Series: Paige Michaels
Total pages in book: 47
Estimated words: 44554 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 223(@200wpm)___ 178(@250wpm)___ 149(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 44554 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 223(@200wpm)___ 178(@250wpm)___ 149(@300wpm)
Obviously she was a terrible Little and needed to reevaluate her kink entirely. She knew there were a lot of Littles and Daddies living in this town. Somehow they all managed to exist in vanilla society without making fools of themselves. How did they do it? Why couldn’t she?
She was surprised to find the house dark and Tom’s truck gone. Maybe he was still at his parents’ house trying to explain himself. Making excuses for Elizabeth. Or maybe he was over there pretending he had no idea why she’d called him Daddy.
Elizabeth liked that story line better. Maybe he’d feigned ignorance and laughed it off to save face. He could tell them he hadn’t really known Elizabeth that well and she was apparently not who he’d thought she was. Perhaps they were all sitting around laughing about it.
That made Elizabeth sad, but it also would save Tom from humiliation. Now what? He wasn’t home. She should wait for him. But it was cold outside.
After chewing on her lip and pondering her options for a few minutes, she decided to go inside. She knew he didn’t lock the back door. She would go inside, wait for him, apologize when he arrived, and then go home and figure out what to do next in her life.
Taking only her purse and Hortense with her, she finally got out of the car and headed for the back door.
She felt like an intruder in his home. Like she didn’t belong. As soon as she was inside, she set her purse on the kitchen table, hugged Hortense to her chest, and wandered from room to room. Keeping her arms crossed around her hippo, she didn’t touch a thing. She had no right to touch his things.
She didn’t even sit on his furniture. She simply paced the living room and kitchen for a while until she was magnetically drawn toward the nursery.
Maybe she was punishing herself by going into the room. She had to swallow back her sobs as she stepped inside. A nightlight illuminated the room enough that she didn’t need to turn the lights on to see. A nightlight Daddy had bought her. A purple hippo nightlight that gave a lavender hue to everything in the room.
The nursery was filled with all the added accents her Daddy had purchased for her. Not some other Little girl. Her.
Her fingers were trembling when she finally lowered her arms and let herself touch the soft purple comforter he’d carefully tucked into the daybed/crib. It was the nicest thing anyone had ever done for her. Her Daddy was so thoughtful. So sweet and fun and sexy and playful. He was hardworking and dedicated and loving. Everyone liked him. How could they not?
And she’d blown it.
More tears fell down her face. Where was he? Why hadn’t he come home yet?
She was so drawn to the bed. So tired. Drained from crying and worrying. She couldn’t resist pulling the soft comforter back, kicking off her shoes, and climbing under the covers.
Elizabeth had no intention of letting herself get too comfortable. She just wanted to snuggle one more time in this oasis. She would easily hear the car pull up and jump back out of the bed with her tail between her legs.
Her paci was on the pillow, and she popped it in her mouth as she curled up on her side, hugging Hortense to her chest.
I’ll just close my eyes for a rest and pretend I haven’t fucked up my life.
Chapter Twelve
“Elizabeth? Elizabeth? Honey, are you here?”
At the sound of her name, Elizabeth blinked her eyes open, the fog slowly lifting. It took her about two seconds to realize where she was. She’d fallen asleep. A woman was calling her name.
Oh, God. Susan. It was Susan.
Elizabeth shoved the covers to the side and jumped to her feet. Holy shit, she could see the play of colors against the wall. The sun was coming up. When she gasped, the pacifier in her mouth fell out and landed on the floor.
Heart pounding, she spun in a quick circle before rushing out of the room. The last thing she wanted was for Susan to come into this room. That would compound her horror to a level she wouldn’t survive.
Racing from the room, she yanked the door shut behind her and hurried toward the living room.
Susan was heading toward her and they nearly collided. If Susan hadn’t reached out to steady Elizabeth by grabbing her shoulders, she might have fallen on her butt.
“Oh, goodness, honey. I’m so glad I found you. Are you okay?”
Elizabeth took a step back, breaking the connection. Dumbfounded. Scared out of her mind. Speechless. What was Susan doing here?
Susan reached out and tucked a lock of hair behind Elizabeth’s ear, the gesture so kind Elizabeth didn’t know how to process it. “Tom’s been looking for you all night, honey. He’s worried sick.”