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.

the bloody hell was that about?” Mark demanded.

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 briefs.

stay often?”

I paused in my ministering to his head to

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

what Mark had asked, I answered his question with a question. “I

I was grateful

“Twice a week, tops,” I added before I could stop the words from tumbling out of my mouth. I helped him up into a standing position.

“No,

in truth, it was just dated and ugly. I shoved a wave of embarrassment down. I had nothing to be ashamed

hit the counter on the way down,” he said by way of explanation. “He barely nicked me with the bat.”

apply pressure. The cut wasn’t nearly as bad as I had thought it would be. He wouldn’t even need stitches. I also knew that head wounds

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

Williams suggested deadpan.

pinched his arm, hard. His very firm, very muscled biceps, if we are being specific. I felt a jolt

take in the way his white t-shirt stretched nicely over his muscular chest. Shit, if I wasn’t careful, I would soon be drooling. Hot damn! Who would have thought that the overly stuffy Mr. Williams would have all these delicious bad boy muscles

didn’t wince when I cleaned up his wound, nor did he complain when I put on the bandage. He was a very good patient, but I wasn’t sure if he would

I did say, “I am terribly sorry this happened.”

heal soon enough,” he said gruffly.

I would feel better

dryly, “Have you

have,” I retorted.

bruises,” he continued, “scrapes or tears of

a little bit of irritation slipping in. What was

“So, have I,” he said tersely. “Accidents happen.”

He was 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

up all of the things I had been using. I threw away the soiled

grabbed my arm. Again, that surge of awareness flashed through me. I was tired as fuck and beyond cranky, but shit if the man didn’t have the

intended. Mr.

said under his breath, almost as if it

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 man assault you. You

twitched and a small

Suddenly my irritation faded as quickly has

are a menace,” he said with a twinkle in

suing me and the

of horror and disgust. I imagined that there was nothing

“Err, no, Earl. You were just protecting Miss Landry. I understand.”