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There, that was a reasonable compromise, wasn’t it? She still got to play in the water, but she wasn’t really putting herself in any danger.
Or so she thought, until a particularly rough wave knocked her off balance and yanked her under. Instinct had her clamping her mouth shut, even though she wanted to scream. If she panicked, she’d breathe in water, which would prove Bryant right.
And that wasnothappening.
Rolling with the wave, she kicked her feet out, searching for sand. When her toes sank into the gritty ground, she crouched and pushed off the bottom towards the sun. Breaking the surface, she dragged in a greedy breath and looked around.
The tide hadn’t swept her out too far, but she was further down the beach than she had been. Pushing through the shaking of her exhausted muscles, she swam to the shoreline and started back toward the house.
“Shannon?” She heard him before she saw him, running straight for her. “Shannon!”
Her mind raced, searching for any plausible explanation for what she’d done, but he was on her before she settled on anything.
“Shannon. God.” Instead of being bent over for the spanking of a lifetime like she’d half expected, she found herself swept up into his arms, cradled against his chest. “Are you okay? Are you hurt?”
“No, I’m not hurt.”
The little girl inside of her wanted to curl into him, into the comfort she instinctively knew he would provide despite her naughtiness. But she forced a smile instead, doing her best to seem unaffected by her fight with the ocean and his nearness. “I’m fine, Bryant. You don’t have to baby me.”
A muscle jumped in his cheek. “You’ll wish I’d kept babying you by the time I’m done. What did I say would happen if you went in the water alone, Shannon?”
Her stomach dropped when he marched past their towels and up toward the house. “I wasn’t alone, technically.”
“Does this seem like a good time to be a smart ass, little girl?”
“Ah… no, Sir.”
“Right answer. Now, what did I promise you if you disobeyed me?”
“A spanking,” she whispered, her cheeks burning with shame.
“With?”
Knots formed in her stomach, and she had to swallow hard before she could answer him. “The bath brush.”
By then they’d reached the deck outside her bedroom. Pausing outside the door, he looked down at her, his face set in unmovable lines. “So you knew the rule, and the consequences, and you disobeyed me anyway.”
“That’s one way of looking at it.”
“Unfortunately for you, my way of looking at things trumps yours.” Juggling her in his arms, he pushed open the French doors and stepped inside.
She half expected him to immediately flip her over his lap and start paddling, like he’d done the night he’d fished her out of the ocean. Instead, he placed her on her feet in front of him and took a step back. Hands on his hips, he studied her, and she fought the urge to squirm under his disapproving gaze.
“Little girl, you are in so much trouble.”
CHAPTER11
Now she did squirm, her hands automatically going behind her to protect her bottom. “I won’t do it again, I swear.”
“Not another word from you until I say so.”
Without giving her a chance to disobey, he stalked to the bathroom and returned a moment later with a towel before moving to where her suitcase was spread open on the floor, the contents spilling out all around it. Crouching down, he pawed through the garments, apparently searching for something. To her mortification, he pulled out the one thing she’d brought with her in deference to her little side. The pale purple onesie was made from thick cotton, complete with a unicorn hoodie.
And a panel on the back that unbuttoned to give a Daddy perfect access to a naughty bottom.
“Bryant…” She trailed off when his eyes snapped back to her, unleashed fury turning the pale blue to burning crystals.
Swallowing hard, she nodded, silently giving her consent whether he was interested in it or not. With the onesie in hand, he returned to her and began removing her bathing suit. She shivered when the cool air caressed the still-damp skin of her bottom and breasts.
