He moved to her other cheek. Back and forth. Her ass turned a delicious shade of red. And he was so fucking hard, he thought he might explode.
A low groan left her around smack number fifteen. She started to grow limp beneath him. He gave her the last few spanks. Quick and heavy. Then he took a moment to take in his handiwork before moving her so she was sitting on his lap rather than over it. She hissed, shifting around but he kept her against him. He wanted her to feel the heat in her ass while he spoke to her.
“Show me those beautiful brown eyes,” he murmured.
She sniffled and when she raised her gaze to his, he noted the sheen of tears in her eyes. What would it take to get her to actually cry?
“How are you feeling Betsy?”
“I…I…shoot.”
“Tell me.”
“Like I want to beg you to keep going.” She rubbed at her chest. “And threaten to remove your balls if you touch me again.”
She surprised a bark of laughter from him. “Maybe we should steer away from option number two. Quite fond of my balls. Hope you will be too. Eventually.”
She took in a deep, shuddering breath and let it out slowly. “I have never felt like this…almost out of control.”
This was her nearly out of control? Jesus, she was still so composed that those tears didn’t dare spill from her eyes.
Was he a monster if he wanted to push her until she did? Until she sobbed? Until she told him every dark secret hiding in her depths?
Maybe. Or maybe it was just a sign of how much he damn well cared about her.
He ran his hand through her hair then pressed her face against his chest. “Good girl for telling me the truth about how you feel.”
Moving his hand, he placed it on her chest, just feeling her heartbeat, knowing she was all right.
“That’s my girl. My good girl. You’re all right. You’re safe. You’re here with me. Nothing bad is going to happen while you’re in my arms.”
With each word he uttered, she grew more and more relaxed until he wondered if she’d actually fallen asleep.
“Brown eyes?”
“Yeah?” she murmured.
“We’re gonna have to leave the room soon. Do you want to finish for the night? Go home and get some rest?”
She shot up so fast that the top of her head banged into his chin.
“Motherfucking Christ!”
“Oh God, I’m so sorry. Oh no. Oh no. Are you all right? Ink?”
He rubbed his chin, closing his eyes. “I’m fine. Shit, babe, you pack a punch.”
To his shock, soft lips brushed across his chin. She placed light kisses over his jaw. Was she kissing it better?
He opened his gaze, staring down at her incredulously. She gazed up at him, a flush of embarrassment on her cheeks.
“Sorry I hurt you.”
“Hmm, I’m not. Not if that’s the way you make it all better.” He winked at her and she dropped her gaze, but not before he saw a hint of a smile.
“Eyes on me.”
She sighed. “I thought Doms wanted subs to keep their gazes lowered. Isn’t it a sign of respect or something?”
“I’m not one to do what everyone else does.”
She rolled her eyes. “You’re meant to be my mentor, you know.”
“Nobody ever said I’d be a good one.”
A soft look filled her eyes. “I don’t know. I think you’ve been pretty good.”
“Just good, huh? Am I only getting a B on the test?”
“Nah, I’ll give you a B+, although final grade isn’t in yet.”
“Brat.” He tapped his finger on her nose.
Her smile faded. “I don’t want to go home yet, Sir.”
“No? You’re not tired?”
She shook her head. “I haven’t had a chance to play yet.” She actually pouted. It was freaking, fucking adorable.
Christ.
He had to bite the inside of his cheek to stop himself from smiling. He tapped her lower lip. “Put that away, missy. It doesn’t work on me.”
She heaved a big sigh. “What would work? Bribery? Begging?”
“How about a kiss?” The words were out before he even knew he was going to say them. But before he could take it back, she leaned up and lightly pressed her lips against his.
He raised an eyebrow, looking down at her. Really? That was what she was giving him?
He cupped his hand behind her head and swooped in, kissing her like she was the air he needed to breathe. When he pulled back up, both of them were breathing heavily, hearts racing.
