Page 59 of Big Daddy Christmas
Not that it would be the end of the world if they were a few minutes late. But it gave him a reason to get mean, and his Ruby loved it when he was mean.
Rounding the bed, he captured her chin between his fingers, forcing her head back. And was rewarded with the slight widening of her eyes, the darkening of her pupils that was both fear and need as she stared up at him. “Every minute we are late is one count with the strap when we get to the club.”
A dimple flashed as she grinned. “Which strap?”
Sassy little brat. “The thick one you like to pretend you hate.”
“I do hate that one,” she whined. “It hurts like a bitch.”
“Which is why you love it.” Lowering his head, he brushed a kiss across her lips. “One count for every minute we are late leaving the house, Ruby Red. Better get moving.”
She grumbled something about ‘overbearing Doms’ as she stomped away, but it didn’t escape his notice that she wasn’t moving any faster than she had been before he’d issued his threat.
Shaking his head, he made his way over to his nightstand and pulled open the top drawer—and froze.
Shit.
“Ruby? Can you come here for a second, please?”
Poking her head out of the bathroom, she cocked an eyebrow, the corner of her mouth pulled up in a smirk. “I don’t think you can punish me if you’re the one making me late, Beckett.”
“Disagree. But this is important. When you were pulling your prank last night, did you only move the stuff in the bathroom?”
“Umm.” Her brows drew together in concentration. “I might have moved some things around in the bedroom, too. It’s kind of fuzzy.”
Double shit. “Do you remember moving anything out of my nightstand?”
“No. Why?”
“Ruby.” Fighting back the twin waves of panic and anger rising inside him, he pinned her with a look that had her eyes going wide. “I’m not messing around right now. Did you move the black boxes in my nightstand?”
The panic he was feeling was reflected in her gaze. “I-I don’t know. Why? What was in them?”
Fuck. Braden was going to murder them. Assuming Lottie didn’t get to them first.
“The rings, Ruby. Where are the rings?”
Chapter 3
Ruby
Panic gripped her by the throat as she stepped out of the bathroom. “Are you fucking serious, Beckett? You lost our friends’ wedding rings?”
“Try that again, little girl.” Fury rippled beneath his words, and Ruby swore she could feel the color leaching from her cheeks.
“Sorry. I know you didn’t lose them.” She’d apparently lost them. Because Beckett never misplaced a damn thing. If he said they were in his nightstand, then they were in his nightstand. “I really don’t remember if I moved them or not, though.”
“All right.” Closing his eyes, Beckett dragged in a deep breath. “I’m not mad, baby, but we really need to find those rings. Let Frankie know you’re going to be late and I’ll let Holden know. The more contained we can keep this, the better.”
“Yes, Sir.”
Hurrying around to her side of the bed, she tapped out a quick text to Frankie, asking if someone could switch with her for hair and makeup. If someone else could take her place, that would at least give her time to help find the rings and, if she was lucky, for Beckett to beat her ass again. Unlike the sexy spanking she’d gotten in the shower, she had no doubts the one she was in for once they found the rings was going to be a doozy and she had no desire to put it off any longer than necessary.
Thanks a lot, drunk Ruby.
“Frankie’s handling it,” she told him, tucking her phone back into the pocket of her robe. “Okay. Rings. I didn’t leave the bedroom last night after you went downstairs so they have to be around here somewhere.”
“You check your side of the bed and your closet, I’ll check mine.” There was none of the usual flirtatious inflection in his tone, or even the stern firmness she’d come to expect when she was in trouble.
