Page 9 of His Sassy Little

Even though he was fuming, he gentled his voice when he said, “Thought I told you to stay.”

“You… you did. I…”

“I know I am not your Daddy… yet… but you are currently under my protection. When I give you an order that involves your safety, I expect you to follow it.”

His hands were still on her shoulders, and he gently rubbed his thumbs in circles trying to soothe her since he didn’t think he could get the next words out without at least some of his anger and worry bleeding into his tone.

“What you don’t do, Little Hurricane, is ignore the order and run straight into danger.”

Yep, he’d been right, more than a little of his anger came through in his tone and Arabella’s face paled even more. Her skin resembled a ghost now more than a living person. Tanner cursed himself. He was scaring her when that was the last thing he wanted to do.

When Arabella’s eyes glazed over and became unfocused he knew she’d gone back in time. She was no longer seeing him, instead she was seeing her ex. She wasn’t hearing a stern voice concerned for her safety, but was hearing whatever bullshit he used to spout.

Tanner lowered his voice and gentled his tone as much as he possibly could and set about trying to get her back to the present before she had another panic attack.

“Hey, Little Hurricane. It’s me, baby, it’s Tanner. I’m not going to hurt you. I will never hurt you. Yes, I am angry you put your safety at risk, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to hurt you.”

He gently cupped her cheek with one hand rubbing his thumb over her cheekbone.

“Come back to me, Babydoll.”

If anything, Arabella seemed to get even more distant at that, but she did manage one whispered word.

“Don’t”.

Tanner decided to use that to get her back to him. Asking questions she’d have to answer seemed like a good way to pull her back.

“Don’t what, Baby?”

She began to tremble, and Tanner knew he needed to get her back with him now.

“What don’t you want me to do, Little Hurricane? Just tell me so I never do it again.”

“Don’t call me ‘Doll’.”

Her voice was barely audible, but she’d answered so he continued asking questions.

“Why don’t you like that name, Little One? Did he call you that?”

She nodded her head instead of a verbal answer, but at least he knew she was hearing and following along.

“Ok, I’ll never use the name again. I don’t want to do or say anything to be compared to him. Besides, ‘Little Hurricane’ fits you better.”

When she chuckled and some of the color returned to her cheeks, he finally took a full breath.

“There you are. Let’s get you back to the car and get out of here. What do you say?”

“Ok, Daddy.”

Fuck, he couldn’t wait for the day she called him that intentionally.

“On the way, we can discuss a punishment you can handle for that little stunt you pulled back there.”

When he saw her mouth twitch, he knew she was fully out of the woods. If he’d wondered at all, her next words would have cured it.

“Oh, you mean when I distracted the twat waffle?”

“Nope.” He popped the p, “When you deliberately ignored my order and waltzed your fine ass right into danger.”

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