Page 91 of Giddy Up, Daddy

He let one eyebrow rise as he gave her a significant look. “You really want to play the brat with me right now, sweetheart? Because, while I agree that I might have overreacted, and I’m sorry about that… your attitude this morning didn’t exactly go unnoticed.”

Her brown eyes widened, and her mouth held a perfect ‘o’ shape for a moment, before she swallowed hard. “It was only alittle bitof attitude.”

“Then I guess I’ll only punish youa little bit,” he said in a slow amused drawl. Before she could reply, he added, “But I’m going to eat first. I’m starving and I left before breakfast this morning. If you hand over that bread… itmightput me in a better mood.”

She turned away, but not before he caught her eyes rolling. And since she wasn’t looking, he let a grin curve his lips. “Make it a nice thick piece to hold me over until dinner time.”

Charlie ended up slicing an entire loaf into nice thick slabs. She deposited it on the table, with plates and butter. They didn’t talk but the silence was relaxed and peaceful, punctuated by occasional moans of pleasure.

They finished the whole loaf. Sam wasn’t ashamed to admit he devoured most of the banana bread by himself, and probably could have eaten more. “Best damn banana bread in the state,” he said as he settled back in his chair with a long sigh. “That hit the spot.”

She tilted her head. A soft smile curved her lips up at the corners. “Feel better now?”

He had a feeling she wasn’t just talking about being hungry. He nodded once, “Yeah, I do. That doesn’t mean you won’t be taking a trip over my knee later though,” he warned her.

Her expression twisted into a grimace, but she nodded. “I figured.” She blew out a breath as she pushed her empty plate away. “I had no right to get hurt or mad that you suspected I was sneaking around behind your back. Not like I haven’t done it before, but I promise this isn’t like that.”

Sam believed her. Her tone was earnest, and her expression seemed sincere enough. “You can’t help how you feel, darlin. If something hurts, it hurts. There’s no logic to it, and I probably shouldn’t have assumed, no matter what happened in the past. That’s on me and I’m sorry.”

He leaned over and took her hand. “Just to be clear… this surprise, it’s nothing to do with the business?”

She shook her head.

“Nothing I’ve told you not to do?”

Even more vigorous headshaking. “I promise.”

“Nothing that breaks any rules?”

“Well, just the hiding things rule, but it’s for a good cause.”

That was fair, he supposed. Because he knew Charlie, he had one more question. “It’s nothing too… extravagant? Too big? I’m not going to freak out when I find out what it is?”

She hesitated for a suspiciously long moment. Finally saying, “Not…really.” The tone wasn’t very confident.

Prevarication was a sign that there was at least some aspect of this mystery that she thought he’d be annoyed with. He filed that away for later. “And am I eventually going to learn what this secret is?”

“Yes, Daddy. Of course! On Valentine’s Day!”

Sam was even more curious now to know what she was hiding, but shrugged. “Then I guess I won’t pester you about thesecret for now, but I reserve the right to spank you for whatever it is anyway, if I think it’s necessary.”

Charlie rolled her eyes. “Like I didn’t know that.”

“You should by now. We’ll take care of that little attitude issue tonight, before bed, and then we’ll consider the issue done.” In Sam’s mind it was no longer worth punishing her for. They’d worked it all out and he accepted part of the blame.

He’d already decided to drop the line between discipline and fun, to let it spill over into foreplay that they could both enjoy. He wasn’t going to tell her that now, but she’d figure it out when it happened. In the meantime, worrying about future punishment might keep her sassiness to a minimum for the rest of the day.

Might.

He needn’t have worried. She vanished soon after, to work on some assignments, and he didn’t see her again for a while.

The afternoon went pretty well, considering how the day had begun. He took some steaks out of the big freezer in the basement, and left them on the counter to defrost for dinner. He’d planned on something a little lighter, but banana bread for lunch didn’t make up for missing breakfast and he had a feeling he’d be down for a large meal by dinner time.

Then he settled in his office to take care of some paperwork that was a priority. The government reports took up a few hours. They were needlessly complicated and aggravating, but submitting them late wasn’t an option.

Normally it would have put him in a bad mood, He hated the redundancy of answering the same question three different times, but he’d apparently cleared all of that out of his system. He was still looking forward to some much-needed stress relief with Charlie later that evening. It would be a reward for getting his shit done.

Cooking was a nice way to relax too. He did that more now that his days weren’t so long. He tossed a couple of foil wrapped potatoes into the oven to bake, and turned to the steaks, considering. He’d have preferred to grill outside, but didn’t feel like braving the cold again, so he threw them into a cast iron skillet and got them sizzling.

---