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After forty, she had to stand and stretch. She was used to hunching over her desk and working, but she was still a bit sore from the biking.
Sitting back down, she finished them off.
“Fucking yes.”
Glancing at her phone, she saw she had a message from Dominic, checking in. She took a photo of her lines and sent them back.
Her phone quickly vibrated with an incoming call.
“Lines suck,” she whined down at the phone. Then she blushed. Way to sound like a child.
But he just laughed. “I’m sure they do. That’s why it’s called punishment. It’s meant to deter you from doing the same thing that earned you the lines in the first place.”
“That’s so . . . so . . . rational.”
His laugh grew louder, making her smile. He had an amazing laugh.
“I suppose it is,” he agreed. “Good girl for doing the lines even though they were hard. Are you doing okay? You angry at me for the punishment?”
“Actually, I’m not. I feel surprisingly good.” And she did. Almost lighter, in fact.
“I’m glad. I was prepared to come to you if you were upset with me.”
“Oh yeah? And what if I wouldn’t have let you in? I’ve got this super-duper lock that this overprotective stalker gave me.”
“Did he? He sounds like a good guy.”
“Yeah, he’s okay,” she said in a blasé voice.
“Brat,” he growled at her, making her wince.
That word hit her hard. Every time.
She sucked in a breath.
“Gwen? Are you all right?”
Act normal.
“I am!”
Shoot. That sounded too cheerful.
“I’m coming right now.”
“No! No, I’m fine. I just have trouble with that word.”
“What word? Brat?”
“Yes.”
“Will you tell me why?” he asked gently.
“It just has bad connotations for me. It makes me feel awful.”
“We can’t have that. Thank you for telling me. That will be a hard limit for you, and I will never use it with you.”
“Just like that?” she asked, shocked.
“Yes. Just like that. I never want to hurt you, Gwen. Spank you, yes. But harm you? Never.”
God. He was perfect.
“Do you need me to come over?”
Did she want him to? Yes. But she didn’t need him to. “I don’t. I really am all right. Thanks for checking in with me, though.”
“I’m going to always try and check in with you, gauge how you are. And if I forget, you remind me, yeah? It’s important.”
“Okay.” She yawned. “Oh my God. I’m sorry. It’s not the company. I can’t believe I’m so tired when I had a nap earlier.”
“Your body needs to recover,” he told her.
For a moment, she thought he knew. But he was probably talking about the fact that she was a workaholic who never slept much.
“You need to catch up on probably years’ worth of sleep. One nap won’t cut it. You should be napping every day.”
“I’m not sure I’ll manage that.”
“You would if I helped you.”
Yikes. She gulped. No doubt he was right about that. Having him lend a hand would definitely help.
“Put the phone down, darling girl, and go get ready for bed. Brush your teeth, get changed, pee, then grab the phone before you pop back into bed, yeah?”
“Okay,” she whispered. She felt very young right then. As though she needed him to guide her through her nighttime routine. Something she could do in her sleep.
Sometimes it had felt like she had done it while sleeping.
This was an odd feeling. But it certainly didn’t feel wrong.
After she was ready, she grabbed her phone and climbed into bed.
“I’m in bed.”
“That’s a good girl. Teeth brushed?”
“Yes.” She could feel herself blushing.
“You peed?”
“Oh my gosh. Yes!”
He chuckled. “No need to be embarrassed. You’re all snuggled down under the covers, with the lights off?”
“I don’t want to turn them all off,” she confessed.
“Course not. You need a nightlight.” He said it as though it was perfectly reasonable to need a nightlight at her age. “You’ve left a light on?”
“The bathroom light.”
“You need a proper nightlight. And do you have that toy cat?”
“How did you know about Butterball?” she asked, tensing.
He didn’t have cameras in here, did he?
“I saw him earlier. Butterball? That’s a cute name.”
“Oh. You saw him?”
Sheesh, why had her mind gone to him having cameras on her? Sometimes she wondered what was wrong with her.
“Yes, he’s very cute. Now, is he tucked up safely in your arms?”
“Yes.”
“Good girl. I’m going to say good night and you’ll put your phone on charge and have a really deep, restful sleep, understand?”
“And because you say it, it’s going to come true?”
“Of course. It’s the magic of being a Daddy.”
She sucked in a breath, letting it out slowly. “All right, good night.”
Daddy.
“Good night, darling girl. See you tomorrow.”
19
Sanctuary Ranch was utterly beautiful. It was surrounded by trees and mountains. And the barn with the horses was like something out of a postcard.
Breathtaking.
Dominic had met her at the gate and she’d followed him in her car, parking it out front of his gorgeous-looking cabin. He hadn’t taken her inside it yet. Instead, he’d led her straight out here to the barn.
