“But you cannot call me by that name,” he told her. “My name is North.”
Did that nickname annoy him? She smiled. For some reason, the idea of annoying North amused her. Maybe because it seemed like he never let much get to him.
“But I likes it. Don’t you likes it, Daddy?” she asked, letting more of her Little come out as she looked through the basket to see if there were any more clothes for Miss Melanie.
To her delight she found some more dresses and shoes and hats. Ooh, there were some pretty things here.
“Oh, yes,” Jared said. “I likes it.”
She grinned up at him, then over at North who was staring down at them both. This might be the most emotion she’d ever seen from him. He looked almost flummoxed.
“I will allow it. But only in private. Call me that in front of anyone else, and they’ll get a nice show of me spanking you.” He handed the onesie to Jared before leaving.
A pang of guilt hit her. “I didn’t upset him, did I?”
“No, if he was truly upset he’d say nothing at all. He’s fine. Although his threat was real. He really will spank you if you call him that in front of anyone else.”
Yeah, she didn’t think she should do that.
“Right, let’s get you dressed and then we can talk about these rules.”
She sighed and lay on her back on the rug, kicking her feet slightly. “I don’t want to talk about rules, Daddy! Rules are boring. I think that you should just let me do what I like.”
“Yeah, that’s not happening. You need rules so you know what you can and cannot do. Otherwise you might hurt yourself. Physically or emotionally. And I will not have you harmed in any way. You are mine to take care of. And that means I protect you. Even from yourself if necessary.”
Jeez.
How was she supposed to argue with that?
“All right, then maybe we should negotiate punishments,” she said as he started to draw off her pants. Hmm. She was just going to ignore him undressing her, she decided.
Except . . . would he see her scars?
No, he wasn’t behind her.
Maybe it would be a relief if he did. Then she wouldn’t have to push herself to tell him.
He slid the onesie onto her legs before sitting her up and pulling off her sweater and T-shirt. Then he fully dressed her.
Ooh, this was comfy. So soft and warm.
“Your feet and hands are still cold,” he said with a frown. “You need some of those onesies with the in-built hands and feet. I’ll check whether North turned up the heat.” He rubbed her hands and feet to warm them up. “I should exhume that fucker’s body. And beat on him.”
“That wouldn’t achieve much.”
“Would make me feel better.”
43
Yes, he knew that was crazy.
Did he care?
Fuck, no.
He was fairly certain he’d change his mind after he calmed down. But for the moment, he needed something to focus on.
What about Antony? You could focus on messing that fucker up.
