Page 14 of Lisa's Unexpected Valentine's Day

“I saw a face at the door. I’m going to go check it out, but I want you to lock yourself in and then call 9-1-1.” For the first time he wished he had a gun in the house, but he’d never really liked them. Now, faced with the need to protect what was most precious, Maya, he was regretting that.

An odd look flew across Maya’s face. “Daddy, um…”

“Maya, this is no time to argue with me. As soon as I go out the door, I want you to lock it behind me. Do what I say,” he ordered, as he grabbed his discarded pants and stepped into them. Maybe he shouldn’t have taken the time, but he wasn’t going to chase an intruder in his underwear.

“Daddy, it’s not a burglar.” There was a tone to her voice that immediately caught his attention.

He stopped dressing and stared at her. “Maya… is there something you need to tell me?”

“Um, well, it’s just that we have a guest over.” She hugged the pillow. “Lisa is staying. I was going to tell you…”

“When? When were you planning on telling me, Maya?” He let go of his pants and dropped to sit on the edge of the bed as the adrenaline rushed through him.

“Well, it wasn’t a very romantic conversation, so I didn’t want to bring it up during dinner.” She squirmed, looking away.

He drew in a long deep breath and held it for a count of five before he said a word. “How about the ride home? Or maybe when you walked through the house stripping? At least a heads up to close the bedroom door might have been nice?”

He was trying not to sound furious because snapping tended to make her retreat to a younger headspace, and that wasn’t going to help. He set aside the issue of someone seeing them during such an intimate time, because that was a whole different issue. Right now he just wanted to focus on why he’d been left in the dark.

“Lisa said she’d probably be asleep when we got back, so I figured I’d just wait until morning. It felt like it would ruin the romantic vibe.” Maya rolled her bottom lip under and gnawed on it, while avoiding his eyes.

“Of course inviting a friend over to spend the night is going to ruin the romantic vibe, Maya! Why on earth did you think tonight was a good night to have a sleepover? And why didn’t you bring it up before you invited her?” He caught his voice getting louder and, mindful of their company, he cut himself off and took another breath. Although, since Lisa had been privy toalltheir other secrets, he supposed hearing this wasn’t going to matter much.

He sighed. “We could have discussed a good night to plan this. A night that wasn’t supposed to be date night.”

Maya straightened, shaking her head. “It’s not like that, Daddy. This was an emergency. She was literally in the driveway when I got home. I talked to her real fast, then got ready and left.”

“An emergency?” He narrowed his eyes, waiting. His version of an emergency and hers were often very different.

“Yeah, she went home yesterday, and the landlord had changed the locks and tossed all her things on the street. She spent the night in her car last night and was going to do it again. Obviously, I couldn’t let her do that. It’s supposed to be freezing tonight.”

Some of the tension left his body and he nodded. That was an acceptable emergency. “Okay, start over and tell me the whole story.”

Maya rattled off a quick synopsis of the situation. Which, he suspected, was only a fraction of the story. It was enough to have his judge side frowning hard and wondering if some laws had been broken.

“You did the right thing. That doesn’t excuse you from not warning me someone was here, and wewillbe discussing this, but… for now, I’m more interested in knowing why she was watching us.”

Maya shrugged, looking as confused as he felt. “I—don’t know. Maybe she heard the paddle and got curious?”

Rick frowned. “She could have thought I was abusing you. I guess it could sound like that from the outside.” Of course Lisa was aware of their relationship, which made that unlikely. Still knowing and seeing weren’t the same thing.

“No, I don’t think that’s it.” She drew the words out slowly, as if considering each one. “Lisa’s a submissive, but she’s never had a Dom, or a Daddy, or even played with anyone. I think… maybe she heard it and was just curious?”

“I don’t care how curious she was, spying at someone’s bedroom door is inappropriate. It shows a complete lack of manners. She’s lucky shedoesn’thave a Dom, because she deserves to have her ass paddled for being so rude.”

“I’m sure she didn’t mean to, Daddy.”

“Didn’t mean to be seen is more like it,” he grumbled. He tried not to think about how long she might have been watching. He grabbed for his pants and started dressing again.

“Daddy? What are you doing?”

“I’m going to go have a talk with Lisa. If she’s going to stay in this house, she’s going to have to behave herself.” He stood, fastened his pants and then swept his shirt up off the floor and put that on too.

“Daddy! I’m sure she already feels terrible. You can’t go down there and lecture her like… like…”

“Like what?” One eyebrow went up as he shot her a look.

“Like um… a Daddy.” She frowned. “Daddy… you’re not going to punish her, are you?”

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