Carson (Dangerous Doms 4)

I look up at him in surprise. “The corner?” I ask. “Like a naughty child?”

He shakes his head. “No. This isn’t punishment.”

“Okayyyy…” My voice trails off as I turn from him and go to obey. “Um. Clothed?”

He smiles. “Good girl. It pleases me that you asked that. Aye, clothed this time.”

I go to the corner and stand facing it. I feel his eyes on me. And as I stand there, everything else is blocked from my vision. All I can see is the clean, plain white wall in front of me. The sharp lines where the two walls intersect. And after a minute, all I can hear is the steady beating of my heart.

“No speaking,” he says. “Just stand there, please.”

I do. A minute passes, then another. And as I stand in quiet, a strange sort of peace pervades my senses. I’ve been so busy, so tired the past few days. The stresses of my job are in direct contrast to what I’m doing this very moment. My job is busy and distracting, demanding and noisy. This… this is quiet and peaceful. No demands. No sound save the beating of my heart and the gentle rise and fall of his breath behind me.

“Does standing in the corner make you any less powerful?”

I shake my head. I called him sir before. For some strange reason I’m craving to call him sir again. “No, sir,” I say. My belly warms, and he makes a sound of approval behind me.

I hear him approaching but feel his warmth before he touches me.

“Does this make you passive or docile?”

I shake my head again. “No, sir.”

His hands span my waist. I love the feel of his hands just there.

“Good girl,” he says. “The heart of a submissive woman doesn’t have to be any of those things. Do you like handing over control to me?”

I do. Oh, God, I do. I nod.

“Good. Then that’s all this is. An exchange of power between two people. A giving and taking, as it were.”

“Right. And it’s hot. This is… yeah.”

He nods. “And you’ve hardly seen anything yet.”

He spins me around to face him, cupping my jaw and kissing me again. He rakes up my top, his palm pressing at my waist, drawing me closer to him.

“Bedroom,” he whispers in my ear. “Now.”

I shiver with anticipation. I’ve no idea what he’ll do to me.

But as I turn to go, there’s a ringing sound. He curses and removes his phone from his pocket. I see the name Maeve on the screen.

Breena. My heart quickens. Still clutching my arm, he answers the phone.

“Hello?”

He listens, his brows drawing together. “Ah, poor thing. Right, of course. I’m upstairs with Megan, I’ll be down in a few minutes.”

“Everything okay?” I ask him.

He gives me a wry smile. “Aye,” he says. “Wee Breena fell and scraped her knee up. Poor Maeve feels awful. Says she did her best, but Breena’s inconsolable. Wants her daddy.”

My heart thumps.

“Ah, of course,” I say. “I’ll go with you.”

Whether it’s happenstance or Keenan really meant it this way, it’s not unusual for the two of us to be with each other now that Carson’s been put on duty watching me, so no one looks twice. We meet Maeve and Breena in one of the living rooms. Breena’s got her little head on Maeve’s shoulder, but when she sees Carson enter the room, she lifts her hands up and wails. “Daddy!”

“Aw, poor girl,” Carson says. He goes quickly to her, reaches his arms out and takes her. She wraps her little legs around his body and sobs into his chest. He rocks back and forth, soothing her.

“You alright, sweetheart?” he asks. “Tell me what happened.”

Her story’s a jumble of gibberish in real words, but I catch a few words I understand.

Walk.

Scrape.

Owie.

Her wide, tear-filled eyes grow earnest when she lifts her little joggers to show him her bandaged knee. Maeve sits to the side, smiling indulgently.

“She was a very brave girl when I doctored her up, now, weren’t you, love?”

Breena nods. “Sucker,” she says, holding her treat out to show Carson.

“Aye, I know you’re a brave lass. You deserve that treat for being so brave, don’t you?”

She nods her head soberly, then looks over to me as if seeing me for the first time. She waves. “Hi.”

I laugh and wave back. “Hi, Breena.”

Carson leans in and kisses her forehead. “So sorry you hurt yourself.”

“Daddy stay?”

Maeve looks apologetic. “I’m so sorry,” she says. “I thought if you just came to see her for a minute she’d settle down. I didn’t know she’d ask you to stay. She’s really fine, Carson.”

Carson shakes his head. “It’s alright, Maeve. She’s been by my side since she was born. It’s hard for her to adjust to being apart from me. No harm done; I promise. I’ll keep her for the day. I appreciate your help, though.”