Under Daddy's Protection

by Serafine Laveaux

  Chapter Fourteen

  They made love until the sun came up, each taking turns exploring the other until at last they both passed out just as the sun was beginning to peek over the horizon. When she finally woke again she was greeted by the heavenly smell of coffee wafting in from the kitchen. Yawning and shielding her eyes against the light, she winced slightly at the soreness between her legs as she rolled out of bed. It had been a long time since she’d had sex of any kind, let alone anything that came close to the marathon she’d just been gifted with, and her sensitive bits were a tad owie. Happy, but owie.

  Even with the ever present reminder between her thighs to prove last night had actually happened, it felt surreal to her. Had she really sucked sushi off her fingers and saucily told Gage she didn’t have any crayons? And the sex, holy moly! Normally she had to resort to her little pink vibrator to make herself come but Gage’s fingers and tongue had needed no assistance. Knowing the driver saw it all made her blush furiously, but she had to admit it also made the whole thing that much hotter. She would have been content just with the first round, but once in their room he showed her what she’d been missing for so long, and more than once. Any doubts she had about Gage’s interest in her had been put to rest. He wanted her, needed her, but best of all he accepted her. Knowing that made her feel like she could take on the world.

  The world would have to wait though. Right now she needed breakfast, and her tummy growled enthusiastically in agreement. She found Gage at his usual spot beside the table, studying something on his laptop while absently sipping a cup of coffee. When he saw her his face lit up. “Hey, Kitten, did you get enough sleep?” he asked sweetly as she took a seat next to him. She nodded, reaching for an apple from the bowl on the table before leaning against his warm, bare torso.

  Gage closed his laptop before she could see what he was working on, then wrapped a strong arm around her shoulders and kissed the top of her head. “Hungry?” he asked as she bit into her apple. As she nodded, he reached for the carafe of orange juice and poured her a glass, then plucked a piece of toast from a plate and set it in front of her. “Need coffee,” she said, but he shook his head. “Coffee stunts your growth,” he replied, making her giggle. “No, seriously,” she argued. “I need coffee.”

  “I said no,” he replied calmly but firmly. “Drink your OJ.”

  Nikki made a face and silently mimicked him as she reached for the toast. Gage saw her. “What was that, young lady?” he demanded as he returned to the table. “Did you want to say something?”

  Nikki considered her options. She could insist on the coffee and stay in big girl land for a bit longer, or she could play along and get treated to Daddy Gage instead. Maybe even stern Daddy Gage, if she played her cards right. Or wrong, which might be more fun. “Nooo,” she said, keeping her eyes wide in hopes of looking innocent. “Just eating my toast.”

  “Better be,” he warned before turning back to the sink. While his back was turned to her, she stole a long drink from his coffee cup. It was a decision she immediately regretted. Nikki preferred her coffee loaded up with cream and sugar and caramel syrup. Gage drank his black. It was all she could do to choke the bitter liquid down. How could anyone drink it straight?

  When he returned to the table he quickly saw his cup was not where he left it, and nearly a quarter of it was missing. Gage’s left eyebrow raised slightly as his eyes passed from Nikki to his coffee cup and back to her again. “Did you drink my coffee?” Feigning innocence, she cast her eyes to the ceiling and shrugged. Gage wasn’t having it. “Nikki, did you drink my coffee after I told you no?” When she remained silent, he took her by the arm to the corner and turned her to face into it with her nose practically touching the wall. “You will stand there for the next ten minutes and think about why you should not disobey me,” he scolded her. “And you will do so quietly or I will add another five minutes.”

  Ten minutes proved to be an eternity when there was nothing more interesting to look at than a solid color wall or her bare toes on the cold tile floor. Standing in the corner was absolutely not what she’d had in mind. She’d been hoping to get bent over his strong legs and have her backside spanked. This sucks, she groaned to herself. She tried to replay episodes of Cat Noir in her head but even that couldn’t keep her distracted for long. Before long Gage was scolding her for wriggling about, and threatening to add another five minutes to her punishment. That got her attention. The last thing she needed was to be stuck in the corner even longer.

