Page 15 of Their Forever Daddy
So instead of retracting her offer, she squared her shoulders, dragged in a deep breath, and looked Edie square in the eyes. “I said, ‘Spank me’. I-I deserve it. If you won’t let me pay you for the kitchen repairs, then you should spank me.”
Time seemed to stand still as she waited, watching for any hint of emotion in Edie’s eyes during the short eternity it took for her to respond.
“All right. Follow me.”
Chapter 6
Edie
* * *
What the hell was she doing?
She had no right to punish Jesse. She didn’t even know if she’d done anything to deserve it. Mistakes happened, even big ones that caused literal fires. But everything in Edie had seemed to settle into place at those two simple words.
Spank me.
In the living room, Edie stopped in front of the couch and turned back to face Jesse. And just like that, she was twenty-five again, with her naughty babygirl blushing and fidgeting as she waited for her spanking.
And it felt so completely… wrong.
“I can’t do this.”
Jesse’s head jerked up, but it wasn’t relief on her face like Edie had half expected. If anything, she looked distressed, as though Edie was taking something she desperately wanted away from her. “Why not?”
Because it’s too close to everything I want. Because I still remember the feel of your ass beneath my hand. Because I’m still so fucking in love with you it hurts to breathe.
“Because it’s not right,” she said, deliberately ignoring the other thoughts tumbling around inside her noisy brain. “You’re getting married.”
“Daddy won’t mind.” The corner of Jesse’s mouth tugged up in a reluctant smile. “If anything, he’ll be happy I have someone to keep me in line while I’m here.”
Leave it to Jesse to have an answer to everything. “I’d like to hear that from him, if it’s all the same to you.”
A bright red blush stained Jesse’s cheeks and she shifted from one foot to another in what Edie had always thought of as her ‘naughty girl dance’. “It’s not.”
“Not what?”
“Not all the same to me. I would prefer not to tell him I set someone’s kitchen on fire, thanks.”
There was something more there. Edie narrowed her eyes. “And that’s the only reason you don’t want to call him?”
“Yup. Totally.”
They may not have spoken a single word to each other in the time Jesse had been gone, but Edie could still tell when she was hiding something. But she was also caught between wanting to demand more information and being absolutely convinced it wasn’t her place to do so. “Well, that’s too bad. I’m not spanking you without your Daddy’s say-so.”
“Why not?” Jesse whined, looking very much like a Little girl about to throw a tantrum.
Stepping forward, Edie reached up to cup her face. Jesse’s skin was as soft as she remembered beneath her palm, and she instantly wished she’d kept her hands to herself. That simple touch was like opening the floodgates on the swell of emotions she’d been doing her damndest to keep at bay all fucking day.
“Because if you were still mine, I’d damn well break the fingers of anyone who dared lay a hand on you. And I can’t imagine any man who’s smart enough to put a ring on your finger wouldn’t feel the same way.”
Edie tried to pull her hand away, but it was like she’d slathered glue on her hand before pressing it to Jesse’s cheek. Even more so when Jesse lifted her hand to cover Edie’s. “Please, Edie,” she whispered, her voice thick with the tears shimmering in her hazel eyes. “I need this. I need to fix this.”
Something told her Jesse wasn’t just talking about the kitchen. Which made it all the harder to step back when there was some dark part of her that would love nothing more than to get some kind of revenge for her broken heart.
But that was even more wrong than spanking her for the fire. So even though it was the hardest fucking thing she’d done in a very long time, Edie forced herself to step back and pull her hand away from Jesse’s face. “I don’t need you to fix it. I just need you to let it go and give me some peace.”
Ignoring the shattered look in Jesse’s eyes, Edie stepped around her and headed for the front door.
