“Oh, God!” She screamed into the covers.
“Count it, little girl,” he demanded. “Or we continue until you do.”
Sophie struggled to suck in enough air to obey. “One. Daddy.”
The paddle spanked her again, her toes curling at the impact.
“I want you to remember why you’re receiving Daddy’s paddle.” Jared’s voice resonated around the room. “You could have just had my palm, Sophie, but it was your attitude and behavior that led to the paddle.”
“Two, Daddy.” Her voice was strained, caught somewhere between disbelief and indignation.
Jared crouched down beside her. “Did you hear me?”
Sophie turned her head to meet his gaze. She looked exhausted and overwrought with emotion and, fleetingly, a pang of guilt reverberated in him. Jared wanted to punish her, but not at any cost. The urge to protect Sophie was almost as strong as the one to claim her, and seeing her so forlorn stung.
“I heard you,” she whispered in a hoarse tone.
He nodded, rising back to his full height. “Let’s get this done then. We both need sleep.”
Jared spanked her with the paddle over and over, alternating cheeks and pausing to allow Sophie to name the strike. She was crying again by the seventeenth, her fingers grasping the bed for dear life, but she never once tried to move and she never asked him to stop. As the twenty-ninth strike rung out, Sophie pulled in a deep breath before she spoke.
“How many more to go, little girl?” Jared demanded, running his hand lightly over her reddened behind.
If Sophie had really never been spanked before, then she was well and truly going to feel this in the morning.
“One more, Daddy.” There was angst in her voice where Jared had expected relief.
His brow knitted. “That’s right. Just one more.”
Taking aim, he landed that final spank, before dropping the paddle to the floor. “Name it, baby.”
“Thirty, Daddy.”
Jared took a seat on the bed next to Sophie’s face. His hand fell to her heated cheek and eased the hair away from her nose and mouth. “You got through it.”
It was less a question and more a statement of fact. Sophie lifted her chin, eyeing him intently. Jared met her gaze, shocked by what he found there. Yes, there was pain, and no doubt still some fury, but her orbs were ablaze with something else. Something he hadn’t expected at this stage.
Need.
Jared’s brow rose at the finding. What did his little girl need after everything they had been through today?
“How was Daddy’s paddle?”
Those eyes fell closed for a moment. “Agony,” she admitted.
“But?” he prompted, sensing her tone.
Sophie blinked at him. “But I liked it in the end, Daddy.”
Jared grinned. That was one hell of an admission to make. “Did you?”
She nodded. “Yes. How messed up is that?”
His thumb stroked her temple tenderly. It was pretty messed up, but he was freaking ecstatic at the idea.
“It’s perfect,” he told her in a soft tone. “You’re perfect.”
Sophie sniffed, glancing away. “Can I tell you something, Daddy?”
She wanted to talk now?
This was just getting better and better.
“Of course, little girl,” he soothed. “I expect you to tell me everything.”
Her gaze shifted back in his direction, her lips pressed into a determined line. “I’ve thought about this for so long.”
Jared inhaled. “Being spanked?”
“Yes, Daddy.”
Sophie had told that much already, but hearing it from her hot little lips so soon after her first punishment was astonishing. This was the point he would have expected her fury and resentment, yet now all she seemed was calm and dare he say it, appeased by the experience.
“And?” he probed. “How did the real thing compare to all those fantasies?”
The fire in her eyes flared. “It was…” Sophie’s voice trailed away.
“What?”
“More painful.”
Jared laughed at that. “And?”
“And humiliating and awful, but…” She hesitated, her brow furrowing as though she was searching for the right words. “But I’ve never felt more alive than this. I swear I haven’t.”
Her gaze locked with his again. “But I can’t stay, Daddy,” she murmured in a quiet, emphatic tone. “I have people who need me. Children who need me.”
Tension knotted in Jared’s stomach. Things had been almost perfect. Sophie had just admitted to relishing her first spanking at his hand—to feeling more alive than she’d ever known before—and then she had to go and ruin it all with the quip about her family.