  Ten minutes seemed to take an hour to pass, and the punishment certainly wasn’t worth the crime. The lingering bitterness of the black coffee made her mouth icky and she longed for a drink of water to rinse it away, but she didn’t think Gage would be too sympathetic about that. Right now the main thing was to convince him she would be on her best behavior from now on. She had plans to sneak out and do a bit of sightseeing, but that wouldn’t happen if he decided to find her a babysitter.

  Nikki knew Gage would certainly punish her if she got caught. Disobedience of this magnitude would earn her an epic spanking and she knew she should be good and stay in the hotel like she promised, but the lure of seeing Tokyo was too strong. She would just have to take her punishment like a big girl. As long as he didn’t put her in the corner for the remainder of their stay, Nikki thought she would enjoy whatever he dished out.

  * * *

  Seeing her fidgeting miserably in the corner had amused Gage. He didn’t care that she took a drink of his coffee. He was familiar enough with her sweet tooth to know the straight brew insulted her sugar-loving palate the moment she tasted it. It was the fact that she tried to pretend she didn’t drink it that intrigued him. She could have easily confessed, apologized, and then admitted she didn’t like it anyway. Instead she played coy, practically inviting him to punish her. He’d already figured out she enjoyed her spankings and he certainly didn’t mind pulling down her panties and giving her another one, but if he spanked her every time she did something naughty he was afraid he’d have a full-blown brat on his hands by the end of the week. Instead he had chosen to administer a much less appealing punishment, and he could think of nothing more boring than staring at a wall for any length of time.

  It seemed to have the intended result. After he’d allowed her to leave the corner she’d finished her breakfast and scurried back to her room to watch TV. She was still a bit sulky when he got ready to leave, but offered no protest toward his reminder for her to remain in the hotel until he got back. Gage knew she was unhappy at being left in the room alone all the time but he was in a major time crunch to deliver on the job. He could always reschedule their flight home but the client had been specific about delivery within seven days and he intended to come in ahead of schedule. The sooner he took care of business, the sooner he could focus entirely on Nikki.

  Focusing on her seemed to be all he could do, especially after last night. The memory of how she’d kissed him, touched him, begged him, all the while held up against the wall in his arms as he thrust up into her sweet wetness, made his vision blur and his knees go weak. She might be innocent and sweet, and yes, bratty, when she was in her stuffed animal mindset, but she’d shown another side of him last night that dominated his thoughts now. His concentration was shot and it was becoming a problem. Even now, loitering casually at a small park directly across from the high-rise where Kobayashi lived, thoughts of her kept sneaking back.

  For a man who seemed to do whatever he felt like whenever he wanted to, Kobayashi was surprisingly rigid when it came to his daily routine. Stitch had been able to map out almost every place he would be on any given day with a few exceptions. Those exceptions were what interested Gage now and he wanted to know where the man went when he didn’t want to be seen. Now he waited, sitting on a park bench seemingly engrossed in a game on his phone as equally preoccupied people passed him by without a second glance. Gage thought smart phones were the best thing to happen for mercenaries in a long time. People were so pr
eoccupied with them now that they barely paid attention to where they were going, let alone who they might be going past. They had a definite downside though. While it was easy to go ignored, if he did anything to attract someone’s attention he could count on video of it appearing on social media in less than five minutes.

  A steady stream of people trickled in and out of the luxury apartment building, mostly businessmen heading out although there were some schoolkids arriving home as well. Gage was beginning to think he’d made a mistake trying to stake out the front entrance when Kobayashi finally emerged and headed down the sidewalk. Gage waited until he was halfway down the block before crossing the street to follow him.

  In the movies professional killings were often gaudy affairs involving shootouts, car chases, and lengthy fight scenes. In Gage’s world, things worked much more quietly. He didn’t need a gun, or backup, or even a car. All he needed was opportunity. It might come in the form of detour down a side street, or a corner table in the shadows. Or in Kobayashi’s case, a brief stop at a Yamaguchi-gumi sex trafficker’s home located sixteen blocks from where Gage first began to tail him. Opportunity knocked, and Gage quietly went to answer it.

