Total pages in book: 145
Estimated words: 146666 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 733(@200wpm)___ 587(@250wpm)___ 489(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 146666 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 733(@200wpm)___ 587(@250wpm)___ 489(@300wpm)
Right.
So, you should move.
She tried to get off his lap. But as soon as she tried, the panic started to return. Her heart raced; she felt ill.
He moved his hands down her back. “Not ready to move yet, huh? That’s okay. There’s no hurry.”
She snuggled into him again. She’d have to move at some stage. Eventually, the poor guy was going to want to pee.
“Is there anything that might help?” he asked.
She took a deep breath, trying to think. “Umm.”
“You can tell me.”
“I . . . I don’t want you to think I’m silly.”
“Hey, I am here to take care of you. Anything that you need isn’t silly.”
“God, you’re so nice. And I’m being so damn selfish. I bet you’re regretting saying yes to Aidan’s favor, huh? You didn’t expect his sister to be batshit crazy and attach herself like a leech to you.”
“Whoa. What did I just say about calling yourself names? So you’re going to stop that right now, Little girl. Or I’m going to forget that you don’t actually belong to me, understand?”
Damn it.
What was he doing?
Hack shook his head. He could make all the damn rules he liked, but the fact was that he couldn’t enforce them.
He had no right to boss her around or punish her. As much as he thought she might need the structure of having rules and boundaries . . . and someone to enforce those boundaries.
“I’m sorry, Greer. I shouldn’t have said that.”
“What would you do if I was yours?” she asked.
He eyed her. “I’m not sure I should say.”
“Okay.” She glanced away, looking ashamed.
He didn’t like that. Grabbing her chin, he turned her face back. “I don’t want to frighten you.”
She huffed out a breath. “I’m not easily frightened.”
Umm.
“Okay. Let me rephrase that. I’m scared of a lot of things. Snowstorms. Moles shaped like sickles. Going back home. Seeing my long-lost younger brother and finding out where he was. Men in masks holding machetes. Although I think that fear is very reasonable. Being alone for the rest of my life. But I am not frightened of you. Or what you’re about to say. I feel strangely safe with you. I wouldn’t be sitting on your lap like this if I didn’t.”
“All right. If you really want to know, if you were mine and you broke a rule I set for you, then I’d likely punish you.”
“Oh.” Her eyes widened, but she didn’t look frightened. More . . . intrigued.
Interesting.
“How would you punish me?”
8
Yikes.
Had she really just asked him that? Now, would be a really good time to get off his lap.
She closed her eyes. “I’m invisible. I’m invisible.”
“There’s no reason to be embarrassed.”
“I think there is. Can we forget this ever happened? I’m invisible. I’m invisible.”
“I’d spank you,” he said suddenly.
Not only was she embarrassed, but now he wanted to spank her . . . no, wait. He was answering her question.
“What?” she asked, opening her eyes to look up at him.
“If you were mine and you broke the rules I gave you, then I’d spank you. Unless spanking was a hard limit. Because we would always discuss things like that first. There are other punishments I could give you. Writing lines. Going to bed early. I could take something away from you for a few hours. Ground you. Make you sit in the corner.”
She gaped at him.
Greer longed for someone who’d care if she worked too many hours or walked outside late at night or wasn’t eating properly. She wanted to come first with someone. She wanted to matter.
But she was too scared to go looking for what she needed. Which is how she’d ended up talking to Daddies online.
She wondered why Hack didn’t have a girlfriend? He seemed almost too good to be true.
Shit. Maybe he did have a girlfriend. Nooo. He wouldn’t be touching or talking to her like this if he did, right?
She stared up at him. “Do you have a girlfriend?”
His eyes widened. “What? No.”
“Oh, thank God.”
He just continued to stare at her.
“I just meant . . . because I would feel terrible . . . over this.” She waved her hand at where she was sitting on his lap.
Dear. Lord.
“Ahh. Right.”
He brushed her hair back from her face. “Are you all right, Squash?”
“Yes. Sorry, wait . . . Squash? Really? Oh my God! Am I squashing you?”
“What? No! I thought I could use it instead of pumpkin. You are not squashing me.”
“If you move on to calling me Sweet Potato, I will have to hurt you,” she warned.
His lips twitched. “I don’t know. Sweet Potato has a certain ring to it that I quite like.”
She groaned. “You’re going to call me Sweet Potato from now on, aren’t you?”
“I’m considering it. There are a lot of possibilities around potatoes. Sweet Potato Pie. Or we could move to Tater Tot. Or how about Hash Brown? Hmm . . . yes, I’m getting all sorts of creative thoughts.”