Page 48 of Her Hero Daddy

She glared at him. “I’m not an invalid. Cooking doesn’t take a lot of effort.”

Crossing his arms over his chest, he returned the glare. “Not happening. I know you’re not an invalid, but you are recovering from a traumatic experience, and the doctor said you need to rest. We can order out or have Luke and Ally bring us some meals if you don’t like my cooking. Okay?”

She sighed, long and loud. She hated that she couldn’t do anything. It wasn’t like she was completely broken, but she nodded.

“I want to hear you agree using words, little girl. Not just a head nod.”

Grrr.

“Okay. Fine. But if we die from eating too much cheese and MSG, that’s on you.”

He let out a heavy bark of laughter, and she found herself giggling too.

“I haven’t died from those things yet, so I think we’re probably safe,” he said.

After getting the kitchen cleaned up, Kane suggested she soak in the bath. He followed her up the stairs and went directly into the guest bath, turning on the taps and testing the water before plugging the drain. He poured an insanely large amount of Epsom salts into the water, but she didn’t complain. She actually found it quite sweet that he was preparing her bath for her. Now, if only he could fit in the bath with her.

Don’t think those thoughts, dummy.

She went into her room to find a pair of pajamas and panties. Kane disappeared into his room briefly and then returned and knocked on her bedroom door. That’s when things got weird. She opened the door, and there stood Kane, looking ridiculously sexy as always. His hands were full, and all she could see was a stuffed alligator in his hand. Her eyes lit up as he held it out for her.

“I figured you could use a sleeping companion. I thought maybe it would make you feel more at ease and maybe help with the nightmares. If you press under his tummy, there are lights inside of him that light up and illuminate him with different colors.”

Kane pressed the underside of the alligator, and sure enough, pink, blue, and purple lights lit up inside the stuffed animal. Tears filled her eyes as she squeezed it to her chest. She would have never said anything to him about her stuffed bear that she had to leave behind, but it had been so hard not having him to sleep with. Tim hated her sleeping with her bear and told her to keep it on her side of the bed, which she always did, but he would often make fun of her for having him.

The alligator was so soft and fluffy, despite having lights inside of it. His face was so cute, and he looked friendly. Definitely not the kind of alligators she pictured Kane wrestling with.

“Kane, this is so thoughtful. I can’t believe you got me a stuffy.”

Shoot. She said stuffy. What if he thought she was weird because she liked stuffed animals so much and called them stuffies? But no, he wouldn’t have gotten it for her if he thought it was weird.

“You’ll have to pick a name for him.”

She tapped her chin, trying to think of a good name for her new friend.

“I have something else for you.”

Kane held out his hand, and in his large grip, he held what looked like adult-sized light pink pull-ups. She stared at his hand, confused, and then looked up at him. Was he making fun of her for having an accident the night before? Or was he upset that she had ruined the mattress and wanted her to wear them so she wouldn’t ruin the new bed she was using if it happened again?

“I can see you are thinking and questioning, so I guess I should explain before you think it’s something bad. Sit down.”

Kane led her to the edge of the bed and sat down next to her, setting the pull-ups on the bed.

“Sometimes when Littles are feeling sad or sick or scared or insecure, they wear pull-ups or diapers to help them feel better. They find comfort in them. Sometimes they wear them all the time, and sometimes they wear them only sometimes. I thought that you might want to wear one at bedtime for some extra comfort. You don’t have to, of course, but I wanted to offer them to you to use if you’d like.”

Haylee squeezed her alligator to her chest. She had more questions now than she’d had before.

“Are you worried I’m going to have another accident and ruin your mattress?”

Her cheeks flushed. Bringing up her having an accident wasn’t exactly the most enjoyable topic of conversation.

“What? Oh, baby, no. Not at all. Is that what you’re thinking? I don’t care about the mattress. I care about you, and I’m trying to comfort you in as many ways as I can.”

She patted her alligator’s fur absently as she let his words sink.

“You want me… to wear them?”

She couldn’t look at Kane when she asked that question. Heck, she couldn’t even look at him at all.