Not quite the sweet, respectful tone I’m used to from her, but I’m willing to let the attitude pass for now. “I understand why you might find it hard to trust me. But Daddy will never, ever lie to you. I might have secrets I can’t tell you, especially wheremy business dealings are concerned, but I will never lie to you. Understood?”
“You’re right,” she says quietly.
“About what?”
Her golden eyes lock on mine. “I don’t trust you. Not one little bit.”
I can’t help but smile at this hint of fierceness from my Little girl. “Understood. But even if you don’t trust me right now, you will obey me and your uncles and your Auntie Gray or you will get your bottom spanked. Am I making myself perfectly clear?”
“Crystal.”
“Good.” Pushing up to my feet again, I scoop her up, settling her stiff form on my hip. “Let’s go meet your new family.”
“Yourfamily. Not mine. I don’t have a family.”
My heart cracks in two at her sad declaration. I know from the background check Gunther ran on her last night that she aged out of foster care a few years ago and apparently has no contact with any of her former homes or siblings. But hearing her actuallysayhow alone in the world she is shatters something inside me. “You do now. A giant, noisy family full of uncles and an auntie who are all going to spoil you rotten every chance they get no matter what I say.”
“This coming from the man who just bought me half a toy store,” she says dryly, and I can’t help but laugh.
“Touché, my little firecracker.”
I’m just reaching for the front door when she speaks again. “So if your siblings are my aunt and uncles, does that make their Little ones my cousins?”
“Huh.” Pausing with my hand on the doorknob, I frown. “I never really gave it much thought, but I suppose they would be.”
A shy smile curves her lips. “I’d like that. I never had any cousins growing up.”
Again, my chest aches for the child she was, alone and abandoned. Even with all the trauma my family has been through, we always had each other.
“Well now you have two, and I’m sure there will be plenty more coming soon.”
With that, I turn the doorknob and we step inside, the sound of Josie’s wailing greeting us from the living room.
“Owie, owie, owie! No more, Uncle Axel, I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”
My babygirl’s eyes widen at the sound. “He’s really spanking her!”
She sounds so adorably shocked. “Yes, he is. Something to keep in mind if you’re tempted to let your cousins drag you into their naughtiness. Every grownup in this house has Daddy’s permission to spank you as needed.”
Red floods her cheeks. “It won’t be needed.Ever.”
I highly doubt that, but I’m willing to let her have her delusions.
Skirting the ruckus in the living room, I head for the kitchen, where Gray is leaning against the island while Elias bends down to pull something from the oven. My sister’s eyes light with pleasure when she spots us and she immediately sets her coffee cup down to reach for Tabby.
“Oh, Colt, she’s precious!” She tries to pull Tabby from my embrace, but my Little girl wraps her arms around my neck with a whimper. Gray looks at me, her brows raised in surprise. “Shy little thing, isn’t she?”
“Sometimes.” She was the farthest thing from shy last night when we were taking Vegas by storm, but instinct tells me that explaining that to Gray right now will only embarrass my Little one. And while I have no issues humiliating her by baring her bottom and spanking it red in front of our family and friends,I’m loath to cause her any undue distress when it comes to things she can’t help, like her shyness.
“That’s okay.” My sister’s voice takes on a softer, almost cooing tone as she runs a hand over Tabby’s hair. “We’ll have her laughing and playing with the other Littles in no time.”
As if on cue, Axel steps into the kitchen, bouncing a sniffling Lanie on his hip. “Bram and Josie are in the living room. Probably want to give them a few minutes. He wasn’t very happy with her when he found out why she got her bottom spanked.”
Gray glances toward the living room, but she doesn’t move. It’s been difficult for her, adjusting to being Josie’s “auntie” rather than her best friend, the way they were when we were all younger. Even after nearly two months of being Auntie Gray, I still catch those flashes of grief in her eyes.
And when the unmistakable sound of a Daddy’s palm connecting with his naughty babygirl’s bare bottom reaches us, Gray sighs and shakes her head, a strained smile tugging at her lips when she looks back up at me and Tabby.
“What’s happening?” Twisting in my arms, Tabby cranes her neck toward the doorway Axel and Lanie just entered through. “Is that… Is he…?”