“The children have their father.” His tone was curt.
“They need me. Children need their mother.”
Jared tilted his head at her assertion. “I need their mother.”
Sophie swallowed. It was obvious she was working hard to control her emotions, no easy feat when you were as exhausted as they both were at this point.
“Didn’t you need your mother?” she asked. “When you were younger?”
She seemed resigned to using his title, a fact that pleased Jared immensely, but he was less impressed with her current line of questioning. Naturally, he could see where it was going and it was smart. Getting him to put himself in the place of her kids and imagine how they felt without their mum—it was an intelligent move—but it wasn’t going to work. Jared was no empath.
“It doesn’t matter what I needed when I was younger.” His tone was resolute. “Nothing that happened before yesterday matters anymore, little girl, apart from the correspondence we shared.”
Watery eyes blinked at him, Sophie’s expression shocked. “But, Daddy—”
Jared lowered his face to within an inch or so of Sophie’s, his sudden proximity effectively halting whatever she was about to say.
“But nothing. You belong to me now, Sophie. You’re my little girl, and I don’t want to hear about husbands or children or anything else. Got it?”
Her lips parted as she nodded, and for the first time Jared recognized the look of real terror in her eyes. She had been afraid before, concerned about what he would do, but he’d never registered that expression before. It was like the penny had dropped and her mind had finally caught up with everything that had happened—the day’s events decompressing with his prior sentence, and now she understood.
Yes—that’s what her gaze was telling Jared as he stared into it—now Sophie understood. There was no getting out of this. No talking him down, no persuading him to change his mind. This was it. Her new reality. Her life.
And it was an epiphany.
The sweetest epiphany Jared had ever known.
He took a moment to enjoy it, absorbing the flicker of emotion in her beautiful eyes. The silence stretched out around them, lapping at the intensity between the two people staring at each other on the bed, and still, neither of them spoke until Jared broke the spell by pressing a chaste kiss on her forehead.
“You need some cream on that arse,” he whispered. “Before bedtime.”
Sophie gasped, as though she had been holding her breath underwater and had just come up for air.
Jared rose from the bed, wandering to the dresser. In the top drawer he found all the lotions and creams he’d purchased, and choosing the arnica, he squirted a good portion between his fingers and returned to the place she knelt.
“This might be tender.” He crouched behind her delectable arse, assessing the growing redness. “But it will help. Be a good girl and stay as you are.”
She pulled in air between her teeth as he began to work the arnica into her skin. Glancing up, Jared could see the tension in her shoulders again, but her head hung forward and for the most part, his little girl just looked beaten. Beaten down by the weariness she so obviously felt, beaten by the brunt of his paddle, but more than all of t
hat he suspected, she was beaten down by the stark realization she’d just experienced.
“Relax into the covers,” Jared commanded, kneeling up behind her. “Let Daddy get rid of some of that stress.”
Sophie’s head jerked at that comment, and for a split second he expected some snarky response, most likely pertaining to the fact that he had been the cause of most of the stress in the first place, but to his surprise, that remark never came. Instead, Sophie complied. Resting her face back into the covers as his hands moved to her shoulders and gently, Jared began to ease some of the tension away. He scowled at how knotted and stiff her muscles were. Sophie’s body would need a lot of massaging to truly relax it, but that was okay. They had time—plenty of it.
“How’s that?” he asked, twisting his body to gaze down at what little he could see of her face.
“Th-thank you,” she mumbled, pressing her left cheek against the bed. “Daddy.”
“You’re welcome. You see, Daddy can be gentle.” His hands caressed the length of her back. “He can reward good behavior, little girl.”
“Yes, Daddy.”
She sounded reconciled to his words, but Jared wasn’t fooled. He’d seen enough petulant tantrums from Sophie in the last day to believe she was really compliant. Most likely, she was just too tired to fight anymore.
“But you should remember that Daddy won’t hesitate to spank you if you deserve it, young lady.”
