Page 16 of Taming His Brat

“Why? What’s wrong, Sam?” Her mouth was already forming a pout and this time he knew he didn’t imagine the lip wobble.

“I talked to Mike, and yeah he confirmed it’s your mom so that part is all true, but we still don’t know if the rest of her story is fact. Jimmy isn’t here to ask and Mike… Mike doesn’t seem real fond of her.”

“Why, what did he say?”

“He said she tried to get him fired. That maybe if Jimmy kept her away from you it was for a good reason.” He watched the expressions rushing across her face and could see how conflicted she was. What she wanted to be true compared with what she knew… it was tough, and he couldn’t make it any easier.

“I’m sure there’s a good reason for all of that. Sometimes people just don’t get along. It doesn’t mean either one is a bad person.” But she sounded uncertain and the excitement in her voice had dimmed audibly.

“Yeah, I get that, Charlie. But I feel like you’re throwing your whole heart into this relationship with her and I’m afraid you’re going to get hurt.”

“I just want it to be real, Daddy.” She threw her arms around him and buried herself against his work shirt, clinging hard enough to knock the air out of his lungs. He could feel the fabric getting damp and knew she was crying again.

He began to rub her back with one hand. He reached around and slid the pot off the heat so it wouldn’t burn and then scooped her up and carried her to the bedroom. He settled them both on the bed so he could hold her in his arms as she cried.

It seemed like she’d been doing a lot of that lately, and maybe it was good for her. She sometimes had trouble letting out all the grief and emotions she struggled with, unless she was spanked to tears. Crying without needing that physical push might be healthy for her, but it did leave him feeling helpless.

He understood tears after getting spanked and knew exactly what to do and how to handle it. Tears from emotional trauma were a little more difficult and he wanted to tell her everything would be fine and of course her mom loved her, because that’s what she wanted so badly to hear.

The problem was he didn’t believe it. Maybe he was wrong, but he felt like there was more going on then what Vicky was telling her. Reassuring Charlie now would probably end up with his girl being crushed later if her mother did turn out to have an agenda.

Being the Dom in the relationship was hard sometimes and the answers didn’t just drop out of the sky no matter how much he wished they would. He pulled her back against his chest, spooning her. He wanted her to feel his strength at her back and know he was there to protect her as much as he could.

The problem was he didn’t think this was something he could protect her from, not really. “You know I want you to be happy, baby,” he whispered against her ear. “I really hope she’s here to finally be the mom you missed out on growing up.”

She sniffled. “But you don’t believe it, do you?”

He took a deep breath and then let it out in a long sigh. “No, I don’t, but I’m willing to give her the benefit of the doubt for now. I just really need for you to not get swept away in the reunion until you’re sure she’s not here for another reason. I’m not going to let anyone hurt you, not even you, babygirl.”

She was quiet for a minute and as the silence stretched out, he wondered if she was going to argue it. “I guess … this is kind of what I asked for, right? When I asked you to be my Dom?”

“Kind of yeah. I admit I never expected this exact problem but keeping you from being self-destructive is way up on my list of important things, Charlie.”

She wiggled out of his arms and sat up on the edge of the bed. He leaned up on one elbow and waited to see what she was going to do. He half-expected a tantrum of some sort, but she surprised him.

“You’re right. I don’t know her. I don’t know her motives or why she’s here. Even though Jimmy kept some secrets from me, I can’t believe he’d keep my mom away just to be cruel to her, especially not when it was hurting me too. I know my dad loved me, despite the mess with the will.”

There was a tinge of bitterness there and he knew she still hadn’t resolved her feelings about that issue. “I agree. Jimmy wasn’t a cruel or vindictive man and even though I didn’t always agree with his choices for you … I always knew he was making them because he thought they were best.”

“Yeah.” She got up and began to pace the floor. Her forehead was furrowed with concentration. He just watched in silence and let her work through her thoughts. Eventually she worked off some of the nervous energy and came to a stop in front of him.

He could see she was working up to say something significant, but he had no clue what it would be. Sometimes his Charlie was unpredictable. He waited silently to find out what was on her mind.

Chapter Seven

It took her a few seconds to decide what she wanted to say, because all of this was weighing on her emotionally and she was afraid of making the wrong choices. “Okay, so I know I agreed with you that I couldn’t really trust her, and I know I said I’d try not to get too …”

“Invested?” he suggested.

That was exactly the right word. “Yeah, that. But that was before I spent the day with her, and whether she’s trying to manipulate me or not the whole mom thing is really sucking me in. She could probably be the worst person in the world and I’d still want to give it a shot, but the fact that she seems really regretful and sad about missing me grow up just makes it so much harder to maintain my distance.”

She looked at him, waiting for his response, waiting for him to tell her what to do about it because she really had no idea. He was the Dom, he had to have the answers, right?

“Are you asking me to step in?” He sounded wary and she didn’t blame him.

“Yes. No. Fuck, I don’t know, maybe?” She laughed at how ridiculous she sounded. “Just keep my feet on the ground, okay? Keep reminding me that I don’t really know her. Remind me that I’ve made it this long without her, so if she bails, I’ll be fine.”

There was a skeptical expression on his face as if he were already picturing how much work that was going to be and she couldn’t even say he was wrong. After only one day with her mother, she felt—she felt like she wanted more. It was like every single thing she’d never gotten to do with her mom was crowding in to get on the activity list.

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