Page 158 of Guardian Daddy

He’d decided to put on a cartoon. But she’d stared at the cartoon in confusion, not really understanding the point.

This was silly. When he came back from the bathroom, she was going to tell him there was no point.

She couldn’t do this.

Tears filled her eyes and she blinked them back. It wasn’t Ethan’s fault.

Ethan was perfect.

Maybe it was because she was out of her routine. Perhaps she was completely out of her comfort zone?

Or was it just her?

Frustration flooded her. Why couldn’t she get this right?

Picking up a cushion, she threw it at the floor. Okay, that actually felt quite good. Picking up another one, she threw it down too.

More. Why this felt so good, she wasn’t sure, but she ended up throwing all of the cushions off the sofa onto the floor. Then she tried to move the big sofa cushions that she’d been sitting on. But they were heavy, and she grunted in frustration.

“What are you doing? You’re going to hurt yourself. Cate, stop!” Ethan commanded.

But she wasn’t stopping.

To her shock, he picked her up around the waist and moved her back a few steps.

“Nooo!”

“Cate! What is going on?” he asked.

She kicked out with her feet, accidentally getting him in the leg as she tugged at his hands. “Daddy, let me go!”

Shock filled her and she nearly pushed her Little back. But Ethan set her on her feet, turning her toward him.

“Little girl, were you having a tantrum?”

It was building again . . . the frustration. The self-loathing.

Stop this.

It’s embarrassing. He doesn’t want to see you like this.

“I . . . I apologize.”

“Uh-uh. You’re not retreating from me now.”

There was a look on his face . . . he seemed determined?

“Catie-pie, if you wanted to build a fort, you should have asked Daddy. You aren’t allowed to move big things on your own,” he told her in a scolding voice.

“I wasn’t building a fort.” Although that sounded like a good idea. “I was frustrated.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Oh, so you were throwing a tantrum?”

Uh-oh. He’d just given her an out. And she’d ignored it. Unbidden, her hands moved behind to protect her bottom.

She wasn’t sure why, but she had this feeling that he was close to spanking her.

But that was just silly, right?

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