Bottom lip puffing out in a pout, Juliet huffs. “Yes, Daddy.”
“Good girl. Do you want to give Millie your present?”
She looks like that’s the absolute last thing she wants to do, but she nods anyway. “Uh-huh.”
Reaching into his pocket, Uncle Jasper pulls out a beaded bracelet and presses it into her hand before lifting her into the playpen with us. Juliet holds out the bracelet, and like Victoria’s there are no letters but plenty of fun, happy charms. “Here you go, Millie. I don’t really know what you like but I thought you’d like something colorful.”
“Thanks, Juliet. I love it.” Taking the bracelet from her, I slip it onto my arm with Victoria’s and Natalie’s.
Uncle Jasper bends down to press a kiss to the top of Juliet’s head. “I’m very proud of you, princess. I’ll be right over there with your uncles if you need me. Play nice.”
When he steps aside, Natalie wiggles in her Daddy’s arms, clearly trying to escape his hold. “Daddy, put me down already so I can play!”
Uncle Evan raises a dark brow, though his eyes dance with the amusement they almost always have when his Little girl is involved. “Try asking me nicely, kitten, unless you’d like a sore bottom like all your friends.”
Heaving a dramatic sigh, Natalie pushes her lip out in a pout. “Will youpretty pleaseput me down so I can play with my friends? Please, Daddy?”
“Brat,” he says with a laugh, but he doesn’t scold her further as he sets her down in the playpen with us. “Behave yourself, little girl. What Uncle Jasper told Juliet goes for you, too. If you get in trouble here, you’ll get double at home.”
“I’ll be good, Daddy, promise!”
When he leaves to join the other Daddies, Uncle Gideon steps forward, a sniffling Isabella in his arms. “Your turn to apologize, little doll,” he says softly, placing her down in the pen with us.
“I’m sorry we were mean.” Isabella’s voice is so quiet, I can barely hear her, but the meaning of her words is clear enough. She, too, hands me a pretty bracelet, and more of that unease in my tummy disappears as I slip it onto my arm with the others and flash her a bright smile.
“It’s okay. I understand. Do you wanna play dolls with us?”
A tremulous smile curves her lips and she nods. “Yes, please.”
I wait for Uncle Gideon to join the other Daddies before dragging in a deep breath and forcing myself to meet my new friends’ eyes. “Victoria explained why you were all so upset about being forced to be friends with me and I want you to know I really do understand and there’s no hard feelings. I’d be mad too, if I were you.”
Juliet narrows her eyes. “So why did you do it? The whole nurse thing, I mean? If you knew you were hurting people, why take the job?”
“I didn’t actually know I was going to be hurting anyone. When I took the job here, all I knew was that it was an island for Littles and their caregivers. I’ve been Little for a really long time, but I never found the right Daddy, so the island sorta felt like a dream.”
“But you knew we didn’t want to be here,” Juliet presses.
“No, I didn’t.” That’s not entirely true. I think, deep down, I knew the truth. And hearing her say it out loud does nothing to break up the guilt-rock in my tummy. “I knew you didn’t like the exams, but well, that’s kind of part of it. The humiliation of being forced to do something you don’t want to do, like going to the doctor.”
“Wait.” Sitting back on her haunches, Natalie holds up her hands. “So you just thought it was part of the game. Part of the… kink.”
“Yes. It wasn’t until Doctor D kidnapped me that I started to realize maybe this island isn’t what I thought it was when I first came here.”
“He didn’t kidnap you.” Despite being on the quieter side, Isabella’s voice is firm. “You said you came here of your own free will.”
“I did. At first. But then I gave him my resignation a couple weeks ago and he asked me to go to a conference in New York with him. So I did, thinking we’d part ways there and I’d find somewhere new to live when we left. But… I don’t really know what happened. That last night in New York, I blacked out, and the next morning I woke up in his nursery, with him telling me I was his Little girl and there was nothing I could do about it.”
My friends all exchange looks, and it’s like they’re having a silent conversation right in front of me. And then, to my shock, Juliet grins. “Well, then. That settles it. Welcome to the family.”
Chapter Nineteen
Donovan
“Why won’t you tell me where we’re going?”
It’s the third time in less than fifteen minutes Camilla has asked that same question, the whine in her voice growing each time. Glancing at her in the rearview mirror, I raise one brow, and am immediately rewarded with an adorable pink blush. “If you ask me that one more time, I will pull over and put you over my knee right on the side of the road. Am I understood, little girl?”
“Yes, Daddy.” The reply is sulky, petulant, and I’m torn between wanting to laugh and wanting to spank her bottom red.
