Chapter 3
CHAPTER 3
“Come here, Eliza.” Still staring her down, Professor Eaton crooked a finger, clearly indicating she should follow his instructions.
“Seriously? You’re just going to spank me? Like, not even paddle me or anything? That’s it?”
“I can promise you, my hand is all I need.”
If you say so, dude.
“Okay.” Shrugging, she made her way over to him and obediently draped herself across his lap. She almost felt bad for the guy. Obviously Master Derek hadn’t really prepared him for her.
“Little girls under my care do not use naughty words, Eliza. And they certainly do not speak disrespectfully to those in authority over them. Am I making myself clear?”
Ugh. She hated being called a little girl, which was unfortunate somewhere like Rawhide where the place was practically overrun with Littles. Normally, she let it slide, but if he was going to be her guardian, she figured they should lay some ground rules. “Just in case Master Derek didn’t tell you, I’m not a Little. ”
“Pardon?”
His too-polite tone set her teeth on edge, but she managed to sound at least somewhat respectful when she answered. “I’m not Little. I don’t do… that.”
“I see.” He ran a hand over her exposed bottom, the gentle touch sending a shiver of need racing up her spine despite having just gotten herself off not two minutes ago. “And that is a hard limit for you? Odd, since it wasn’t marked on your survey.”
Fuck. That stupid survey. Was he going to keep bringing that up? “No, it’s not a limit. I just don’t really like it all that much.”
“Ah, well. It’s unfortunate for you that the entire point of a punishment is that you don’t ‘like it all that much’. So let’s try this again. Do you understand that while you are under my care, you will be punished not only for any swear words, but any disrespect shown toward those in a position of authority here at the Ranch?”
“Yeah.”
“Try again, little girl.”
Her teeth were going to be ground down to nothing at this rate. “Yes, Sir,” she managed to say through her clenched jaw.
“Good.”
Not only was he not using an implement, he didn’t even spank very hard. The swats stung, but not so much that she couldn’t enjoy them.
If she was being entirely honest, the rhythm was almost soothing as he swatted one cheek and then the other, then repeated the action slightly lower. Then higher again, covering her entire ass with a stinging warmth. Under other circumstances, she could have fallen asleep, it was all so warm and lovely.
“Do you know why you’re here, Eliza? ”
“Because I swore at Master Derek,” she answered obediently.
“That’s why you’re being punished, yes. But do you know why you are here, over my lap, getting your bare bottom spanked with my hand instead of bending over for the paddle as you expected?”
The next spank was harder, and she couldn’t quite keep herself from wincing at the sting. Especially when he moved lower, landing a few solid swats right on her sit spots where it always hurt the most. “Not really—ow—Sir.”
“Because, Eliza.” His tone remained conversational, even as he started spanking harder, and she found herself fighting the urge to squirm over his lap. She would not give him the satisfaction of knowing the sudden change was getting to her. “Big girls get paddled. Naughty Little girls who don’t know how to behave properly in public get spanked just like this. If you can behave like a Big girl, you’ll receive Big girl punishments. Otherwise, you’ll continue to be treated like the naughty Little girl you are.”
Anger flooded her, and she grabbed the legs of his chair, gripping so hard her knuckles turned white. “I already told you, I am not Little!”
“You’re going to have to convince me of that, Eliza. And until you do, I will be treating you exactly as I would any other Little in my care.”
No . Even Derek wouldn’t go that far.
Would he?
“Are-are you saying you’re a…” God. She couldn’t even bring herself to say the word.
“Yes, Eliza. I’m a Daddy. And as of this afternoon, I am your Daddy.”
“No!” Now she did struggle, squirming and fighting to be set free. But her tormentor only tightened his hold on her and continued spanking. “Let me go, I changed my mind!”
To her shock, it worked. The spanking immediately stopped and a moment later she found herself on her feet, face to face with a blurry Professor Eaton.
Blurry, she realized with a start, because she had tears in her eyes. She almost never cried from a punishment and she certainly never cried from a measly little hand spanking.
What the fuck was wrong with her?
Gripping her chin, Professor Eaton tilted her head back, a move that made her feel even more like a naughty Little than the spanking and lecture had. “I want to be very clear about what you’re saying, Eliza. What did you change your mind about?”
“I don’t want you for a guardian. I’m going to talk to Master Derek. There has to be somebody else in this place he can assign to babysit me.” Someone who isn’t a fucking Daddy.
