“Daddy,” I whisper, the word falling from my lips more easily than it should. More easily than anything has a right to, given that I’m currently upside down over a man’s shoulder in an entryway that probably has four cameras pointed at us.
“Good girl. Now, you’re going to be quiet while I take you upstairs and show you exactly what happens when you leave without permission.”
Chapter Seven
CALEB
I kickthe bedroom door shut behind me, cross the room in three strides, and set Nola onto the bed. She bounces once, hair fanning across the pillows, and looks up at me, breathless and flushed.
Her “Yes, Daddy” cut through the red haze of my fury. Two words that go straight past my anger to the part of me that wants to possess her completely. My cock throbs painfully against my zipper, the sight of her spread across my bed sending a jolt through me. She shouldn’t be here. No one should be here. And yet I can’t imagine her anywhere else now.
I stand over her, struggling to control my breathing, to slow the thundering of my heart. She looks up at me with those green eyes, not frightened but wary, cautious. Curious.
The fear I’d expected to see isn’t there. Not even after I carried her through my house like a goddamn caveman.
“Do you have any idea,” I say, my voice rough with the effort of restraint, “what it did to me when I couldn’t find you?”
She blinks, her lips parting slightly. “I was just?—”
“Forty-seven minutes.” The words taste bitter on my tongue. “Forty-seven minutes of not knowing where you were. Of searching every room in this goddamn place. Of imagining?—”
I cut myself off, unwilling to voice the scenarios my mind had conjured. Car accidents on mountain roads. Kidnappers who somehow breached my security. Her running, leaving, disappearing like everyone else eventually does.
“Caleb, I said I was sorry,” she says, and I believe her.
But sorry isn’t enough.
“You’re going to be.” I move closer, looming over her where she sits on the edge of my bed. “I’m going to make sure you remember this lesson, Nola. So you never, ever disappear on me again.”
Her pupils dilate, a flush creeping up her neck.
She’s turned on by this. By my dominance, my anger, my need to control her movements. By the idea of being punished.
Just like I am.
I’ve never shared this part of myself with anyone. Never trusted anyone enough to reveal this particular need. And yet with Nola, it emerged naturally from the first moment we kissed. Like she was made for this. Made for me.
I take a step back, creating space to think through the fog of arousal clouding my judgment.
“This is what’s going to happen,” I tell her, my voice steadier now. “I’m going to give you ten swats on that gorgeous ass of yours. One for each minute I thought you might be dead in a ditch somewhere.”
That’s a lie. I was panicking for far longer than ten minutes. But even in my current state, I know her limits. Ten is enough to make an impression without crossing into true pain.
“And if you take your punishment like a good girl,” I continue, watching her face carefully for any sign of discomfort with what I’m suggesting, “Daddy will reward you. I’ll lick that sweet cunt until you’re screaming. Give you my cock to soothe the sting.”
Her tongue darts out to wet her lips and my cock jerk in response.
“Yes, Daddy,” she says again.
Fuck. I’ll never get tired of hearing those words from her mouth.
But even through the haze of arousal and possessiveness, I know I need to be careful here. This is new territory for both of us, and I won’t risk really hurting her, no matter how much the darker parts of me want to mark her as mine.
“Before we do this,” I say, forcing myself to slow down, “we need a safeword.”
“A safeword,” she repeats thoughtfully. Then, with a small smile: “Lighthouse.”
“Lighthouse,” I echo, committing it to memory. “If you say that, everything stops. Immediately. No questions asked. Understand?”
