by Jane Henry
I cleared my throat and both Dean and Seth nodded, Dean pushing himself to his feet.
“Happy to take over the dungeon shift tonight, boss,” he said. “You game for that?”
Dean had only trained with us for six months, and most who took the dungeon shift, where the heavier play took place, were trained for far longer. But he could be trusted, so I nodded.
“Yeah, consider it your training,” I said. “Week one.” I turned to Seth. “Be sure you go over protocol with him and report back to me every half hour. Understood?”
“Yes, sir,” both men said in unison. I got to my feet and checked my phone. A text message waited for me.
All done. She looks lovely, but is a bit unnerved by the whole thing. Come see?
I cleared my throat and put my phone in my pocket. “I’ll check in this evening. Let me know the second you hear anything else.”
I took my leave, nervous anticipation weaving its way through me. What would she look like? I’d already grown to love her long, beautiful hair, the way it swung about her like a sort of crown or veil. I’d never seen anything like it. I decided as I made my way up to see her that no matter what, I’d like her new look. Everything about her was beautiful. How could a haircut really make that much of a difference?
When the doors of the elevator opened, I walked the length of the hall, and a flash outside the hall window caught my attention. I peered down below and cupped a hand over my eyes, squinting. I watched as Dean’s SUV peeled off out of the parking lot. That was weird. I knew after our meeting he had an eight-hour stint ahead of him. Why would he leave so suddenly?
I texted Seth. Where’s Dean going?
Shoving my phone in my pocket, I punched in the code to let me in the apartment and the door unlocked with an audible click. I turned the knob and opened the door. With years of experience cultivating the role of a Dominant, I’d learned to school my features.
“Hello? Girls?” I called out. I walked from the living area to the bedroom. The door to the bathroom was wide open, and it didn’t take long to see they were gone.
Panic rose in my chest, and I clenched my fists. Had someone hurt them? There were no signs of a struggle, so I reasoned they must have left. I wanted to spank both their asses until they couldn’t sit for a fucking week.
I’d told them to stay. Francesca had called me back and summoned me to come see. Where had they gone?
“Hello?” As time passed, I began to worry that something had happened. I grabbed my phone and texted Francesca. Where the hell are you?
But there was no reply. After going through every room in my apartment one more time, I’d just decided I’d go back down to Limits and check the security cameras, when a soft knock came at the door.
I peeked through the peephole, my hands shaking, and almost didn’t recognize the girl with black hair who stood there, but she blinked back up at me with the same brown eyes I’d come to adore. I yanked open the door, and before she said a word, took her by the hand and pulled her in the apartment.
“Get in here,” I said, my voice betraying my anger. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?
“Why are you mad?” Her eyes flashed at me.
“You’re damn right I’m mad.” I slammed the door behind her. “Where’s Francesca?”
“Downstairs.”
“Why didn’t you stay here?” I asked. For Christ’s sake, didn’t anyone do anything they were supposed to?
Her eyes flashed at me. “I did,” she said. “I got my hair cut and dyed. I went downstairs with Francesca to get some more supplies, and you walked right past me. What the hell is your problem, Ryder?”
I pulled her to me, needing to teach her a lesson for the way she talked to me, for mouthing off like that. I pulled her toward me. “Is that any way to talk to me? And who told you to leave this place?” I asked, running my hands up her neck and threading my fingers through the short black locks. I held onto my control by a mere thread. She looked nothing like herself, but the shiny hair smelled deliciously fragrant and clean, and the dark color illuminated her wide eyes and full lips. “God, you look fucking beautiful,” I said, drawing her closer and taking her mouth with mine. Like a match set to tinder, she lit up, melting into me, every inch of her body flush against mine, asking for more, needing me to take her. Our lips met briefly before I pulled away, leaned up against the side of the couch, spun her out, and yanked her across my knee.
“Ryder! My God!”
