Page 174 of Daddy, Sir

“Dressed like that, Francesca?” Delphine Legare’s tone was, as usual, brimming with barely hidden disdain. “Don’t you want something a little more… flattering, dear?”

Running a hand over the slight swell of her belly that was the bane of Delphine’s existence, Frankie breathed in deep, her therapist’s answer to the panic tightening its tentacles around her chest. “I probably won’t be home until late. Have a good evening, mother.”

My weight does not determine my worth. My weight does not determine my worth. My weight does not determine my worth.

Running her mantras through her head, she grabbed her purse and made a beeline for the front door. If she’d timed it right, and if Holden was as punctual as she expected him to be, he should be pulling up right about…

Now. Relief flooded her system when she opened the door and found his SUV pulling into the driveway. Slamming the door behind her, she raced down the front steps and yanked open the passenger door before he even had a chance to unbuckle.

“Hi!” Her voice was too bright, too high, but hopefully he wouldn’t notice. “I was ready on time for once. You should feel honored.”

From the driver’s side seat, Holden frowned, his dark eyes hidden by a pair of designer sunglasses. “What’s wrong?”

“What? Nothing’s wrong. I’m just excited to get to the club. Let’s go!”

For a moment, she thought he was going to argue with her. Instead, he simply leaned over and grabbed her seatbelt, like he had the night before. Which absolutely did not give her butterflies in her tummy. Absolutely not.

When she was buckled in, he put the car back in drive and followed the horseshoe of her driveway out onto the street. They drove in silence for a solid fifteen minutes before he pulled into the parking lot of what appeared to be an abandoned warehouse.

Nerves crept up her spine as he parked and killed the engine. Without a word for her, he climbed out of the driver’s side seat, shutting the door behind him. She watched through the windshield as he rounded the hood, and a moment later her door opened. “Get out of the car, please, Francesca.”

“Um, no, thank you. I’ve seen this horror movie. I know how this ends.”

To her surprise, one corner of his mouth kicked up in a smirk. “I’m not going to murder you, little siren. We’re just going to have a discussion.”

“Why do I have to get out of the car for this discussion?”

“Because you can either have it over my knee in private, or you can have it while strapped to a bench at the club while complete strangers watch your Daddy turn your ass red. Your choice.”

Well, as hot as he made the second option sound, she wasn’t sure she was quite ready for that level of public humiliation just yet. Sure, she loved being the center of attention but… not like that, thank you very much.

“Privacy, please.”

“Good girl. Now get out of the truck.”

Chapter Five

Frankie

With great reluctance, she unbuckled her seatbelt and slid from her seat onto the ground. “I don’t understand why I’m in trouble,” she grumbled, puffing out her bottom lip in a deliberately exaggerated pout.

Gripping her chin between his large fingers, Holden forced her head up. “Rule number one of being with me, Francesca. I will always expect honesty from you. Even if that honesty is simply ‘I don’t want to talk about it right now’. But when you lie to me, you will be punished.”

“I didn’t lie!”

“That’s another set of ten, little girl. The next words out of your mouth need to be ‘Yes, Daddy’, unless you’d like me to add a third set of ten, with my belt, to your count.”

Well, that hardly seemed fair. But arguing was obviously just going to get her in more trouble. So even though it went against her very nature, she swallowed her arguments and nodded. “Yes, Daddy.”

“Good girl. That’s twenty for lying, and then you’re going to tell Daddy the truth.”

Popping open the back door of the SUV, he climbed in, settling into the middle of the bench seat before waving her up. Heart pounding, she forced herself up into the vehicle with him where she was immediately pulled over his lap. It was a relief, though a small one, that the door was able to shut behind her, giving them at least the illusion of that privacy he’d promised.

No sooner was she over his knees than the shimmery dress she’d been so proud of was unceremoniously shoved up over her hips and the matching black and green lace panties she’d chosen to wear underneath were yanked down to her thighs.

The first swat landed, and she squealed at the stinging pain spreading across her bare skin. She’d somehow forgotten how much a spankinghurtin less than twenty-four hours.

And just like the night before, he spanked hard and fast, without giving her brain any time to really process the pain before the next swat landed.

---