“Yes, baby?”

“You said Daddies always keep their promises. Right?”

His hand ran down her hair, giving the comfort she sought. “Always, baby.”

“Will you promise me that if you ever stop loving me, you’ll tell me? I don’t want to have to guess. I’d rather you just be honest with me.” It was, for reasons she couldn’t name, a worry that had plagued her ever since his earlier declaration.

“I’m afraid I can’t promise you that, baby.”

“Why not?”

“Because.” Even in the dark, his lips found hers easily. And now there was heat and need alongside the comfort. “I promise to love you forever, Lizzie baby. You can fight me, you can defy me, you can be as big of a brat as you need to be. And I will love you through it, every step of the way. I will learn every inch of your heart as thoroughly as I plan to know every inch of your beautiful body. Nothing will ever stop me from loving you, Lizzie. I promise.”

She gave herself over to the heat and the need as his hands roamed her skin, learning what made her gasp with pleasure, what made her squirm, and what made her blush with shame even as she begged for more. Just as he’d promised.

By the time she finally fell into an exhausted sleep hours later, she was thoroughly and completely convinced that her Daddy would keep every promise he made to her.

EPILOGUE

Three Months Later

Shifting in her seat yet again, Eliza winced at the renewed ache in her ass. Not just from the very thorough paddling her Daddy had given her to help her “process her emotions” about their trip, but also from the giant plug he’d seated in her bottom right before he’d hurried her down to the car.

“We’re almost there, baby.” His voice held a note of sympathy that did little to soothe her annoyance with the situation.

“Yeah, and then I have to sit on the hard ass chairs in my parents’ dining room and pretend my butt isn’t fucking killing me.”

Today was a Big Girl day. She’d earned a handful of them so far, but she’d been saving this one because there was no way she could get through a whole day with her parents without dropping a few f-bombs.

Naughty words were her favorite part of Big Girl days. Especially because they made Daddy scowl, much like he was doing right now.

“Eliza, I know today is a Big Girl day, but let me remind you that being allowed to use naughty words is not the same as being allowed to be rude. If you swear at your parents, I will take you to the bathroom, remove your plug, and smother it with the naughty lube before putting it back in your bottom. And you will still receive your normal naughty word punishment when we get back to the hotel.”

The “normal” punishment being a paddling with a mouthful of soap and the pacifier gag. After it had worked so well the first time around, Daddy had employed it each and every time she got caught using naughty words. Which had only been a few times over the past three months, because it really was, much to Eliza’s dismay, an incredibly effective punishment.

“I’ll be good as long as they’re not assholes,” she muttered, sliding down in her seat a bit and glaring out the window.

“You’re making me wonder if I need to pull this car over and warm your bottom again before we arrive, little girl.”

“I’m not Little today, remember?”

“Hmm.” Reaching over, he ran a hand over her hair, giving it a gentle tug. “You’re always my Little girl, even on your Big Girl days.”

It was true, even if it still embarrassed her to admit it out loud. She’d gotten used to being his Little girl, and some days she even enjoyed being his baby. They had even tried diapers again, when she wasn’t in trouble, and it hadn’t been horrible. But diapers were still definitely not her favorite thing even when she was feeling very Little and actually using them to potty in was still firmly on her hard limits list.

A list that had grown a good bit over the past few months. The more they explored together, the more comfortable she felt telling him when something was Too Much and needed to be put on the list. And the list varied. There were some things that were okay for Big Eliza but off-limits for Little Lizzie, and vice versa.

Some days she thought the list was getting too long. But Daddy always reassured her that she could put as many things on the list as she wanted and he would still love her.

And she believed him.

Just like she believed him that he would fill her bottom with the stingy peppermint oil lube if she was rude to her parents. A fact she tried to keep in mind as they parked in front of the giant brick house she’d grown up in.

“Ready, baby?”

“Yeah. I guess.”

Today was the first time she was going to be seeing her parents face-to-face since starting her medication. Dr. Williams, a jovial woman with a gorgeous English accent, had agreed almost immediately with Dr. Denten’s diagnosis of ADHD. Only she referred to it as being “neuro-sparkly” and made Eliza giggle like crazy whenever they had an appointment together.