“Very well. Get dressed, and we’ll walk over to his office together.”
Eliza practically vibrated with righteous fury as she walked the halls of Rawhide Ranch beside him. It amused him that for all Derek had said about how she took every punishment handed down to her with a smile, she’d broken so quickly at the mere prospect of being treated as a Little and forced to call him Daddy.
Apparently nobody had bothered to push the right buttons, before.
Erika looked up from her desk, her eyes going round as Eliza stalked past her to Derek’s office door. “He’s with someone, you’ll have to?— ”
But before she could get the rest of the warning out, Eliza threw open the door, and Samuel followed her in. Just in time to see Derek swing a large paddle down to connect with a very red, very bare bottom.
As a woman’s cry echoed around the room, Derek spun to pierce Eliza with a furious glare. “What exactly do you think you’re doing, little girl?”
Maybe if she wasn’t already so angry, Eliza would have thought twice about stomping her foot and matching Derek glare for glare, but Samuel honestly wasn’t sure.
“I need to talk to you. Now.”
“Oh my god? Who is that?” Whoever it was that Derek had bent over his desk was starting to sound panicked. “Master Derek?”
“It’s all right, Luna. Give me just a second.” Shifting to stand in front of Luna, Derek pointed toward the door. “Eliza Jane, you are going to march your naughty bottom out there and plant your nose in a corner. Samuel and I will deal with you in a minute.”
When Eliza started to sputter her protests, Samuel leaned down to whisper in her ear. “Unless you want to leave this office wearing a diaper, and with a pacifier strapped to your mouth, you will obey. Now .”
Fury sparked in her eyes, but she turned on her heel and stomped over to a corner. Arms folded behind her back, spine ramrod straight, for once she looked like the experienced submissive she was.
Samuel closed the door behind them and settled in a chair to wait. It wasn’t long before Derek emerged again, a petite woman with colorful hair tucked under his arm. His gaze flicked to Eliza in the corner before returning to the red-faced woman he’d just finished paddling. “All right, Luna. You can go ahead and report to Chef Connor in the kitchen since that’s where you’ll be spending all your spare time the rest of this week. I do not want to have this conversation again, young lady, am I clear?”
“Y-yes, Sir. I’m s-sorry, Master Derek.”
“I know.” Derek wrapped his arms around the woman for a long moment. “Go on. You’re dismissed.”
“Just a moment.” Rising from his chair, Samuel sent a pointed glance toward the corner. “I believe Eliza owes you both an apology.”
“I believe you’re correct. Eliza, come here, please.”
In stark contrast to Luna’s remorseful expression, Eliza’s features were the very picture of a defiant Little girl on the verge of a very big meltdown when she turned around. “What?”
Jesus, the girl really did have a death wish. “You owe Luna an apology for busting in during her spanking.” Instead of anger, Samuel made sure his tone conveyed “Disappointed Daddy”. Since Eliza seemed so sensitive to the idea of having a Daddy, he was curious to see if it had any effect on her.
To his utter delight, her cheeks immediately flushed and her gazed dropped to the floor. “I’m sorry, Luna. I shouldn’t have come in without knocking.”
“It’s okay. Thank you for the apology.”
With that, Luna hurried from the office. Derek turned his hard gaze on Erika, who was watching the entire proceeding with wide eyes. “Erika, what is one of your main responsibilities?”
Some of the color drained from Erika’s face. “Sir, I tried to stop her, I really did!”
“She did, Derek. It wasn’t her fault.” The idea of someone else paying for Eliza’s misbehavior had Samuel stepping in where he normally wouldn’t. “This was one hundred percent on Eliza. And myself for not stopping her sooner. ”
A heavy silence hung in the air, and if he wasn’t mistaken, Eliza’s cheeks grew even brighter as it dragged out.
“Very well,” Derek said at last. “You’re off the hook for now, Erika. See that it doesn’t happen again.”
“Yes, Sir.” Visibly relieved, Erika offered up a weak smile. “Thank you, Sir.”
Turning his attention to the subdued woman in front of him, Derek shook his head. “All right, Eliza. Since you wanted my attention so badly, it’s all yours. Let’s go to my office and talk.”