Setting her on her feet, he stood and took her hand in his. “Come on, brown eyes. Let’s get to the Littles’ room before we both get ourselves into trouble.”
* * *
“Here, Daddy. What do you think of this one?” Betsy pointed out the Legos creation she’d made using the instructions.
He glanced over at one of the other Little’s Legos creation. Which was a hot mess of half-built buildings which looked to be a veterinarian’s office combined with a barber shop.
“It looks great, button,” he told her. Shit, she looked cute in the outfit he’d bought her. The caveman instincts were obviously strong in him because he seemed to get a great deal of satisfaction out of providing for her.
“Do you want to play with the Legos people?”
She glanced down at the people, then over at Fern who had created some sort of samurai battle inside her vet-slash-barber shop. People were flying everywhere while she made noises as they obviously died.
It was kind of bloodthirsty.
He admired that.
Turning back to Betsy, he noticed a look cross her face. Something had upset her? What, though?
“All right, Daddy. I…” She seemed to be at a loss for what to do. She reached for one of the people.
He leaned in closer. “Button?”
“Umm, yes, would you like to be this person?” She was using her polite voice. It was a sign that she was uncomfortable and trying to hide it.
He laid his hand over hers. “Brown eyes, you don’t have to do anything that you don’t want to. If you would rather create things than play with them then that’s fine. There’s no right way to act.”
She bit her lip. “She looks like she’s having fun. But I’ve never…I mean…I didn’t have any of this…”
It suddenly clicked. “What did you play with when you were a child, button?”
“Oh. Well. I had a doll’s house.” She brightened at the memory. “And a tea set. But Mama only let me have the tea set when she was around. She liked to show me the proper way to act at a tea party.” She rubbed her hand over the top of the other one. “She was quite angry when I got it wrong.”
That fucking bitch.
“A lady doesn’t slouch. A lady doesn’t interrupt others. A lady doesn’t slurp her tea.” Betsy attempted to grin, but he saw the pain behind it. Yeah, having someone correct your every movement would start to take the fun out of playing.
A thought occurred to him. “Tell me, does Mistress Angelique look like your Mama?”
She gave a nod. “Yes, Daddy. A bit.”
Christ. That explained a few things.
“Would you like to play with the doll’s house, button?” She’d never shown any interest in it before. It was just a small wooden one that sat by the wall of storage.
Her eyes lit up and she nodded shyly. He stood, reaching down a hand to pull her up. He held her hand as he led her across the room. Lara was already sitting in front of the doll’s house. She looked up with a big smile as Betsy approached.
“Betsy!” Today the short, curvy sub was dressed in a pair of denim overalls with a shockingly bright pink top underneath. Her hair was up in two pigtails with pink ribbons.
He tried to picture Betsy in pigtails. She’d look damn cute.
There he went again. Cute. Gah.
They started playing with the small dolls. Betsy gradually started relaxing, although she did look over
at him several times.
He had to admit, he did kind of like the way she searched him out. As though looking for reassurance. Or as if she thought he might disappear.
“Oh no!” Betsy cried out.
He went on high alert, looking over at her. She held up a wooden bed she’d been setting up in one of the bedrooms. It looked like one of the legs had fallen of it. “It broke.”
“It’s okay, Betsy,” Lara said to the clearly distraught girl.
Betsy was biting her lip as she glanced down at the bed. Ink quickly got to his feet and strode over. “Let me have a look, button.”
“I didn’t mean to, Daddy. Honestly. It just came off.”
“Hey.” He cupped her chin in his big hand. “It’s okay, button. No one is mad at you. I know you didn’t mean for it to break. All right?”
She nodded but he could still see a hint of worry in her eyes. He hated that. Detested that she fretted over such a small thing.
“Daddy will go get some glue and fix this right up.”
Her eyes lit up. “Really?”
“Yep. Won’t take much.”
“You’re the best Daddy ever.” She gave him a smile that made him feel about ten feet tall.
“There’s some in the other room. You stay right here, understand? I’ll be less than a minute.”
