“Um, I can do this part by myself,” she says, more of that adorable blush coloring her cheeks as she shifts on the seat.
“Oh, no. You’re far too Little to use the potty by yourself. What if you fall in?”
“I won’t fall in!”
“You might,” I reply with a somber shake of my head. “And then you might get flushed down the drain and I wouldn’t have my pretty little sunshine anymore. What would I do then?”
She goes very still, cocking her head to the side. “You think I’m pretty?”
“Of course I do. You know you’re a very pretty girl, Camilla.”
“Not really,” she says with a shrug. “My mom always told me I was too fat to be pretty. She’d always say things like ‘If you’d stop eating so much, you could be just as pretty as the other girls at school’. And I know she’s right.”
Rage boils in my veins. “She couldn’t be more wrong. But you need to use the potty, little girl, so stop stalling.”
Cheeks still pink with embarrassment, she squeezes her eyes shut and finally does as she was told. And it’s clear she feels much better, just from the expression on her face when she’s finished.
Ignoring her whining protests, I clean her up and carry her back to the nursery, where I sit in the oversized glider with her curled up in my lap. “We need to talk about what happened at school today, Camilla.”
And just like that, my sweet, playful Little girl disappears. Her face closes off, blocking her emotions from me with stunning effectiveness. “Don’t wanna.”
“Well, we need to.” Capturing her face in my hand, I force her to meet my gaze. “Running away from school without an adult was very, very dangerous, little girl. You could have gotten lost or hit by a car.”
Camilla rolls her eyes. “Please. I’ve been wandering around this island without an ‘adult’ for almost a year. I knew where I was going and I know how to cross the street. I was never in any danger.”
It doesn’t matter to me one bit that she has an entirely reasonable point. She ismyLittle girl andmyLittle girl doesnot wander around our island alone. “Camilla. I am not going to argue with you about this. Leaving school alone was very, very naughty. Miss Evelyn was worried about you, and so was I.”
Something that looks almost like hope flickers in her eyes. “You were worried about me?”
“Of course I was, little one. I didn’t know where you were or if you were hurt or scared or anything until I got that call from the cafe.”
“Oh.” Nibbling on her bottom lip, she lowers her eyes, and her voice is full of apology when she speaks again. “I’m sorry I worried you. I didn’t mean to.”
“I know you didn’t. But I can’t allow you to go running off like that just because you’re upset.” For the first time in my life, I dread the words I have to say next. “You’re getting a very hard spanking over Daddy’s knee, and then you’re going to sit on your naughty girl chair and think about what you could have done differently.”
Chapter Sixteen
Millie
I don’t even have a chance to protest before I find myself flipped over Daddy’s knee, my skirt falling forward to expose my bare bottom to the air.
“Daddy, no! I don’t want a spankin’!”
“Then you should have thought of that before you ran off by yourself, little girl. That was very naughty, Camilla.”
His hand, hard as any paddle, slams into my bare bottom. And I can’t tell if it’s because he’s actually spanking harder or if I’m just so deep in my Little space that it’s making everything seem so much worse than it is, but it feels like he’s spanking the skin right off my butt with every swat.
Howling at the pain radiating through my bottom, I kick my legs in a desperate attempt to dislodge myself from his lap. But Daddy just holds me tighter, his hand never faltering as he paddles my bottom raw.
“I’m sorry, Daddy, I’m sorry! I’ll be good, I promise!”
To my surprise, the spanking actually ends. With two hard swats to my sit-spots, he stops and rubs the sting from my skin as I lay over his knee, sniffling and whimpering.
“No more running off, Camilla. Am I understood?”
“Y-yes, Daddy.”
“Good girl. Five minutes on your naughty girl chair and then you can have a snuggle if you like.”