Sophie’s muscles tensed under his hands again. Evidently, she was well aware of that threat already.
“Up you get now,” he ordered as he rose to his feet. “Let me look at you.”
Sophie glanced over her shoulder, catching his eyes before she slowly joined him on shaky legs. Jared’s gaze fell over her and her attention lowered to the pink carpet at their feet. Her face was wet and blotchy where she’d spilled more tears, the ribbons he’d tied into her hair were almost fallen from her pigtails completely and dare he say it, Sophie looked almost contrite.
“Hands behind your back, baby,” he cooed. “I want them there whenever you present yourself.”
She pulled in a deep breath while she obeyed, the deed making her luscious breasts jut out before his eyes. Jared smiled. She was incredibly gorgeous.
“That hair will need to go,” he whispered, reaching down to tug at the nest of soft hair at her sex.
Sophie gasped, her chin rising to meet his gaze. “But—”
“But nothing,” he admonished. “What are you now?”
She blew out a small breath. “Y-yours, Daddy.”
Jared’s lips curled. “My what?”
“Your little girl, Daddy.”
His free hand rose to her chin, stroking the skin there before he lifted it toward his face. “That’s right,” he confirmed. “You’re my little girl. And my little girl will be bare.”
Sophie gulped at his pronouncement.
“I’ll shave you tomorrow before Daniel arrives.”
Her eyes widened. Clearly, she recalled that name.
“It’s okay,” he said in what he hoped was a reassuring tone. “I just want him to check you over and make sure you’re all right medically.”
“He’s a doctor, Daddy?”
Jared nodded, spearing her with his gaze. “That’s right. He gave you the birth control shot, remember?”
“Yes,” she whispered. “And the other drugs?”
“The sedatives, yes.” She was so fucking adorable like this and Jared could feel his cock stirring at her small, plaintive replies. “That’s why I want him to check you. Just to make sure you’re unscathed.”
Sophie’s gaze lowered as far as his hand would allow. “Yes, Daddy.”
“Good.” Jared regarded her with a small smile. “Turn around now, let Daddy see that sore bottom.”
She flinched at his choice of words, but slowly, Sophie moved, spinning so she faced the corner again. Taking a step backwards, Jared’s attention shifted to her backside. It was certainly red and warm, but there were no breaks in the skin. Sophie would be fine after a day or so—assuming she didn’t earn anymore punishment in the meantime. He grinned at that thought, closing the distance between them as he whispered into her ear.
“It’s bedtime now, little girl.”
Chapter Thirty-One
Sophie
His breath was hot against Sophie’s skin and despite every fiber of her body that told her she should resist, Sophie wanted to lean into his body as he told her it was time for bed. She’d never much been into all this age-play stuff, and she sure as hell didn’t like being treated like a child, but she was so tired. Her head was heavy with the emotional turmoil. The angst at being taken, at being separated from her children. The guilt that lurked whenever she thought of Jason. Yes, she had been snatched away against her will, but in spite of all the messed-up things Jared had done to her, Sophie would be lying if she said she hadn’t enjoyed at least some of them. She gulped as that thought reverberated. She had enjoyed some of it. The way Jared had tormented her, the way he’d commanded her body to come against her will at the house, and the way he’d pleasured her in the bathroom… Her eyes fluttered shut at the memory. That had been hot. And then there was the spanking he’d just given her. Even though it had hurt like fuck, her pussy had still been wet for him, and it was the most bizarre thing, but Sophie was sure she’d been settling into the rhythm of that paddle. Toward the end the strikes had registered, yet the pain seemed to have morphed into something hot and tight that pulled at her core.
What was that about?
How could a grown woman be turned on by something like that?
Sophie’s mind was still whirring with the unanswered questions when Jared swept her up in his arms. She yelped at the change of tactic, gripping on to his body instinctively as he carried her the short distance back to the bed and laid her down on it gently. She winced as her arse hit the soft covers.
