Page 3 of Daddy's Laws

“Oh, you’re going to pay for that, you little brat.”

She braced for another round of blows, but they didn’t come. An arm wrapped around her waist like an iron band, and a moment later, she felt the tell-tale tug of her bikini bottoms being untied.

It was almost disappointing. A bare bottom spanking wasn’t going to hurt that much more at this point, and it seemed far less than what she deserved. As much of a brat as she was, even she knew better than to bite the person lighting your ass on fire. But it figured a stodgy lawyer wouldn’t be that creative.

She opened her mouth to tell him exactly that, but her tirade was cut off before it even began when he shoved the wet fabric between her teeth. A few swift movements later, the makeshift gag was tied firmly in place. Using her tongue, she tried to push the material away, but it didn’t budge. And when she dragged in a breath to try and scream, she choked on the saltiness of ocean tinged with the tang of her own arousal.

Bryant shifted, trapping her legs between his own and tilting her forward for better access to the bottom curve of her ass. His paddle-like hand slammed into her bottom again, and the gag did little to muffle her shriek of pain and outrage.

Over and over he spanked her, harder than she could ever remember being spanked before. Already exhausted from her fight with the ocean, it wasn’t long before she lay trembling and depleted over his knee.

“I don’t know what the hell has gotten into you.” His focus shifted to the tops of her thighs, and she let out another stifled scream at the fresh shock of pain. “But I will not sit by and watch you try to kill yourself. Understood?”

Ignoring the way her heart tripped at his words, she shook her head.

“No, you don’t understand?”

She shook her head again, slightly more frantic. If he thought she wasn’t learning her lesson, there was no telling what he might come up with next.

“No, you weren’t trying to kill yourself?”

Relieved he seemed to get her message, she nodded, the wet strands of her hair stinging her skin as it flew with each movement.

“If I take the gag off, can we have a civilized discussion?”

It was almost comical to be lectured on proper manners by the man who’d just finished paddling her bare ass, but she didn’t think he’d appreciate the humor, so she nodded again in response.

“Good girl.” The words were little more than a low rumble, and she nearly moaned at the wave of need that crashed over her.

He helped her up so she could perch on his knee before gently removing the makeshift gag. A different need welled inside her and for a moment she was tempted, oh so tempted, to just throw her arms around his neck and snuggle into the comfort she instinctively knew he would provide.

“Tell me what happened out there.” His voice had softened to a gentle, coaxing tone. It was all Daddy, and she was mortified to feel tears burning her eyes.

Looking down at her hands so he wouldn’t see how much he’d affected her, she shrugged. “I was just trying to see how long I could hold my breath.”

It was part of the truth, at least. He didn’t need to know the reason behind it. Maybe one day she’d talk to her therapist about it, but for now, it was far too personal to share with someone she was desperately trying to keep at arm’s length.

“Shannon, do you realize how dangerous that was?” The softness faded from his tone. It was still definitely his ‘Daddy’ voice, but in a completely different way that had her tummy flipping in response. “Swimming in the ocean alone, when it’s getting dark, is dangerous enough. What the hell were you thinking?”

“I wasn’t thinking anything,” she snapped.

“That much is obvious. I’m tempted to take my belt to you for good measure.”

It took everything in her not to squirm at his words. As it was, she was probably leaving a wet spot on his pants.

As soon as the thought popped into her mind, the coarse hair scratching her roasted bottom registered. She risked a glance at his crotch, relieved to find he was at least wearing boxers.

“Bryant?”

“Yeah?”

“Where are your clothes?”

She swore she could feel him glowering at her. “On the sand, where I left them when I jumped in the damn ocean to rescue you.”

“I didn’t need to be rescued.”

“So you say. What if you’d gotten trapped in a current and couldn’t surface before you ran out of air? For all I knew, that was exactly what had happened. You just disappeared under the water, and I had no idea if you were safe or not.”

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