozens of other things in common. Plus, I bet you’ve been looking for a Daddy for many years, and I’ve been looking for my special Little girl. We found each other. Now, we have the rest of our lives in front of us, and I, for one, can’t imagine spending a single day of it without you.”

His speech was premature in their relationship, but the stakes were high. He couldn’t bear the thought of her walking out of his apartment. They’d had sex an hour ago, and he had no intention of sleeping alone tonight or any other night, for that matter.

“Do you want to tell me what happened in your past to make you so skittish, Isla?”

She sniffled again, and it took a while for her to respond. “His name was Alan. I met him at a club while I was working in Chicago. I thought he was so nice. He wined and dined me and said all the right things. I should’ve seen the signs, but I was blinded by the attention. The truth was he didn’t even have a job. He was using me. He always had some excuse not to go back to his place, and he frequently forgot his wallet, his credit card was stolen, or his bank wasn’t open. Always some line…”

“I’m so sorry that happened to you, Isla. I’ll always try to be an open book for you. This is my apartment. I have a good job here at the Bluff. I really do manage the scuba program. Behind the scenes, I also work with my team to keep our assignments safe. This time, the assignment is you, and I’d lay down my life for you. So would any of my teammates. I’m not rich, but I have savings. You’re welcome to look at my bank account anytime you want.” He meant every word. He would do everything in his power to make her feel safe.

Isla lowered herself to the floor and set her pile of clothes in front of her. Then she pulled her knees to her chest, wrapped her arms around her shins, and dropped her forehead to her knees. She started crying.

Caesar’s chest seized as he dropped down to squat next to her and wrapped his arms around her. He kissed the top of her head. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner about my assignment. I should’ve taken the time to explain the situation.”

“Don’t ever do something like that again,” Isla exclaimed in frustration.

“Never. I promise. Open book. I’ll show you everything I got from Kingsley before you arrived. It’s not much, which worries me.”

“You’re scaring me,” she told her knees, still not looking at him. “I came here to have fun and maybe discover something in the process. Why would I be in danger?”

“I don’t know, Little Fish.” He rubbed her back, hoping to soothe her. “I’ll call Kingsley tomorrow and see if he knows more. I would suspect that someone knows you have that map, and they’ve been waiting for you to do something with it. But it could also be that you have a disgruntled patient or family member of a patient who’s displeased because their relative passed away.”

She stiffened. “A lot of my patients have died. It’s the nature of the job.”

“I know, Little one. Can I lift you up so we can move to that rocking chair over there? I bet we’ll both be more comfortable if you let Daddy rock you.”

She sniffled, but she nodded.

Caesar tucked one hand under her knees, planted the other on her back, and lifted her into his arms. He easily carried her to the rocking chair. As soon as he was seated with her cradled in his arms, he grabbed the soft aqua blanket from the arm of the chair and wrapped it around her.

She was shivering. “Thank you,” she whispered. “This room is so pretty.”

“I’m glad you like it. I even got you some new stuffies.” He pointed toward the bookshelf. “I know you have a shark, but I thought you might like a dolphin, a stingray, and a whale.”

“Mmm.” She finally tipped her head back and met his gaze. “I’m not sure how Nado will feel about that. I’ll have to ask him.”

“We’ll wait and see what he says. I bet there’s room in his heart for more friends.”

“Maybe, but he’d also have to share me, and that might make him lash out and start biting. He has vicious teeth.”

Caesar hugged her closer and smiled. He was falling in love with this Little girl. “Maybe if the only stuffie who gets to sleep in our bed is Nado, he won’t feel so jealous.”

“Maybe…”

He rocked her for several more minutes in silence before speaking again. “It’s getting late. I know we were going to look more closely at your map, but how about if we do it in the morning? We can take it downstairs and have Magnus help us pinpoint the treasure's location. I have the entire day off. We can go out together for a dive or spend the day doing whatever you want.”

“Who’s Magnus? One of your teammates?”

“Yes. He’s our computer genius. In addition to this private fifth-floor living space, my team also has an enormous space in the resort's basement. Like the fifth floor, it’s not accessible to the public. It’s a workspace and the safest place you can be if you’re ever in danger. In the morning, I’ll take you down there to meet more people and get your thumbprint into the system so you can access this floor and the basement.”

“You would trust me that much?”

“Yes, Little Fish. You’re one of us now. I know that’s heavy, and it happened fast, but I promise you’re going to love my teammates and their Littles.”

Isla leaned into Caesar, letting him support more of her weight. It felt bigger than that. It wasn’t just the weight she gave him. She also gave him a bigger piece of her trust.

When she brought her thumb to her mouth and closed her eyes, his heart lurched in his chest.