Page 62 of Daddy's Laws

And as if she wasn’t pathetic enough, all she wanted in that moment was to crawl into Bryant’s lap and let him hold her until the nightmare was nothing more than a memory. To let Daddy rock her and comfort her, chase her demons away.

What the hell had she been thinking, agreeing to this stupid experiment of his? It was one thing to fuck each other’s brains out, even enjoy spending time together. But needing him this way, craving the comfort of his touch… it was too much.

Pushing herself up from the ground, she took a shaky step toward the shower. The nightmare was still clinging to her skin, and she needed the hot, pounding water to chase the remnants away. Maybe then she’d be strong enough to figure out how to deal with Bryant Monroe.

CHAPTER21

The sound of the shower turning on loosened some of the concern in his belly. If she was in the shower, she’d at least gotten herself up off the floor, and that was a step in the right direction, wasn’t it?

Setting the tray with her fruit and water on the nightstand, he studied the tangled sheets on the bed. The disarray was just one more reminder of her nightmare, and by extension, her trauma.

Maybe it wouldn’t actually help, but he needed to dosomething. Something more than just fetching her a bowl of fucking fruit. So while she showered, he yanked the sheets from the bed and carried them down the hall to the laundry room where he dumped them unceremoniously in the washing machine. Once the washer was running, he grabbed a fresh set of sheets from the linen closet in the hall and went to work setting the bed to rights once more.

He’d just finished smoothing out the comforter when the water switched off again. After what seemed like an eternity of listening to her shuffle around in the bathroom, she emerged, her hair wrapped up in a towel in that magical, twisty way women had. He often wondered if they were just born knowing how to do that or if it was knowledge passed down from generation to generation.

Annoyed with himself for wondering about it just then, he forced a smile. “Hey, princess. Feeling better?”

“Yeah.” She flicked a glance at the bed before moving to her duffel bag and pulling out a pretty yellow bikini.

Silence, awkward and unnatural, grew between them as he watched her dress for the day. Desperate for something to break it, he gestured to the tray. “I, ah, brought you some fruit.”

“Thanks. But I’m really not hungry.”

“Does your tummy still hurt?” Some of the uncertainty plaguing him faded away. This was Daddy territory. Maybe he didn’t know how to take away her pain, but he could Daddy her all damn day.

“Mystomachis fine, Bryant. I just don’t feel like eating right now.”

He opened his mouth to correct her but pulled back at the last minute. Her skin was still too pale for his liking, and the last thing she needed was him jumping her ass because she didn’t call him Daddy.

“All right. But you at least need to drink the water. You’re probably a bit dehydrated.” Guilt twisted in his stomach. If she was, it was partially his fault. As intense as their scene had been the night before, he should have made them both drink something before bed. Fuck, was it his fault she’d had a nightmare? Some weird form of sub drop?

“I’ll get some juice.” But instead of heading for the hallway, she opened the French doors and stepped outside.

“If you want to go down to the beach, give me a few minutes to get dressed and you can go for a swim. You can get yourself some juice while you wait.”

“Jesus Christ, Bryant, would you just stop? I don’t need you hovering over me. It was just a bad dream and I’m fine. Back off.”

Every instinct he had was screaming at him to take action. To pull her over his knee and paddle her ass until all she could focus on was the pain.

But even as the thought formed in his mind, guilt swamped him. What kind of monster would spank a woman who was still shaking off the remnants of a nightmare that had left her so shaken she’d immediately run to the bathroom to be sick?

“All right,” he said at length. “You can go down to the beach, but not into the water.”

“Whatever.”

“I’m serious, little girl. If I find you in the water, the spanking I gave you the other day will feel like a warm-up. Am I understood?”

“I get it. Can I go now?”

There was so much more he wanted to say, but none of it seemed right, so he just nodded. Without another word, she turned and headed down the stairs.

Staring at the open doors, he pulled his phone from his pocket. Any good lawyer knew when it was time to pull in an expert.

“You better not be calling to get me in trouble again.”

He could practically hear the pout in Liv’s voice, and he couldn’t help but grin. “Depends. Is there something you should be in trouble for?”

“Not recently.”

---