Page 51 of Their Forever Daddy

He’d kept his tone as light and teasing as possible. But already the idea of Edie rejecting their idea, rejecting him, sat in his gut like a lead weight.

Edie’s gaze darted back and forth between them like an animal caught between equally dangerous predators. “I can’t… this isn’t… I need to go feed the animals.”

Turning on her heel, she strode for the front door. Jesse started to follow her, but Grant grabbed her arm, pulling her back toward him. “Give her some space, little outlaw.”

“If I give her space, she’s just going to talk herself out of even trying. She’s so fucking stubborn.”

Grant turned her to face him, capturing her chin between his fingers and forcing her head back so she would look him in the eye. “If she does, then that’s her decision and we will honor it.” For now. “In the meantime, you still have a punishment to finish. Go bend over the arm of the couch.”

Edie

* * *

She was halfway to the barn before she realized she’d already fed the animals. Whatever. It gave her an excuse to get the fuck out of that house.

What the hell were they thinking? Asking her to be their… their… she wasn’t even sure what they were asking her to be. Their third wheel? Their fuck buddy?

Jesus, what a mess.

Annoyance threatened to boil over into outright fury as she stomped through the barn to the little pasture where Luna and the not-a-llama were happily munching on grass. Pausing in the doorway, she watched them for a bit.

It must be nice, just hanging out with your friends all day, not a care in the world other than finding the next little patch of grass to nibble at. No worries, no responsibilities.

She could have that. God knew Jesse made more than enough money to take care of all her wants and needs, if that was what she wanted. She could move out to California and live a stress-free, pampered existence for the rest of her days.

But just the idea of lying around all day with nothing to do had her skin itching. Even if, on some level, she thought she could be happy with that, she’d never fit in. She wasn’t a Hollywood type.

There was no room for her in Jesse’s life, with or without Grant complicating matters even further.

Which brought her back around to her original question. What the hell were they thinking?

Maybe you should ask them.

Ugh. She hated it when that stupid little voice in her head was right. The only people who could really answer her questions were sitting in her living room, probably wondering why the hell she’d taken off in a panic.

Luna raised her head, her giant, soulful eyes seeming to stare right into Edie’s soul. For a long moment they stood there, woman and beast, communicating without words before Luna lifted her chin toward the house and let out a loud moo that Edie couldn’t help but laugh at.

“I hear you, I hear you. I’ll go talk to them. Bossypants.”

She wasn’t feeling any more sure of herself as she headed back up to the house, but at least it no longer felt like her heart was about to burst out of her chest at any second. She’d sit down and have a calm, rational discussion with Jesse and Grant, and explain to them exactly why this ridiculous idea of theirs would never work.

Ignoring the stabbing pain in her chest at the thought of sending them away for good, she opened her front door and stepped into the entryway.

“Daddy, I’m sorry! I won’t ever do it again!”

Jesse’s tearful voice drove all thoughts of discussions, calm, rational, or otherwise, from Edie’s brain as she tiptoed to the living room. Her babygirl was draped over the arm of her old leather couch, her ass high in the air as Grant whipped his belt down across the tender flesh. The familiar sound echoed in Edie’s ears—and seemed to vibrate straight to her clit.

Then Jesse lifted her head and those golden eyes, shimmering with tears, met hers, and Edie knew she’d risk it all for another chance with her. Even though she still hadn’t quite worked her way up to forgiving her, even though there were a million reasons a relationship between the three of them could never work, everything inside her ached for even just one more day with her babygirl.

She really was the world’s biggest fucking fool.

Chapter 19

Jesse

* * *

Just as Jesse met Edie’s wide-eyed gaze, the belt came crashing down again, this time right across her sit-spots. Kicking her feet up in a vain attempt to protect her bottom, she let out a loud howl of pain. “Ow, ow, ow! Daddy, no!”

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