I peered over my shoulder, repressing my giggle at the horrified look on his face as he tried, but failed, to stop staring at my bare bottom.
“When I was naughty, Virgil always spanked me. He said that after, he wasn’t mad at me anymore. Maybe if you spank me, you’ll feel better too. I don’t want you to be mad at me, Daddy, and I don’t mind being spanked. Honest to goodness, I don’t. It was better than many other punishments he’d doled out.”
Hunter rushed up to me, grabbed my briefs, and yanked them up over my bottom. He tugged the gown from my hand and let it settle over my thighs.
“Don’t do that.” His voice sounded hoarse.
“I just wanted you to feel better. Do you want to punish me some other way?”
“You’re in the hospital, Cosmo. You’ve already been through so much. I will not punish you.”
“Not even if I’m really bad?”
He tucked me under his chin and hugged me. I burrowed into the warmth of his chest, my heart beating hard and fast. My stomach was all jiggly, and my boy bits liked the hug.
“Are you planning to do anything really bad?”
“I don’t think so, but would you punish me then?”
“I-I don’t know, Cosmo. Lots of people have hurt you. I never want to hurt you.”
“But punishment can be good. It makes me do what I’m supposed to. It’s not always bad, you know. Punishments can keep me safe and healthy.”
He tightened his arms around me. “Are you saying you like being punished?”
I nodded. “Even though it hurts, it also feels good, and I know Daddy did it because he loved me and cared for me.”
Hunter inhaled deeply, his heartbeat thumping against my back. Did it always beat that fast, or was it because I was snuggled against him?
“Come on, get back in bed, and don’t expose yourself like that to me again, okay?” I hid my pout as he swung me up in his arms and carefully placed me back into bed. “You really weigh nothing.”
“Do you like that?”
“How about you choose one of your books and I read it to you?”
“Okay.” I picked out a book from my table and handed it to him, but all the while he was reading, I thought about how he’d avoided my question.