Page 77 of Bet On Me, Daddy

Which meant pulling it up again somehow, and since they were just going for burgers, she’d had to settle for brushing it out and putting it back up in a ponytail.

She was so caught up in getting the bumps out, she completely forgot she was supposed to be listening out for Beckett. Until a dark shadow fell over her bathroom, sending her heart rate through the roof as she spun around to face the intruder.

Her very handsome, very annoyed-looking intruder.

Shit.

“What the hell are you doing in here?” she snapped, drawing her own annoyance around her like a cloak to protect against all the Daddy vibes being sent her way. “Don’t you know how to knock?”

Arms crossed, one eyebrow raised in a look that nearly had her whimpering, Beckett leaned against the doorframe. “I did. You didn’t answer. So I tried the door. Imagine my surprise when I found it completely unlocked.”

Double shit. “Umm…”

“You are very, very lucky this falls outside our previous negotiations, little girl. Otherwise you would be making the drive to Lost River on a very sore, very hot bottom.”

Guilt crept up her spine, coiling around her stomach as she dropped her gaze to the floor. “I didn’t know it was unlocked,” she mumbled.

“That’s marginally better than leaving it open on purpose, I suppose. But I’ll admit my palm is still itching to spank some sense into you, Ruby Red.”

Blurring the lines. She knew damn well letting him punish her for something that happened outside of the club was blurring the lines, more than was healthy or wise for either of them.

But the submissive in her, the part that was desperate to please, to be told she was a good girl, wanted the punishment. Craved the cleansing it would bring, even if it opened the door to something potentially disastrous.

No. There’s a reason we put those boundaries in place.

Silently lecturing herself, she forced her gaze back up to his. And saw the twin to her own need reflected in his dark eyes. As much as she might want tobecleansed, it was clear he wanted to be the one to give her that cleansing.

And because that need was so strong in both of them, she forced herself to nod. “It won’t happen again. Promise.”

Silence stretched between them, thick with unfulfilled promises. “All right. But if you keep putting your health and safety at risk like this, Ruby, we’re going to have to renegotiate.”

That was the last thing she wanted, even if some part of her was screaming for her to do exactly that. “Noted.”

His smile flashed, quick and boyish, and it was such a complete one-eighty from the stern expression he’d had a moment ago it nearly made her head spin. “I have a present for you.”

Just as it had when he’d scared the shit out of her when he’d first appeared in her doorway, her heart went off to the races. “I don’t need presents, Beckett.”

“Presents aren’t about need, they’re about want. And besides, it’s really more of a present for myself, anyway.”

Consider her interest piqued. “What kind of present?”

His smile deepened into something wicked. “The kind that keeps your mind on me and what I’m going to do to you when I finally get you back in my bed tonight.”

There were those butterflies again, going wild in her stomach. “Oh?”

“Mmhmm. Put your hands on the sink, please.”

Everything in her wanted to obey. Everything except that one little voice in the back of her head, screaming that they were crossing a line they couldn’t uncross. “We aren’t at the club.”

“Consider tonight, and only tonight, an extension of the club.” He stepped forward, crowding her, filling her senses with him so that the rest of the world was blocked out and she couldn’t think straight. “Or use your safeword and I’ll back off. Time to choose, Ruby Red.”

Safewords. Right. She had them for a reason. “Yellow.”

To her immense relief, he took a step back, giving her the space to think. “All right. What’s wrong, baby?”

Baby. There was that endearment again, the one that made her heart feel like it might actually explode.

Pushing that aside for the time being, she focused on the more immediate issue. “I’m not saying no. I just want to know what you mean by making tonight an extension of the club.”

---