Page 85 of Daddy's Naughty List

It was as good an opening as he could hope for, though he hated to ruin the mood. But he also didn’t want to put it off any longer than necessary. “Speaking of mischief… we need to talk about what happened today.”

“Do we have to?” she whined, the pink in her cheeks darkening even further. “I already got spanked really hard. I promise I learned my lesson.”

“Oh I have no doubt about that.” Reaching over, he plucked her hot chocolate from her hands and set it next to his on the end table. “Come here, baby.”

At his gentle guidance, she climbed onto his lap, straddling his thighs, an adorable pout on her lips. Unfortunately for both of them, this wasn’t something she could get around just by being cute.

“First things first, I owe you an apology, baby.”

Surprise had her eyes going wide. “What? Why? I’m the one who screwed up.”

“Because I let you down.” Now that he’d had the time to really think about it, there was no way around it. “It’s my job as your Daddy to protect you, even if it’s from your own bad decisions, and I failed you. I’m so sorry, baby.”

“Oh, Ian.” Cupping his face, she leaned in to brush a kiss over his lips. “You could never let me down. It was my fault. I’m a grown woman, I should have known better.”

“Let’s not assign blame, okay? We both made mistakes. This isn’t about pointing fingers, it’s about figuring out how to avoid making those same mistakes going forward.”

“Okay.” She hesitated, pulling her bottom lip between her teeth the way she did when she was worried he wouldn’t like what she had to say next. “Can you tell me why you stopped punishing me?”

“The short answer is I was second-guessing myself. Sometimes I get in my head about whether you actuallyneedme to be so strict with you or if I’m just being a controlling asshole.”

He’d expected surprise again. Maybe a little amusement. What he hadn’t expected was the white-hot fury flashing in her eyes.

“That’s the stupidest fucking thing I’ve ever heard you say.”

“Excuse me, little girl?”

Rather than backing down, she narrowed her eyes, pulling her hand away to drill a finger into his chest. “You heard me. I’m the one who told you I wanted a Daddy in the first place. The only reason I graduated college instead of flunking out my final semester was because you gave me the rules and structure to do so. How dare you twist this amazing thing we have between us into something so cruel and ugly?”

Well, shit. When she put it that way… “That wasn’t my intent. But it’s hard, sometimes, to be the one who always has to say no or to dole out punishments. And I know I shouldn’t, but it’s hard not to compare myself to men like Matt and Dom who have so much more experience than I do.”

“That makes sense,” she said slowly. “But I don’t want Matt or Dom. I want you.”

“Even when I’m mean and don’t let you have two toppings on your hot chocolate?”

“Is that what started all this?” Letting out a deep sigh that sounded like it came from the very depths of her soul, Taylor rolled her eyes. “You silly goose. I only did thatbecauseI wanted you to spank me.”

“Seriously?”

“Yes! I was thinking how I’d been really good lately and I hadn’t had a good spanking in a while and you presented me with the perfect opportunity to play the brat. I wanted you to take me home and spank my ass, and quite frankly I was really disappointed that you didn’t follow through.”

“Is that why you went to bed without asking me to come tuck you in?”

“Yes. I was mad.”

Fuck. So much heartache that could have been saved if they’d justtalkedto each other.

He hated it when Matt was right.

“New rule,” he said, sliding his hands around to cup her ass, squeezing hard enough to make her whine at the pain as his fingers dug into her soft flesh. “My babygirl does not go to bed without asking Daddy to tuck her in, no matter how mad she is. If you’re upset about something, you tell me, so we can talk it out before bed.”

Eyes narrowed, she jabbed her finger in his chest again. “Deal, but only if you agree to tell me when you start getting in your head about stuff so I can remind you what an awesome Daddy you are.”

“Clever girl.”

Her lips twitched, ruining the faux-stern expression she was trying to intimidate him with. “You can’t charm me by quoting Jurassic Park at me.”

“Worth a shot, though,” he said with a grin. “But fair enough. From now on, we talk to each other instead of hiding our feelings.”

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