Chapter 9
Jesse
She was in so much trouble.
Even so, relief was the prevailing emotion as Jesse yanked open the storm door and flung herself into her Daddy’s waiting arms. He hauled her up against him, burying his face in the side of her neck as a shudder racked his frame.
“I was so fucking worried about you, baby.”
Guilt wiggled its way up through the storm of emotions inside her, nudging relief aside as she pulled back. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you worry.”
His brow rose, and her bottom clenched as if anticipating the punishment she was no doubt going to receive the second they were alone. “You disappeared with nothing more than a note, turned your phone off, and didn’t so much as text me to let me know you were safe in the three days you’ve been gone, and you didn’t mean to make me worry?”
Uh oh. “I mean, I did leave a note,” she offered weakly, despite knowing it wasn’t going to help. She’d known when she’d left that he wasn’t going to be happy with her. She’d just… hoped it would wait until she got back home.
In hindsight, she really should have known better.
Daddy closed his eyes, and she had a feeling he was counting to ten. When he opened them again, there was still a hard glint in them that promised retribution later, but then his gaze shifted from her to something else, and he carefully schooled his expression into something more pleasant. “Mrs. McDowell. I’m afraid we got off to a rather rough start. I’m Grant Carter, Jesse’s fiancé.”
“Jesse, what the hell is going on?”
There was a tightness to Edie’s words that had Jesse’s bottom clenching all over again. Once upon a time, that tone would have spelled doom for her poor backside, but she tried to remind herself that Edie wouldn’t actually spank her.
Somehow, that didn’t really make her feel any better.
Bracing herself for the inevitable, Jesse turned and pressed herself to Grant’s side, drawing on her Daddy’s strength. “Um, well, I might have sort of… not told Daddy where I was going. Or that I was leaving at all. And I guess he felt the need to come looking for me.”
“Yes, I did feel the need, Jesse Lynne.”
Jesse winced at the use of her full name and the growl in her Daddy’s voice. Leave it to her to say exactly the wrong thing when she was already in heaps of trouble.
For a long, tense moment, Edie simply stared at her. After what seemed like a short eternity, she sighed and stepped back, gesturing with her non-gun-toting-hand for them to enter. “I guess y’all should come in so we can talk.”
“Thanks,” Daddy said, the growl in his voice softening only a little for Edie’s sake as he nudged Jesse forward. “After you, little outlaw.”
Her cheeks flushed at the old nickname, and she blushed even harder when Edie raised an eyebrow. “Little outlaw?”
“We met while I was filming a Western a couple years back,” Jesse explained as they made their way inside. “When I told him my real name, he started calling me Jesse James whenever I’d send him pictures of me in costume and it sort of evolved from there.”
Daddy’s low chuckle sent a shiver up her spine. “It seems extra appropriate right now since you’ve been on the run.”
Yup. So much trouble.
With worry churning in her tummy, Jesse hurried inside ahead of her Daddy, only to find herself at a loss when she stopped in the middle of the living room, unsure of what she should do next.
Luckily for her, Daddy always knew what came next. “Sit,” he said, his tone leaving no room for argument as he pointed to the couch.
“Yes, Sir.” If she was sitting, he wasn’t spanking, and just then she was eager to do whatever she could to put off her punishment.
Well, anything but face down the two people who meant the most to her in the world, both of whom were currently and rightly furious with her, albeit for different reasons. Edie joined them in the living room, the gun thankfully missing, and when she folded her arms in a stance Jesse recognized all too well, she couldn’t help but squirm in her seat.
In her peripheral vision, she saw Daddy’s eyes narrow, then shift from her to Edie and back again. Clearly, he had caught on to the fact that something was going down, and she knew that look well enough to know he wasn’t going to stop until he got to the bottom of it.
Shit. This was not how she’d planned on telling him about Edie.
Well, she hadn’t actually planned on telling him at all. Which she could admit was exactly how she’d gotten herself into this mess in the first place.
It was going to be a long night.
Daddy crossed his arms, mirroring Edie’s stance and making Jesse squirm again. “All right, little girl. Since you’ve already introduced me as your Daddy, it seems fair to assume Edie is aware of the nature of our relationship?”
Swallowing hard, Jesse nodded. “Yes, Daddy.”
“Good. Then we don’t have to dance around it. Tell Daddy what the hell you were thinking, disappearing for three days without so much as a phone call, and without any way for me to check up on you.”
“I, um…” She risked a glance at Edie, who only raised an eyebrow as if to tell her to get on with it already. “I’m not really sure where to start.”
A muscle jumped in Daddy’s jaw, a sure sign she was skating on dangerously thin ice. “I suggest you start from the beginning.”
“Um, well, if I do that we’re gonna be here awhile. Could we like, order a pizza or something?”