“Sore, baby?” Jared’s voice was goading as he highlighted the cause of her hurt.
She nodded, swallowing back the humiliation of having to admit she was sore, praying inwardly that he wouldn’t make her tell him why again. “Yes, Daddy.”
The corners of Jared’s lips curled. “Perhaps you’d like to sleep on your tummy tonight?”
Sophie bit her lip. Maybe he was right, but there was another issue that seemed even more pressing at that moment, and her belly furled as she realized she’d have to address it with Jared. Again.
“Daddy.” She screwed her face up at the pitiful sound of her voice.
Jared glanced down at her. “Hmmm?”
His blue eyes were so intense and something about them caused her throat to dry. “I need to…” Sophie pulled in a breath as she tried to think of the best way to put it, but in the end, there was no good way. What grown woman had to ask to use the toilet?
She squirmed as the answer came to her like a thunderbolt.
She did.
“You need to what, little girl?”
Sophie’s gaze rose to his tentatively. “Please may I use the bathroom again, Daddy?”
The muscles at the apex of her thighs clenched as the question left her lips. She hated that she had to ask. She hated that he had this power over her now, yet at the same time, her arousal bloomed because of it. Being forced to concede—to bend to his will—was making her hornier than she’d even known was possible.
Jared exhaled. “I was wondering when you’d mention that.”
A smirk spread across his face. “We don’t want you wetting the bed now, do we?”
Sophie flustered at that idea. “No, Daddy.”
He laughed. “Right. The only place Daddy wants you wet is that sweet pussy of yours.”
The blush at her cheeks grew larger, and she wrung her hands out in her lap, trying not to aggravate her behind as she waited on Jared’s verdict.
“You may use the bathroom,” he decided after what seemed like an excruciating wait. “But like before, little girl. I’m coming with you.”
Sophie nodded. She’d expected that much. Apparently, privacy was not something she was to be permitted anymore.
Jared thrust his large palm out in front of her. “Up you get then,” he ordered.
She reached for his hand, clinging on to it as she climbed to her feet and a heartbeat later, Jared moved, reaching for her hips and throwing her over his shoulder—just like he had earlier. Sophie gasped, grasping at his body as they stalked from the bedroom. He turned left outside the door, striding down the shadowy corridor toward another room. She blinked as he switched on the light in front of him, and finally, he settled her back on her feet.
“Are you okay?”
Sophie nodded, trying to find her bearings. In truth, she was a little bit dizzy, but she wasn’t about to tell Jared that. “Yes, Daddy,” she replied.
He gestured behind her. “Go on then. I’ll wait here.”
She turned slowly, taking in the look of the bathroom for the first time and it was nothing like the way she would have imagined it to be. Jared, she assumed, was a bachelor. And Sophie had an idea in her head about how a bachelor’s bathroom would look, but Jared’s was nothing like that at all. The place was pristine, the white fixtures practically gleaming in the overhead light as Sophie stepped toward them. As she approached the toilet, one thing became crystal clear. Either this bathroom was rarely ever used at all, in which case it would likely be covered in dust and cobwebs, or, the person who did use it, also cleaned it, thoroughly and often, to a standard she had rarely seen before.
“I’m waiting, little girl.” Jared tapped his foot against the white tiles as he glowered at her.
She swallowed as she perched into position, doubting she would ever get used to having to use the toilet with another adult around. “Yes, Daddy.”
Staring into space, Sophie tried to block Jared out from her peripheral vision, her thoughts returning once more to the odd cleanliness of the place. On the one hand, Sophie really appreciated it. Jason had always called her a hygiene freak, and she’d be the first to admit, she liked her home to be clean, but she doubted any of the rooms in her house had ever come up to this standard. This bathroom was immaculate, like something out of a show home, and now that she thought about it, the kitchen had been the same way as well. What did that say about Jared? What kind of a man dedicated himself to keeping his house in this condition? Sophie’s chest tightened as the queries rose in her.
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