Fuck. Maybe she was in trouble.

“Aw, man.”

Reaching across the table, Mari patted her hand. “It’s okay, sis. You’ll survive.”

But when she looked up and saw Sheriff Daddy pushing his way through the crowd toward her, she wasn’t so sure.

“Ladies,” he greeted them. “I’ve been told you need an escort home.”

“We need Jake to stop being such a stick in the mud. Arrest him!” With a sudden, uncontrollable bout of giggles, Izzy pointed across the room to where Jake was glowering at them from the bar.

To her surprise, Ethan laughed. “Come on, brat. Let’s get you girls home.”

“Aww, man. I wanna stay.” But she let him pull her out of the booth along with Mari, the pair of them following along behind him like obedient little puppies. The thought brought to mind his question about leashes and she snorted.

“Care to share with the rest of the class?” Opening the back door of his cruiser, Ethan lifted an eyebrow at her.

“I was thinking about leashes and puppies,” she replied with what she hoped was a saucy wink.

Her response earned her a loud, booming laugh before he nudged her and Mari into the backseat.

When he climbed into the driver’s seat, she leaned forward as far as the thick metal mesh would allow. “Daddy, am I in trouble?”

“That depends, baby girl. Did you break a rule?”

“Well, I broke one of Jake’s rules.”

“Jake’s rules aren’t my rules. Which rule did you break?”

“His stupid two drinks per hour rule. He doesn’t like for us to get drunk at the bar.”

“That’s something we can discuss. But as it’s not a rule I already have in place for you, no, you’re not in trouble.”

“Yay! Next question.”

“Yes?”

“Are you still gonna fuck me tonight?”

“Izzy!” Mari covered her face with her hands. “You are impossible!”

“What? This is important information!”

“I think you’d be better served by a good night’s sleep, baby girl.” Chuckling, he turned the cruiser into their driveway. “We have plenty of time for, ah, other things later.”

“Meanie.”

“Down to my bones,” he agreed cheerfully.

He helped them into the house and after making sure Mari was comfortably tucked into bed with no risk of being sick, he scooped Izzy up and carried her down the hall to her room. Instead of tucking her in fully clothed as he had with Mari, he tugged her dress up and over her head and helped her out of her panties.

“Is your bottom sore, brat?”

“Uh huh. It has pretty red marks and bruises.”

“There’s a faint little bruise right here.” He poked a particularly tender spot, making her yelp. “But nothing too bad. And the lines should fade by tomorrow. Let’s get that plug out of you and get you to bed.”

“Plug?” She wrinkled her nose and tried to focus on what his words actually meant. “Oh, yeah! That thing.”