Page 57 of Keeping His Brat

Her eyes filled with tears. She blinked them back and took a deep breath. “It’s just… when you were sick you were so worried about that horse. You kept talking about how you had to do something with him. You rambled about what a pain he was, and I really felt like… I felt like you were just being stubborn keeping him.”

“Stubborn?”

“Yes,stubborn. It seems like the horse makes tons of extra work for you, and you get nothing out of him in return. You can’t ride him. You can’t stud him. He was just sitting there getting fat until you assigned Rick to work with him, and now he gets more attention than any of the other horses and he’s still a jerk.”

Everything she said was accurate. The horse was ahugepain in his ass, and he had no idea why he hadn’t sold him off already. Maybe itwasjust him being stubborn. He hated to admit he wasn’t up to the challenge. It was like letting a horse beat him.

She looked down. Her fingers twining and twisting around each other. “Anyway, it was worrying you so much that you kept calling out when you were delirious. When Rick asked if we would consider it, I just jumped on it and said yes. I know I’ll probably be in even more trouble, but in full honesty I rushed the paperwork through on purpose before you came home. And I did get the lawyer to sign off on it.”

“Charlie, I—” He shook his head. Sam didn’t even know what to say to that. She wasn’t wrong … but she also wasn’t right. Sneaking around and making these decisions for him would have to be dealt with. She was obviously feeling plenty of guilt over it.

Sam sighed. “You know you’re getting punished for this, right? I’m not saying you’re wrong about anything you said. I agree with most of it. It sounds like you did fine on the contract too, though I didn’t even know you knew anything about stud contracts.”

She flashed him a sudden grin that broke through the nerves she’d been exhibiting. “I didn’t until I had to write this paper on it. Now I know everythinggggg there is to know about them.” Her tone made it clear how boring she found the topic too.

He had to laugh. “Well, we knew you’d be learning new stuff.”

“Yeah, now that I can actually study things that are connected to the ranch.” She would probably never get over her annoyance at her father insisting she study a broader topic when she went for her masters. It helped to lighten the moment and the tension in the room started to dissipate.

She peeked up at him. “Are you sure you have to punish me for this?”

“You’re definitely getting spanked for going behind my back. I agree with most of what you did. I’m just not happy you decided to do this alone and keep it from me. If you didn’t want to upset me at the hospital fine. You still had last night to tell me and chose not to.”

“It was your first night home. I wanted it to be nice. I hated the idea of dumping problems on you the second you came home and also I …”

“You what?” He could see a dark flush crawling up her neck and had a feeling he knew what she was trying to avoid saying.

“I didn’t want you to decide no sex because I was in trouble. I really needed— I needed last night.”

It was sneaky and he should probably punish her for that too, but he had to laugh. “Charlie, I couldn’t have stopped myself last night even if you’d confessed to stealing the Mona Lisa. I would have thought it was obvious that I needed it just as much as you did.” He snorted and shook his head.

“I knew, but you have all these rules and uh, morals sometimes about things like this. Anyway, you might have decided to have your pleasure while refusing to let me come. That’s specifically allowed in punishment.”

It was, but he wouldn’t have had the restraint to edge her like that last night. She didn’t need to know that. It would only inspire her to try his limits in the future. “So, you hid it from me because you were afraid you wouldn’t be able to come?” He narrowed his eyes and tsked. “Pretty sure you know that’s going to add to your punishment, Charlie girl.”

The crestfallen look on her face said she’d suspected but had still held out hope. “I’m sorry, Daddy. And itwasthe other reason too. I really did want you to have a good night before you had to deal with problems.”

“Uh-huh. Well, I think you’ll be regretting that decision later, but I’m not going to punish you right now.” He needed to think about how he was going to deal with it.

“You’re not?” Her eyes widened.

“Nope. I’ve got news to share.” He smiled to let her know it was good news and she relaxed and leaned into him.

“I could use some good news,” she admitted.

“You remember me telling you about a friend I had from my rodeo days, Nick?”

She wrinkled her nose, pursing her lips as she thought about it. “Wasn’t that the guy you went to kink events with?”

“That’s the one. Well, he’s been working on ranches on and off since he was a teen just like me. He’s damn good with animals, especially horses and he’s got some bossing experience, so I gave him a call and it turns out he’s not happy where he is right now.”

Her expression lit up. “You offered him the foreman job?” It was just a guess, but she was right on target.

“Yep. He settled down with a wife a few years back and he’s happy for a place with lodging included. Know what that means?” He gave her a squeeze.

“You won’t have to work so hard anymore!”

“Yep, that too. But if I know Nick, it’s pretty likely he’s still in the lifestyle and his wife is too. Can’t even picture him marrying a woman who wasn’t into it.”

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