Page 36 of Learning Little Lizzie

“It just is,” she whispered back, as quietly as she could.

“That’s not an answer, El.”

“It’s all the answer I have right now.”

“But you hate ageplay.”

She did. Or at least, she’d always thought she did. She was still very very certain that she would die of embarrassment if someone tried to put a diaper on her, but the Good Girl chart was kinda fun. And the clothes he’d picked out for her weren’t awful. “Like I said, it’s?—”

“Miss Bennett. Miss Remington. Do you have something to share with the class?”

Heat rushed to Eliza’s cheeks as she whipped her head back around. “No, Sir.”

“Then I suggest you save your conversation for between classes.”

“Yes, Sir,” she and Harmony responded in unison.

She tried to pay attention after that. She really did. But he’d been helping her with her math homework pretty much every night, and she’d gotten the exact same walkthrough of all the problems on the board already, so it wasn’t long before her attention began to drift again. Sliding down in her seat a bit, she slipped her hand into her backpack and carefully pulled out her phone.

Ugh. She kept forgetting all her games were locked down during the day. But there were new messages in the group chat. Swiping it open, she grinned at Dan and Kylie’s back and forth over some video game they’d both started playing recently.

“Miss Bennett.”

Oh, shit. Snapping her head up, she wished fervently for a hole to open in the ground and swallow her. “Sir?”

“Come here, please. And bring your phone.”

Dozens of wide-eyed gazes followed her as she made her way up to the front of the classroom. Professor Eaton held out his hand, and she obediently placed her phone in his palm.

When he spoke, his voice was low enough so only she could hear, but it didn’t stop the entire class from leaning forward in their seats to listen. “I do not want to embarrass you in front of your friends, Eliza. But if you continue acting like a naughty Little girl who can’t follow the rules, then that is exactly how I will treat you, starting by putting you over my knee and spanking your bare bottom in front of the entire class. Do we have an understanding?”

Seriously, where was that hole in the ground when a girl needed it? “Most professors just send us to Professor Chambers when we need to be disciplined, Sir.”

“And I have no problem doing so for the rest of your classmates. But when my Little girl acts up in my class, she will be punished by me. Am I making myself crystal clear, Eliza?”

“Yes, Sir.”

“Good girl. You may have your phone back at the end of class. Return to your seat.”

With her cheeks flaming so hot she was pretty sure Chef Connor could have cooked an egg on them, she made her way past the curious stares back to her seat, her stomach churning the entire way.

Harmony mouthed “Sorry” before Eliza slid back into her seat, and Eliza had to blink back tears, which added a healthy dose of anger to the humiliation bubbling inside her. It wasn’t fair. None of this was fair. She’d been so good for over a week now and after one little slip up he was still treating her like a child.

She hated it. More than anything, she hated that Samuel Eaton could reduce her to a sniffling, contrite Little girl with nothing more than a few stern words.

The longer she sat in class, listening to him drone on about complicated math she would never use in a million years, the madder she got. It just wasn’t fair for her to be stuck with the one man on the Ranch who seemed determined to push every single button she had whenever she broke even the teeniest, tiniest of rules.

Somehow, she needed to figure out how to get under his skin the same way he got under hers. Maybe then she could gain at least a little bit of power over the situation.

As his first class of the day shuffled out of the room, Professor Eaton waited behind his desk for Eliza to approach. It didn’t escape his notice that she waited for everyone to leave before she grabbed her backpack and marched herself up to his desk.

Uh oh. That was his first thought when he saw the flash of defiance in her eyes as she held her hand out. He’d wondered how long it was going to take the punishment she’d received last week to wear off. If he was being honest, he was surprised it had lasted this long. “May I please have my phone back, Professor?”

“That depends.”

Another flash in those emerald eyes. “You said I could have it back at the end of class.”

“And you may. If you can promise me you won’t use it during any of your other classes. Texting your friends is a privilege, Eliza, and if you continue to abuse it, I’ll be forced to revoke that privilege.”

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