Page 26 of Giddy Up, Daddy

“No, I’m all right.” She opened her hands to show him.

Relief filled him. “What were you thinking? You shouldn’t be picking up glass with your bare hands. You could cut yourself.”

“Only if some idiot scared her,” Grandpa Jack said dourly.

Yes, yes, he knew that he was the idiot.

“Sorry,” she whispered. “I didn’t mean to do anything wrong. I was just going to help clean up.”

Crap. Now he felt really bad.

“I didn’t mean to scare you,” he explained. “I just didn’t want you to cut yourself.”

“I’m fine. Shall I get a broom?”

He really, really needed to let her go before he drew her close and kissed her again.

“Drop the glass.” Shoot. He said it in a far harder voice than he intended and cleared his throat as Grandpa Jack glared at him. “Please.”

She was staring at him in shock. Then she glanced at her hand before looking at the floor. “Um, I . . .”

“Put it on the table, girly,” Grandpa Jack told her. “The boy will clean it up.”

“I will if you let my hand go,” she told him.

Shit. What was wrong with him today? He let her hand go quickly and stepped back.

A hint of hurt entered her face.

Yeah. He was just fucking up all the way around tonight. She set the glass down on the table.

“Please step away,” he ordered.

Her eyes grew wide and glassy.

“Boy,” Grandpa Jack warned.

“I meant away from the glass. I don’t want you stepping on it,” he told her.

“But I have shoes on,” she pointed out. “My shoelaces are even tied.”

“Please move away from the glass.” It was sending his protective instincts into overdrive.

Yes, he knew it was ridiculous. She wasn’t in any real danger, but he still couldn’t get himself to be more rational.

“All right.” She stepped back.

“Good girl,” he told her.

It was like all the air was suddenly sucked from the room. What was he doing?

Shit.

Talk about being completely unprofessional. He really needed to take a step back here. To put distance between them. Physically and emotionally.

“You’re dismissed,” he said stiffly.

“Um, I’m . . . what?” she asked, looking confused.

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