Oh, okay then. I’d gotten it wrong.
“Language,” I said, determined to fix that. It wasn’t the meltdown he’d had a week ago, but he was definitely pushing to make sure I still meant it. “And baby, I know you’re asking for a spanking, but you’re going to have to wait a bit.”
I adjusted the rearview mirror so I could still drive but also see him… just in time to catch him rolling his eyes as he started fiddling with his left earlobe again. “I’m notaskingfor anything.”
It was true. He didn’t ask... so it was a good thing I could read him well enough to figure out when he needed something anyway.
“Besides,” he added after a minute. “We can’t really do that while we’re there, right? I mean, that would just be weird. Us getting all kinky with your whole family just down the hall?”
“You’re my boy, Jordan,” I said firmly. “If you need a spanking, I don’t care where we are. I’malwaysgoing to take care of you.”
He huffed, adjusting his hat again as he looked out the passenger window. “Except right now,” he muttered under his breath.
I grinned. The times he melted into submission fulfilled a deeply satisfying need in me I hadn’t even realized was there before Jordan… but when he was in a bratty huff? I definitely loved that side of him, too.
“So youwereasking for a spanking?” I teased.
He rolled his eyes again. “No,Daddy. Who asks for that kind of thing?”
Well, according to the internet, about twenty percent of the population... but it was kind of adorable that he was fighting it so hard.
“If I remember correctly, you did,” I reminded him. “Back when you wrote that letter to Santa, petal.”
“What, that Cuffd app thing? You know that was just me trying to get more subscribers, right?”
“Okay,” I said, biting back a smile. “No more spankings. My mistake.”
“Dude.”
I laughed. “Don’t worry, sweetheart. I know what youreallymean. And I told you before, it would have to wait... not that it’s not coming.”
His cheeks turned a gorgeous shade of pink as he slanted a look at me. “What, you mean when we get to your parents’ house? You do remember that I’m not, like, very quiet, right? You’re not going to do that where your family might hear.”
I grinned. I hadn’t heard him saying no… or denying that I could see right through him.
“We’ll be staying above the garage,” I told him. “They converted it to a guest suite, so you can be as loud as you need to be.”
“Good to know,” he mumbled, his knee bouncing again.
Still nervous. Okay then, back to the distraction plan from earlier.
He was still holding my phone, jiggling it against his thigh with every bounce of his knee, and I reached over and tapped it to get his attention.
“Open the chat thread, petal,” I said firmly, hating that I was stuck driving when what he really needed was something more physical, but determined to at least dosomething for him. “Take a look at what the girls sent me the other day.”
Instead, Jordan looked out the passenger window again, making no move to do what I’d just told him to. And it wasn’t that I needed him to do it for any reason other than getting his mind off whatever was making him so anxious—it was just a reaction video Kate and Lizzie had made to one of his—but since he normally responded with relief when I took charge, this was… not normal.
“Jordan?” I asked, changing lanes as we passed the sign for our exit, then reaching over to wrap a hand around the back of his neck. “Is everything okay, baby?”
“Yeah, great,” he said too quickly for it to be true. “We should wait on looking at your sisters’ thing, though, because we’re almost there, right?”
“Almost,” I said. “It’s the next exit, and then about 10 minutes to the house.”
“Great,” he said, tossing my phone back into the center console and then taking his hat off to scrub his fingers through his hair before pulling it back on and staring out the passenger window again. “Perfect.”
I frowned, knowing I was failing him somehow and hating how clueless I felt about how to fix that. I could figure it out, though. Step one? Buy a little more time before introducing him to my family.
I took the freeway exit, then turned right, pulling into a gas station instead of going left toward Mom’s house. I still had half a tank, but might as well top off while I figured out what Jordan needed.
