Boss Daddy, page 27
“I was just . . . none of your men are around today.”
“They’re patrolling outside. There’s just the two of us and Maria inside. I wanted you to feel comfortable.”
“I . . . thank you. It’s going to take me a while to remember how to be around people.”
“I don’t mind keeping you mostly to myself.” He winked at her and she blushed.
“I promise I won’t let my Little out around them. Or say anything to embarrass you.”
He studied her. “You could never embarrass me. Just be yourself and let me worry about them. Just never argue with me in front of them. Gray knows he can speak freely with me when they’re not around, but when they are, I’m in charge. Although with you, there’s more leeway. And I wouldn’t be surprised if several of them are Daddy Doms. But if anyone ever makes you feel less or upsets you, you’ll tell me. Now, how is your leg, baby girl?”
She sniffled. “It’s bad, Daddy. Really, really bad.”
“Do you think we need to chop it off?”
Her eyes widened. “What? No! Why would you suggest that!” She held onto her leg. She wasn’t going to let him take her leg!
“If it’s that bad, it might be the only thing that helps.”
“Daddy! You can’t chop off my leg! That’s not funny. I’d have to hop everywhere!”
“Well, I suppose we could try and put an ice pack on it.”
“And chocolate,” she told him.
“You want to put chocolate on your bruise? Funny, never heard of that one.”
“No, Daddy! I want to eat it. I got chocolate before when I hit my head.”
Which she realized was only this morning. Whoa. If she kept going like this, then she was going to end up covered in bruises. She’d always been clumsy, but this was ridiculous.
“No chocolate,” he told her firmly.
“What? Why?” She gave him her saddest face.
Unfortunately for her, he seemed to have some sort of immunity to her sad face.
Not cool.
“Because you just had chocolate. An ice pack will do a good enough job.”
Well, if she couldn’t have chocolate, then she really needed Ricky Rhino.
Wait! Ricky Rhino! How could she have forgotten the reason she was running up the stairs in the first place!
Dimitri stepped back, which was just as well because she was jumping to her feet and turning.
“Dahlia! Walk!”
She walked up the stairs, not wanting to slip again. Dimitri walked up behind her, but then she took off toward her bedroom door, flinging it open.
Heaving for breath, she glanced around, searching for Ricky Rhino.
Dimitri reached the door just a few seconds after her. But by that time, she was picking Ricky Rhino up off the bed.
“Look! Here he is!”
She turned with a huge grin toward Dimitri. Only for the grin to slip off her face as she saw how unhappy he looked.
She swallowed heavily. “I found him.”
“I can see that.”
“Aren’t you happy that he was up here all safe?”
“I am. But do you know what I’m not happy about, Dahlia?” He moved slowly toward her and she found herself stepping back. Not because she was afraid of him.
But right now, he was giving off a big bad wolf vibe.
She’d always had a thing for the wolf.
Yep, she was that weird child who’d always rooted for the bad guy. Hmm, she wondered if that’s why she wasn’t fazed by his darker side.
“What did I say about backing away from me?”
“My feet have a mind of their own. I tell them one thing but they just do something else. That’s how come I’m always tripping on stuff.”
“Really? Or is it because you run upstairs when you’re told not to?”
Well, it could be.
“What am I not happy about, Dahlia?”
She had her back pressed to the wall.
“I’m going to go with climate change.”
“No.”
“Government corruption.”
“Nope.”
“Did the garbage truck forget to empty your bins? That’s a real pain when that happens.”
“No, it’s not the garbage truck.”
“The youth of today. So naughty.”
“They’re not naughty, but I know someone who is naughty.”
“What did Ricky Rhino do?” she asked with a gasp, holding her toy close.
“Ricky Rhino didn’t do anything wrong. He’s been a good boy. Unlike Dahlia.”
“Moi?” She pointed to herself. “That can’t be true.”
“Oh, it is.”
“I don’t believe it.”
“Believe it.”
“But I’m never naughty, Daddy.”
Maybe calling him Daddy would make him go easy on her. She dropped her lip and batted her eyelids to help.
His eyebrows rose. “Something wrong with your eyes, baby girl?”
“What? No! Darn, I’ve got to work on my sweet and adorable look.”
“You don’t have to work on anything. You always look sweet and adorable.”
“How can you say something so sweet when you look so . . . um . . .”
“So what?” he asked.
“Like such a badass!” she blurted out.
His eyebrows rose. “I’m a badass?”
“Uh-huh. Total badass.”
“Dahlia?” he said in a low voice.
“Yes?”
“You ever call me a badass in front of anyone else, and I will blister your ass, understand me?”
She nodded frantically. Yep. She’d totally heard him.
“You were naughty. Did you hear me calling out for you before?”
“Yes. But I couldn’t stop. I had to find Ricky Rhino. He could have been in trouble.”
“And a few minutes would have made a difference?”
“Uh-huh. All the difference. Anything could have happened to him. He gets into trouble lots. It’s so hard being a rhino mama sometimes.”
