“I wanted to call to talk to you about a few things,” she said, her voice wavering just a hair as she fidgeted before me like a naughty little girl who knew she was in trouble.
Perhaps she would be. Maybe she even wanted to be.
“What did you want to talk about?” he asked nervously.
“I can’t marry you,” she ventured softly. “I’m really sorry to do this the night before the wedding, but it’s not what I want. I don’t even know you.”
“I see. I understand. I would have preferred to get to know you first as well,” he answered. I was glad to hear that he didn’t sound particularly bothered by the rejection. Overall, he seemed like a pretty chill sort of guy and that was something I could work with.
“I wanted to wish you the best though. I appreciate you being so understanding about the whole thing,” she continued.
Good girl. She would do as she was told.
“You too, Keri. I hope you find what you’re looking for.”
“Thank you,” she answered, and I took back the phone. I ended the call and sat back, trying to figure out what to do with this curious little package that had arrived on my doorstep. I couldn’t shake the feeling that she had come here not only looking for my help in getting her out of a sticky situation, but that she wanted something more than that.
I decided to push the envelope.
“You lied to me, Keri. That ought to be dealt with too, shouldn’t it?”
The blush that crept over her pretty face told me everything I needed to know.
In that instant, I knew she’d heard of my tastes. She knew I liked it rough, that I liked taking a naughty little girl over my knee for a spanking, and she wanted to know what it was like.
She stared back at me, teetering back and forth on the edge of wanting to find out and the sort of nervous anxiety telling her that she needed to run and never come back.
She’d never done this before and to a certain extent, I hadn’t either. Every woman who had come to me before had been willing and had been rather upfront that they liked a man to take control both in and out of the bedroom. This one was different.
I had to be more careful with her, but I was a man with a certain set of needs, and right now she was giving me every single signthat she was a naughty and very wet little girl in need of a spanking over Daddy’s knee.
I’d give her one last chance.
Either she took the bait, or she didn’t. This wasn’t something I would force.
At least not initially.
CHAPTER 3
Keri
“You lied to me, didn’t you, little girl?” he asked, and I could have sworn that every molecule of oxygen rushed out of my lungs at the same instant. My mouth went dry and I hummed quietly with nervous energy. I glanced at his corded biceps and chewed at my lower lip, trying to figure out what he wanted me to do.
He hadn’t used my name that time. He’d called me a little girl and I wasn’t sure if I froze because of that, or the change in his tone of voice, or that the entire situation was finally coming to a head whether I wanted it to or not. I was so out of my element. He knew what he was doing, and I didn’t.
“Yes,” I breathed. I didn’t know what else to say.
“What should happen to a little girl who lies to such a powerful man?”
I wasn’t brave enough to answer so I looked anywhere but him. Eventually, I settled my gaze on the floor because it felt safe. Istudied the swirling design of the carpet and tried to control the frantic beat of my heart from pounding out of my chest. I hoped that he wouldn’t be able to see how utterly lost I was in his presence right now.
“I think you know how that ought to be dealt with, don’t you?” he pressed carefully. I couldn’t even look at him as he said the words because I was so incredibly embarrassed at where I thought this might be going.
“I do know how it ought to be dealt with,” I whispered without even thinking. After I said the words, I pressed my lips together, both mortified and terrified that I’d said anything at all. I wished I could roll back time and take them back, but I couldn’t.
I glanced up at him, trying to figure out what he was up to. Maybe he liked the concept of role play and this was his way at initiating it. Was this the cost of his help in dealing with my father and taking care of the dissolution of my wedding? Did he want me to play along? Did I want to?
This was all pretend. It had to be. It couldn’t be real.
