Page 31 of Gene

“Little One.” He cupped her face.

She leaned into his right hand and took a deep breath. Having his warm hands against her cheeks just made everything better. Made her feel like she mattered to someone.

“You look absolutely exhausted. I don’t want you to overwork yourself,” he gently said.

“But I’m fine,” she whispered. “I really am. I just want to work.”

She needed the money to help her brother and to put food on her table. Was she exhausted? Absolutely. She had been this way for a while now, but she had to push through it. She needed to.

“You’ll pack orders,” Daddy said. “It’s that, or you will sit in my office all day and relax.”

“Are there actually orders to pack today, or are you just telling me I’m going to do that?” She looked at him skeptically.

“There are actual orders. We just got an order last night that we need to fulfill by tomorrow.”

“Who will be working with me?”

She wanted anyone but Nolan. Nothing against him, but after he found out that she got spanked, she hadn’t been able to look him in the eyes. That and he was a Daddy. No doubt he would have something to say about how she looked. Sammi didn’t know if she wanted to put up with that today.

“You’ll be alone for several hours until Nolan finishes what he is doing. Then you two will work on it for a couple of hours before someone else comes in to help,” Daddy said.

She figured that was better than nothing. A couple of hours to relax and have to herself. She could do that. Hopefully, she would get a lot of the orders done so that when Nolan did come, there wasn’t much for him to do.

“So, what is it going to be? Sit here with Daddy all day or going to pack orders?” Daddy asked. “You pick, you are still going to get paid. I don’t want you to worry about that.”

Sammi didn’t even have to think about it. “I’ll pack the orders,” she replied, finishing off the last of her lines.

If she was going to get paid, she was actually going to work. The guilt was going to eat her up inside if she didn’t work and got paid like normal. It would be like paid time off, but she didn’t have any of that, which meant Daddy was going to lie about why she wasn’t working.

“Okay. I’ll be checking in with you a lot. I want to make sure that you’re okay and not over-exerting yourself. If I see that you are, I will make you come sit in my office for a little while or the rest of the afternoon,” Daddy said matter-of-factly.

Sammi wrinkled her nose and handed the piece of paper to Daddy. She would have to make sure she looked better than she did now whenever he came to check on her. Which meant she was going to have to stay alert.

There were at least two entrances to the barn where she would be working. Staying alert while also doing her job and feeling exhausted was going to make her even more tired. Would she survive today?

Only time would tell.

“Can I go now, Da—” Sammi stopped herself.

She couldn’t call him Daddy until she knew what was wrong with her and that she wasn’t dying. His eyes connected with hers, and he smiled at her.

“You can call me Daddy if you want,” he gently said, looking very pleased with her. “And yes, you may go. These are all neat, legible, and the right number are there. All is forgiven.”

Sammi relaxed into her chair for a couple of seconds before getting up. Daddy stood to and brought his arms around her before she knew what was happening.

“I’ve got you,” he whispered. “You can lean on me. I’ll be your rock. I’ll take care of you.”

Her whole body melted into his embrace, loving the feeling of his warmth surrounding her. Making her feel secure, safe, and wanted. How pathetic was that? She feels wanted just by a simple hug.

Daddy let go of her and took a step back. “Here’s your water bottle. I want this gone by lunchtime.”

She nodded. “Okay.”

Sammi was going to do her best to try and drink the water. It was hard when she had trained herself not to drink anything. It wasn’t that hard, but feeling exhausted and needing to walk to the bathroom several times would get old fast. But she also didn’t want the guilt of dumping it out somewhere and getting into trouble.

“Good girl. I’ll be by to check on you in a couple of hours,” Daddy kissed her forehead and pulled away.

After grabbing her water bottle, she started to walk toward the door. But with every step she took, the heavier her legs felt. It was like they were being weighed down by fifty-pound plates.

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