Chapter 45
45
A knock on the bedroom door made Cate tense as she sat on Ethan’s lap.
“It’s probably Rhodes,” he soothed. “He and Seth arrived home a few minutes ago. I sent him a text before to let him know there was an incident with Samantha.” And to ask him to turn off the grill and oven.
“Ethan? Cate?” Rhodes asked. “You guys in there?
“Come in,” she called out.
He walked in, closing the door behind him. Moving toward her, he stopped about a foot away and crouched down.
“Hey, honey. What happened? How are you?”
Lord. She must look bad. Rhodes was speaking to her like he thought she might break at any moment. She swiped at her cheeks.
“Do I look like a mess?” she whispered to Ethan.
“The prettiest mess I’ve ever seen.”
That didn’t make it any better. He reached over and grabbed a few tissues, but when she went to take them from him, he held them back.
“Let me.” He carefully wiped her face clean. It was a bit embarrassing in front of her brother, but it was also so caring.
“What’s happened?” Rhodes asked.
Cate let out a breath before she explained finding Samantha in her bedroom and what she’d said. Rhodes’ face tightened. She knew her brother.
He was angry.
“I’m so sorry that Samantha was in here.” He stood and started to pace. “Did she tell you what she was doing in here?”
“Doesn’t matter,” Ethan said sharply. “She has no business being in here.”
Cate jolted at the sharpness in his tone.
“Sorry, sweetheart. I’m not mad at you. I promise.”
She knew that. She guessed she was feeling more delicate than she’d thought.
“I know. Sorry.”
He lightly squeezed her thigh. “What did I tell you about that word?”
Oh.
Uh-oh.
She leaned back to see him giving her a stern look.
“Cate?” Rhodes said quietly.
Shoot. How could she forget that her brother was there?
“Sorry,” she said.
Another squeeze.
Hey, that wasn’t fair! That was her fault for not paying attention to Rhodes.
“She said that she thought I should move out and give you and her the main suite. Something about how she lived here now and soon this house would be hers too.”
Rhodes’ face tightened. “Yeah, that’s not happening. You know that, right, Cate? I would never ask you to leave your room, certainly not your closet. And this is not going to be her house.”
She’d kind of known that. But it was nice to hear it from him.
“She was about to open my closet. If she’d seen inside . . .”
“I know, honey.” Rhodes placed his hand on her back. “I’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
“Only, isn’t she right? This is your house. Shouldn’t you have this suite? I could move into your room.”
Oh God.
The thought of all that change made her break out in a sweat. She couldn’t imagine having to change rooms. Not having her closet . . . panic was starting to tighten her chest.
“Hey, no. Cate. Stop. Turn back, please.” Rhodes firmed his voice as he said her name.
She turned to look at him.
“You are not moving. No one is taking this suite from you. I would never take away your safe place.”
Cate nodded. “Sorry. I know you wouldn’t.”
Another squeeze on her thigh. This time, it helped clear out all the pressure in her head. And she started to breathe easier.
“Do you want me to do anything? Stay with you? Get some food? A drink?” Rhodes asked.
“I’ll get everything, thanks,” Ethan said. “You’ve got someone else to deal with.”
“Yes, and I’m trying to put it off.” Rhodes groaned.
“I’m sorry I’m making things difficult. I could go to the vacation house,” she offered.
“You don’t need to go anywhere,” Rhodes said. “You are not the problem. And stop saying sorry.”
“That’s what I’m always telling her,” Ethan said.
She bit off her last sorry. They were right. This wasn’t her fault. This was on Samantha.
“I just . . . I feel like I can’t tell her to leave while this asshole is out there. It’s my fault she’s being targeted.” Rhodes ran his hand over his face.
Ethan was tense, and she wondered what he was thinking.
“Let me know if you need anything.” Rhodes leaned down and kissed the top of her head. “I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
“I don’t envy him, having to deal with that witch,” Ethan muttered once Rhodes was gone.
Neither did she.
“Now, you need to rest for a bit. And you need to drink some water.” Ethan laid her back on the bed, pulling the cushions so they were on either side of her.
“What are you doing?”
“I don’t want my baby to roll off the bed while I’m getting her an outfit to wear.”
He moved into the closet. When he returned, he was holding the most gorgeous onesie she’d ever seen.
“Is that a ladybug onesie, Daddy?” she asked in awe, sitting up.
