Page 15 of Daddy's Rule

I opened it and peered over the top of my reading glasses I wore for work. "Erin Adler. Twenty-one years old." I whistled. "She's young." We had made twenty-one the minimum age, but I hadn't really expected to get a client that young. The submissives that had given me the idea had been women in their late thirties and early forties.

"A pre-med student at the University," Theo read, "so she's smart."

"Needs help with time-management and deadlines and not partying away the weekends." I looked up over the top of my computer. "Match her with Lennon, maybe?"

Theo snorted. "Nada. The last thing we need is for Lennon to be tempted to relive his glory days."

"Oh yeah. Good point." Lennon, the only creative one among us, had only recently within the last few years tempered down his partying level so that it matched the rest of us. We all knew how to let off steam and have a good time, but Lennon had stayed stuck in his college mindset for far too long. "Bain, maybe? I feel like he's the type to end up with a much younger woman."

"Right? But we're not running a matchmaking service here. We're actually doing the opposite, trying to match submissives with willing disciplinarians who aren't going to try to have sex with them. That's the goal."

"If that's the goal, should we even match Bain with anyone?" I was only half joking.

"The best match for a young college student, if I was going to pick any of you, would be Theo." Nyla spoke up.

"Me? Why me?"

"You had hands down the best study habits of all of us. You were dedicated to school, sometimes to a fault. You've managed to chill out and carve out a nice work-life balance for yourself, and you have the most distinguished and mature look out of the group of potential Daddies. A girl that young is going to need that."

I listened to every word she said and nodded my agreement. "She's not wrong, Theo; you're the best man for the job."

He stifled a groan, then smiled. "Well, hot damn, I guess we've got our first official client. I'll send her an email and arrange to meet later this week."

He gathered up his stuff and left the room, leaving Nyla and me alone. She was looking at me with a far-away expression on her face.

"Penny for your thoughts?" I asked.

She shrugged. "Just thinking that you were right. There is a definite need for it. And it's more than just the kink side of things. It’s needing the connection, the accountability to someone other than yourself. I never really thought about it that way, but I see it now. This fills a need. There is a market."

"Thank you." I grinned. "It's good to be right."

She crumpled up a piece of paper and threw it at me. "Don't get cocky, Bas. I said there was a need. I didn't say it would work. That remains to be seen."

"Oh yeah? Does it? Tell me, have you had any recent urges to go out and drink way too much, or have you been cured of that?"

She scowled. "Very funny. And it's not the same. It's not like I was out doing that every night and you spanking me one night is what's keeping me from doing it. I never, ever do that. It was a one-time thing. Asking you to spank me was because I felt guilty and stupid, not because I was worried I’d go right out and do it again."

"Potato-potahto."

Nyla rolled her eyes, and I found myself tamping down the urge to threaten her and call her “little girl”. She had been goading me for the last several minutes. Nothing serious and no rule breaking, but if we had been home, I'd have bent her over for a few playful warning swats. Keeping up the work/home dynamic balance was going to be harder than I thought. I wanted to treat her like an equal, but I also wanted to have the upper hand.

Casting my gaze around the empty conference room, I smirked, gathering up my computer and coffee mug as I prepared to deliver one good zinger before walking away.

"Get your work done. You need your afternoon free to work on your to-do list."

I walked out smirking while she was still gaping. One to-do list item every weekday. That had been our agreement. Some of the things were simple, like opening a new bank account, but others were harder, like hiring a lawyer and filing for divorce.

All of them were things that overwhelmed her, that she didn't want to do, giving me plenty of potential reasons to spank her pretty behind. And I had just reminded her of that fact.

Chapter Seven

Nyla

I'd meant what I said. I wasn't sure this whole Rent-A-Daddy thing would actually work. Or maybe I was afraid it would work too well, and they'd get overbooked, and Bas would have to spend all his free time spanking forgotten cougars and needy college students and have no time left for me.

As much as I hated to admit it, I feared that was the more probable outcome. Having a daddy who cared about you, who expected you to follow rules, and was committed to punishing you if you didn't, it just hit different. As much as I despised change and tended to procrastinate adulty things, I found myself wanting to cross the stupid tasks off the list he had made, if for no other reason than to please him.

So I finished updating the websites, pulled up my favorite graphic design software, and whipped up a few different flier options before uploading them to a drive and heading out to a print shop. I could have printed them out at the office, but with big jobs it was usually more cost effective to outsource. Besides, the print shop was right by the bank, and as much as I secretly loved the feelings I got when Bas spanked me, I also wasn't too keen on giving him reasons to do so–so today, I would be opening a brand- new bank account. Bas had even given me a personal loan with which to do so, just a couple grand that would give me a cushion until the next month's payments rolled out.

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