He didn’t buckle her seatbelt for her, the way he did for Jesse, which she tucked away for later. Maybe it was one way of differentiating between being a Daddy to a Little and being her Daddy.
When he joined her in the car and plugged an address she didn’t recognize into the GPS, she fought the urge to ask him again where they were going. Just like they had during most of their dinner in Folly, they kept their conversation to the lighter ‘getting to know you’ topics as they drove.
The whole time though, her gaze kept drifting to the screen in front of them, and the unfamiliar route they were taking. She’d assumed he’d want to take her into the city, show her off like she imagined men in his position enjoyed doing, especially with all the work Jesse had put into prettying her up. But the address he’d entered was nowhere near Charleston as far as she could remember, and she couldn’t for the life of her think of anything that was out this way.
After a solid twenty minutes of driving, her curiosity got the better of her again. “Where are we going?”
He glanced over, long enough for her to see his brow raised before he returned his focus to the road. “You’ll see in a few minutes.”
According to the GPS they still had ten minutes. But it might as well have been another hour. “Why can’t I know now?”
“Because I said so, little girl. And unless you’d like to arrive at our destination with a sore bottom, I suggest you don’t push the issue.”
Fuck. She’d heard him use that ‘Daddy’ tone with Jesse plenty, and it had been hot as hell then. But having it aimed at her was a completely different experience. Still really fucking hot, enough to have her squirming in the passenger seat of the car, but there was an added dash of humiliation she didn’t normally experience when it was Jesse on the receiving end of a scolding.
And for the first time in over five years, she found herself at an achingly familiar crossroads. In one direction, there was the option to be a good girl and listen.
In the other was the option to push, just a little, and see what happened.
She’d never been a very good girl.
Crossing her arms, she glared at him, which was a bit of a feat when she was fighting back both the laughter bubbling in her chest and the nerves dancing in her stomach. “I don’t understand why it has to be a big secret. Why can’t you just tell me?”
To her delight and horror, he sighed and signaled to the completely empty road that he was moving to the shoulder. Her laughter died in her throat as he put the car in park, but her nerves skyrocketed to an all time high.
Without saying a word, he opened the door and stepped out of the car. But instead of coming around to the passenger side like she’d expected, he opened the back door and slid to the middle of the seat.
Then his eyes locked on hers and despite the humor she could see dancing in the brown, she instinctively knew she’d chosen the wrong road.
“Come here, little pixie.” He punctuated the order by patting his knee, leaving zero doubt as to his intentions.
“Um, no thanks, I’m good up here.”
“You have until the count of three. If you are not over my lap by then, I can promise you the rest of this evening will be far more uncomfortable for you than necessary. One.”
Curiosity only went so far. She shoved open the door before he even got to the count of two, and by three she was climbing over his knee. To her relief, he managed to reach over and close the car door, so at least she wouldn’t be getting her spanking with the door wide open. For once, being short worked in her favor.
“I was almost hoping you’d be more stubborn,” he said with a chuckle as he settled back into place and pushed her dress up over her hips. “There’s a plug in the glove compartment just waiting for a naughty little bottom.”
Arousal pooled low in her belly at his words, and it was only made worse by the feel of his hand running over her bottom. The underwear Jesse had picked out for her wasn’t exceptionally fancy, but it didn’t cover even half her ass, which meant his fingertips were occasionally brushing against bare skin.
“Now. When Daddy tells you to stop pushing, what should you do?”
She just barely resisted the urge to squirm over his knee. “Stop pushing.”
Two surprisingly sharp swats landed across the middles of her thighs. “How do you address me, little girl?”
Now she did squirm as the combination of arousal and humiliation edged toward unbearable. “Stop pushing, Daddy.”
“Good girl.” His praise came out as a low growl that had her rocking forward, desperate for some kind of pressure to take the edge off the ache in her clit. “Hopefully making the rest of the ride on a red-hot bottom will help you remember who’s in charge.”
How the hell could she possibly forget after this? But she knew what he was waiting to hear, so she forced the words past her lips. “Yes, Daddy.”
The first swat that actually connected with her ass sent her rocking forward again with a gasp. Need, piercing and hot, flooded her system as the second swat landed on the opposite cheek.
“It’s been a long time since you had to answer to anyone, hasn’t it, little pixie?” he asked softly, rubbing the sting from her bottom and fueling the arousal clouding her mind.
“I guess.” Two more swats across her thighs reminded her very quickly to answer correctly if she didn’t want to be walking into wherever they were going with glowing red legs. “I mean, yes, Daddy!”