Chapter 13
CHAPTER 13
She only earned a handful of mild punishments during her first week with Samuel, a fact nobody was more surprised by than Eliza. It was rare a spanking made such an impact on her that she was compelled to be on her best behavior for more than a day or so afterward.
Well, perhaps not her best behavior. She still struggled with some of her tasks, like getting out the door on time in the mornings and remembering to do all her chores around the apartment. But she was slowly accumulating those Good Girl stars, and she was surprised to find how much she looked forward to their evening recaps of her behavior.
But as the days went on, she found herself feeling more and more restless. It wasn’t like she wanted to be in trouble, not really, but she just couldn’t shake the feeling that she needed something, and that the “something” she needed was probably a good hard spanking.
Dammit.
“Psst. Eliza,” Harmony whispered from behind her as they waited for Professor Eaton to begin their first class of the day. “Is Professor Eaton really your Daddy? ”
Twisting around in her seat, Eliza glared at her. “Where did you hear that?”
“I overheard my Daddy talking to someone about how much better you were doing now that you had a Daddy to keep you in line.”
Ugh. She should have realized it was only a matter of time before her secret got out. Everyone knew she’d been assigned a guardian, but Kylie was the only one she’d told about the whole “Daddy” business and she knew once something went in the Kylie vault even the CIA couldn’t pry that information out of her. “That’s not really any of your business, Harmony.”
Worry had Harmony’s brows drawing together. “But you’re not a Little. Have you told him you’re not a Little?”
Obviously Harmony wasn’t going to let go of this particular bone any time soon. “Yes. I have. But it’s… complicated.”
“Complicated how?”
Before she could answer, Professor Eaton’s voice rang out from the front of the classroom. “Good morning, class.”
Not wanting to get in trouble with her guardian in front of everyone and give the rumor mill even more fuel, Eliza turned back around to the front. “Good morning, Professor,” she parroted back along with the rest of the class.
“Books open to page 203. We’re going to review the homework assignment from Monday, and then we’ll move on to today’s lesson.”
“Psst.” Harmony tapped on Eliza’s shoulder as Professor Eaton wrote the first problem out on the white board at the front of the class. “How is it complicated?”
“It just is,” she whispered back, as quietly as she could.
“That’s not an answer, El.”
“It’s all the answer I have right now. ”
“But you hate ageplay.”
She did. Or at least, she’d always thought she did. She was still very very certain that she would die of embarrassment if someone tried to put a diaper on her, but the Good Girl chart was kinda fun. And the clothes he’d picked out for her weren’t awful . “Like I said, it’s?—”
“Miss Bennett. Miss Remington. Do you have something to share with the class?”
Heat rushed to Eliza’s cheeks as she whipped her head back around. “No, Sir.”
“Then I suggest you save your conversation for between classes.”
“Yes, Sir,” she and Harmony responded in unison.
She tried to pay attention after that. She really did. But he’d been helping her with her math homework pretty much every night, and she’d gotten the exact same walkthrough of all the problems on the board already, so it wasn’t long before her attention began to drift again. Sliding down in her seat a bit, she slipped her hand into her backpack and carefully pulled out her phone.
Ugh. She kept forgetting all her games were locked down during the day. But there were new messages in the group chat. Swiping it open, she grinned at Dan and Kylie’s back and forth over some video game they’d both started playing recently.
“Miss Bennett.”
Oh, shit . Snapping her head up, she wished fervently for a hole to open in the ground and swallow her. “Sir?”
“Come here, please. And bring your phone.”
Dozens of wide-eyed gazes followed her as she made her way up to the front of the classroom. Professor Eaton held out his hand, and she obediently placed her phone in his palm.
When he spoke, his voice was low enough so only she could hear, but it didn’t stop the entire class from leaning forward in their seats to listen. “I do not want to embarrass you in front of your friends, Eliza. But if you continue acting like a naughty Little girl who can’t follow the rules, then that is exactly how I will treat you, starting by putting you over my knee and spanking your bare bottom in front of the entire class. Do we have an understanding?”
Seriously, where was that hole in the ground when a girl needed it? “Most professors just send us to Professor Chambers when we need to be disciplined, Sir.”
“And I have no problem doing so for the rest of your classmates. But when my Little girl acts up in my class, she will be punished by me . Am I making myself crystal clear, Eliza?”
“Yes, Sir.”
“Good girl. You may have your phone back at the end of class. Return to your seat.”
With her cheeks flaming so hot she was pretty sure Chef Connor could have cooked an egg on them, she made her way past the curious stares back to her seat, her stomach churning the entire way.
