He raised his eyebrows with a sigh. Obviously, Abby had told her friends about their conversation. Clint came up behind Charlie, putting his arm around her waist. “Thought I told you to sit down and put your feet up. You’re so exhausted you’re swaying.”
Jed studied Charlie under the lights that had been strung through the trees. She did look tired.
“She’s been working non-stop for days to prep all of this,” Clint grumbled. “Next year, you’re going to enlist some help.”
“Oh, so there’s going to be a next year?” Charlie teased. “Last night you were grumbling that this was never going to happen again.”
“That’s because when I woke up at one this morning to find that instead of sleeping beside me, you’d waited until I fell asleep to sneak out of bed and go down to the kitchen to make some more potato salad. There’s enough potato salad here to feed Napoleon’s army.”
Jed had to agree with that.
“Hmm, now that I think about it, I guess there’s a reason that you don’t want to sit, huh?” Clint asked her.
Jed had to hide a grin as Clint squeezed her ass and she squealed. She’d obviously received a spanking for her disappearing trick. Well-deserved too. That was his woman, his Little, she’d find herse
lf tied to the bed for the rest of the night.
Or secured in a cot.
He let out a sigh. He’d tried to repress his Daddy Dom side over the years. He’d played at clubs with subs, some of them Littles. But he’d never had a Little who was his. His fiancée hadn’t been into the lifestyle. Getting engaged to Jennifer had been a mistake. He’d gotten involved with her to please his grandfather. When he’d realized how ill-suited they were, he’d ended things.
“Looks like Ellie’s visitor is here,” Clint grumbled, pulling him from his thoughts. The other man was scowling as he stared at someone behind Jed.
“Clint, be nice,” Charlie told him. “Ellie said she doesn’t know anyone.”
“Yeah, and I know nothing about her. This is my ranch. Up to me to look out for everyone here. What if she’s a serial killer?”
Charlie sighed and shook her head. “Your brother runs a security agency. He has a bunch of deadly bad asses working for him, are you really worried about one woman?”
“I’m not worried,” Clint argued back. “And I’ve learned never to underestimate a woman. All I’m saying is that if I start letting people invite whoever they like to the ranch then soon Eden’s going to want to bring back all her crazy friends. And if one of them slaps my ass, you might go into a murderous rage and kill them. I’m just trying to save you from a jail cell.”
Charlie and Jed stared at him incredulously. Then Charlie burst into laughter. Jed shook his head. People round here were crazy.
Strawberries and sugar.
He grew tense at the familiar scent.
“Hey guys, can I introduce you all to my new tenant? Clint, Charlie, Jed, this is Daisy.”
Lots of people had that name. Didn’t mean it was her. He turned. Stared at her. It was like a sucker-punch to the gut. He couldn’t talk. Couldn’t breathe.
“Hello, Clint, Charlie, thank you for having me.”
Her gaze turned to him. He couldn’t see the color of her eyes in the dim light, but he knew they were a deep gray. Her hair, when he’d known her, had been long and straight, now it was cut shorter into more of a bob. She’d always described her hair as plain brown, but she was wrong. There was nothing plain about her.
His eyes wandered down her body. She’d always been thin, but she might be even thinner now, he thought with a frown.
She sucked in a sharp breath. “J-Jed?”
He didn’t answer her.
“Is that you?”
“You know Jed?” Ellie asked.
“Um. I used to. Long time ago.”
Ten years. Ten years since he’d heard her voice.