It was a stalling tactic, but she actually was pretty hungry. Not eating all day would do that to a girl.
Add that to the list of things your bottom will be paying for later.
Sigh.
“Nobody delivers out here,” Edie said. “But I can whip us up some pancakes while you tell your… while you explain.”
“Pancakes!” Her Little side, which had already been struggling hard to break free, thanks to the massive amounts of trouble she was in and her Daddy’s presence, burst through as she clapped her hands excitedly. “I haven’t had pancakes in ages.”
The look Edie shot her Daddy was full of silent judgment. “Then pancakes it is. Wanna move this party to the kitchen?”
Jesse looked up at her Daddy, who paused as if weighing the situation in his mind before giving a single sharp nod. “All right. To the kitchen.”
For the short time it took them all to walk from the living room to the kitchen and for Jesse’s Daddy to push her very firmly down into one of the hard wooden chairs, she could almost pretend she wasn’t in the worst trouble she’d ever been in her entire life. But that delusion was quickly shattered when Daddy pulled out the chair across from her and pinned her with a stern glare as he sat with his arms once again folded across his broad chest. “Enough stalling, Jesse Lynne. Talk.”
“Oh, um, I should ask if Edie needs any help. It’s impolite not to ask.” Butterflies beat at her throat, nearly strangling her as she raised her voice slightly. “Edie, do you need?—”
“Do I need you to try and burn my kitchen down again? No, thank you. You can keep your naughty butt right in that chair while you tell your Daddy the truth.” Edie sent a meaningful look over her shoulder. “The whole truth, little girl.”
Once again, Daddy’s eyes narrowed, but he didn’t say anything. More watching. More observing. More mental notes that he would spend hours examining later. If he spent enough time with Edie, he’d know her better than Jesse did by the time they left.
Which wasn’t saying much since it felt like she didn’t really know Edie at all anymore.
Pushing aside that depressing thought, she did her best to ignore the woman moving around the kitchen and focused on her Daddy. “I really am sorry I worried you,” she said quietly, low enough so only he could hear her.
“I appreciate the apology, baby, but I hope you realize you’re still not going to be sitting comfortably anytime soon.”
Jesse nodded, blinking back the tears burning her eyes. “I do.”
“Glad to hear we’re both on the same page. Now, tell me what’s going on before I decide you don’t need to be sitting to eat your pancakes.”
“Daddy,” she whined, shifting uncomfortably in her chair.
The idea of being spanked in front of Edie was… not as embarrassing as she’d expected it to be. Of course, it helped that Edie had seen her bare ass in every shade of pink and red known to man. But the thought of her Daddy punishing her while Edie watched had her pussy throbbing with a completely unanticipated desire.
Great. Another complication she didn’t need.
“One,” Daddy said, mimicking the countdown Edie had given him on the porch.
“Better do as the man says. He sounds serious.” Edie’s tone was completely casual, as if it weren’t at all unusual for her to be listening to a Daddy counting down his babygirl’s fate right in front of her.
“I’m trying!” Closing her eyes, Jesse dragged in a deep breath, using the meditation techniques she’d learned over the years to center herself and calm the wild beating of her heart. “Okay.” Feeling somewhat steadier, Jesse forced her eyes open to meet the hard gaze of the man across from her. “Well. You’ve met Edie.”
Daddy’s gaze slid over to the stove where Edie was busy mixing ingredients in a large metal bowl. “We’re acquainted, yes.”
“Right. Well. Edie’s my…” Ex-girlfriend? Ex-lover? Ex… everything?
Somehow, none of those terms seemed to fit Edie, or what she’d been to Jesse once upon a time. “We dated for a summer, before I left for Hollywood.”
Across the table, Daddy tapped his fingers on the table. The breath in Jesse’s lungs seemed to stick there, unwilling or unable to move in or out as she waited for his response.
Finally, after what felt like forever, he nodded. “She’s the one who got away.”
The sound of ceramic clattering against granite distracted Jesse from her own shock as she whipped around to find Edie glaring at the pile of dishes she’d dropped on the counter.
Jumping up from her seat, Jesse hurried across the kitchen and placed a hand on Edie’s arm. And got yet another shock when she felt it tremble beneath her. “Edie? Are you okay?”
Edie jerked away, turning on her heel and marching from the room without another word or so much as a glance back. The tears Jesse had been wrestling with all day slipped down her cheeks as she watched her go.
A moment later, she was wrapped up in a familiar embrace. Closing her eyes, she pressed her face into her Daddy’s shirt and let the tears come, her body shaking with deep, soul-wrenching sobs. Everything she’d felt over the past few days seemed to pour out of her as he cradled her to his chest. But even as his strength enveloped her, a part of her ached to be held by a completely different set of arms.
And she had no fucking clue what to do about that.