“You eat what you’re told to and when you’re told to. I’ve warned you once.”
“No.” She folded her arms. “I don’t know what kind of place you think you’re running here but I’m a guest. You can’t just tell me what to do and expect me to do it.”
“Go to your room.”
Alison got to her feet. “Fine,” she said, marching over to the door. “That’s where I want to be anyway.”
Marcus caught her by the arm as she passed him, spinning her around to face him. “Next time you disobey me, you get a spanking,” he said before giving her a shove. “Now get out of my sight, you bad girl. Straight to bed with no supper for you.”
She went, taking the stairs two at a time, running into her room before slamming the door shut behind her.
She darted into the bathroom, splashing cold water onto her face. “It’s all right,” she said out loud, looking at herself in the mirror. “It’s all fine.”
It wasn’t though. She couldn’t stop thinking about how she’d felt when Marcus grabbed her arm. How much she wanted to be spanked by him.
What the hell was wrong with her? Why would anyone want that?
She dried her face and began brushing her teeth. She had signed the contract. He could spank her anytime and she couldn’t do anything about it.
True, there had been a section in the contract about a safe word. She had written Turty as her safe word. Say that and whatever was happening would stop.
Consent was embedded in everything that happened at the ranch according to the contract but a punishment would stop for no other reason than the safe word.
Wasn’t this what she wanted though? To try out being a Little? What better way than with Marcus as her Daddy? The Daddy who got away.
The only problem was once he became her Daddy, would she be able to simply walk away at the end of the weekend?
To him, this might just be part of life at the ranch but for her this was much more. It was submitting to the man she’d had a crush on for years.
She would just have to behave. Obey the rules from now on. That way there would be no risk of a spanking, no risk of letting slip that she wanted his hand on her bare ass more than anything.
She could be be good for one weekend. It wasn’t that tough. It was only a ranch and it was only two nights.
As she settled down to sleep, she knew she needed to be good. Be a well behaved little girl.
One thought stuck with her, stopping her from settling for a long time.
The thought was, What if I want to be bad?
Unable to sleep, she got up and rummaged in her suitcase. She brought out her sketchbook. She’d had a new idea for an outfit for Littles, based on the clothes they’d given her to wear but with a kinkier edge.
Underneath the sketchbook was a bar of candy. She took the candy and the book over to the desk and began to draw.
If she couldn’t sleep, she might as well do something useful. If she could get the right clothes together, maybe her business could get going at last.
The rules said she had to be in bed when she was told, sleep when she was told.
She was already disobeying the rules by staying up. But as long as no one found out, it didn’t matter, did it?
Engrossed in drawing, she didn’t hear the footsteps outside until someone knocked on her bedroom door. She froze, pencil in one hand, candy bar in the other.
Pretend to be asleep? Or let them in and admit she was breaking the rules?
Another knock. Time had run out. She needed to decide.
6
Marcus
Marcus could hear noise inside her room. Did she think he was stupid?
“I’m coming in,” he said a moment later, pushing open the door and finding her in bed with her eyes closed. “Nice try,” he said, walking over to her and looking down as she remained perfectly still.
He lifted the bottom of her blankets. “But you left your shoes on.”
She opened her eyes, glaring up at him. “So what?”
“A bratty Little,” he said, pulling over the chair from her desk and sitting down facing her. “I’d never have guessed. You didn’t used to behave like this, Alison.”
“What do you care?”
“I care more than you think,” he said, getting up and walking over to the desk. “Not hungry enough for supper but happy to eat candy bars up here?”
“It was just a snack.”
“No excuses. We have rules for a reason. Candy will not give you the energy you need to work in the morning.”
“There you go again, talking about work. This is supposed to be a vacation, isn’t it?”
“It’s a working ranch. You want to ride the horses, you help with them first.”
“Who said I even want to ride them?”
He glanced down at her sketchbook. “You drew these? They’re good.” He flicked back a couple of pages. “You a fashion designer?”
“I run an online store,” she replied, sitting up in bed, shoving the pillows behind her head. “Clothing and accessories.”
“For Littles?”
“For whoever wants to buy them.”
“Making much money?”
“Enough to keep me living at home with my father.”
“I’ll have a word with Jack. He might be interested in buying some of your designs.”
“Really?”
He nodded, crossing back to the chair and resuming his seat. “I’ll speak to him about that in the morning but first I need to speak to you about your rule breaking.”
“But I haven’t broken any rules.”
Marcus counted them off on his fingers. “Refused to eat when told. Didn’t go to bed when told. Sneaking candy for snacks. Let me guess, you haven’t changed into your pajamas, have you?”
She looked defiant for a moment before shaking her head. “No.”
“I thought not. That amount of rule breaking would normally earn a spanking.” He heard her sharp intake of breath but chose to ignore it. “But seeing as it’s your first night, I’m going to go easy on you. Go get changed into your pajamas right now and I’ll read you a bedtime story.”
“You’re kidding, right?”
He shook his head. “You can even choose the book if you’re quick.”
She jumped out of bed and ran for the bathroom. Her cynicism and bratty behavior had vanished.
She already acted like a Little. Had she done this before? She had taken to it so quickly, it was as if she was made for this lifestyle.
She emerged from the bathroom a minute later, wearing silky pink pajamas, her nipples clearly visible through the thin fabric of the top.
He wanted to tug them between his fingers, grope her roughly, run his hands down that waistband and see just how wet he could make her.
“Into bed,” he said as she ran her eye along the bookshelf. “Quick now. You’ve an early start tomorrow. I want you downstairs for six.”
She grabbed a book and tossed it to him. He tucked her in, breathing in her sweet scent as he leaned close, aching to kiss her. Then he sat back down and began to read. “Wind in the Willows,” he said. “Chapter One.”
She was yawning within minutes, her eyes growing heavy. By the time he was ten pages in, she was asleep.