Page 36 of His Sassy Little

“You can’t promise that.” Her voice was barely above a whisper and she still wasn’t looking him in the eye, her gaze unfocused.

“You’re right. I can’t promise that, but what I can promise is that no matter what happens, I will not stop until you are safe. You understand? I. Will. Not. Stop.” At that, her bright green eyes finally met his, “I want you to know something. You need to pay close attention, Baby.” He stroked her cheek, “You listening?”

Arabella nodded her head, “Yes, Daddy, I’m listening.”

“Nothing is more important than your safety. If the worst happens, if he somehow gets you, you do what it takes to stay as safe as possible. I’ll be coming for you, and if I can’t come for you, someone will. You’re not alone anymore, you have a big ass family that’ll do anything for you. You stay strong, you stay safe, and you never forget we’re coming. Understand?”

A tear slipped down Arabella’s cheek as she bobbed her head in agreement, “But you’ll keep him from getting me, right? I won’t need to remember because you won’t let anything happen to me if you can help it.”

“That’s right, Baby. I won’t.” He slid his hand from her cheek around the back of her head and kissed her slowly and with all the feelings he had in his soul. She was his everything and he’d be damned if he let anything happen to her. “Pup will be over later so we can get a tracker on you. If by some twist of fate he gets his hands on you, hopefully we’ll know where you are.”

Arabella’s shocked look could not deter Tanner from the matter at hand.

“Now, back to this sit down…”

Arabella giggled and his heart soared that even in a tense time such as this, she could find a bit of joy. “It isn’t important considering what’s going on. Besides, after that call, I don’t have the same concerns that I did before. It drove home why all the things that were driving me crazy are really necessary.”

Tanner carded his fingers through her hair and brought her down to kiss her forehead, “That’s my good girl. If you ever do have concerns, just tell me you need a sit-down and we’ll do this. I respect your feelings and your concerns, Little Hurricane. You’ll always be safe to bring them to me, understand?”

“Yes, Daddy. Thank you so much.” Arabella wrapped her hands around his neck, rested her head on his shoulder, and settled in. Tanner could honestly say he’d never been more comfortable than he was at that moment.

Tanner lay awake later that night. Pup had come and gone, leaving Arabella with a necklace containing a tracking device, and now they were in bed. He knew that the phone conversation was likely to trigger a nightmare for his girl and he was determined to be ready. As he waited, he thought about the evening.

He couldn’t blame Arabella for being frustrated. Even he knew his protectiveness the last several days had been over the top. He couldn’t help himself. She was everything to him and the thought of anything happening to her gutted him. He might need to ease up, though, he wanted her safe, but he also needed to be aware of her mental wellbeing.

Maybe he could find a way to keep her mind off things. She wasn’t much of a girly girl, more like a tomboy, but he’d noticed that she liked to keep her toes painted. Maybe he could give her a pedicure tomorrow. He was pretty sure they had everything he’d need and wouldn’t have to go anywhere. He’d look into it in the morning.

“You’re thinking too loud, Daddy.” Arabella mumbled sleepily, interrupting his thoughts.

“I thought you were sleeping, Little Hurricane.”

“I was, but your mind was working so loud, it woke me up.”

Tanner pulled her naked body closer and kissed his way up her neck, mumbling apologies.

“Why don’t you go back to sleep?” he whispered when he reached her ear.

“I have a better idea,” she murmured as she turned to face him, throwing a leg over his hip and moving so her sweet pussy was cradling his already hard cock, “Why don’t I wear you out, so you’ll sleep too?”

“Mmmm, and how do you plan to do that?” he asked, already palming one of her breasts and pinching a nipple.

“I could explain, but it’d be much more fun to show you.” She pressed on his shoulder, pushing him to his back as she proceeded to mount him and rock his world.

Chapter Thirty

The days dragged by with agonizing slowness, nothing much changed from day to day since Daddy and Arabella didn’t go anywhere. Each day, she met new lower-level members of the club as they rotated in and out on perimeter patrol.

She was finally able to go out into the backyard due to the extra security. She’d gotten great at climbing that tree. She was anxious for the day she beat Daddy to the top and escaped the tickle monster.

Daddy had given her a pedicure while watching a YouTube tutorial on how to do it. He’d been so cute, the whole time mumbling at the screen about how “this can’t possibly be safe,” or “that looks like grating cheese,” but when he’d painted her toes painstakingly slowly, she’d practically melted. She’d expected him to paint them some God-awful shade of pink but she should have known better. Daddy knew her better than anyone ever had, and he proved it when he painted her toes a sparkling black. It was a perfect day that she knew she’d always remember.

Since her semi-blow up, he’d been more attentive about keeping her distracted. They’d had a Tim Burton marathon, played Twister–which had led to a very fun and invigorating afternoon–and built a giant castle, complete with moat, out of Legos in her playroom.

Packages had been arriving almost daily with things to do that day. There were wall decals for her playroom, board games, card games, playroom décor, so much stuff that Arabella was beginning to feel a little self-conscious about it. She knew he wanted to distract her, but Arabella was beginning to feel Daddy was doing too much.

This time, when she was feeling a certain way, she didn’t throw a tantrum. Arabella just calmly asked for a sit-down, and true to his word, Daddy sat with her on his lap, listened to her concerns and took them to heart. Now, packages were coming less frequently, and Arabella had complete faith in the whole sit-down process.

Arabella and Daddy were playing a rousing game of knights and dragons when Daddy’s phone rang. They had an agreement that if they were doing something together, he’d let it ring and only answer if the caller called back right away. Daddy had told everyone important this signal, so when the phone silenced and immediately began to ring again, Daddy answered.

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