I ignored her protest, took the little hand that flailed back to protect her ass, and pinned it to her lower back. “You don’t mouth off to me,” I said, slapping her ass hard, “And for God’s sake, I told you not to leave this apartment. You think I’m fooling around? You think this is some kind of a joke?”
“No! God, no.” She writhed over my lap, but I didn’t let her go until I’d administered a dozen hard smacks. Even with jeans on, she’d feel that for a while.
“Not giving you another chance, Rae. You think you can handle this shit? Well I’m not taking that risk. You’ll do what I fucking say.”
I stood her up and planted her in front of me. Grasping her forearms, I gave her a little shake. She nodded, her lips parted in surprise. “I get it,” she said. “I get it!”
“Good. I’ll deal with Francesca later.” I let her go. “Where the fuck did you go?”
“Downstairs in the conference room she had a few more supplies. Some makeup and stuff. Not that you noticed.” Her chin jutted out.
“Rae, go sit down. I’ve got shit to figure out.”
But she didn’t move. She crossed her arms on her chest and glared at me.
Seriously? Maybe I didn’t spank hard enough.
“Excuse me? What did I just tell you to do?”
“What do you mean you’ll take care of Francesca later?” She glared.
I blinked. What the fuck?
“Rae, she’s my employee. She put you at risk with her stupidity, and yeah, she’ll deal with me. My staff is expected to do what I fucking tell them to do. You have a problem with that?”
“So you’ll spank her, too?” She crossed her arms over her chest and continued to glare.
“What? No! Do you think I just go around spanking my staff whenever I want?” Christ. I planted my hands on my hips and glared.
She looked a little embarrassed then. “Well. No, not exactly…”
“I’m their boss. I expect them to listen to me. If they don’t, they answer to me. That’s all. I expect my employees to do what I say. I don’t spank them. I spanked you. And you better fucking watch your tone of voice, unless you want a repeat.”
She stood and glared at me, not moving.
“Francesca said you were a couple,” she said, “Did you spank her, Ryder? Huh? Did you? Did you make her climax, too?” Her eyes gleamed with unshed tears. “Did you tell her she was beautiful and special?”
Jesus. The girl was jealous. I didn’t know if I should laugh, spank her bare ass, or fuck her up against the wall and show her exactly what I thought about her.
She was jealous of Francesca, a girl I’d taken to a cousin’s wedding once three years earlier. We’d never been a thing.
I crossed my arms over my chest. “You know what, little girl?”
“Why did you call me that?” she asked, throwing her hands up in the air. “Like… like… you’re my Daddy or something.”
Just hearing her say my Daddy made my cock hard. I swallowed hard and adjusted myself, my voice husky and deep when I spoke. “Like I’m your Daddy. Yeah, babe. I like that.” I crooked a finger at her. “C’mere.”
Her eyes cast down at the floor and her full, beautiful lower lip stuck out. I needed to take that lip between my teeth and taste it. But I’d wait.
She dragged her feet as she came to me, likely aware that she deserved to be spanked for her behavior, and that I wouldn’t hesitate to punish her. But she needed more than punishment. We were new, and I’d fucked up.
I sat dow
n on the couch, and pulled her onto my lap. She stiffened, but I rubbed a hand on her back, slowly circling the soft fabric of her sweater. I felt the bump of her bra underneath, and my cock pushed up against her ass. I inhaled deeply. I needed to get a grip on things before I fucked this up even more.
“Rae. I’m sorry.”
Her eyes met mine with curiosity, “You are?” she asked softly.
“Yeah, honey. I’ve jumped into this and broken the cardinal rule.”
“What’s that?” she whispered.
“Communication.”
She didn’t say anything at first, just nodded.
“A few things first. I never dated Francesca. She isn’t my type. It never would’ve worked, and I never would’ve pursued it, and honestly, honey, if she was an ex of mine, I wouldn’t have left her up here alone with you.”
She relaxed a bit up against my chest. “Isn’t your type?” she asked in a whisper. “Is she too… strong? You like more submissive women?”
