Time for a reality check.
“It is while you’re under my roof. My house. My rules. Remember?”
She suddenly looked nervous which he didn’t like. Yeah, he could be an asshole. He could be dangerous.
But he’d never, ever harm her.
“I didn’t agree to any of that, remember?” she said with a bravado that he was certain she didn’t feel.
He ran a finger down her cheek. “I’m going to take good care of you while you’re here, Angie. But I am a man who likes to be in charge. You’d do well to remember that. I’m always the boss. And if I’m not around then North is the boss.”
“Ah, no, he isn’t,” she countered. “And I’m not doing what either of you say.”
“Then you’re going to find yourself in trouble,” Jared told her.
“What will you do? Beat me?” she asked.
“Never,” he vowed. “Like I told you, I‘m not my father. I’d never hurt you. What I want to do is very far from hurting you.”
“Unless it’s a hot bottom,” North pointed out. “I told her that I would keep track of her transgressions for you.”
The look she gave North would have fried a lesser person. But North just stared back at her calmly.
“No one is spanking me for what I did while I was kidnapped.”
“You’re right.” Jared nodded. “I won’t spank you for anything you didbeforeI was in charge of you.”
“Grr. You’re not in charge of me.”
“She talked badly about herself,” North said.
“Someone needs to gag you.” She pointed at him.
“Even gagged he has a way of getting his point across,” Jared told her. “And no more talking badly about yourself. I’ve already told you that. If you keep doing it, I might need to gag you.”
Her face shut down.
A trigger.
His fucking father had a lot to answer for.
“We’ll put that on the No list,” he told her.
“No list?” she asked.
“Something you absolutely won’t allow us to do to you,” Jared explained.
“You might as well add spankings to that list. And anything else you come up with.”
“Spankings scare you?” he asked.
Her eyes shot to the side. “Yes.”
Oh, she was so naughty. That was definitely a lie.
“She’s lying,” North said.
“Thank you,” he said dryly. “I couldn’t tell. Lying isn’t allowed, Angie.”
