Page 45 of M!lked For His Pleasure

She might have laughed, if he didn’t look so serious. But even that no-nonsense glare wasn’t enough to make her simply roll over. “Uh, yeah, I’m not doing that. Bye.”

Uncle Luke shrugged as if her response didn’t bother him one bit. “Have it your way, little darlin’.”

Feeling smug, she turned back toward the front door. But a moment later she found herself hanging upside down, staring at the pristine floor beneath her, with a muscular shoulder digging into her stomach as he carried her away from the door.

“Uncle Luke! Put me down!”

A hard swat landed on her upturned ass. It was the shock of it, more than the sting that stunned her into silence. Had he really justspankedher?

“You’re going to want to settle down, little girl, before you make this any harder on yourself than necessary.”

By then they’d reached her father’s office and Uncle Luke dropped her rather unceremoniously onto the deep leather couch. Crossing her arms as much in self-defense as defiance, she glared up at him. “What the hell is wrong with you?”

“Language, little darlin’. Keep swearing at me and you’ll find yourself standing in a corner with a red hot bottom and bar of soap in your mouth.”

Once again she found herself staring silently up at him, pure shock having robbed her of speech. The softclickof her father’s office door locking snapped her out of it, and she turned her fury on him. “Are you just going to let him manhandle me like that?”

To her further surprise, Uncle Luke only laughed at her accusations as her father took his place behind his desk, looking more resolute than she could ever remember seeing him. Hands folded on top of the gleaming wood, her father pinned her with a cold stare. “Unfortunately for you, Dorothy, I am going to let him. As a matter of fact, I intend to ‘let him’ do much more than just give you a single swat to the bottom. Since you refuse to listen to me and your mother, my hope is that your Uncle Luke might be able to get through to you.”

Heat that was both humiliation and fury flooded her cheeks. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“You know I live on a ranch.” It was Uncle Luke who spoke now, as calmly as you please, like he hadn’t just assaulted her in front of her own father. “What you don’t know, is that my ranch serves two purposes. Half of the ranch is dedicated to cattle and other livestock, as you might expect, while the other half of the ranch has been turned into a rehabilitation center of sorts. People come to me when they have nowhere else to go and I help them get their lives on track. Currently, we have about twenty guests in the program, but over the course of the years I’ve helped nearly three hundred men and women turn their lives around.”

“You want a round of applause or something?” Holding up her hands, she clapped them together twice in slow motion. “Hooray for Uncle Luke.”

From his desk, her father hissed at her to not be rude, but Uncle Luke seemed unbothered by her sarcastic response. “As much as I appreciate the applause, I’m not here for the accolades.” Again she got that odd little flutter in her tummy as his lip curled into a smug sort of smile. “I’m here for you.”

Chapter Two

“What do you mean you’re here for me?” Even to her own ears, her voice sounded faint and even a little scared. What the hell was going on?

“You’re out of control, Dorothy.” Behind the desk, her father wore the same weary expression she’d gotten so used to seeing over the past year. But now there was a glint of determination in his eye she’d never seen before and her stomach rolled at the sight. “So here’s what’s going to happen. You don’t get access to your trust fund for another three years. And unless you agree to a summer on Uncle Luke’s ranch, I will revoke your access to that fund entirely. You’ll never see a single cent of it. Not only that, but I will cut you off from our family accounts, cards, everything. I’ll find you an apartment, which I will pay the first six months' rent on. But after that, you will be out in the world, completely on your own.”

The room spun around her. This couldn’t be happening. This couldnotbe happening.

She’d expected some pushback from her parents after her last run-in with the police. She’d expected raised voices and tears and more of their empty threats.

But never in a million years had she expectedthis. “You can’t do that! It’s my money! You can’t just take it from me!”

“I’m afraid that’s where you’re wrong, sweetheart.” Despite having just issued the most drastic ultimatum possible, her father’s voice was surprisingly gentle. “I can, and I will. I refuse to simply stand by and let you ruin your life, Dorothy. And I”—he paused, his throat working as if he were holding back tears—“I genuinely think the program will be good for you.”

Pushing up from the couch, she jabbed a finger in her father’s direction. “Fuck you, and fuck Uncle Luke’s ‘program’. I’m leaving.”

“Stop right there.” Uncle Luke’s thundering voice had her freezing in place. “You are not going anywhere until you’ve made your decision. A summer with me, or the independence you seem to want so badly.”

She froze in place, her heart hammering at her chest as she considered her options. There was no possible way she was going to agree to go with Uncle Luke. It wasn’t even an option.

But she also couldn’t let her parents cut her off completely. She’d never held a job, never so much as filled out a resume. And since she’d dropped out of school, her career options didn’t include anything that would afford her the life of luxury she’d always known.

Desperation clawed at her insides as she turned to face her father’s desk. For once, the plea on her face and in her voice wasn’t the least bit fake. “Daddy, please. I’m sorry. I promise I’ll be on my best behavior from now on. But please, please, don’t make me do this.”

Her father’s expression softened considerably, and she knew she had him. Relief flooded her, nearly making her knees weak.

“I don’t know…”

“I promise, I’ll be better.” Puffing out her bottom lip, she let it tremble, widening her eyes so the sting filled them with tears. “Please, Daddy?”

“Well, if you promise…”

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