“I’ll stay here, Daddy.”
“That’s my good girl.” He kissed the top of her head then moved into the other room to grab some glue. Returning, he walked over to a table against the wall, placing the bed on it so he could carefully glue the broken piece back on.
“Lara, it’s time to leave now, honey.” Zac crouched beside his girl.
“Not yet, Daddy,” Lara replied absentmindedly.
Oops. That wasn’t going to go well for the small sub. He held the bed together, waiting for the glue to dry. Betsy looked over at him and he winked at her.
“Lara, Daddy said it’s time to leave. You have to get up early in the morning and I don’t want you grouchy all day because you didn’t get enough sleep.”
“Daddy, not now. I is busy playing with Betsy.”
“And you can play with her next weekend. Maybe we could even arrange a playdate.”
“Ooh, playdate. Yes!” Lara clapped her hands enthusiastically. “Let’s do that.”
“If you want a playdate with Betsy, then you need to do as you’re told now,” Zac said sternly. He stood up and held a hand out to his sub. “Come on.”
“No, Daddy. Don’t want to.” Lara poked out her bottom lip mutinously.
Ink couldn’t help but feel amused despite feeling some empathy for Zac. A tired, rebellious Little could be a handful.
“Lara, up now. Last warning.”
Lara just ignored him.
“Lara, corner now!” His voice was louder. Firmer. And he waved his hand towards the corner.
Suddenly, before Ink could blink, Betsy had situated himself between the two of them.
“Stop! Don’t hurt her!”
Fuck. He realized his mistake immediately. He’d just assumed that Betsy would take the scene in her stride, the way the other Littles were. But Betsy wasn’t used to these sorts of scenes. So far, there had only been a few minor infractions taken care of with naughty Littles that had resulted in timeout or lines.
And this was Lara, who Betsy had become friendly with.
He left the doll’s bed that he’d been fixing on the table and strode over to Betsy. Now everyone had stopped to watch.
Betsy was standing in front of Lara, her arms out as though trying to protect her from Zac. A very confused and shocked Zac who stared at Betsy like she’d grown another head.
Even Lara had been shocked out of her budding temper tantrum and was staring at Betsy.
A pale, shaking Betsy.
Shit. Shit. Christ.
“Betsy.” He kept his voice calm, soft. She wasn’t doing this to be naughty or to create problems, he could tell that immediately. She seemed to be somewhere else entirely. Her eyes were locked on Zac’s chest. “Betsy, come over to me.”
“He’s going to hurt her.”
“He’s not going to hurt her, Betsy. I promise.”
“She’s my friend. Have to protect her. Won’t let him hurt her.”
“I’d never hurt Lara, Betsy,” Zac said calmly. “All I was gonna do was spank her and put her in timeout. And even Lara will tell you that she deserved that. Was maybe even acting out because it’s what she wanted.”
There was a warning note in Zac’s voice that had Lara flushing guiltily.
But Betsy read that note in his voice as a threat and took a step back, her body tensing even further.
Jesus, baby. What happened to you?
“Easy, man. Fuck,” Ink warned him.
Someone moved from across the room, getting a better view of what was going on. When Betsy came back to whatever hellhole she’d fallen into, he knew she’d hate that they’d seen her like this.
It made him angry. And things weren’t good when he was angry.
“Lara, you want to reassure Betsy that I’d never hurt you?” Zac asked in a low voice.
“Betsy, Daddy would never hurt me.” Lara reached out to touch her and Ink opened his mouth to issue a warning not to, but he was too late.
Lara’s hand touched her back and Betsy flinched away.
She was side-on between both Zac and Lara now, moving her gaze from one to the other.
Shit.
“Betsy, I love Lara. I’d never hurt her.”
Betsy shook her head, a harsh bark of laughter escaping her. “You can hurt people you love.”
Fuck. She was killing him.
“Betsy, look at me.” He took a step towards her. He knew he was the only one who had a chance of reaching her.
She shook her head.