Eliza’s movements were stiff as she followed Derek into his office. Samuel trailed behind, closing the door after them. Giving Eliza the floor, he dropped into one of the visitor’s chairs and waved a hand toward Derek, who had taken his spot behind his desk, his expression uncharacteristically hard. “Go on, Eliza. Tell Master Derek what was so important you couldn’t wait five minutes to speak with him.”
The glare she shot in his direction might have made a lesser man flinch, but Samuel simply raised a brow. Eliza huffed, crossing her arms under her impressive breasts, and he couldn’t help but notice how the movement exposed more of the firm, smooth skin. Especially when she sucked in a deep breath.
“I want a different guardian,” she snapped. “One who isn’t a Daddy .”
If he’d had any doubts how she felt about his role, the venom in her voice when she spoke his title out loud would have squashed them completely. But Derek barely blinked at her tone. “Has Samuel done anything to violate your stated hard limits?”
“No,” Eliza grumbled, hunching in on herself a bit as if that could shield her from what was coming. “But you know I don’t do ageplay, Derek.”
“Master Derek, to you, little girl.” The words whipped out, laced with authority. “Given how much trouble you are already in, I suggest you avoid adding such blatant disrespect to your tally.”
To her credit, Eliza looked appropriately chastised. “I’m sorry, Master Derek.”
“Thank you. Now, what happened between you and Samuel?”
“He’s a Daddy!” she cried, throwing her arms out, gesturing wildly in Samuel’s direction. “You know how I feel about the whole Little thing! He kept telling me what a naughty Little girl I was, emphasis on the Little part even after I told him I wasn’t a Little. And when you sent me to the corner earlier he threatened to put me in a diaper!”
It was adorable, really, watching her come unglued at the very suggestion of a diaper. Tucking that information away for later, Samuel stayed silent as he watched the scene play out.
“I see.” Leaning back in his chair, Derek tapped a finger against the top of his desk. “I assume since this made you so uncomfortable, you used your safe words to let Samuel know you needed to stop?”
Eliza’s eyes narrowed. “I didn’t need my safe word.”
“Are you sure? Because you seem rather… distressed.”
“I’m not. I mean, I didn’t like what he was saying about treating me like a Little, but I didn’t need to safeword.”
“Then why are you here in my office, demanding a new guardian?”
“You know why!”
“Eliza, my patience is wearing thin. Do you need to add ageplay and the use of ‘Daddy’ as a title to your hard limits? ”
Sympathy stirred in Samuel’s chest as he watched the struggle play out on her face. It was clear he’d already pushed her well out of her comfort zone, but it was equally as clear that she wasn’t ready to admit it.
“No, Sir,” she said stiffly after several long moments of that silent struggle.
“Then Samuel Eaton will remain your guardian. You are dismissed.”
“But—”
“You are dismissed, Eliza.”
Eliza’s expression shifted through so many emotions all at once, Samuel couldn’t place them all. But the most prominent was confusion as she shifted from foot to foot exactly like the naughty Little she claimed she didn’t want to be. “Please, can’t we talk about this?”
“No. It’s clear Samuel has already made more of an impression on you in the past hour than I’ve managed to make over the past two years. I think leaving you in his capable hands might be the best decision I’ve ever made.”
Taking that as his cue, Samuel rose from his chair. “Come on, Eliza. We need to stop by the gift shop to pick up a few things, and then we need to gather your belongings from your room.”
“What? You can’t move me out of the dorms! That’s not fair!”
“Fair or not, I want you where I can keep a close eye on you at all times. My apartment has two bedrooms.” Which he’d thought was odd at the time, but now he was realizing Derek had been betting on him taking on the role of Eliza’s guardian the whole time.
“Ugh. Maybe I should just leave.” Eliza’s voice was thick, as if she were holding back tears. “It would serve you both right for being such jerks about this whole thing.”
“I’ll be sad to see you go, but I understand if that’s what you want,” Derek said, the truth of his regret ringing in his words. “But if you decide to go that route, simply let Samuel know, and I’ll have Erika get started on the transfer paperwork.”
The color was back in Eliza’s face now, twin red flags of it flying high on her cheeks as she turned and stomped out of the office. Samuel watched her go before turning to Derek with an apologetic smile. “I am sorry she got away from me and interrupted your time with Luna.”
“It’s fine.” But Derek’s dismissive wave held enough irritation to let Samuel know it wasn’t entirely “fine”. “Just make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
“Oh, I plan to. Of that, you can be absolutely certain.”