“Is it? It’s difficult being Dahlia’s Daddy sometimes too.”
“Daddy, that’s not very nice. And Ricky Rhino is very special to me.”
“And you’re very special to me. Which is why you need to learn to obey me.”
“But nothing bad happened!” Also, that was really sweet.
“Do you not remember falling on the stairs?”
Oh, yeah. Her leg throbbed as if to remind her how she’d slammed it against the edge of the stair.
“It wasn’t because I was running. That stair just leaped out at me. I swear.”
“You swear, huh?”
“Yeah, Daddy. That’s absolutely what happened.”
“I don’t think it is. I think that Dahlia didn’t listen to her Daddy and she hurt herself. Which wouldn’t have happened if she’d listened to me in the first place. You’ve just earned yourself a punishment.”
She gasped dramatically. “You wouldn’t really punish me.”
He just stared at her.
“But I need to take a nap, remember? I really should get right on that. I’m so super tired.” She yawned, big and wide. Probably not attractive at all.
“You’ll take a nap. After your punishment.”
But that wasn’t cool. What was he going to do? Her hands crept around to cover her bottom. Ricky Rhino ended up behind her since she was still holding him.
“What sort of punishment?”
“You’re going to spend some time in the corner thinking about what you did and what you’ll do differently next time. Oh, and I’ll take Ricky Rhino while you’re in time-out.”
28
He nearly smiled at the look on her face.
Nearly.
Because he was actually serious about this. Running up the stairs wasn’t acceptable. Especially when she was still recovering from a car accident. She was feeling a lot better, but she wasn’t a hundred percent.
But even worse, she didn’t listen to him. She had to learn to obey him, or one day, she might ignore him when it came to something that was life or death.
And he wouldn’t allow that to happen.
No, it was his job to keep her safe, and if he had to discipline her to do so, then he was prepared to take up that job.
“Corner time? You can’t be serious.”
He stared down at her sternly. “Does it look like I’m joking, L’venok?”
“No, that’s definitely your serious face. But then your joking face might be the same as your serious face, mightn’t it? Because I’ve never really seen it. And you could just have a really good poker face. And any minute now you’re going to break into a smile and say, joking!” Reaching up, she prodded at his mouth. “Do you feel yourself wanting to break into a smile?”
Damn.
He really wanted to. Because this was the most light-hearted he’d ever seen her. Was it because she’d told him about her past?
He knew what it was like to have something weighing you down every second of every day. He’d lived with that. But he’d had people to share some of the load.
She’d had no one.
And that nearly broke him.
He swore that he’d make sure she never felt alone again. He wanted her to have more moments like this. Where she could be silly, have fun, be herself.
Without her past shadowing her.
Her Little was coming out in small increments.
Because of the trust she had in him.
Which floored him.
“No.” He kept his face stern. Jesus. All of these years of hiding his emotions and this little girl was going to be the one to break him.
Seemed fitting.
“No?” she asked. She heaved a big sigh. “That’s disappointing.”
“Hmm. For you. Because now you have to spend time in the corner. Turn around.”
“In here?” she asked in a high-pitched voice.
“Yes. In here.” He twirled his finger in the air, then pointed at the corner.
“Shouldn’t we talk about punishments and rules and limits and stuff before I get a punishment?”
Well. She had a point.
“All right,” he said. “What is your safeword?”
“Uh, red,” she whispered.
“What things are off limits? What things can I not do?”
She swallowed heavily, looking up at him with wide eyes. “I thought we were doing this later?”
“Didn’t you just say that you wanted to talk about limits, punishments, and rules before corner time?”
“Yeah, but then I thought you’d put it off for a while.” She pouted.
He studied her for a moment, taking in her pale face. This had been a lot for her. And he thought that she needed a break.
“Is corner time a hard limit?”
She sighed. “No. I guess not.”
“Then around you go. You have your safeword. If you start to feel stressed or scared or tired then say your safeword and it stops.” He frowned, staring down at her leg. He still had to get her that ice pack. Thankfully, each bathroom had a First-Aid kit equipped with ice packs that you cracked to activate. “Actually, I should have you sit in the corner.” He grabbed the armchair and positioned it to face the corner.
“Really?” she asked.
“Sit. And you’re to think about what landed you in the corner.”
With a sigh, she sat.
“Give me Ricky Rhino.”
“But I need him.”
“He wasn’t naughty though, so it’s not fair for him to have to do corner time.”
“Well. This sucks,” she muttered.
“Good. It’s not supposed to be fun.” He got the ice pack, cracking it before he put it on her leg. She held it with her hand.
As she sat, he moved to her closet. He was going to find her something warmer to wear.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
He turned to find her looking at him.
With a stern expression, he pointed at her. “Turn back around. You’re not to move. Time gets added for every time you move or talk.”
“Wait. What? No one told me the rules of corner time. I can’t move or talk?”
He frowned. “No. Have you never spent time in the corner?”
“That would be a no. So I think I should be given leniency.”
