Page 90 of Bet On Me, Daddy

Everythinghurt, right down to her eyeballs, and the last thing she wanted to do was climb out of Beckett’s ridiculously comfortable bed at four o’clock on a Saturday morning to go to work.

But she needed the money, and Jay was relying on her. They’d let most of the seasonal staff go, which meant they were down to just their usual people and if she called off, it would put them in a bind.

Dragging herself out of bed with another stifled groan, she headed for the bathroom and eyed the giant tiled shower while she took care of her morning business. She didn’tneeda shower, since she and Beckett had taken one together the night before. But the thought of those powerful jets pounding away at her sore muscles was far too tempting to resist.

So she indulged, just a bit, letting the hot water ease the aches as much as possible before she finally forced herself to turn them off. And since she did actually feel a good bit better, and her headache was mostly gone, she considered it time well spent.

She was feeling so much better, in fact, that the brat she’d suppressed through most of their date came to the surface asshe finished brushing her teeth. Giggling quietly to herself, she switched her toothbrush with Beckett’s. It was a small thing, but one he’d no doubt notice and call her out on later.

Her second opportunity to trip him up came when she paused in front of the hooks where he kept his keys. One hook held the set he always used, the set with the gold ‘B’ he’d told her Ice had given him for his birthday. Two other hooks held the keys to his other two cars, and the last two hooks were empty.

“Hmmm. BMW or Mercedes? Choices, choices.”

In the end, she eenie-meenie-miney-moed her way to the Mercedes. Slipping the key from the hook, she paused and after a moment of hesitation moved Beckett’s keys to the hook on the opposite end. He might not notice, but she was looking forward to finding out if he did.

With that bit of mischief complete, she made her way out to the garage, following the instructions he’d given her to open the doors for her to back out and then to close them again behind her. She was tempted to leave them open, but that felt like poking the bear a littletoomuch.

And then she was off, driving down the highway in a car that drove like a fucking dream, doing her damnedest to follow the speed limit. Or at least, as closely as possible.

Despite what he’d said about having insurance in the event she wrecked the car, she had no doubt his Daddy side would make an appearance if she got a speeding ticket while driving his vehicle.

And she wasn’t entirely sure she could be mad about it, if it did. He had every right to set and enforce rules when it was his property at stake. Not to mention his earlier comments about ‘renegotiating’ their current relationship if she continued to ‘put herself in harm’s way’ or whatever he’d said.

She’d never really had that. Her one and only full-time Dom had never cared much if she was taken care of, beyond what heprovided for her financially. And his only concern when it came to her physical health had been whether or not she would be able to serve him.

It was… nice, she decided as she drove. Nice to feel cared for, to feel looked after.

Not quite nice enough for her to give him complete control over her life. But maybe nice enough for her to bend the rules. Just a bit.

She rolled the problem over in her mind as she drove to work, so much so that by the time she parked a couple blocks down—to avoid the inevitable questions if her coworkers saw her pulling up in a car she clearly couldn’t afford on her own—her head was pounding again. Searching in her purse, she grabbed a bottle of Tylenol and dry-swallowed two pills.

God, she wished she could have just stayed in bed with Beckett and let him Daddy her all day.

“Don’t be such a baby,” she scolded herself as she climbed out of his car and into the unusually bitter cold that had settled over Charleston. “Just because he likes to play Daddy doesn’t mean he wants to take care of you when you’re being a whiny brat about a little headache.”

Nope. As she’d learned a long time ago, the only person she could rely on when push came to shove was herself. Time to pull on her big-girl panties and get to work.

CHAPTER 30

BECKETT

Ruby was a fucking brat.

He’d known that, of course, from the first time he’d talked to her. But standing in his entryway, glaring at the keys taunting him from the wrong hooks, he was more sure of it than ever.

The toothbrushes he’d been willing to brush off as a mistake. One that had irritated him a bit, but he wasn’t going to take someone to task over an honest mistake.

Now, however, he was ninety percent certain she was deliberately fucking with him.

He just had to decide what to do about it.

They were meeting at the club tonight. Ruby had an early shift, and they had loose plans to scene after. The question was, did he want to ‘punish’ her there, in front of a crowd, or did he want to bring her home?

A public punishment was infinitely more fun, and she’d seemed to enjoy being on display when he’d caned her on Beckett’s behalf before. But even though it wasn’t a serious punishment, some part of him was loath to share it with others.

Besides, there was a sort of poetic justice in punishing her here, at the scene of the crime.

Maybe he’d make her sweat about it at the club. Let her know he’d discovered her naughtiness and that they’d talk about it at home. Just the thought of her squirming and sweating over her upcoming punishment for hours was enough to bring a smile to his face.

---