Page 22 of Forever His Brat

She connected the visit with the sneaky plan they’d made. It felt like he might somehow guess they were up to something, so she simply changed the subject and shortly they were too busy to chat anyway.

The cold was biting, and riding the snowmobile wasn’t as much fun as it usually was. But things went well. No sad discoveries, which she always dreaded in the bad weather.

She did notice that Sam was acting more dominant. The counting thing… it threw her. Was he giving her chances? Or was he counting punishments owed?

He probably already had a list of things to punish her for anyway. He’d as much as said he did. Knowing that eventually the bill would come due did help keep her in line. It just got harder as she waited.

But today he’d given her that breathless stomach flipping feeling. There hadn’t been enough of that in her life lately. That ‘uh-oh, I’m in trouble’ sensation was her favorite part of being a submissive.

He’d told her things would get back on track once Nick arrived and he had more time. She’d been afraid to believe it, but now … maybe it was true.

Not that it was Sam’s fault. He’d been really sick and when he’d come home from the hospital, he’d looked so pale and drained. It scared her how close she’d come to losing him.

And then he hadn’t recovered as quickly as they’d both hoped. She knew it was all the hours of work that were holding him back. She tried not to add her behavior to his list of things to deal with, but it had been a struggle.

She missed being his sassy brat. She wanted to throw a fit and demand his attention without feeling selfish. She was probably never going to be the same kind of brat as Katie, freely able to break a rule just for the fun of it, but she reallyneededsome kind of emotional release.

She had a feeling that Sam was almost ready to take care of that for her, but if not … well a night with Katie might be a good way to unwind. If it wasn’t, if Sam seemed like he needed a little push to take the reins back, she could always let him find out about their adventure.

That would definitely do it.

Charlie pulled the truck in just outside the machine barn where all the ranch vehicles were kept. She waited in the warm cab for Sam to drop off the snowmobile.

He seemed surprised to see her waiting when he came out. “I could have walked over,” he said as he climbed into the cab. Despite that he took off his gloves and held his hands in front of the vent to warm them.

“It’s too cold to be walking in this.” She didn’t look in his direction as she backed out and turned the truck towards the main barn.

“We just stomped through snow up to our knees. I don’t think a two-minute walk is going to hurt me.”

“Yeah, we did and then you rode back in the open air which is just as cold. So there’s no reason to walk when you don’t have to.” She could feel his eyes on her, but she refused to look.

“Charlie, you need to stop trying to mother hen me. I’m not sick anymore. My lungs are clear. The infection is gone, and a little cold air isn’t going to hurt me.” There was no anger there, just a frustration that she didn’t understand.

She sighed. “Sam, why do you assume everything has to do with you being sick?” She didn’t want to admit it but he wasn’t entirely wrong. She did worry about him more now than she ever had before.

“Doesn’t it?”

Except for being tired he did seem to be fine now, but she still worried. He’d gotten sick so fast, and the recovery had been difficult on both of them. She tried to hide it, but she wasn’t always great at disguising her emotions and clearly Sam was aware of how she felt.

Which didn’t mean she was going to confess to trying to be his nurse. Instead, she stopped in the middle of the road. “I drove to the barn this morning because I didn’t want to walk in the cold. I just figured you would be happy I waited after freezing your ass off on the snowmobile. My mistake. Go ahead and walk; I’ll see you when you get there.”

Charlie knew there was attitude in her voice. She couldn’t help it and she didn’t even try. He was acting like being a little worried about him, for good reason, was a crime.

“Charlie.” His voice held a note of warning that had her squirming internally. “Drive the damn truck.”

She blew out a loud exasperated breath. “Fine.” The truck went into gear, and they started moving again, carefully down the plowed lane.

“And that’s three, by the way.”

“I don’t even know what that means.” She snapped the words deliberately. He was trying to make her nervous. It was working too.

“Yes, you do. It means Charlie’s mouth is writing checks her ass is going to have to cash.” He settled back in his seat, rubbing his hands together briskly. It might have been to warm them but the emphasis he put into it gave it a dual meaning.

There was that flipping sensation inside again. Along with it came excitement, though she refused to let any of it show in her expression. Sam reallywasgetting back on the horse, so to speak.

When they were back in the barn, they settled in the office to work. She kept sneaking looks at him while he was busy. The lines on his forehead had smoothed out just a little and he seemed less stressed.

It was probably because of Nick, she decided. He hadn’t even started work yet, but already Sam was more relaxed. Smiles came to his face easier as they bantered. It was a relief to see him more like his old self again.

---