“Explore my Little side?”
“Thought I’d never be interested in being someone’s Daddy again, but you, little girl, desperately need one.”
“I do not,” she muttered.
He reached out and tilted up her chin. “You’re a menace,” he said bluntly. “You jump from one dangerous situation to another. You need rules. Consequences. Protection. A Daddy who will take care of you but also be firm with you. Who won’t let you wrap him around your little finger.”
She pouted. “I do not need rules and consequences.”
“That pretender-Daddy give you any rules or consequences?”
“He wasn’t pretending. He just didn’t like being in a long-distance relationship.”
“Guy was a selfish jerk. He didn’t care about your needs or emotions, just what he wanted.”
“Yeah, I had rules. Obviously calling him back within an hour was one.”
“I get that. I’d even use that. If you were out without me and I called you, I’d want a call back quickly. But if there was an emergency, if you couldn’t call back for some reason, I wouldn’t punish you. Certainly not by making you kneel on rice for hours. Fucker. Was that even an agreed punishment between you?”
“Umm, agreed punishment?”
He swore under his breath. “You have control in this. You need to tell me your limits. And even if those limits change while we’re in the middle of something you can speak up and say something. Say your safeword.”
“What would you do if I didn’t call you back and didn’t have a good excuse?”
“Well, without knowing your limits, I’d likely make you write lines. Or ground you from going out without me for a week.”
She let out a spluttering gasp. “Ground me?”
“Yep. Consequences depend on the rules broken. Put your health or safety at risk and you’ll likely find yourself over my knee or the sofa or table, getting your behind reddened with my hand or your hairbrush or my belt.”
His belt?
She wanted to be horrified. But she was kind of intrigued.
Seriously. What was wrong with her?
“So you’re saying that while I’m here that you want to be my . . . to be my Daddy? And my, um, lover?” she squeaked out the last word.
“Lover?” Amusement filled his face.
You’re a super dork, Millie. Like, there are dorks and then there is you. Their Queen.
Queen Dork.
That was kind of catchy. Queen of the Dorks. Hmm.
“Millie. Millie! You okay?” He gave her a concerned look. “You need some food. And drink. Shouldn’t have brought this up until you were feeling better.”
“No, wait, I—”
“Don’t feel pressured. Think about it. Doesn’t matter what answer you give; I’ll still protect you. But I don’t think I can be your Daddy without wanting to fuck you. And vice versa. Gonna make you breakfast. Stay in bed. You’re not getting out of bed today. You need to rest.”
Still bossy as hell.
When he was gone, she slumped back against the pillows. Hell. What was she going to do? It wasn’t that she didn’t want him.
No, that wasn’t the issue at all