But he was her boss.
Before tonight, she never really thought that he had ever even noticed her. She’d always noticed him, of course, but it was hard not to. He was everything she had ever liked in the way a man looked: tall, dark, beautiful.
There was more to him than just his good looks, though.
He was also kind, and fierce, and he was gentle when he wanted to be. He was an incredible dad, she knew. He was always going above and beyond to take care of Alice. Daniel would do anything for his daughter, Meredith knew.
Anything.
Now, laying in the dark, she wondered what was going to happen between them. They were essentially locked up together for two full weeks. That was a long time to sit at home and do nothing. Then again, it wasn’t like she’d actually be doing nothing.
She’d have things to do.
She’d have stuff.
She’d have everything she possibly needed and more. But now there was a complication. She wouldn’t just be hanging out and knitting or crocheting things. Nope. Now she’d have him here, and Daniel made her both excited and nervous.
And she didn’t know what was going to happen next.
*
When Meredith woke up the next morning, she exercised in her room for half an hour. Then she took a shower, brushed her teeth, and got dressed. Meredith stared at herself in the mirror for far too long. Knowing that Daniel was going to be home made her feel so many different things.
She was anxious and excited and…
Shit.
She was so aroused that she didn’t know what to do.
That spanking had been so wonderfully unexpected, but also so incredible. He had completely dominated her. He had spanked her hard. He hadn’t held back, and she had loved that about it. She really liked everything about their experience together, but especially that.
Always that.
Finally, she went to Alice’s room and knocked on the door.
“Time to get up,” she said, turning the knob. “Alice?” Meredith stepped into the room, but was surprised to see that Alice wasn’t there at all. In fact, the room was completely empty. The bed was unmade, though, which let her know that Alice hadn’t been gone for long.
Neither Daniel nor Meredith liked unmade beds in the house. It was probably a psychological thing, she knew, but having a made bed showed respect for your home and for your belongings. It showed that you cared enough about yourself and your personal space to take just a few minutes to tidy it up.
“Alice?”
Meredith checked the bathroom, but Alice wasn’t to be seen. Maybe she had already gone downstairs, but that was strange. In all of the years Meredith had been working for their family, she’d never known Alice to get up before her.
Then again, maybe things were going to change now.
The outside world certainly was.
The virus that ravaged the world was scary in many ways. Perhaps the biggest problem was simply that it was unprecedented. No one knew exactly what to expect with it. Nobody really understood if it was going to die off over the summer or if it was going to come back in a year. Was it going to be seasonal, like the flu?
There was simply no way to tell.
No one had any answers, and Meredith found that to be incredibly frustrating. The lack of information, coupled with last-minute toilet paper buying, made her feel like the entire world was in chaos.
That was outside, though.
Today, she only had to deal with inside.
She only had to deal with Alice and Daniel. She had to help Daniel come up with a plan for educating Alice at home. They’d have to create a schedule. One thing was for certain: they weren’t going to just play this out by ear. That was how fights started. Meredith had no interest in people fighting because they were bored or couldn’t get along.