Page 17 of Forever His Brat

“Well, maybesleepisn’t the right word.” He eyed her and dropped a dramatic wink. “But staying in bed late on a cold day would be… satisfying.”

“Satisfying huh?” She tilted her head.

“Oh yeah. All I can think about right now is diving into bed with you and burying myself between those soft, warm … sheets.”

“Haha. Your dirty innuendo needs work, Daddy.” Charlie rolled her eyes but there was a pink flush to her cheeks that maybe wasn’t entirely from the cold.

It amused him that after all this time he could still make her blush. “What? I’m just talking about relaxing in bed, maybe some cuddling. If you read anything more into it then maybe you’re the one with the dirty mind, Charlie girl.”

She snorted, gave him a pointed look, and then chomped down on her sandwich to rip off a huge bite. She chewed it vigorously without breaking eye contact and he knew exactly what she was implying.

Sam could have ignored it because they both knew she’d never do anything to hurt him. It was all just teasing and playing, but it seemed to him that she was looking for a dominant reaction. There hadn’t been enough of that lately and he wasn’t any happier than she was about it.

He put his sandwich down and crooked a finger at her. She narrowed her eyes and then gingerly leaned in. With the desk between them she could only get so close, but it was enough that he could reach out and grip her jaw in one hand.

“Little girl, you’ve been getting awfully uppity lately. Now, that’s partly my fault with recovering, and being so busy I just haven’t had the energy to deal with it. But Nick’s here now and things are going to change.” He kept his voice low enough that even if someone was right in the doorway, they wouldn’t be able to hear the threat in his voice.

But they would have seen Charlie’s instant reaction from a mile away. She made a little squeaking sound as her back went stiff. She tried to pull away from his grasp.

He didn’t allow that, tightening his fingers to hold her there. “So you want to keep an eye on your behavior, Charlie girl. Tone down the acting out and maybe pull back on that sass too, because—”

“I haven’t been—"

He continued as if she hadn’t just interrupted him, “—because I’ve been keeping track and you’re going to have quite a bill to pay if you keep it up. You hear me?” He gave her a hard look, waiting.

She was silent for long enough that he sent one eyebrow high. He was just as stubborn as she was, and he was going to wait her out.

Finally the stiffness went out of her and she sighed. “Okay. Maybe I’ve been acting up alittlebit. It hasn’t been on purpose most of the time. Just… I’ve been getting antsy.”

Charlie needed discipline. She needed punishment. Spanking and all the assorted kinks could be very arousing for her, but that wasn’t why she’d chosen to submit to his authority.

She could have had all of that in the bedroom and that would have been the end of it. But she wanted more. Structure and discipline had helped her focus herself and it had given their relationship a second chance.

But balancing the less fun aspects of a D/s relationship could be difficult sometimes. When life got hectic the emphasis on maintaining his authority hadn’t been his top priority. He’d been struggling to keep control even before he’d come down sick.

The big things demanded immediate consequences, and he handled those as they came up. It was the small things that tended to pass without correction. She’d probably been feeling needy before the hospital, and then that had made everything worse.

A couple of days after he was discharged, he’d felt well enough to give her a good hard dose of punishment. She’d earned it and needed it. It had helped a lot to settle her.

But since then, there had only been brief reminders. Short spankings, like he’d given her that morning. It wasn’t enough for her, and she was making her needs clear by her actions.

She knew, they both knew, why there had been a lapse. It wasn’t anything they could help, but logic didn’t seem to matter with these things.

Her need for punishment was more emotionally based. It was primal and it ignored the important facts. She knew that the long hours had kept him from fully recovering from the infection that had put him in the hospital. It worried her and she kept trying to mother hen him, but it didn’t change what her body told her was necessary.

So, she got snippy and sarcastic. She snapped at him and rolled her eyes. When he told her to do things, she tended to treat it like a suggestion and not an order.

Between a lack of time and low energy she had been getting away with it, but that was about to stop. He wasn’t mad, far from it. He wasn’t even annoyed because he understood.

But part of what she was missing was that trembling sensation of being put on notice. She described it as an ‘oh shit, I’m in trouble!’ kind of feeling. So that’s where they would start.

“I know you have. And I told you last night we’re going to take care of it. Now that Nick is here, I can slow down, get some rest, and deal with you. But darlin’, you aren’t gonna like it much if you keep going the way you have been.”

She winced and he watched the emotions flow across her face. Her mouth thinned to a line and suddenly her eyes were everywhere but on him. “I know.”

He released her and sat back in his chair. She picked up her sandwich but only picked at it. “I’m sorry, Daddy. I’lltryto behave myself.”

He laughed. “Do or don’t. It’syourass on the line, Charlie. Now, finish your lunch.” It wasn’t a suggestion.

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