I chuckled, running my hands through her beautiful, jet black hair. “No, babe. She’s too submissive. Some guys, they dig girls like her. I could name a dozen. But I like someone who’ll give me a challenge. I want someone who’ll make me earn their submission. I don’t want it handed to me like it’s free for the taking.”
“Oh.” Her voice was so low I could hardly hear her. “So you… like… that I’m not completely submissive.”
“Hell yeah,” I growled. “There’s fire in your eyes. You’re a girl who knows what she wants, and won’t back down for anything. I’d have thought someone who was treated the way you were would lose part of her self-worth, her confidence. But no. It’s made you stronger. Braver. Feistier.”
She grinned and bit her lip. “Well… if I behave too well, I won’t get spanked, and I…” her voice trailed off as she ran a finger down my chest and played with the button on my shirt. “I like when you spank me.”
I huffed out a laugh. “Even when I punish you? Like I just did now?”
She closed her eyes and her words came out in a breathy whisper. “Especially then.”
I squeezed her close. Tonight, I’d show her a whole new world, a side of things she’d maybe read about but had never experienced.
“So we’re back to square one,” I quipped, landing a sharp slap to her bottom.
She laughed. “Oh?”
“How am I supposed to teach you to behave if you like when I punish you?”
She giggled. “I think we’ll just have to keep trying.”
I leaned in and kissed her, my lips just brushing hers before I pulled away. “You’ll talk to me, Rae. I have no idea where this is going or what we’re doing, but I know the most important thing you can do is talk to me. Tell me what’s on your mind. Tell me how you’re feeling. Don’t bottle it up, or I can’t help.”
Bearing the burden of another’s hopes, fears, and struggles was a difficult but necessary component of being a good Dominant, attentive to the needs of his submissive. I would listen to her. I’d help her. I would teach her.
She would teach me.
Here was a girl who came to me untainted by the ways of the world, eager to submit to me, eager to learn. She’d have hurdles, past pain to deal with, but we’d deal with the struggles one at a time.
“You said to talk to each other,” she said, entwining her fingers in mine and squirming a bit. It wasn’t lost on me that she didn’t meet my eyes.
“Yeah?”
She cleared her throat and said something so soft I couldn’t hear.
“What’s that?”
“Well… there’s something I need to talk about. I don’t understand why I liked it when you said you were like my… Daddy.”
Hearing her call me Daddy made my mouth go dry, my cock twitching against her ass, still hot from the brief spanking I gave her.
“Lots of reasons,” I said, squeezing her hand. “I’ve been doing this a while, and I know that it’s hot for some girls. Makes them feel safe. A little taboo, maybe, to call a guy you’re attracted to a name that’s usually reserved for their father.” I squeezed her shoulder. “Something about being with a guy you can trust makes you feel secure, and women are emotional creatures. Some women find it sort of healing to call their Dom Daddy. Some just find it erotic. Many find it both.”
She frowned. “But my whole childhood was a mess. I mean, my father isn’t even my father, and he was this… control freak.”
I kissed her forehead. “Lots of girls call their guy Daddy, babe. It doesn’t mean you’re fucked up. Listen… we’re all fucked up somewhere along the line. Here, when you’re with me, and you trust me, we can explore ways to help you heal.”
“You know, that’s a lot of fucked up’s without actually…fucking. And you know what, Ryder?” She moved on my lap so that her knees faced the couch, and her chest brushed up against mine when she looked up to me. “You know what,” she repeated, biting her lip, “Daddy?”
I groaned as she leaned in to me, her full breasts brushing my chest, her eyes half-lidded.
“What, baby girl?” I whispered, weaving my hands through her hair and tugging hard, so that her lips parted open before she licked them.
“I lived my whole life holed up, treated like a little girl. Here, with you, I want to break free from that, erase my past from my memory. Show me, Ryder. Show me what a woman should feel. I want you to give that to me.” When I didn’t answer at first, she tried once more. “Please? Daddy?”
