Page 35 of Claiming His Brat

That was what she was prepared to tell him when she got to the barn. She’d get it out of the way before any of the punishment stuff happened and then they could take it from there. The walk over was filled with jumpy nervousness. She felt like a skittish horse, but she was confident it was the right decision.

At exactly 7p.m. she rapped lightly on his open office door. She’d made the last-minute choice to bring Mister Hop with her because she felt like she needed the reassurance, but now she was standing there holding a stuffed bunny and she could feel the embarrassed flush crawling up her neck. She was glad that the olive skin she’d inherited from her mother made it less obvious.

He looked up from his desk with such a stern look on his face that it caused her tummy to do acrobatics. She hugged Mister Hop tight as she offered him a queasy smile to go with the quick nervous swallow.

She thought she saw his lip twitch like he was hiding a smile when his eyes settled on the rabbit, but she might have imagined it because when he raised them to meet hers they were ice cold.

“Hi. Um, Sam, before we start, I just wanted to say that I…”

Sam stood up abruptly and the words died on her tongue. Her eyes widened as he stalked across the room like a predator. A ridiculous squeak escaped her when she back pedaled into the doorframe and dropped Mister Hop. None of it stopped him from moving up close so he could grab a fistful of her dark hair; he used it to pull her head back and stared down into her eyes with a frightening intensity.

“There’s going to be plenty of time for talkinglater. Right now, you’ve got some rules to follow. I’m Sir or Daddy to you while you’re being punished. You call me anything else and you’ll earn extra—and trust me, Charlie, youdon’twant extra.”

She swallowed hard, licking her bottom lip in a nervous gesture. There was a low panicky flutter inside of her, but it wasn’t the kind that came from her anxiety. This was exciting; breathtaking. She nodded slowly without breaking eye-contact.

“No nodding; I want words from you, little girl.” His tone should have come off as cold, but it didn’t. It was molten magma level hot and it made her want to melt. There was a flutter of happiness that he’d included Daddy in the choices without any prompting on her part.

“Y-yes Daddy,” she replied. Was that high-pitched little girl voice really hers?

“Good girl. Now, you’re going to strip right here. Put your clothes on the desk and then walk down to the tack room and wait for me while I grab a few things.”

Her breath caught and her mouth dropped open. It took her a second to manage a stammering reply of “B-but, naked?”

One eyebrow went up and he cocked his head. “That’s what I said, yeah. Naked. You want to argue about it?” It was a pointed question with more than a little warning to the tone and she quickly shook her head.

That was when she found out how serious he was about the rules. In a second, he had spun her around, planted a hand between her shoulder blades and pushed her into a bent over position. His free hand cracked down hard across her ass five times. Even through the denim they made her yelp and wince.

“What did I say about using your words?” he asked.

She gulped hard. How had she forgotten that already? “I’m sorry, Daddy! I meant to say no.”

There was silence and then he let her stand. “Better. Now, get going.”

She hurried out of her clothes with a mix of excitement and fear coursing through her. It made her hands shake enough that it was difficult to manage the buttons on her shirt, but finally all her clothes were piled on his desk. She set the stuffed toy down on top of the pile.Probably better not to traumatize the rabbit, she thought.

She glanced at Sam, looking for some kind of reassurance before she took the scary step of leaving the office, but he just jerked his chin at the door.

“What if…what if someone comes back?” she asked. She crossed her arms across her chest, peeking out nervously.

“Then I guess they’ll get a show.” He paused, and then snorted, “You know no one comes back after dark, Charlie. Now, move your ass. Oh, and once you get to the tack room you can go ahead and find a corner and plant your nose in it.”

She jerked around staring at him in surprise, mouth already opening to protest.

“I plan on making sure you know the difference between fun and punishment, little girl. Your body may enjoy the spanking on some level—for a while— but I doubt you’ll get turned on by the rest of the experience.” He said it was such conviction that she gulped, wondering what he had planned for her.

“W-what are you going to do?” Her voice wavered making it very obvious that he was having an effect on her, but she couldn’t hide it.

“You’ll find out. Get going before I decide to add more for stalling,” he said without the slightest hint that it was a bluff.

She got going. Her bare feet slapped the wooden floorboards as she trotted down the hall as quick as she could go. Part of her was convinced one of the men would show up out of the blue and catch her streaking past the stalls to the tack room.

It wouldn’t happen; for one thing the gate across the road was locked at night so anyone returning would have to walk a mile in the dark, and no one was going to do that when they could just wait until morning. But facts crumpled in the face of embarrassment and she moved fast to get out of sight just in case.

She slipped into the room and was greeted with the rich smell of leather. It wasn’t a small room and it didn’t just hold tack. The walls were covered with hooks that held a variety of riding gear, and shelves that held other supplies for maintaining the leather equipment. There was a table and chairs in one corner where people could relax as they repaired or cleaned the leather. As a child she’d spent a lot of time in there taking care of the gear and listening as the men talked.

Sometimes they forgot she was in the room and the conversations were probably not always appropriate for her little ears. She’d made a point of learning to be quiet because she heard a lot of interesting things when they didn’t notice her there diligently working.

Tonight, it looked different and her eyes were immediately drawn to the center of the room where one of the empty wooden saddle stands had been moved. It, and a few others, were relics from her grandfather’s time. The dark, antique wood was heavy; they were a bitch to move alone and she wondered if Sam had asked for help to center it in the room, and what excuse he’d used if so.

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