Page 30 of Her Gentle Daddy

“No, baby. He would never think that or do that. Zane cares about you.”

He looked down and saw that her thumb was in her mouth, and she had her eyes closed. He knew she would be wiped out for the rest of the afternoon. Zane walked back into the room with a sippy cup in his hand and set it down on the floor beside Sean. When he noticed that Gabby was sucking her thumb, he went to a set of drawers at the far end of the room and found a pacifier. He brought that over, handed it to Sean, and then disappeared from the room again.

Gently, he pulled her thumb from her mouth and replaced it with the pacifier. He hadn’t given her a pacifier yet, but it only took a moment before her mouth was moving to suckle on the nipple. Slowly, Sean moved to stand with her still in his arms. He didn’t want to let her go, but he wanted to get her home and tucked into bed.

Zane and Damian met him outside the Littles’ area as soon as he stepped out.

“Sean, I’m so sorry, man. I don’t know what I did to upset her,” Damian whispered.

“Is there anything we can do to help?” Zane asked.

Sean shook his head, “You didn’t do anything, Damian. She is wary of men in general, and you’re not exactly a friendly-looking guy, no offense, plus she wasn’t expecting to see anyone new.”

Damian grunted but didn’t seem to get his feelings hurt by the statement.

“I’m going to take Gabby home. I’m going to keep her home tomorrow too. She’s always pretty wiped out after a panic attack.”

Zane nodded, “No problem.”

The men opened doors for Sean until he was outside, and then opened his car door for him so he could get Gabby seated inside. She let out a small cry when he let go of her but quickly seemed to settle again after he buckled her seatbelt.

“If you need anything, call me and let her know that I’m sorry I frightened her.”

Sean nodded to Damian and then waved goodbye to Zane before pulling out of the parking lot and heading home.

12

GABBY

Gabby woke up to the sounds of light snoring next to her. Blinking her eyes several times to focus, she looked over and saw Sean sleeping. Looking around the unfamiliar room, she realized they were in his bedroom, and she was tucked in under the blankets with Patches stuffed under her arm while Sean was fully clothed, lying on top of the covers.

She was exhausted and had to go to the bathroom desperately. She wondered what time it was and how long she had been sleeping. The memory of those familiar, terrifying eyes looking at her and the resulting panic attack rushed into her mind, and she realized why she felt as though she’d been hit by a freight train.

Those eyes and that scar were exactly like one of the monsters from her past, and she had freaked. She had no idea who the man was, but she’d had to get away from him before her knees gave out, so she had run into the safest place she knew. The nursery. Thankfully, the only person who had followed her had been Zane, although she remembered only wanting her Daddy at that moment, and as soon as he’d stepped into the room and started talking to her was the first time since the attack had started that she felt like she could breathe.

Scooting to the edge of the bed, Gabby pulled the covers back and tried to get down from the tall bed as quietly as she could, but she was so short that when she dropped, there was a light thud on the carpeted floor and Sean’s eyes popped open.

“What’s wrong, baby girl?” he asked worriedly.

“I need to go potty.”

He immediately stood and came around the bed, picking her up as though she weighed nothing, and carried her into the bathroom. Before her hands could reach the waistband of her leggings, he was tugging them down and gently pushed her back to sit down on the toilet. She had expected him to leave after that, as he always had in the past, but this time, he stood in front of her with a concerned expression.

“You don’t have to stay in here, Daddy. I can go potty by myself.”

Although, as much as she hated to admit it and as embarrassing as it was, she really didn’t want him to leave her. She was still feeling vulnerable and shaky. Sean shook his head.

“I’m not going anywhere, baby. Go potty. I’m staying right here with you.”

She chewed on her lip as she looked up at the tall man who’d told her he loved her, and she felt her insides go to putty. It was silly to want her Daddy to be in the bathroom with her while she peed, but he was becoming her rock, and she felt the safest with him right beside her.

Looking down at her feet, Gabby tried to ignore the handsome man in front of her and just focus on what she was in there to do. As soon as she voided her bladder, Sean grabbed some tissue and pulled her forward slightly, wiping all of her delicate folds. She was so surprised that she didn’t even think of protesting.

When she stood, he pulled up her pants again and washed his hands before picking her up and carrying her back to his bedroom. Setting her on his bed, he turned on the TV and found Clifford the Big Red Dog playing.

“It’s already almost nine, but I want you to eat something before we go back to bed, and I need to change you into your pajamas.”

He went to his bedside table before walking around to where she was and held a pacifier up to her mouth.

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