God, I wanted to, but I’d been experienced enough in the lifestyle and as a Dominant to know that it was my job to make sure she didn’t move too fast, especially when what she was experiencing was sort of like a rebound. Emotionally vulnerable, I could easily take advantage of her. I didn’t want a quick fuck. Though I wanted her so badly I could fucking taste it, my cock straining for release against her full, beautiful backside, I needed to take my time. Things were moving quickly, and we weren’t even close to being out of the woods with her past, still unsure as to how that could affect things.
I’d do my damnedest to make sure it didn’t. But I had to be careful.
“I’m going to ask you to trust me, Rae,” I said, putting a finger under her chin so that her eyes met mine. “You’re special to me. And I want to cherish what we have here. But we can’t rush it. Not two days ago, you were kept apart from the world, and this is your first taste of freedom. I need to ease you into this. I don’t want you making choices you’ll regret. It would be irresponsible of me.”
She frowned. “Isn’t that up to me?”
I loved how her eyes lit up like that, the fire within her so fucking sexy. She had a point.
I held her chin in my hand and stared into her eyes. “Always. We do nothing without your consent. But I want to make sure that consent is informed. Got it?”
She didn’t answer at first, but just looked at me, frowning a bit, but her gaze didn’t leave mine. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, she nodded. “Yes,” she said, no longer whispering but speaking with conviction. “I trust you.” She swallowed. “I trust you, Daddy.”
My stomach dipped, pride warming me through. I leaned in at the same time she did, our lips meeting hesitantly at first, then intensifying, only to be interrupted when my phone rang.
Seth’s ringtone. I pulled away with reluctance and held a finger up to her.
“Gotta take this, babe.”
She nodded, slowly sliding off my lap and watching curiously as I answered my phone. I stifled a groan.
“Ryder. What’s up?”
“Got a situation, boss. Found out more about our suspect. Want me to come to you, or do you want to come here?”
I hated the idea of leaving her again.
“Can what you have to tell me be said in front of R–Anne?”
“Absolutely. In fact, we’ll need her cooperation to proceed.”
“You hear from Dean?”
“Not yet.”
I inhaled, then blew out a breath.
“Come on up.”
“I’ll be there in five.”
I ended the call and slid the phone onto the table. “That was Seth, one of the men who helped rescue you last night. He needs to fill me in on what they’ve found, and I suspect it has to do with the guy you lived with.” I wouldn’t call him her father. “Can you answer some questions for us?”
She raised her chin and nodded. “I’ll do the best I can. I promise.”
I took her hand in mine, and squeezed. “That’s my brave girl.”
She grinned at me, her fetching eyes twinkling. “And besides, I have an excellent memory. And you promised me that if I behaved, you’d reward me tonight. Still planning on doing that?”
She had no fucking idea. “Hell yeah.” I had a whole room under lock and key that would be ours, sound-proof and fully equipped. I had some ideas in mind for her.
“Then watch me model perfect behavior. Well…” her voice trailed off.
I rose a brow.
“If I’m perfect, will you spank me?” she whispered.
I nodded. “Misbehave, and Daddy will punish you. Behave, and you’ll get the best spanking of your life. Deal?”
She grinned. “That’s so confusing. But yes. Yes, Daddy.”
A knock sounded at the door, and I got to my feet, leaning in to kiss her forehead before I left her.
“Follow my lead, Rae. Answer the questions.” I turned to face her and pointed a warning finger in her direction, fixing her with a serious look. “And for God’s sake, remember what I said about honesty. Nothing but the truth, woman.”
She squirmed but nodded, and I opened the door, blinking in surprise when I saw not just Seth, but Francesca standing next to him, with tear-stained cheeks. “I’m sorry, Ryder. I’m so sorry.”
Fuck.
10
CHAPTER TEN
Rae
When I heard sniffling at the door, and Ryder swearing under his breath, I sat up straighter on the couch and craned my neck, trying to see who it was. I was prepared to deal with whatever happened. I’d experienced a life of misery. I’d learned how to deal with bad situations. And what was the worst my father could do?