“Brown eyes. Look at Daddy. Now.” He made his voice firm. And was satisfied as her gaze moved from Zac to him. She blinked almost shocked to see him now.
Come back to me, baby.
“Brown eyes, what’s my name?”
“Daddy.”
He smiled. “Good girl. What’s my other name?”
“Ink.”
“And what’s your name?”
“Elizabeth Victoria McClain.”
Elizabeth Victoria? Very queenly.
“And where are you?” He needed to ground her.
So to speak.
“I’m at Fringe.”
“Where at Fringe?”
Her eyes moved around the room. He watched as she registered where she was and that everyone was staring at her.
“Oh no.” Her eyes met his. “What did I do?”
“It’s all right, button. Nobody is mad at you.”
She took a deep breath in, then another. She stared over at Zac then to Lara. “You weren’t going to hurt her. I knew that. I did. I just…” She ran her fingers through her hair. “Oh no, I’m so sorry. I can’t believe I did that. I’m so sorry.”
Ink drew her close and she buried her face into his chest. He could feel her shaking. Picking her up, he gave Zac a small nod. The other Dom looked down at Betsy in worry. Lara moved up to his side and he wrapped his arm around her.
He carried her into the quiet room. Luckily, it was empty. He snagged one of the blankets that sat on top of a chest and walked to the rocking chair, where Littles who enjoyed bottles were often fed.
Sitting, he settled her on his lap and tucked the blanket around her.
“Soft.” She grabbed a piece of the blanket and rubbed it against her cheek. Liked soft things, did she?
He started rocking, just holding her tight, letting her feel the safety of his arms. Gradually, her shaking stopped. He wanted to press her for answers. To discover why she’d reacted the way she had but he forced himself to hold back.
Damn, it was difficult, though.
“I’m so sorry, Daddy.”
“I know, button. It’s all right.”
“I interfered. Isn’t tha
t naughty?”
He paused, thinking that through. Under normal circumstances, possibly. But it had been clear Betsy hadn’t really been in the room with them. Something else was going on.
“Generally, yes. But I get the feeling that it wasn’t really Lara and Zac you were seeing. You know he wouldn’t really hurt her, right?”
“I know. I do. I just, when I heard him talk to her that way, I flashed back to a memory…”
Fuck. Fuck.
“Tell me.”
“Mama, she had a number of gentleman callers. Her words. But many of them weren’t gentlemen. And one of them, he…he hurt her. I saw the bruises, but I didn’t understand, not until I woke up one night to yelling. I walked down to the living room to see him standing over her, his arm raised. I ran forward, tried to get between them. He hit me. I don’t know if he meant to or whether I just got in the way. I slammed against the wall. I remember my mother screaming at him. And then the police turned up. I think the neighbors must have called them. He never came back.”
“Button, I’m so sorry.”
“Me too,” she whispered. “I didn’t always get on with Mama. Most of the time she was a hard person to care about. But I did love her. I didn’t want anyone to hurt her.”
“Of course you didn’t. You were a brave girl, standing up for her.”
The door to the room opened and she tensed as Zac and Lara walked in.
Betsy sat up and he reluctantly let her. “I’m so sorry Master Zac, Lara, I don’t know why that set me off. I think because I think of Lara as my friend and I don’t have many of those. I just reacted without thinking. I understand if you don’t want to be my friend anymore.”
Ink stiffened. They better not fucking reject her.
He need not have worried. Lara raced forward and practically threw herself onto Betsy’s lap so Ink had two Littles on his lap.
Betsy let out a small oomph then laughed as Lara peppered her face with kisses.
“Love you, boo,” Lara told her. “And I’ll always be your friend.”
Betsy glanced over at Zac who still stood back by the door. “Master Zac?”
He gave her a gentle smile. “It’s okay, Betsy. I’m glad Lara has such a good friend. But I wish you had a bit more faith in me.”
It was just a gentle scolding. Ink still wasn’t sure he liked it and he sent the other man a warning look.
Hero Daddy Page 9