Page 44 of Taming His Brat

“Maybe you better tell me what you promised her, Charlie. All of it.” He used a little of his Dom voice there to help her push past the nerves. He wanted to wrap this up, so he could hold her and a lot of stammering and pussy footing around the truth wasn’t conducive to that.

“Well, I—” She took one look at the hard expression on his face and spit it all out. “I told her to leave her contact and bank info. I’d look into my finances and see if I could afford to send her about what dad was. I mean that seemed fair. He’s been paying her all this time, and it couldn’t just be because of me. I was gone at school for years. He could have stopped then and she wouldn’t have been able to find me.”

She sounded hesitant, that note of waiting for his approval hung on every word, but he let it dangle. “In exchange for her staying away?”

“No. No, not exactly…” She trailed off. Her nerves were ramping up he could see it.

He made his voice harder, “Charlie. All of it.”

“She’s not allowed to come back until she’s invited, but I did tell her that at some point … when I—we were ready, we’d invite her back.” She hastened to add, “But I told her there were going to be boundaries and limits next time she came and none of this sneaky stuff.”

Oh, hell no.

He sighed and bit back the urge to say it out loud. That was not what he’d wanted to hear at all. Not after the woman had caused so much trouble, but he could kind of see Charlie’s side. She was trying to keep the lines open. He couldn’t blame her for that.

Well, he could … but it wouldn’t do any good. Feelings were ridiculously illogical and when it came to parents, he supposed a blind spot was normal.

But when it actually came around to inviting her, he was going to enforce those boundaries hard. He wasn't going through this again. He wasn't about to let Charlie put up with being pulled back and forth between the two of them. Once was enough.

"You really think she'll behave herself next time?"

Charlie shrugged. "I think she better if she wants to keep getting her monthly check. If Jimmy was right and she puts herself first, then I guess she'll toe the line to keep the money flowing. If she does anything like this again my interest in keeping the relationship open is going to die." Her voice made an attempt at being cold.

It didn't quite make it, but he gave her points for trying. "As long as you stick with that, I guess things will be okay then. No timeline on when you'd be inviting her back? Just sometime in the future?"

She nodded. "It's going to take me a while to get over this. See, after I read the letter, I went down to confront her, and accidentally overheard her on the phone.” She closed her eyes and shook her head. “I heard enough. Enough to know you were right the whole time and I was an idiot for not listening to you.”

“And now that you heard the truth from her own mouth, and from your father—now you actually believe me? That’s reassuring, so next time I won’t have to track down a notary to get a sworn statement I just have to force the truth out of people, and then you’ll listen?” The words tinged on sarcastic, but he didn’t allow any emotion to show on his face as he watched her.

Her bottom lip trembled. “I shouldn’t have needed that. She was a stranger and I let myself be swayed by a blood relationship. You’re the one I know and trust. If you forgive me and come back, I promise—” The tears were starting to run faster, pouring down her cheeks.

"Did she at least give you the message that I went to the hotel?”

Charlie shook her head and frowned. “No—I just figured where else would you go? If you weren’t here, I was going to try the big hotel, but this one was closer.” Suddenly her eyes were on his and she was grabbing at his hand and holding it. "I know I don't deserve it Sam, but I need you to come home. Please? I promise I'll be better."

Maybe he was an asshole for not comforting her right there, and explaining the whole situation, but for his own peace of mind there was one last thing he needed to know. Charlie wasn't the only one who had doubts sometimes. Not about her, not about them, but sometimes he did worry in the back of his head that her need for him to stay with the ranch overrode her actual need for him as her lover and Daddy.

He'd never tried to play it against her. He'd always wanted her to believe that he would do his best to make sure she kept the spread no matter how their relationship stood. But back in those turbulent days right after the will had been read, he’d almost walked out and when she begged him to stay it had been to save the ranch. Sometimes the memory of that messed with his head.

"Well, I wouldn't want you to lose the ranch just because I left."

She stared at him wide-eyed. "Fuck the ranch, Sam.You'rewhat I need!"

He snorted. That was maybe a little too dramatic to be real. "Fuck the ranch?Really? You'd be fine with losing it?"

She took a gulping breath and blew it out with a laugh."Of course not. I'm crazy in love with you, but I'm not stupid. I've got enough money in investments to buy it back if the lawyer sold it because you left. I'd hire someone to buy it by proxy if necessary, and half the money would come back to me after the sale anyway. I figured out months ago that I could get around that clause in the will pretty easily. I'm sure Jimmy knew I would too. He just wanted me to have time to settle down and accept the situation before I got to the solution.”

That meant something. He'd probably have to unpack it all later when things settled, but it did put to rest the one real concern he'd had over their relationship. He wanted Charlie, but not if she felt like she was held hostage by him. Knowing that she'd already worked that part out and was really truly with him out of love meant a lot.

"Then you came after me because..."

"Because I love you, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. And Vicky said— Vicky said you probably weren't coming back. When she said that I felt like all the air had been sucked out of the room. I can't live without you Sam. So, I don't care about the punishment, I just need you to come back with me."

He looked at her thoughtfully and she stared back with hope and fear all over her face. “You make a compelling case, Charlie. But the thing is … I was never planning on leaving for good. I just needed to get as far from your mother as possible before I lost my temper. And to be honest I didn’t want to spend another night in our bed without you. I was coming back in the morning.”

Her eyes went wide and round. “Really?”

“Really. I tried to tell you I wasn’t mad when you got here, but you insisted I wait until you had your say first.” The words were gentle, and he pulled her into his lap as he said them.

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