She had expected to feel awkward and embarrassed. What she hadn’t thought she’d feel was turned on.
But as his finger went in and out of her bottom, she could feel herself growing warm, her breathing becoming faster.
“That’s it. Now for the thermometer. Papa is so proud of his girl.”
She let out a small whimper as his finger drew out of her bottom, then the thermometer was pressed inside her. It wasn’t that it was big or anything. It just felt a bit odd. Cold and hard.
“That’s it. Hold nice and still. We want to get an accurate temperature, don’t we?” he murmured. “Or we’ll have to do this all over again.”
Ahh, yeah. She didn’t want that.
“There we are,” he said, pulling the thermometer out after what seemed like twenty minutes but was probably only thirty seconds. “Your temperature is perfect. Just like you. I’m justgoing to clean up, you stay like that until Papa can help you get dressed. Then it’s time for a nap.”
“Nooo, Papa, I’m in the middle of vet school,” she grumbled as he walked away.
“Well, it’s nap time,” he said.
When he returned from the bathroom, he rolled her over and pulled her panties and pants back on.
As he was helping her sit, his phone started ringing. Frowning, he reached over and grabbed it off the side table. She tensed. Every time his phone rang she got nervous for some reason. She wasn’t sure if she was nervous about getting the news that Vince still hadn’t been found.
Or that he had.
Because once he was found, they’d likely go back to Billings. And she wasn’t sure that she was ready for that.
But she also wanted him found. Because right now, he was a threat to her and her babies.
“It’s Ink,” Matthieu told her before answering the call. “Hey man . . . are you serious? Trussed up like a turkey? Yep. Yep. Wait, she’s here. I’ll put you on speaker.”
He set the phone down on his knee and turned the speaker on.
“Right, we’re both here. Say that again,” Matthieu said.
“Vince has been found. Or, I should say, Vince was delivered to us. Trussed up like a turkey on the front steps of Callahan Security early this morning.”
“What?” she asked. “Who would do that?”
“Well, I know who did it because he left a calling card. But this is the tricky part, I can tell you because he obviously wanted me to know by leaving his calling card. But it would be best if no one else knew. Especially the cops. Can you do that?”
“I won’t tell anyone,” she said.
“Not even your brother?” Ink pressed.
Marlin had been in touch several times. But even though their relationship was slowly repairing itself, she didn’t feel the need to tell him everything.
“No, I won’t.” Who would do this?
“It’s a guy who calls himself the Fox. You could call him a friend of ours. Over these past few years, he’s helped with a lot of cases and he’s kept our women safe. Several of them, he helped rescue. Including Betsy.”
“Why can’t we talk about him? Why would he go after Vince?” she asked.
“The Fox doesn’t always stick to the law. In fact, he usually doesn’t. He plays by his own rules and the cops would love to arrest him. But even though he doesn’t follow the law, he doesn’t harm innocents.”
Okay, this Fox guy sounded interesting. She swallowed and glanced at Matthieu who was frowning.
“Why would he help me? I don’t know him.”
“He knows you,” Ink replied.
