Page 20 of Daddy's Little Worker
“No, I have never seen her before. I figured she had to be new since she knew where the employee room was,” Monty offered. “Sorry, you know I’ve been out for a couple of days. My little brother was sick again, and I had to take a couple of days off.”
“You’re okay. I told you that you didn’t need to apologize. We can’t control when we get sick,” he reminded her. “Thank you for telling me about this. I can take it from here. You start getting ready for work.”
Monty nodded and walked away, leaving Noah to himself. And just like he feared. Frankie was curled up in a small ball on the bench, fast asleep.
Poor girl. How tired she must have been to fall asleep here and not wake up with a lot of noise. After walking up to her, he kneeled and ran his hands through her hair.
“Frankie,” he gently said. “It’s time to wake up.”
But she didn’t stir. Worry flowed through him as he continued to run his hands through her hair, hoping to wake her up. The club wasn’t a quiet place, and yet she had fallen asleep. Was she all right? Did she have some type of medical condition that caused her to pass out at random places?
“Come on, baby. You need to wake up.” He softly spoke. “It’s time to get up and go home so you can sleep in your real bed.”
He didn’t know if she even had a real bed where she lived. It was taking everything inside of him not to take her back to his house and tell her that was where she was living now. When she’d first told him the address, he had to take a deep breath so he didn’t start demanding things. She wouldn’t have done well with that, and he didn’t want to scare her off.
Frankie looked like she was about to run at any second during, before, and after the interview. What was going on? Was she running from someone? Was that why she lived in such a sketchy part of town?
Noah didn’t know, but he was going to find out.
Frankie was his.
From the moment he saw her, Noah knew that Frankie was the girl for him, the one and only woman he would ever fall in love with.
Looking back at the door, Noah made a decision. If she wasn’t going to wake up now, he would take her to his office and keep watch of her until she did. He wanted her safe, which she would be in his office.
“Don’t freak out on me,” he whispered, picking her up.
Frankie immediately snuggled up to his chest and relaxed. A smile spread across his face. She knew she belonged to him, even when she was asleep. Hopefully, when he decided to claim her, she would be just as receptive when she was awake.
“I’ve got you.” he held her close as he walked out of the employees’ room.
“Is something wrong with Frankie?” Trent asked. “Did she pass out? I told her she didn’t look good earlier. She told me she was fine and that she would go to Dominic after sitting for a couple of minutes. I knew I shouldn’t have let her be alone.”
Noah turned to Trent, some foreign emotion running through him. Jealousy? Anger?
“If you find her in any position like that again, you call me right away,” Noah demanded. “Do you understand?”
Trent raised an eyebrow. “You claiming her?”
He nodded. “Yes, I am. Anything concerning Frankie will be talked over with me first. She is mine, and I am going to take care of her. Let everyone know so they come to me.”
Claiming her already was risky. It hadn’t been his intention, but seeing Trent take interest in her rubbed him up the wrong way. He didn’t want him getting in the way when he already had his sights set on her.
“What happened to Frankie?” Dominic asked. “She didn’t show up, and I was about to come and find her. Would’ve come earlier, but Monty needed some help with something.”
“Noah just claimed Frankie.” Trent ignored everything Dominic had said.
“Not surprised. I saw them interact yesterday, and you could see the chemistry between them. I’m surprised he didn’t say something earlier.” Dominic chuckled before looking at Noah. “Does she know?”
“Not yet, but she will,” he replied. “I saw the chemistry, you saw it. I just need to ease her into it, not scare her away.”
“Am I the only one who didn’t see it?” Trent asked. “How did I miss that? With the way you keep looking at her, I shouldn’t have missed it.”
Noah wasn’t trying to make it a big deal, but apparently he hadn’t hidden it well enough the day before. Now it was too late. He’d already claimed her, not that he wanted to change that, but Frankie would find out soon if he didn’t tell her.
He could not tell her yet.
He didn’t want her to run off and quit. Noah could tell how much she needed it, and he didn’t want her to feel like she had to resign.
