Page 19 of Margo

Truthfully, she couldn’t wait to see what letting him be her Daddy would entail. She knew she’d test and push. It was who she was. But if this afternoon was any indicator, Knox was up to the challenge.

Drawing a ragged breath, she put forth her first test. “Daddy?” she asked in her sweetest voice, looking up at him with wide eyes and batting her eyelashes. “I’ve learned my lesson. I won’t get in fights with my friends, and I won’t push people away, and I’ll stop trying so hard to be perfect. But since I took my spanking like a good girl, and learned my lesson, and it wasn’t my fault anyway, I think we can skip the switching, don’t you?”

Knox

He had to smile at how smoothly she’d worked that in, but Knox wasn’t born yesterday. He knew a test when he saw one, and he was determined not to fail.

He stood, righting her Pull-up and leggings, and looked down at her with amusement. “The first thing you need to learn about me as a Daddy, little girl, is that once I say something, I won’t go back on my word. I told you you were going to feel a switch on your bottom, and you are.”

Margo sighed, furrowed her brow, and looked around the room. “Do you have a switch in here?”

“No, missy. I do not. We’re gonna go cut one.” He patted his pocket where his trusty Swiss Army knife always was.

Margo gasped. “Little girls shouldn’t play with knives!” She spoke in an accusatory tone as if she was already keeping a tally of pros and cons and this was a mark against him.

Knox kept his expression flat and his tone even. “First of all, cutting under supervision is not the same as playing. If it were, y’all wouldn’t be having kitchen duty every day. I know you use knives just fine in the kitchen.”

He waited a beat and decided a negative mark on her mental tally straight out of the gate wasn’t the way to go. “But regardless of that all being true, you’ll do the choosing, and I’ll do the cutting.”

“Yes, Daddy,” Margo responded with a resigned sigh that let him know he’d won that round.

“C’mon, little one.” He held out his hand and took hers. “Let’s get this over with. I need to look in on your friends first, make sure they’re napping like they should be, then we’ll go down to the courtyard. There’s a tree there that should have plenty of nice switches to choose from.”

“I’m pretty sure ‘nice switches’ is an oxymoron,” Margo informed him with a groan.

But she followed him as he peeked in each of the rooms and confirmed that all the girls were sleeping soundly. He looked at Margo’s tear-streaked face and red-rimmed eyes. She needed a nap too.

They got on the elevator and rode it down to the ground level. There was a small courtyard between the casino and the convention center with benches, trees, and a small garden. He didn’t know what Baze’s plans for it were in the future but making a switching garden for naughty Littles had his vote. That was exactly how he planned to use it today.

He guided Margo out the garden doors to the center of the courtyard where a large birch tree stood in the center, surrounded by flowers, even though it was late December. Knox shook his head. That was Vegas for you.

“This is the tree, little one. Pick your switch.”

Margo looked up at the branches and shook her head. “I don’t wanna.”

“I’m sure you don’t, but you’re gonna do it anyway, because if I have to do it for you, you’re gonna get twice as many.”

“Crap on a cracker!” Margo exclaimed. “Oh okay, fine!” She marched around the tree, examining all the branches, before stopping and pointing. “That one.”

Knox trained himself to keep a blank expression as he surveyed her choice. It was thinner than one he would have picked, and, therefore, much more stingy and painful. He could tell by Margo’s triumphant expression that she wasn’t privy to that bothersome little fact.

“That’ll work,” he said, taking his knife from his pocket and cutting it down. He cut a few extras too, and leaned them against the tree, holding on to the one she had picked.

Margo eyed them suspiciously. “What are those for?”

“Those are for just in case.”

“Just in case what?”

“Just in case the one you picked breaks, and in case I need to use a switch on any of your friends later.”

Margo didn’t seem to like that answer as she crossed her arms over her chest and glowered at him. “Listen…” She stopped short after just one word and sighed. “I don’t want you to think I’m topping from the bottom cause I’m not trying to, and it has nothing to do with me. I’ll submit to your punishment.”

“Okay… where’s the but? I’m listening, little one.” He focused his attention on plucking the leaves from Margo’s switch and whittling it smooth so there were no poky knobs sticking out.

“You can’t use a switch on Mariah. Her parents used to and I’m pretty sure she’d freak out. She’s said before it would be a hard limit, but I don’t know if it’s on any of Baze’s notes because he isn’t a switch kinda guy and it probably hasn’t come up.”

Knox nodded. “Understood. Thank you for letting me know. What about using a switch on someone in front of Mariah? Would that trigger her also?”