  * * *

  Within thirty minutes of Gage leaving, Nikki was on the phone arranging for a local university student to meet her at the hotel and take her on an afternoon of sightseeing around the city. She knew he would be angry with her, but she was an adult after all and it wasn’t like she was alone. Money was a bit of an issue, as she had none of her own, but Gage had left her an envelope with a large sum inside, as well as instructions on what to do should anything happen to him. The conversion rate was a bit confusing, but she was pretty sure he’d left her a few thousand dollars. Nikki pocketed half of it, telling herself she would pay him back whatever she spent as soon as they got back to Miami.

  Her guide was a twenty-year-old girl named Miyu, with short tousled hair, twinkling eyes, and a lowered purple scooter like nothing Nikki had ever seen. With only an afternoon to explore, Nikki had to narrow her sightseeing choices down considerably, but it wasn’t that difficult a choice for her. The one place she’d always dreamed of visiting in Tokyo was Harajuku, the city’s most eclectic shopping district and home to a distinctive style of urban fashion. Miyu cautioned that because it was Friday, the crowd of cosplayers and urban fashionistas would be disappointingly small, but Nikki didn’t mind. Just seeing it would be exciting.

  Riding on the back of the customized scooter as Miyu whizzed up and down the city streets was a thrill in and of itself, and Nikki loved having an uninterrupted view of everything they passed. Her tour guide pointed out places as they passed, and Nikki realized it would take a dozen Friday afternoons to see even a quarter of what Tokyo had to offer. She only hoped she would be able to return someday and see more, preferably with Gage.

  The shopping in Harajuku was everything she’d read about, myriad boutiques tucked around every corner beckoning Nikki to come and take a look. From casual street clothes to cutting edge fashion, as well as fabulous cosplay outfits and her very favorite, Lolita dresses. She’d bought some of her favorite outfits online from stores in that very neighborhood and was over the moon when Miyu took her to one of them. Being able to try on the beautiful outfits, one after the other, had her giddily bouncing from one foot to the other. It was all she could do not to spend every one of the borrowed yen she’d pilfered from Gage’s emergency stash.

  The only thing harder was avoiding thinking about how she was breaking her promise to stay at the hotel. In the few days she’d known him, Gage had somehow become her whole world. He would be angry with her, but that wasn’t the worst of it. It was knowing how disappointed he would be that made her feel bad, and that was what she struggled to put to the back of her mind now. She would deal with the consequences later. Right now she just wanted to enjoy her outing.

  In between the clothing stores, Miyu introduced her to all kinds of tasty treats, from traditional sushi to over-the-top chocolate chunk pizza. Nikki thought she could live forever at the Totti Candy Factory, preferably sleeping on a bed of their to-die-for cotton candy. It wasn’t long until Nikki was on sensory overload with a tummy full to bursting. To help walk off some of their indulgences, Miyu took her to the nearby Meiji shrine, a Shinto shrine dedicated to the defiled spirits of Emperor Meiji and his wife, Empress Shoken. Located in a beautiful evergreen forest of nearly one hundred seventy acres, it was the perfect way to relax and take in some of Japan’s more historical beauty.

  Too soon it was over. At the hotel entrance Nikki gave Miyu a quick hug, thanking her for a wonderful afternoon and promising to call her again if she made it back to Tokyo. It had been an amazing few hours and she would never forget any of it. As she hurried through the lobby to the elevator, her arms overloaded with shopping bags, she wondered if perhaps she should have bought another suitcase while she was out. There was no way all of her new purchases would fit into the one she’d brought. The thought of cramming them into it and jumping on it to get it to close made her giggle.

