Page 4 of Daddy's Laws

Guilt pricked at her conscience, but she ignored it, choosing instead to cling to her anger like a shield against the waves of disapproval emanating from him. “Nobody asked you to be a hero, Monroe.”

“If you think you can scare me off by being a brat, you’ve got another thing coming, princess. I don’t scare so easily.”

She ignored the way her heart jumped at the unexpected nickname. “I’m not being a brat. I didn’t even know you were going to be here. Wait.” Frowning, she finally looked up at him. “Whyareyou here?”

“That, I can answer easily enough. Wait here.”

With an easy strength she refused to admit thrilled her, he lifted her off his lap and moved her to the bed. Still clad in only his dripping wet boxers, he disappeared through the French doors.

A few moments later, he returned holding his clothes, her towel, and her phone. Settling on the bed beside her, he pulled his own phone from the pocket of his pants and hit a button.

Three rings later, James’s handsome face filled the screen. “Hey, little brother. How was the drive?”

“Drive was fine. But look who I found.” Bryant shifted the phone so James could see her, and Shannon waved at him.

James’s eyes widened with surprise, then narrowed. His attention shifted to something beyond the phone. “Olivia Jane Monroe, come here!”

A few moments later, Olivia’s sweet, innocent voice came through the speaker. “Yes, Daddy?”

“Come here,” James repeated, the steel in his tone leaving no room for argument.

There was a soft sigh and some shuffling, then Olivia’s face joined James’s in the screen. One look at her guilty expression told Shannon everything she needed to know.

“You set us up!”

Olivia’s eye roll was met with a sharp-sounding smack, and she shot James a dirty look she’d no doubt pay for later before focusing on the screen again. “Well, if you two weren’t being so stubborn about liking each other, I wouldn’t have had to set you up!”

James’s growl was so like his brother’s it was eerie. “I have told you a dozen times to stay out of it, Olivia.”

“Sorry,” she said with a careless shrug that made it obvious she wasn’t sorry at all.

Shannon wasn’t the only one who picked up on the nonchalance of the gesture. Shaking his head, James took her by the arm. “I don’t think you are the least bit sorry. But you’re about to be. Bend over the side of the desk.”

Eyes widening, Olivia nibbled at her bottom lip but made no move to obey. “Why?”

“Because I told you to, little girl. Do you need a better reason?”

“But you can’t… not with them watching!”

The thought of seeing her best friend getting a spanking was equal parts horrifying and exciting. But at the end of the day, her protective instincts won out and Shannon leaned over so her face filled the screen. “James, this really isn’t necessary.”

Jabbing her lightly with his elbow, Bryant sent her a quelling look. “Quiet.”

“Don’t tell me what to do, Bryant.” She just barely managed to quell the childish urge to stick her tongue out at him. “James, you’re blowing this way out of proportion.”

It wasn’t often she got to see that fierce, ‘don’t test me, little girl’ side of James. But when he glared at her through the screen, she saw him in all his Daddy Dom glory. Instinctively, she shrank back and shifted a little closer to Bryant. The irony didn’t escape her, since Bryant was the only one in a position to truly punish her if she pushed too far, but at that moment, she felt safer tucked up against his side.

“Shannon.” James’s voice was quiet and controlled. She’d almost prefer it if he yelled at her. “I can appreciate you wanting to protect your friend from the punishment she’s about to get, but I won’t have you interfering. Understood?”

“Yes, sir.” She didn’t normally add the honorific with James, but the situation seemed to call for it.

“Thank you.” The image on the phone wobbled, and then they were looking into Olivia’s distressed face. Judging by the angle, it looked like she was indeed draped over his desk with her arms stretched out in front of her, holding the phone.

Behind her, they could see James moving around. After tugging Olivia’s pajama bottoms down, he removed something from the wall and Shannon wracked her brain trying to remember the layout of his office.

“Oh, shit,” she whispered when the image of the thick, heavy frat paddle hanging on the wall came to mind.

“Hush,” Bryant admonished, reaching down to pinch the top of her thigh.

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