“It is. And look, it has the hands and feet enclosed so they won’t get cold. And a drop seat in case you need to go potty or get your butt spanked.”
She glanced over at the door. “I’m not sure I can go into Little headspace with people here.”
“I understand, baby. I doubt she’ll try to get in here again, but it would be better if there was a lock on the door. It looks like there once was.”
“There was,” she said quietly. “Rhoddy took it off. He . . . worries about me.”
You should tell him what happened.
He would understand.
She would. Just not tonight. Another time when she was feeling less fragile.
“How about if I do this?” He grabbed the armchair and placed it against the door. It was a heavy armchair, it wouldn’t stop anyone who was determined to get in, but it would slow them down.
She relaxed slightly. “Okay, Daddy. But I won’t need my butt spanked.”
“Are you sure about that? Because you’re already owed quite a few spanks for saying sorry three times.”
Drat. He had been keeping track.
“That’s not fair! Some of those times it was my fault.”
“Nope. It wasn’t. But I’m not spanking you tonight after everything. We’ll take care of that the next time we have the house to ourselves.”
“Nooo, Daddy! I don’t want to wait for it! That’s torture.”
He eyed her for a long moment. “You’ve had a big day. I don’t want to push you too far.”
“I won’t sleep for worrying. I know what we can do, though!”
“What’s that?” he asked.
“We can just forget all about the spanking. There, problem solved.”
“Nice try, baby,” he said as he moved the pillows away and started to strip off her clothes. “But you’re getting the spanking.”
“Daddy, I think that’s very mean.” She yawned.
Lord, was she tired.
That might be why she could easily slip into Little headspace even though there were other people in the house.
He got her into the onesie. It was really nice. Soft and warm.
“Do you like, baby?”
“It’s the bestest, Daddy.”
He leaned over her and kissed her lightly. “Such a beautiful girl. So clever and smart.”
“Thank you, Daddy. You are a beautiful girl too.”
“Cheeky!” He started to tickle her, and she giggled until she felt her bladder pinch.
“Daddy! Potty!”
“Oops. I forgot that Little girls often need to go potty while being tickled.” He scooped her up and took her into the bathroom.
Setting her down on her feet, he undid the drop seat and tugged her panties down before helping her sit.
“Daddy, go!”
He eyed her. “Are we being a bossy baby?”
“We is being a bursting baby!”
“All right, I’m keeping the door open though. Call out when you’ve peed.”
Sheesh.
Daddies. They were so hard to train.
She peed and then cleaned herself up, pulling up her panties. But she couldn’t fasten her drop seat back up. She was washing her hands as he walked back in.
“Daddy! I might have been still peeing!”
“You were taking too long.” Pausing, he stared down at her with his eyebrows lowered. “And what did I say?”
“You said to stay where I am. And I did.”
“You aren’t sitting on the toilet.”
“I’m in the bathroom, though. I didn’t realize I couldn’t stand, Daddy.”
He folded his arms over his chest. “I think you knew what I meant.”
Cate gave him an innocent look.
“But I will give you the benefit of the doubt. Next time, wait on the toilet.”
“All right, Daddy.”
“Now, let’s get your spanking done.”
“Spanking? Now, Daddy?”
“I suggested waiting, but you wanted to get it over and done with, remember?”
“But . . . someone might hear us.”
“Not if we’re in here. With this going.” He shut the bathroom door and turned on the fan.
Actually, that would work well, provided Daddy didn’t spank really hard.
“You’ll have to spank me really gently, though, Daddy. Because if you do it too hard I might scream.”
“Is that right? Hmm, but if I do it too softly, then you might think I’m not serious about you not saying sorry when things aren’t your fault. You might forget the spanking and keep doing it. Which would mean I would have to spank you harder and longer next time.”
“That’s some crazy Daddy logic right there.”
“Us Daddies are known for our spectacular logic, thank you very much.”
She shook her head. “I don’t know. Daddy logic just seems to be justification for spanking Littles’ butts. I personally think it’s an addiction. Perhaps we should find you a therapist.”
“Well, I’m not too worried, since the only butt I want to spank is yours.”
“Well, Daddy, that puts a lot of pressure on my butt to perform.”
It was such a relief to slip into Little headspace. The stress from earlier was still there inside her. But it was slowly shrinking as her Daddy took over. As he took care of her.
