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No. She was done humiliating herself, and if she saw pity or sympathy on his face, it would send her spiraling to the bottom of a long, dark hole. She’d spent two years clawing her way out of the pit of depression Daniel dropped her into, and she wasn’t going to survive the fight a second time.
“Callie,” Elias snapped in his decadent Dom voice. “Look at me.”
The submissive part of her came to attention, automatically obeying the command. His expression wasn’t quite pitying—it was a mixture of suspicion, bewilderment, and awareness.
“Why do I get the feeling you meanleaveas in, gone?”
The sadist wanted her to spell it out for him, did he?
Even though she was tempted to break out Little Callie and throw a tantrum—just so she could find an outlet for the hurt biting at her heart—protecting herself came first. She’d learned that the hard way.
“Evander left without even saying goodbye. You can’t bring yourself to call me by my name, unless I do something wrong. Obviously, I d-disappointed—” She had to take a careful breath as her voice cracked. “I was a disappointment last night. It’s time to go home before I embarrass us all.”
Elias growled. “Sit down.”
“I have to pack,” she shot back, stubbornly—or perhaps stupidly—standing her ground. The last time she’d found her spine, Daniel had ripped it out and kept it as a trophy. “Dad—Evander probably wants me far away from here before he gets back.”
With the slow, confident ease of a man who had no qualms about being in charge, Elias folded his arms across his chest and made the transition from polite, professional butler to steely-eyed Dominant without blinking. “Sit your ass down, little girl, and explain yourself.”
“You can’t tell me what to do.”
His lips curved at one side. “Callie, you might not be mine, but when Evander isn’t here, you become my responsibility. That means you’ll listen to me, and damn well do what I tell you.”
“Or else what?” she demanded, more intrigued than she should be.
Running his tongue around his teeth, he stared at her with darkly amused eyes, the blue eerily imposing. “What would your Daddy do?”
Callie sniffed. “He’s not my Daddy.”
“That’s an extra five added to your tally, little one. Evander is going to light your curvy bottom up the first chance he gets.” Shaking his head in disappointment, Elias tsked at her. “Might as well sit down comfortably while you still can. It seems a few things need to be made perfectly clear, and seeing as Evander is otherwise occupied at the moment, it falls to me to do so.”
A sinking sensation filled her stomach. He made it sound as though shewasn’tbeing sent away in disgrace. But if that was true…oh boy, she was in trouble. Spanking-level trouble.
Her ass cheeks clenched as she abruptly perched them on the arm of the closest armchair…well out of Elias’s reach.
“Evander isn’t here this morning because the realtor called to reschedule the viewing to an earlier time. After last night, he was reluctant to wake you, insisting you need more rest. For the record,” he added with soothing reassurance, “both Evander and I are humbled by the trust you put in us. How can we be disappointed when you were perfect?”
Her lips parted tremulously.
“I’ve already explained why I prefer to separate my work and personal life, and how I do that. However, it’s apparent that you find this…impersonal, given what we did last night. I get the impression you equate professional distance with rejection.” Elias exhaled slowly, looking thoughtful yet not losing that strict dominance. “Because of that, I’m willing to break my own rules and address you as Callie.”
Wait, what? He was not only listening to her, but reading between the lines, too? That meant that both he and Evander were several steps ahead of her on the awareness scale.
“So, is there anything you’d like me to qualify before I tell you what my recommended punishment is going to be?”
She drew a circle on her thigh, her fingertip swirling around and around. “If you don’t want me to go, why did you say there was a car arriving?”
“This new venture of Evander’s means a lot to him. Your arrival in his life holds significance, especially when he’s about to embark on a project of this magnitude. He wants you involved in it, Callie, if you’d like to be. The car is to take you to the property, not the goddamn airport.”
“Oh.” Her leg began to jiggle nervously.
“Yes,oh. If you don’t want to go, that’s fine, but you will eat something regardless.”
“But I’m really not hungry.” It was only a teeny-weenie fib, but of course, her tummy chose that precise moment to churn with an audible grumble.
Elias’s eyebrow rose in a slow, dark arch. “Five spanks for claiming Evander’s not your Daddy. Five for lying. Five for flying off the handle without good reason. Is there anything else I need to add before I give your Daddy this morning’s tally?”
She quivered. Three fives were fifteen, which meant fifteen spanks, and Daddy’s hand was like a wooden paddle. There was no doubt she’d overreacted, but it was justified—at least, in her mind.
