Page 100 of Brat Baby
“What are you going to do? Spank me?” She takes two steps closer, almost reaching the other side of my desk as she drops her bag onto one of my visitor chairs. “Daddy.”
Then she smirks, chin tipping up a little, laying it on incredibly thick.
This girl…If I wasn’t so fucking terrified for her—for us—I’d have no fucking issue with claiming her as mine. But I can’t, not yet. Not until I know where we all stand with Thayne and Newton U.
We are in an impossible position, and I unequivocally refuse to give Emery hope where there may be none. The others may be willing to throw their careers into the rapidly approaching dumpster fire, but I am not.
Do I want Emery? More than I have ever wanted anything else in my lifetime.
Do I want to give up my career that I have been working toward for almost twenty years? That’s harder to answer. If I’m guaranteed the happily-ever-after ending that I’ve envisioned for the five of us—then yes, in a heartbeat.
But the more likely outcome is that we could all be let go come Monday morning, and Emery, at a minimum, will have a target on her back for fraternizing with teaching staff. At worst, she’ll lose her scholarships and be expelled from the university.
I can’t let that happen. Not with the brilliantly bright future she has ahead of her. I need to walk that fine line for all of us, to make sure we get to keep the pieces of us that we cherish the most.
“Emery,” I warn, heart beating heavily as my stomach clenches. I squeeze my hands around the armrests of my chair, gripping so tightly that my knuckles ache. “You need to leave my office. Now.”
“Mmmm… no thanks, I’m happy staying.” Instead of taking the seat that Joseph vacated, she places her fingertips on the corner near the short edge of my desk, slowly making her way around the side, dragging her fingers along the dark wood.
Each step tests my restraint.
“I’m serious, Emery. You cannot be here right now. If you’re caught, it’s not only my career on the line. You could be expelled,” I plead with her, pushing my chair away from the desk, trying to create space between us.
This cannot be happening right now. I only need one more fucking day. Tomorrow night, to be specific. Just twenty-fourmore hours. Then we will have all the information we need to make a decision.
“No one has to know,” she replies, the spark of mischief in her eyes something I have missed so fucking much over the past few weeks. “There is no one else in this section of the building. I checked while I waited. We are completely alone.”
“No, Emery.” I state it firmly, but I can’t stop my eyes from tracking her as she closes the gap between us, her shoe bumping the leather tip of my own.
My pulse is racing. I know this game that she’s playing. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure out she is trying to goad me into action. She is going to keep pushing and shoving until I snap and lose control, giving in to her little game and letting her win.
“That’s not a safe word, Daddy.”
Fucking brat. Why did she have to go there? Of course I’m not going to use a safe word with her. I’m every shade of green there is.
Instead of continuing to advance on me, she pauses in the space I just pushed back from. Oh, so goddamn casually, she leans back on her hands, pushing her breasts out, and crosses her ankles like she doesn’t have a care in the fucking world.
There is a lump in my throat that feels impossible to swallow around as we sit here, staring at each other. My instinct to reach for her, to drag her down onto my lap, to hold her to me like she is my lifeline and I am floating out at sea, is nearly impossible to fight.
And then the worst thought imaginable pops into my head.
Would one tiny little taste really hurt? Thayne knows we want to talk to him. And even though I didn’t know it at the time, I’ve already slept with her as an enrolled student of Newton U.
I almost physically shake my head to dislodge the thought. No. No, absolutely not.
Something shifts on Emery’s face. It happens so quickly that I have no idea what happened.
“Do you really not want to be my Daddy anymore?” The fucking pout on this girl is irritatingly adorable.
“No,” I reply, trying to shut this down.
The briefest flicker of pain appears on her face before she catches herself.
It’s a fucking lie. Possibly the worst lie I’ve ever told. But hopefully, after tomorrow night, she’ll forgive me.
I’m doing this for us. For all of us.
“I don’t believe you.”
