He pointed a finger at her. “Stop that. Now.”
She sniffed. “Just for a little bit. I’ll be so careful. Please. Please. Please.”
“No. Not happening.”
She thumped her foot down on the ground. Her good foot. She wasn’t silly. “But, Wolfie—”
Smack!
Turning, she gaped at him, her hand going behind to touch her bottom. Which he’d just smacked. In public.
“Wolfe!”
“What?” He peered down at her inquisitively.
“You can’t do that! In public!” She looked around frantically. But nobody was close by.
“Course I can. You were about to throw a tantrum. I stopped it. Perfectly acceptable.”
Maybe to him. The rat!
He started steering her away. She tugged at his hand again, looking back longingly.
“Princess, behave yourself or it will be straight home and into time-out for you,” he warned.
“We’re not going straight home?”
“No. Although, keep being naughty and it will turn into some lines and corner time.”
Okay. She was shutting up now.
* * *
“Where are we going?” she asked as soon as they were back in the car.
Wolfe reached over and did up her seatbelt. Safety first.
After he’d done up his belt, the car took off. The driver had stored all the toys they’d bought in the trunk of the car.
“It’s a surprise. You’ll just have to wait and see.”
Damn it. Patience wasn’t her strong suit. Luckily, it wasn’t long until the car pulled up outside of one of the tallest buildings she’d seen here. It was huge with big columns out the front and a large number of stairs leading up to the enormous double doors. “What is this?”
Wolfe guided her up to the doors. They walked into a foyer with beautiful teal-colored tiles on the floor. Her breath caught. Already she could sense this place held a lot of history. It was quiet and that smell . . . leather and paper.
A library. She nearly squealed in delight as they walked into an enormous domed room. The ceiling was a work of art. The dome was a light green glass then around the base of it were hand-painted images. Not of people but of the desert. Of the ocean. Birds. Lizards. Other wildlife. She just stood there and gazed up, she nearly lost her footing as she moved around, trying to take it all in.
Wolfe grabbed her waist to steady her. “Careful.”
“Sorry.” She giggled. “Ooh, do we have to be quiet in here?”
He shrugged. “It’s not a rule or anything. Come on. Let’s find you some books to read.” He led her through the stacks. Sometimes she’d stop to look at a carved statue or painting or some of the books. He led her to the back area. There didn’t seem to be anyone back here. She bent down to look at some of the titles on the lower shelf when Wolfe squeezed her ass.
“Wolfe!” she said in a whisper-yell. “What are you doing?”
“Shh,” he told her. “As long as you’re quiet, we won’t attract any attention.”
What the hell, he couldn’t mean that he wanted to . . . she gasped as he ran his hand up the outside of her thigh and under her skirt to cup her ass.