Chapter 7 #2
“Slow!” she blurted on a gasp, covering her bottom with two flattened palms before I could swing again.
“Okay. Slow it is. But I’m no longer counting those swats since you put your hands in danger again. Now move them.”
“No, Daddy, please.” She pulled her hands away, this time tucking them under her chest. “I won’t do it again.”
“You have to be disciplined for disobeying, so we can count the swats, but the rest go on your bare bottom, or they don’t count, and we continue as-is over your panties.”
“God!” She yelled. “Why does everything have to be about decisions!” Her tone told me she was frustrated.
“Because I think it’s something you need to learn to do. And once you do, I’ll gladly make all the decisions when we’re together, knowing you’ll be able to when I’m not around.”
I swatted her thigh with the paddle, and she squealed again, louder since it hurt so much more there. “That was for the way you talked to me. You’re welcome to tell me how you feel but you need to be respectful about it. I don’t yell at you, Mira. And I expect the same curtesy.”
“I’m sorry, Daddy.”
“Good, now which is it? Do they count but panties are coming off, or do they not count and I continue with number three?”
“They don’t count,” she mumbled.
“Look how fast you made that decision. You should be proud. I know I’m impressed with you.”
Her reply was some sort of grumble, but I ignore it.
“Okay, prepare and keep those hands tucked where they are.”
She tensed and I let the paddle land eight times in quick succession. When I set the paddle down to sooth her sore bottom with a rub, she was out of breath and whimpering.
“Such a good girl,” I crooned, circling her panty-clad bottom with my palm. As soon as her breathing regulated, I bared her bottom, tugging her panties slowly down until they sat at her knees, and then continued to rub the hot skin. “Just ten more, girlie.”
I tempered my swats this time, knowing just how much the rubber stung, but I gave her all ten without a break. She was sobbing and her panties were all the way across the floor by the final swat.
“Come here, baby.” I held my arms open, and she flew into them. I held her, rocking us both and rubbing her tender rear until her sobs subsided.
“Thank you, Daddy.” She hiccupped. “That was just what I needed.”
Petting her hair, I gave her a peck to her forehead. “Do you need some water? A snack? An ice pack for your bottom? Or are you ready to lie on the bed for me?”
“May I have some water?” She asked this shyly, and I kissed her again, this time on her red nose.
“Of course. I think you’ll need it.” I winked at her and went to grab her a bottle from the fridge.
She drank her fill and set the half empty bottle on the nightstand. “I’m ready now.”
“Good girl. Go lie on the bed.”
She scrambled off to do as she was told and I stood, watching her as she lay on her back, her skirt rumpled around her thighs.
“I hope this next decision will be easier for you.”
Her eyes widened, and she worried her lip. “I don’t think I can—”
“Girlie. Daddy knows.” Grabbing her ankles I pulled her a little closer to the edge of the bed, bending her knees and parting them so she was open for me.
“Pretty little butterfly,” I said, running a crooked finger softly over her bare mound and lips. “This time the consequences of your lack of choices won’t hurt, they may disappoint though.” The corner of my mouth slid up as she visibly shivered.
“Tell me, girlie, what do you want? Daddy’s fingers? Daddy’s tongue? Mm, or do you want Daddy’s cock?”
Mira licked the webbing between her index finger and thumb, yanking me from my memory. She shook salt onto the wet spot and picked up her shot glass. I did the same, although sort of numbly since the blood in my limbs had been rerouted elsewhere.
“To shitty days, shitty tea and…” she paused to look me right in the eye. “And not shitty company.”
My heart thumped faster, and we both slammed back our shot. I grimaced and hissed, which wasn’t very manly, but tequila was nasty. Her face twisted too, and we both reached for our limes sucking them simultaneously.
I couldn’t taste a thing suddenly, no lingering burns or sour flavor, I was too focused on her mouth.
Her upper lip, slightly thicker on the left than the right, was covered with grains of salt and her plump bottom lip, shiny with lime juice, made me want to shove the table away Hulk-style and gather her into my arms and kiss her fucking senseless.
She flashed me one slightly crooked tooth—the eye tooth also on the left, as she smiled at me as if she knew exactly what I wanted to do to her.
“You’re stunning,” I blurted, and she blinked at me, her hand frozen around her margarita glass mid lift. Swallowing she looked down at the glass, her face flushed.