Because she didn’t have to worry about anything. Ethan would do the worrying for her.
“Does it? Well, I think it performed beautifully last time.” He put the toilet seat down, then sat on it and reached for her, pulling her over his lap.
The drop seat was already open, so all he had to do was slip her panties down over her ass.
He squeezed one ass cheek. “Of course, if you don’t want to put pressure on your bottom to perform, then you know what you need to do, don’t you? Stop breaking the rules.”
“I don’t know how saying sorry is breaking the rules.”
“Well, perhaps we should make it a rule of its own. No saying sorry for things that aren’t your fault.”
“If you’re only just making that rule now, then surely you can’t spank me for breaking it.”
Gosh, she was good.
“Nice try. But I’d already warned you several times. You knew about this rule even if it wasn’t explicitly stated. Now what are you going to remember not to do?”
“Not to say sorry when I am not at fault,” she repeated.
“Good girl.”
Slap! Slap!
The two smacks caught her by surprise, making her gasp.
Was this really her life now? Getting her butt spanked in a bathroom?
Smack! Smack!
Yes. It seemed it was.
His hand landed over and over until her bottom was stinging and she was crying, tears sliding down her face. She lay slumped over his lap.
Okay. She got it.
He really didn’t want her to apologize for things that weren’t her fault.
Finally, he stopped, and she lay there sobbing while he rubbed her back.
“Good girl. All over now. You did so well. Your bottom performed spectacularly and so did you.”
She let out a small laugh that ended with a sob.
“Aww, my poor girl. Let’s get you tidied up.” He drew up her panties, then the drop seat before sitting her on his lap.
Then he stood and leaned over to grab some tissues from the box on the counter before sitting again so he could clean her up.
Holding her chin, he wiped her cheeks free of tears. Then he held the tissues to her nose.
“Blow.”
She blew her nose. Ew. That was gross.
But he didn’t even grimace, just threw the tissue in the bin before standing and moving to the counter to grab a washcloth. He put it under warm water, then set her down on the counter.
“Ouch, Daddy! My bottom!”
“Is it sore to sit on? Well, that’s what happens when you get your butt spanked.”
That seemed rather harsh. Using the cloth, he wiped her face.
Oh, that was nice.
Then he cleaned her hands, even though they weren’t dirty. It was still sweet.
Picking her up, he carried her into the bedroom and settled her under the covers. “I have something else for you. I’ve already washed it.”
He disappeared into the closet and came back with a bottle.
A baby bottle.
Oh. She had read books where the heroine used a baby bottle. She’d dreamed about being brave enough to order one. But she’d never taken that step.
“I’m going to go and fill this with milk and get you some water.”
Out into the kitchen? What if someone saw?
“Don’t worry. I won’t let anyone see me.” He put the pillows around her again. She felt so snug and comfy.
Letting out a sigh, she let her eyes drift shut. Exhaustion rolled over her.
She was always like this after she had an . . . an episode, she guessed you’d call it.
And now her routine was all out of whack. Then again, she hadn’t been able to stick to it very well lately. Perhaps that was part of the problem too.
“Aww, my baby. You’re so tired, aren’t you?”
Cate let out a small whimper as she felt him get into bed beside her. The pillow between them was pulled away and then he drew her against his chest.
“Shh, baby. Daddy has you.” The nipple of the bottle was pressed to her lips and she opened her mouth and sucked.
Um.
Hmm.
She wrinkled her nose and pulled her mouth away.
“What’s wrong? You don’t like the bottle?”
“I like the bottle, Daddy. But I don’t think I can drink warm milk. It’s kind of yuck. I don’t think I’ve had it in years and I just don’t think I like it.”
“That’s fair enough.” He kissed her forehead. “Maybe if it had some flavoring?”
“Yeah, chocolate would be good.” She grinned up at him.
“I’ll go put some chocolate in it. So cheeky.”
“You like me cheeky.”
“I do, my baby. I really do.”
When he returned, she was mostly asleep. But she opened her mouth when prodded, sucking down the chocolatey goodness.
Ahh.
That really hit the spot.
“My precious girl. Such an amazing girl for her Daddy. So proud of you.”
She drifted off to sleep with the sound of his praises in her ears and chocolate milk in her belly.
Could anything be better?
Well, she could’ve done without the hot bottom, she guessed.