“Carrying a lot of guilt and anger, baby. Won’t lie about that. It’s not gonna go magically away. But I’ve had a lot of smart people give me a lot of good advice. Gonna start taking it.”
She breathed out a sigh.
“We got to keep moving forward. You’re doing that. I’ve got to as well.”
Wait. Worry unfurled. “You don’t want to move forward with me?”
His eyes flared open. “Fuck. Course I do.”
She put a hand to her chest, breathed out a relieved sigh. “Oh crap. You scared me.”
“Sorry, baby. Damn it. Mucking this up.” He grasped her around the hips lightly. “We’re moving forward together, Daisy-girl. From now on, it’s me and you. Daisy and Jed.”
“Sugar and the dragon,” she murmured.
He grinned. “Yeah. And I just want you to know, if you ever need to tell me anything, you can. You need me to slow down, you tell me that. You get scared or unsure, I’m the first person you come to. Yeah?”
“Yes,” she said with a smile. “I love you.”
“Love you too, baby girl. So fucking much.” He let go of her hips and leaned back. “So much, I can see now how I’ve been neglecting you.”
Uh-oh.
“You been getting away with a lot of naughty behavior, little girl.”
That tone of voice, those words. They put her right into the headspace he was obviously aiming for.
“Sorry, Daddy. Wipe the slate clean? Start again?” she asked hopefully.
He shook his head. “I’m afraid I just wouldn’t be a good daddy if I let you get away with everything so easily.”
Damn it.
“But I’ll give you a chance. You have five minutes to find your paddle and your binky and bring them to me. For every minute over that, you get three spanks with the paddle.”
Fuck. Fuck.
He tapped his watch. “Stopwatch is ready. And go.”
She raced away and up the stairs. Shit. Shit. Where did she put that damn paddle?
“And that’s ten with my hand for running up the stairs!” he yelled.
Well, shit.
She searched frantically for that damn paddle, pulling everything out of her wardrobe. Where was it? Finally, she remembered that she’d stuck it in a shoe box at the very back. She drew it out and grabbed it. Yes! Okay, she knew where the binky was. She tore into the bathroom, pulled open the cabinet then grabbed the jumbo-sized box of tampons. She figured it was a sure bet he wouldn’t look there.
Mind you, maybe not. There didn’t seem to be much that scared him off.
With both held in her hands, she tore down the passage, slowing as she got to the top of the stairs, since she didn’t want to add to her punishment. Then walked quickly down and ran to him, practically chucking them both at him before she’d come to a stop. Luckily, he caught the paddle before it could hit him.
“Shit! Sorry!”
He looked at her, glanced at his stopwatch. “Eight minutes.”
“Fuck.”
“And another extra five with my hand for swearing.”