“You bastard. You have no right to discipline me.”

“I’m your daddy. I have every right, but I’m not punishing you right now.”

He kept at her. His smacks weren’t horrible. Nothing like when she’d got in trouble before.

“I’m helping you, Baby.”

“Helping? You’re hurting me.”

He snorted and kept bringing his hand down. “I am not. Your ass is a pretty pink color, but if I wanted to discipline you, it would be a bright red.”

She tried to fight for a few more minutes before her energy faded, and she slumped on his lap and started crying.

He spanked her a few more times before he laid his hand on her ass and slowly rubbed.

“Are you ready to talk?” he asked.

Sage sniffed and nodded.

He pulled her up to sit on his lap before reaching for a tissue. He wiped her face and then had her blow. When he finished cleaning her, he tossed the tissue onto the nightstand and then brought her tighter against his chest. She soaked in all the tenderness.

“Tell me what you heard, Sweetheart?” he asked.

She stiffened. This was the last thing she wanted to do, but she knew he’d keep at her until she answered all his questions.

“You were there that day me and the others were saved,” she whispered.

“Yes, I was.”

She started crying again. “You saw everything. You saw me at my lowest.”

Sebastian rocked her in his arms. “Sweetheart, that day was crazy. I’d been undercover for a while, and I finally got the group I’d been investigating. All I wanted was to get you all away from there and taken care of.”

“B-but … I was so damaged and in horrible shape.”

He nodded. “You all were, Baby. What is in your head right now?”

“I hate the thought of you looking at me and seeing that … mess.”

“You don’t have to worry about that. Do you want to know what I see when I look at you?”

“I don’t know.” She was afraid of his answer.

“That I’m the luckiest man and daddy in the world to have found someone so perfect for me.”

She tilted her head back. “How can you say that?”

He cradled her face in his palm. “Because it’s the truth. I’m so incredibly sorry you went through that, but it doesn’t change the way I feel about you.”

She felt tears fill her eyelids. “I can’t believe you’d want someone that was … used by men. I was weak and couldn’t fight them off.”

“Of course not. They make it so you’re as limp as possible. Every last one of those fuckers are weak, pitiful bastards. Not the women that had to deal with them. You survived a horrific experience. I’m in awe of your strength.”

She shook her head. “I wasn’t strong at all.”

“Bullshit. Look at where you are today,” he said. “You are here helping others that went through what you did. You’re making sure they all get everything they need. You also haven’t let the experience crush your feminine desire, and you’re not afraid of anything I do to you.”

She wiped her tears. “Because I know you would never hurt me.”