Page 24 of Forever His Brat

Oh, she’d been good for the most part.Toogood, if he was honest about it. She followed most of his rules, and the sass usually stopped when he warned her she was about to be in trouble. He appreciated it, but it hurt too. He could see her pushing her emotions behind walls again so that she didn’t ‘bother’ him with her needs.

Sam wanted to shake her and tell her she was never a bother, that he would always take care of her needs because that’s what a Daddy did. That’s what he’d agreed to when he became her Dom and he’d meant it. He still meant it.

That was the real bitch of it all. He needed a long night of play just as much as she did. He dreamed of giving her a punishment scene that went on for hours and broke down her walls so she could have the kind of catharsis that drained every ounce of emotion from her.

He just literally couldn’t muster up the ability.

Charlie didn’t blame him for it, but he blamed himself. He was the Dom, so it had to be his fault. It seemed like he should be able to push through the exhaustion and take care of business.

The problem was there was a lot of business to take care of and he had to prioritize. Charlie was always going to be at the top of his list. Spending time with her, making sure she was okay, and keeping her from doing anything dangerous—those were priorities.

Tying her up and denying her orgasms for hours… maybe not so much. With the ranch to run, the new additions to plan and organize, plus the low-level exhaustion he’d been feeling ever since the hospital, the fun extended scenes had dropped far down the list by necessity.

After making arrangements for Nick and his wife to move onto the ranch he thought he’d had everything solved. He was still confident that it was the solution, but one delay after another had thrown everything off. Now that they were finally there, he was more than ready to put some plans into motion.

“Charlie, we’re about done here. You can head home. Maybe get to work on the homework you had to put off.” He made it a suggestion not an order. She’d worked hard and if she didn’t get to her assignments that day the world wouldn’t end.

“What time do you want me to start dinner?” She handed him the last of the inventory notes.

With those he could get the final order placed for the month and check that off the list. This part of his job would, unfortunately, be sticking with him, but he didn’t really mind the paperwork.

He frowned. “I think it’s my turn. You’ve been cooking all week.” That was another area where he felt like he’d been slacking.

Charlie shrugged. “I’ve been in a cooking mood—in case you couldn’t tell.” She grinned as she parked her butt on the corner of his desk and leaned into him. “Seriously, I don’t mind. Besides, it makes sense if I’m going home and you’re staying right?”

He really hated to leave her all the cooking and cleaning on top of her doctoral studies and working part time. On the other hand, it was a relief to let her handle the meals at the moment. “I appreciate it, Charlie. I promise, I’ll catch up on my share once things settle down here.”

She leaned over, half-sprawling across the desk so she could brush her lips across his. “No worries, Daddy. See you home soon?”

His eyes flicked to the clock, and he shook his head. It was nearing four, but he had things to do. “Not for a couple of hours. Nick’s coming over to meet the men before they leave for the day. I’m going to give him a tour and start getting him up to speed.”

Her eyes seemed to light up as a smile slipped into place. “Already? I was wondering if they were going to want a few days to settle in first.”

“I called him while you were counting stacks. He says he gets stir crazy if he has too many days off in a row so he’s ready to get started. A couple hours tonight, a half-day tomorrow, and then, if all goes well, he’ll settle in for full days after that.”

“I can’t wait,” she said with a light tone that hummed with excitement.

He laughed. “To be honest I can’t either.” He paused and tilted his head as he examined her pleased expression. “You understand I’ll need to work with him for a little bit, right? It will probably take a week or two to make sure everything is running smoothly before I can start to pull back.”

He was already feeling more energized by Nick’s arrival, but he didn’t want to disappoint her just in case it didn’t stay level through this last crunch. Once he was able to turn things over to Nick it would all be different, but until then he was playing it safe.

She sighed dramatically and fell forward against him, head resting on his shoulder. “I know. I’ll try to survive until then.”

He snorted and pushed his chair back. In one swift movement he slid her right off the desk and into his lap. “It’s not going to be that bad, darlin’. Besides, it will give you plenty of time to think about what I’m going to do to your ass.”

She stiffened, twisting to meet his eyes. “Wait…”

“Oh yeah. I told you I’ve been keeping a list. You’ve been getting out of hand but I’m going to take care of that.” Just knowing that they were in the home stretch was helping him to build momentum.

He felt that old palm itch and for a minute he was tempted to cancel his meeting with Nick and take her home to deal with things right then and there. It had been a while since he’d felt this eagerness to flex his control over her, rather than just taking care of things because she needed it.

Damage control was better than nothing. It got them through the days, but it didn’t do much to nourish a relationship. He wanted this as much as she did and that was why he wasn’t going to rush it now.

“But Sam … I’ve been good. I mean mostly. I’ve been trying really hard not to get in trouble while you’ve been busy.” Her bottom lip wobbled.

“I know you have. Now, tell me why you’ve been so good?”

Her nose scrunched; brows drew together as she tilted her head. “I—I mean I didn’t want to give you more to deal with.”

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