“I don’t feel stunning. I feel like I’m chasing my tail.”
“If only you could see how amazing you are, you’d know why Silas is practically tripping over his tongue for your attention.” I chuckled at the way she snapped to look at the server.
“He’s not.”
“He totally is.”
“He’s a friend and also a sub. We did a scene with his Mommy once years ago and he’s been trying to convince me to do it again ever since.”
“What was the scene?” I was genuinely interested because to me it was as plain as the nose on my face that Silas had a major crush on Mira.
“I was the girl next door, and we were getting hot and heavy in his room while his mom was at work, and then she came home… and well, I’ll leave the rest to your imagination.
” She looked away. “It was fun, but not something I’ll do again, no matter how much he begs.
I’m not really into playing with anyone lately, not with everything going on. ”
“I see. And by everything, you mean?”
Again, her eyes came back to mine swiftly. “You know. And I’ll always be a sub, I’m just no longer interested in exploring it in any serious way. It’s a hobby now. And I never want anyone to expect more from me.”
“A hobby?”
She shrugged. “Something I do for fun.”
“I guess that’s better than just outright denying yourself.”
“Is that what you’ve been doing?” Her eyes turn curious. “How come you haven’t been back to the Ranch until now?”
I looked around at the restaurant, reminded of how excited I was to be here the last time. Not the restaurant, but the ranch itself.
“I’m focused on another situation, but soon. Soon, I’ll need my own life. I spend too much time at the hospital or at home putting out fires.”
“Fires? You mean your roommates? Why don’t you just move? You’re a doctor, surely you don’t need roommates.”
“They’re not just regular roommates,” I replied, staring at the flecks of gold in her brown eyes. “They’re the reason I’m here. Well, one of the reasons.”
She picked up her margarita glass, taking a sip. My eyes instantly fell to her mouth where her tongue flicked out to lick excess salt from the rim of the glass. My groin tightened.
“Tell me about them.”
“Well, you know Jesse.”
Her brow furrowed. “I do?”
“Dr. Tanner.”
“Oh! He works in the emergency department with you.”
I nod. “Yeah. So, I met Jesse in med school. He was my roommate, and he introduced me to Beth, a girl in our class who he went to high school with. We all got close. They both had wholesome albeit boring childhoods here in Montana. But where Jesse didn’t have a serious bone in his body, Beth was all determination and hard work.
And me? Well, I already told you about my brother, and my parents and their expectations, so you know I was serious myself.
” I took a sip of my margarita and continued.
“Jesse helped us let loose and in turn we helped him stay on track. None of us would have made it as well-rounded people and MDs without each other.”
“So, you all still live together?” She throws up her hands to stop me before I can answer her. “Is this a love triangle? Is your life a real like medical soap-slash-drama? Are you McDreamy or McSteamy? Or, oh man, are you poor George?”
I shook my head, chuckling but didn’t continue since Silas returned suddenly, setting chips and salsa on the table. We ordered some guacamole for the chips, two more margaritas, and fish tacos.
“So go on,” Mira reminded, as soon as he was gone, shoving a chip into her mouth. I drained my margarita.
“Not roommates. Beth never lived with us.
She lived at home with her parents but spent a lot of time on campus with us, since according to her, there was no way she could study at home with all the noise.
Anyway, when school was done, we all went our separate ways, doing our internships in different hospitals and cities.
“And then Beth took a residency in the hospital where I worked the next year in Canada. And since she had no family, friends, or support system there, or even back home since her parents had died, she had to come clean about a little secret she’d been keeping. She had a daughter.
“She’d had her when she was nineteen and told me the father wasn’t involved, so it had been her parents who had helped her all those years while she was in school. But with them having recently passed away in a car accident, she had no one.
“I gave her shit for not telling us about her parents’ deaths, reminding her that both Jesse and I would have flown in to be with her, but being her usual stubborn self, she said she had it covered.
And then swore to me she hadn’t followed me to Canada for support.
Told me it was just a happy coincidence that she got accepted into the same residency program as me. ”
Mira listened intently, her eyes focused completely on me.
“Anyway, she hadn’t found a place yet and I had a three-bedroom condo that my grandparents bought me when I was accepted into the program so…
it was too big for one man and Beth hated that Marni would have to be with a nanny so much while she worked.
With our shifts often being opposite, Marni got to be with me or her mom more often than the hired nanny. ”