  Quietly letting herself into the hotel suite, she paused for a moment in the foyer, listening for any sounds to indicate Gage had beaten her home, but was relieved to hear only silence. Slipping into her room, she quickly removed the clothes and candy and tucked them as best she could into her bag, then folded the shopping bags and slipped them under the bed. Ideally he would never realize she’d snuck out, but if it looked like her secret would get out she intended to have a carefully crafted confession to deliver right before he figured out what she’d done. It wouldn’t get her out of trouble, but maybe she could lessen the punishment a bit.

  Satisfied all evidence of her disobedience was securely stashed, she headed to the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge before heading for the sitting room. Gage’s note hadn’t mentioned when he would return but until then she could watch TV. The Japanese cartoons were the best. Even though she couldn’t understand a word they said they were so colorful and lively that they made her laugh anyway.

  “Hello, dear.”

  The water bottle fell to the floor as Nikki came to an abrupt halt. Sitting on the sofa just a few feet away was an elegantly dressed woman. “Who... who are you?” Nikki squeaked fearfully. “How did you get in here?”

  She gave Nikki a vaguely unpleasant smile, revealing brilliantly white teeth that reminded her of a tiger. “The more important question is, who are you?”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Amid the crisscross backstreets there sat a small coffee house that was popular with the local hipsters for its excellent coffee and relaxing atmosphere. Gage found the metal stools a bit on the uncomfortable side but the coffee was some of the best he’d had in Japan. He hadn’t wanted to go straight home to Nikki. Everything had gone smoothly, and it would be some time before anyone found Kobayashi. No one had paid any attention to Gage, making it easy for him to disappear into one of Tokyo’s many side streets. However, he needed time to let go of the coldness that always wrapped around him when he worked. It was necessary to get the job done, but not how he wanted Kitten to see him.

  As usual he’d ordered his coffee black, but the free hand latte art he witnessed the baristas pouring would have delighted Nikki and he wondered if there would be time the following morning to bring her by. It saddened him that he hadn’t been able to take her around the city like she’d wanted, but there just hadn’t been time. At least the job was handled. That was one less headache to deal with. Now he just needed Stitch to get him the information on Diamond Gem Entertainment. Once he knew who owned it, and the club, he had no doubt he could get Nikki’s situation sorted out. After that, maybe he could bring her back to Tokyo for a real visit.

  The idea of taking her on an actual vacation, of seeing her eyes light up as he showed her new places, pleased him. So many people he’d been in contact with over the years were either too jaded to appreciate the world around them, or too cool to admit it. Not his kitten though. He could e
asily imagine how her face would light up, how she would laugh and point and tug his arm with excitement as he pointed out the sights. Thinking about the places they could go, the things he could show her, helped him let go of the hard shell he had to wear when he was working. Nikki had seen that side of him once, back in Miami, and he didn’t care for her to see it again.

  He finished his coffee and was on his way to Akihabara Station to catch a bus when a shop encompassing seven floors caught his eye and he realized it was M’s, Tokyo’s most well-known sex shop. A sly smile spread across his face as he changed direction and headed straight for it. He’d intended to pick up a present for Kitten on the way back, and once more opportunity was knocking.

  When he emerged twenty minutes later he had two shopping bags and a loudly grumbling stomach that demanded to be fed. The last thing he’d eaten was the other half of Nikki’s apple that morning and it was long gone. All he wanted to do now was take a quick shower and change, take Nikki out to dinner, then take her back to the room and show her what he’d bought. There were several outstanding restaurants at the hotel, including an Italian one he suspected would be Nikki’s choice. She did love her carbs and desserts. Thinking about having her for dessert had his cock bulging in seconds. Gage couldn’t remember the last time he’d walked around with a constant erection, certainly not since high school, but she certainly had that effect on him.

  He was still hiding the strained front of his trousers when he returned to the room and found the door unlocked despite his having told her to keep every lock fastened. “Damn it, Nikki.” As he let himself in he heard her giggle from the living room. He was about to call out when he realized there were two voices coming from down the hall, both of the familiar. Careful not to make a sound, he lowered the two shopping bags to the floor before creeping silently down the hall.