Harmony mouthed “Sorry” before Eliza slid back into her seat, and Eliza had to blink back tears, which added a healthy dose of anger to the humiliation bubbling inside her. It wasn’t fair. None of this was fair. She’d been so good for over a week now and after one little slip up he was still treating her like a child.
She hated it. More than anything, she hated that Samuel Eaton could reduce her to a sniffling, contrite Little girl with nothing more than a few stern words.
The longer she sat in class, listening to him drone on about complicated math she would never use in a million years, the madder she got. It just wasn’t fair for her to be stuck with the one man on the Ranch who seemed determined to push every single button she had whenever she broke even the teeniest, tiniest of rules.
Somehow, she needed to figure out how to get under his skin the same way he got under hers. Maybe then she could gain at least a little bit of power over the situation.
As his first class of the day shuffled out of the room, Professor Eaton waited behind his desk for Eliza to approach. It didn’t escape his notice that she waited for everyone to leave before she grabbed her backpack and marched herself up to his desk.
Uh oh. That was his first thought when he saw the flash of defiance in her eyes as she held her hand out. He’d wondered how long it was going to take the punishment she’d received last week to wear off. If he was being honest, he was surprised it had lasted this long. “May I please have my phone back, Professor?”
“That depends.”
Another flash in those emerald eyes. “You said I could have it back at the end of class.”
“And you may. If you can promise me you won’t use it during any of your other classes. Texting your friends is a privilege, Eliza, and if you continue to abuse it, I’ll be forced to revoke that privilege.”
Red flooded her cheeks. “But that’s not fair!”
“It’s about as fair as it gets, actually. So you can either promise me that you will follow the rules, or I can keep your phone with me for the rest of the day.”
“Ugh, fine . I won’t use my phone during class again. Now can I get my phone back so I’m not late? Professor Rogers hates tardiness more than most.”
If it weren’t for the fact that she did need to get to her next class and he had students lining up outside in the hall waiting to be let in, he would have taken care of her attitude then and there. Instead, he pulled her phone from his pocket and rounded the desk. But instead of handing the device over, he gripped her chin between his fingers, forcing her head back. “Be very careful with that attitude, little one. You’re skating on thin ice already this morning.”
“I don’t have an attitude.”
It dawned on him then that not only was arguing with her not getting him anywhere, but that she wanted him to argue. She was spoiling for a fight, though he wasn’t entirely sure why.
So he changed tactics. Bending his head, he brushed a kiss across her pouty lips. Her sharp inhale had him groaning as his cock hardened, and before he knew what he was doing, his lips were pressed against hers, hard and demanding.
He half expected her to resist, since she seemed so intent on fighting him on everything else. But to his surprise and delight, she surrendered to his kiss with a soft whimper.
That first kiss was everything he’d imagined it would be. Soft and sweet, with an underlying sense of urgency that had him fighting back the urge to bend her over his desk for an entirely different reason than spanking her naughty bottom.
When he finally forced himself to lift his head again, her eyes were glazed over, her bruised lips parted slightly as she panted for air.
“Be a good girl for Daddy, Eliza. I’d much rather reward you than punish you tonight.”
“Wha—” She swallowed audibly. “What kind of reward?”
“The kind that ends with you screaming for Daddy as you come all over my fingers. Doesn’t that sound much nicer than getting your bottom paddled or writing lines again?”
“Maybe.”
Stubborn brat. He had to swallow a laugh as he handed over her phone. “Behave yourself today, and I'll show you how much fun it can be to be Daddy’s good Little girl when we get home.”
Snatching her phone from his hand, she hurried out of the room. Grinning at her retreating figure, he called out for his waiting class to enter the room.
And spent the next several hours torn between his duties as a professor and the filthy fantasies he hoped like hell he got to play out tonight.
Meet me in the library before lunch. 911. SOS. Danger Will Robinson, Danger!
After shooting that message off to Kylie, Eliza shoved her phone back into her book bag and hurried down the hall to her next class. She just managed to step into the room as the bell was ringing, which earned her a raised eyebrow from Professor Rogers.
“Cutting it close, Miss Bennett.”
“Sorry, Sir. Professor Eaton needed to speak with me.”
The stern expression on the other professor’s face softened. “Ah. Well, I’ll have to remind your Daddy that if he’s going to keep you after class, you’ll need a tardy pass.”
Oh, god. Was everyone determined to spill her secrets today? “Yes, Sir.”
“Your Daddy ?” Annabeth Winters whispered loudly as Eliza took her seat. “Since when did you join the Little brigade, Bennett? ”
“Since never. Shut up.”
“Girls.” Professor Rogers called their attention to him with his “You’re about to take a trip to the disciplinarian’s office” voice. This was her third class with him, and Eliza knew that voice well. “Quiet, please, or I’ll be writing out slips for Mr. Chambers. And you, Eliza, should be avoiding that fate more than most.”