Hmm. It sounded plausible until he remembered something.
“You like to read books about Littles and Daddy Doms, though, don’t you?”
“Drat.” She bit her lip.
“And in those books, I’m guessing at least some of those Littles spent time in the corner, yes?”
“Yes.”
“Were any of those Littles allowed to move or talk while in the corner?”
“No.”
“Right. Now turn around again.” He didn’t wait to see if she did as she was told. But he did sneak a look back.
She was sitting still, staring at the corner. Good, because he didn’t want to punish her further. Normally, for something like running up the stairs and ignoring him, he’d have reddened her ass.
But he knew that he was going to have to be slow and patient with her.
Good thing he knew how to play the long game.
But she did need to know this was a punishment, which is why he wasn’t allowing her to get away with anything.
Frowning, he checked through her closet and drawers. She barely owned anything. Two pairs of shorts, two skirts, one pair of sweatpants, two T-shirts, a hoodie, and two sweatshirts.
That was it?
She had more stuffies than she did clothing.
This wasn’t acceptable. And shoe-wise all she had were a pair of worn-out sneakers and some flip-flops. Neither of which would serve her well when it got cold in Montana.
He pulled out the sweatpants, a T-shirt, and a pair of slippers. They were worn, but it was easy to see they were rhinos.
He glanced over her collection of stuffies sitting on the sofa in her bedroom. There was something different about each of them. There were two teddy bears, one with a gold velvet eye patch and another with red paws. Then a panda with a fluffy fur mohawk and another fluffy patch on its tummy. As well as a cat with a checkered vest and paws.
They were cute and unique. He wondered where she’d found them.
He laid out the clothes he’d chosen on her bed, before sitting. “Come here, baby girl. Bring the ice pack with you.”
Standing, she moved around the chair toward him, looking chagrined. But he wasn’t fooled. Once she became fully confident in who she was, she was going to run circles around him.
Or try to.
And he couldn’t wait.
Reaching out, he took the ice pack and set it aside as he checked her leg. It didn’t look too bad. He took hold of her hands and pulled her between his open legs.
“What do you have to say for yourself?” he asked her in a low voice, making certain to keep his face stern.
“That I don’t like corner time. It’s boring.”
“It’s not supposed to be fun.”
She sighed.
“How can you avoid it in the future?”
“By not running up the stairs.”
“And?”
“Listening to you.”
“That’s right. I know it might seem like a small thing, but you could have fallen and hit your head.”
“There wasn’t much chance of that, Daddy.”
“Wasn’t there?” he asked, cupping the side of her face with his hand. “And for the record, any chance is unacceptable to me. But there’s more to it than that. I need you to listen to me and obey because next time, it might not be something simple like running through the house. It might be life and death.”
She sucked in a breath. “Like a gunfight.”
“Exactly, so we’re going to work on that. For now, your rules are not to lie, to take care of yourself, which includes eating three meals a day. You’re not to hurt yourself, that includes taking too hot showers. Anytime you feel the need to clean yourself like that, you’re to come to me. You’re not to speak or think badly of yourself, and you need to tell me when you need something. All right? There might be more. But we’ll get a board and write them down.”
“Daddy,” she grumbled.
“And we’ll stick to punishments like corner time or writing lines, early bedtimes, or no chocolate.”
“Daddy! That’s terrible! No chocolate?” She pouted. It was adorable.
“It’s not meant to be enjoyable when it’s punishment,” he reminded her. “Now, I picked out some clothes for you to wear.”
She frowned. “Don’t you like what I’ve got on?”
“I love what you have on, but you’re not wearing enough. Your choices are for me to go out so you can change or for me to dress you.”
“I . . . um . . .” Her cheeks were red. Her hand crept up to rub under her nose.
He grabbed her hand, pulling it gently away. “Do you have a favorite blanket or something that you like to sleep with?”
“No, just Ricky Rhino.”
He nodded. “What about a pacifier? Has your Little ever used one or wanted to?”
“She’s never used one, but yes, I think she’d like that.” She bit at her lip. “If that’s all right with you.”
“Baby girl, I want to give you everything you need.”
Dahlia blew out a breath. “Sometimes, it’s just hard to believe it.”
“We’ll work on that too. What does your Little like to do? Does she enjoy coloring? Or playing with blocks? Legos?”
“I don’t know. . . I like playing with my stuffies. And you bought me all that other stuff. I really don’t need anything more.”
“Maybe we need to work it out together. Now, what would you like? For me to dress you? Or to do it yourself?”
She fidgeted, moving her weight from foot to foot. “Could you do it, please? I might . . . I just don’t know how I will feel, but I want to try.”
“My brave girl.” Leaning in, he clasped hold of her hips and kissed her lightly.
Fuck. He wanted more. He wanted to lay her down on this bed and worship her. To fuck her until they both didn’t know their own names.
But he had to go slow.
“Good girl. I promise to never betray your trust.”
It was her turn to cup his cheek with her hand. “I know you won’t.”
