Bedding the Billionaire

Sutton

A loud crash woke me from my sleep. Out of instinct I grabbed the bat by my doorway and raced into the kitchen. In horror, I saw that Mark lying spread eagle on the floor with a nasty gash on his head. That wasn’t the only surprise, either. My neighbor Earl also had a bat in his hands, it was clear what had clobbered Mark, and it looked like Earl might be going in for another swing.

“Stop!” I yelled, causing Earl to pause in his assault.

“Sutton, this here is a burglar,” Earl explained. “It’s called self-defense.”

“No, he’s not a burglar. I invited him to stay for the night!”

Earl’s eyes bobbed between Mark prostrate on the floor and me standing across from him. “Oh,” he murmured, slowly lowering the bat. “I must not have heard that part. Thought he snuck back in.”

“Earl, put that away, and then come and help me see if you’ve killed him.”

“I’m not dead,” Mark mumbled from the floor. I watched as he raised his hands to the bump and noticed that they came away sticky with blood.

“Maybe we should call an ambulance,” Earl suggested as he came back into the room without the baseball bat.

“Earl, where are your pants?’

I had just noticed that Earl was in his tighty-whitey undies and that they were in serious need of a washing. I was a little surprised that he had managed to knock Mark down so readily. Of course, Earl was swinging a Louisville Slugger and Mark was an innocent party not expecting the blow.

Sinking to my knees, I looked into Mark’s eyes. I knew from the emergency room that dilated pupils or uneven dilation could indicate a concussion. “Are you alright?” I asked, hating how my voice shook a little.

Mark looked at me for a long moment. I decided that his pupils looked fairly normal, but still wondered if we should call an ambulance. Mark had sat up and seemed to be gathering his wits.

“What was that?” he asked.

“An old Louisville Slugger,” Earl replied helpfully. “One of those boyfriends left a few when he moved out several years back.”

Mark looked to me with a raised brow. It looked rather ridiculous with his injured forehead. “Not my old boyfriend,” I answered Mark’s unspoken question. “It was one of Mama’s.”

Earl laughed. “Sutton doesn’t have boyfriends. She’s a good girl. Never had any trouble out of her. You should ask my Martha.”

I shook my head. “This is crazy. Mark, are you alright? I can drive you to the hospital in your car or we can call an ambulance if that makes you more comfortable.”

“Never been better,” Mark croaked as he forced himself to stand. At first there was a bit of wobble to his stance, but I noticed that his snark was right on point.

Grabbing some paper towels, I thrust some into Mark’s hand and moved to the sink to get more of them wet. Then I guided him over to a chair and told him to sit. We needed to mop off his injury to see if he needed stitches. I also sent Earl after the first aid kit, just in case.

hell was that about?” Mark demanded.

have heard me tell you that you can stay,” I said, moving in close so that I could start cleaning him up. I tried to ignore the fact that I was in teeny tiny pajamas and he was in a white t-shirt and boxer

“Does Earl stay

that?” I paused in my ministering to his head to look down at him.

that he seemed rather intrigued with the fact that I don’t sleep with a bra. I could feel my nipples beginning to

question with a question. “I don’t

unintelligible that I was grateful not to have heard.

tops,” I added before I could stop the words from tumbling out of my mouth. I helped him up into a standing position. I tried not to think about the proximity of our bodies as we stood there in

Mr. Williams rolled his eyes. “No, that’s not at all often.”

tell myself it was retro, but in truth, it was just dated and ugly. I shoved a wave of embarrassment down. I had nothing to

down,” he said by way of explanation. “He barely nicked

as I had thought it would be. He wouldn’t

someone?” Earl came back in, scratching his left butt cheek and holding the kit in his

Control?” Mr. Williams suggested

biceps, if we are being specific. I felt a jolt of energy zip

would soon be drooling. Hot damn! Who would have thought

on the bandage. He was a very good patient, but I wasn’t sure if he would accept that as a

say, “I am terribly sorry this happened.”

soon enough,” he said

would feel better if it hadn’t happened.”

me dryly, “Have you ever

I have,” I

“scrapes or tears of any kind?”

I said, a little bit of irritation slipping in. What was

said tersely. “Accidents happen.”

right. They certainly did happen. Although, I am not sure that getting attacked with a bat by my elderly neighbor in the wee hours of the morning was your typical run of

away the soiled items and gave the first aid kit back to Earl.

Again, that surge of awareness flashed through me. I was tired as fuck and beyond cranky, but shit if

It may have come out sharper than I intended. Mr. Williams

his breath, almost as if

my arms and glaring at him. “For making you come to Otterville Falls to fetch me? Or for forcing you to wait through my entire shift? Perhaps because of the way I let you sleep on my terrible couch? Oh, I know! It’s for bringing you into my home and letting an elderly

and a small

Suddenly my irritation faded as quickly has it

he said with a twinkle in

the misses, are

and disgust. I imagined that there was nothing Earl possessed that would be the slightest interest to Mr. Williams.

no, Earl. You were just protecting Miss