“Yes, Sir. Sorry.” Once again, Eliza found herself sitting in class with her cheeks burning red hot.
Thankfully, Annabeth seemed just as eager to avoid a trip to the disciplinarian as Eliza was, and she kept her mouth shut for the rest of the class. As soon as the bell rang, Eliza gathered her things and jumped from her seat, racing for the door ahead of everyone else.
“No running in the halls!” Professor Rogers called out behind her.
She forced herself to slow to a fast walk on her way to the library. Kylie was already there, waiting for her with a concerned expression. “What’s going on? What happened? Are you hurt?”
“I’m not hurt. I’m fine.” Laughing, Eliza ran a shaky hand over her hair. “Well, not fine. We need to find somewhere private to talk.”
“The erotica section. Emily will give us space if she’s back there.”
Together they hurried to the back corner of the library which was entirely empty. “Okay, what the hell is going on?” Kylie whispered as they hid themselves behind the last row of shelves.
“He kissed me.”
“Who?” As soon as she asked the question, Kylie’s eyes went wide. “Professor Eaton kissed you? Is he allowed to do that?”
“I don’t know. But he did. ”
“Wow. Huh.” Her expression turning thoughtful, Kylie tilted her head to the side. “Did you like it?”
“Oh my god.” Slapping a hand over her heart, Eliza leaned back against the brick wall behind them. “It was the best kiss of my life. One of those foot-popping kisses, like in The Princess Diaries .”
“That sounds lovely. So why the literal 9-1-1 text?”
“He’s got me all twisted up, Ky. I was pissed because he took my phone away in the middle of class, and then he was making me promise I wouldn’t use it during any of my other classes, and I was being a bit of a brat about it, and the next thing I know, he’s kissing me, and I swear it’s like he kissed the brat right out of me. And then he had the nerve to tell me that if I was a good girl he’d give me a reward tonight.”
“What kind of reward?”
“The sexy, orgasmic kind.”
“Oh.” Kylie grinned. “Well, that sounds like a good incentive to behave yourself.”
“If that kiss was anything to go by, it’s an excellent incentive.”
“Then why do you sound so mad about it?”
“I don’t want to be a good girl!” The words burst out of her, full of frustration. “He embarrassed me in front of the whole class, and I was making plans to show him he can’t push me around, and then he pulls that shit on me!”
“Wait, back up. How did he embarrass you?”
“I told you, he took my phone away. Like a child.”
“Why did he take it away? I thought you guys talked about that.”
“We did. He took it away because I was texting during class.”
The look Kylie sent her way would have done any Domme proud. “Eliza. You can’t get pissed because you got in trouble for breaking a very clear rule that you’ve known about for two years. Not using your phone in class is not a new rule.”
“I know. But you weren’t there . He called me up to the front of class and he made me give him my phone. And then he said if I kept misbehaving he’d put me over his knee and spank my bare ass in front of everyone.”
“Babe.” Looking somehow both sympathetic and amused, Kylie laid a hand on Eliza’s arm. “He didn’t do anything the other professors wouldn’t and haven’t done. Well, they probably would just send you to Mr. Chambers but still. He didn’t actually spank you, he just threatened to and took your phone. Par for the course.”
“It’s different with him, Ky. Usually when I get in trouble it just kinda rolls off my back but he has this way of making me feel…”
A knowing glint shimmered in Kylie’s eyes. “Like a naughty Little girl?”
“Yes! Exactly! And I don’t like it. It’s not fair.”
“Is it unfair or are you just uncomfortable because for the first time in your life you’ve met a man who won’t put up with your bullshit?”
Eliza narrowed her eyes. “That’s mean.”
“Tough love time, El. You’ve gotten away with way more than you should have the past two years because there is only one thing that truly embarrasses you and that’s being treated like a Little. Master Derek and the others have respected that in the past, but your new Daddy is under no obligation to do so unless you clearly and firmly tell him it’s a hard limit.”
“I don’t know if it’s a limit. I’m not just saying that,” Eliza insisted when Kylie sighed. “I’m just… feeling very confused by all this. I used to know where the lines were and what would happen if I pushed specific boundaries, but wi th him it’s different. He keeps changing the rules. Well, not the rules but he’s just never quite what I expect. If that makes any sense.”
“It does. And if I’m being perfectly honest, it sounds like he could be good for you, if you gave him a chance.” A wicked smile curved Kylie’s lips. “Starting with behaving yourself today and earning yourself a nice yummy orgasm tonight.”
“I guess.”
“Trust me, El. There are definitely some benefits to being a good girl.”