Carri shrugged, trying not to pin any hopes on Rooker being her Daddy and taking her into his home at some point in the future. Her luck had never been that good.
“It’s whatever. One of us meets someone and decides to move out. We decide to buy a house together. Or the world explodes, and we’re blown to bits in our three-bedroom, two-bath apartment with a tiny porch where we’ll try to raise our pot garden.”
“Pot garden? Don’t tell me you grow drugs? Do you use them as well?”
Carri giggled again, her pussy flooding at the concerned tone in Rooker’s voice. How could he think such a thing of her?
“Oh, no. Not a drug garden. Herbs and vegetables that we grow in pots.” She flipped through a few more pictures on her phone before turning it to show him the screen. “Plants in pots. Like this.”
“Oh, a container garden. Okay, that’s better. I’d hate to think my Little girl was doing drugs.”
“Oh, no. I’ve never tried drugs. The one time I drank alcohol in high school, I was sick for two days afterward, so I stay away from that, too,” Carri admitted. “My vices are Pepsi and peanut butter M&Ms. And buying yarn, I think.”
Before Rooker could comment, she yawned. “I’m sorry.”
“No, I’m sorry. I’m not being very Daddy-like keeping you out here talking. Let’s go inside. We can grab showers and have a hot chocolate before bed.”
“Yes, Sir,” Carri agreed before yawning again.
Rooker wanted to kick his own ass. Sitting in the car, just talking with Carri made him want to immediately move the creative Little girl into his home and life on a full-time basis. He knew it was way too soon, and there was still much they had to learn about one another, but he already knew he would be keeping Carri.
Climbing out of the SUV, he walked around the front and helped Carri out. Taking her hand in his, he led her to the porch and one of the rocking chairs waiting there. “Why don’t you sit here while I bring in our bags.”
Carri nodded as she sank into the chair, looking like she might not be awake long enough to shower. “Okay.”
Rooker hurried back to the SUV, gathered their belongings, and carried them to the front door. Carri’s eyes were closed, so he unlocked the front door and moved everything inside before returning to the porch.
He lifted Carri from the chair to rest on his hip where she fit perfectly. Carrying her inside, he stopped just long enough to close and lock the front door. He wished she were awake, but maybe it would be better this way. Carrying her up the stairs, he turned left to the guest room instead of to the right where the master suite was located.
Once in the guest room, Rooker pulled back the covers before laying her down. After turning on the light in the attached bathroom, Rooker returned to the sleeping woman.
“Ah, babygirl, I hope you don’t kill me for what I’m about to do,” Rooker murmured.
When she did not answer, he went downstairs, double-checked to make sure everything was locked up securely then grabbed her bags and carried them upstairs.
In the guestroom, he opened the first bag, finding several balls of yarn and a crochet hook, a small purse, a notebook, and another zip-top clutch bag and a stuffed purple hedgehog.It appeared to be twice the size of the one he’d bought that morning.
The second bag held a zip-top bag of sample-size toiletries, a pair of jeans and two t-shirts, and an oversized light purple t-shirt with a sleepy-looking hedgehog wearing pajamas and a nightcap. Placing her clothes and toiletries on the dresser, he returned everything else to the bag.
Carrying the nightshirt and stuffie to the bed, he found Carri had rolled to one side and curled into a ball. The first two fingers of her left hand were in her mouth. She looked to be sleeping peacefully, but Rooker knew she would not be comfortable sleeping in her clothes all night.
“Okay, little artist, I need you to wake up for a few minutes,” Rooker said softly as he laid a hand on her shoulder. and pulled her over to lie on her back.
“Noooo,” Carri whined as he pulled her over to lie on her back.
Rooker held her shoulders down when she tried to wiggle away from him again.
“Yes, little girl. I need to get you out of these clothes and into your nightshirt so you can sleep more comfortably,” he said, putting a bit of Daddy Dom power into his tone.
“Don’t wanna,” Carri grumped, though she did stop wiggling.
Rooker chuckled when she huffed a sigh and her bottom lip came out in a major pout. She looked adorable and though he was tempted to let her sleep, he knew he would not be able to rest if she was not comfortable.
Tapping the protruding lip, he said, “That won’t work on me, little one. It will only get your bottom warmed, so put it away.”
She gave another sigh but retracted her pouting lip, all without opening her eyes.
Without further ado, Rooker helped her sit up. She held her arms up as he pulled her shirt over her head then stripped off herbra before dropping her nightshirt over her head. With a sigh, she lowered her arms after Rooker smoothed the shirt down her body.
