Chapter 12
She wasn’t okay. Roman had kept her close for hours and still Coco couldn’t let him out of her sight. If she couldn’t see him, he might be in danger again. Sure, Roman had explained that something like that would never happen again. Coco understood that, but still…
She’d even sat on the floor in his office when he’d had a video call with his manager.
Coco hadn’t seen him, but she’d hated him after hearing his voice alone.
She’d picked up from Roman’s voice that he was disgusted by the way his employee deflected all Roman’s pointed questions.
Eventually, the manager did admit to following the tenant rules without any grace due to the very tragic circumstances.
Roman fired him when the jerk admitted to deleting Frank Wilson’s emails and voicemails as well as telling the tenants that Roman refused to meet with anyone.
“He was awful, Daddy.”
“I’ve never seen that side of him, Little girl. If I had….” Roman shook his head in disbelief.
“If you had, you would have fired him a long time ago,” Coco guessed.
“Yes, Coco. This won’t happen again.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I’ll make sure no one can ever assume so much power in the manager position.” Roman rubbed his hand over his face. “Tomorrow, I’ll craft an email to all the store owners and managers to remove the mall manager position as the only way to contact me.”
“We could write it tonight.” Coco could see that the event weighed heavily on him. Roman couldn’t go back and rewrite history. Maybe if he did something positive now, he would feel better.
“You want to help me write it? I’d like that.”
Coco typed while Roman dictated. When he asked her for her opinion, she could tell he honestly wanted to know what she thought. Crafting the perfect tone took a bit of time, but they were both happy with it when he pressed send.
“You didn’t have to put in that line asking people to wait until tomorrow to contact you if it wasn’t a time-sensitive emergency so you could tend to your family,” she told him.
Inside, she appreciated Roman putting her first. She didn’t think anyone had ever done that since she’d been a young child.
“You are my first priority, Little girl. Tell me how you’re feeling.”
“I’m okay.” She wasn’t, but he was dealing with too much as it was.
“Come here and sit on my lap, Little girl.”
Coco clambered onto his lap and relaxed against his broad chest. The sound of his steady heartbeat under her ear reassured her. She pressed a kiss to his neck.
“Thank you, Coco. Tell me the truth now. Are you scared?”
“No. Not at all,” she lied. While she’d helped him, Coco had managed to control her fright. Now without something to distract her, the world seemed to close in on her. The horrible shaking she’d experienced before kicked back into her body with a vengeance. Coco clung to her Daddy.
“Coco. Look at me.”
She shook her head. He’d see right through her deception. Somehow her Daddy always knew when she was not telling the truth.
“Little girl.” His tone was firm. Coco wanted to obey, but she couldn’t.
The world whirled around her as her Daddy rotated her to stretch over his lap. He stripped off her leggings and panties in one easy movement. He stroked a warm hand over her sensitive flesh.
“Coco, look at Daddy.”
Covering her face, Coco buried her head against his leg. Her fear seemed too big and too personal to expose. She didn’t want him to know how weak she was.
His heavy hand landed on her bottom. Smacking her tender skin over and over, Coco squirmed as the sting from her spanking intensified.
He held her firmly pinned in place as he punished her for not following his instructions.
The pain cut through the worry in her brain, whisking it away. Her mind could focus only on one thing.
Tears cascaded from her eyes as Coco sobbed. Her body stilled, drooping limply over his lap. Her Daddy was here. He was okay. She turned her head to look back at him. Instantly, her spanking ended.
“There’s my baby girl.”
He gathered her back into his arms and rocked Coco gently as he wiped her cheeks dry. “Blow your nose, Little one.”
She hesitated and reached for the tissue in his hand.
“Daddy’s job, Coco.”
When she relented and let him help her, Roman gently tended to her. Coco loved every second of his care. She nestled her head on his chest. “Daddy?”
“Yes, baby. I think you need to be super Little right now. Would you like that?”
She nodded and clung to his shirt.
“Daddy needs that, too.”
He carried her to the nursery. “What a pretty baby I have,” Roman told her as he settled her on the changing table. “Let’s get these clothes off. My sweet Little girl doesn’t need these big-girl clothes.”
Coco allowed him to shift her as he stripped off her clothes.
When she was nude, Roman stroked his hand over her skin.
His touch forced her to focus on him and not on anything else.
Her breath caught in her throat as he cupped her breast. He leaned down to capture her nipple in his mouth.
As he rolled the taut peak between his teeth, Roman stroked his hand down her abdomen.
Moving slowly, his fingers trailed lightly over her skin.
With her attention split between his mouth and his touch, Coco couldn’t think of anything else.
When his fingers traced her cleft, she spread her legs eagerly.
Roman deepened his touch, driving two fingers deep into her pussy as he switched to tantalize her other breast. With stunning ease, Roman drove her into a fierce orgasm that stole her breath and released the last of her tension.
“That’s my good girl. How pretty you come for Daddy.”
Roman brushed a pacifier to her lips, and Coco eagerly opened her mouth. She sucked on it with her eyes closed as he wiped her juices away. His actions reassured her and grounded her attention on now, not what could have happened. The diaper he wrapped around her underlined how much he cared.
He wrapped a soft blanket around her bare skin before gathering her onto his hip to fix her a bottle. In a few moments, he rocked her gently in his arms as she drew the thick sweet liquid into her mouth. Comforted, she fell asleep.
Running through the house, Coco searched for her Daddy. He wasn’t in the open kitchen and family room area. The hallway stretched in front of her, filled with shadows. Each room she entered was silent. She could only hear her own breathing.
Retracing her steps, she ran for the last room.
Coco burst into his office and stopped abruptly.
An ornate casket sat on a raised stand before her.
Decorated with gold embellishments and gleaming wood, the coffin gave off menacing, evil vibes.
Filled with dread, Coco forced herself to walk forward.
She laid her hands on the closed top and paused.
Could she do it? She had to know. Slowly, she raised the embellished cover.
Roman’s handsome face appeared, devoid of the spark of life. Collapsing on the wooden side, Coco sobbed as overwhelming grief slammed into her. He was dead. She’d imagined that he’d come home to her.
Gripping the side, she could feel the satin interior on her fingertips. A deep guttural sound came from deep inside her. “Noooo!” Then, to her horror, Roman’s corpse opened its eyes and reached for her.
“Baby girl. You’re all right. Wake up.”
Unable to foist off the dream, Coco struck out at Roman, trying to free herself. Her hands hit warm skin instead of the cold freshness she’d expected. Shocked, she opened her eyes.
“Daddy!”
“Yes, Coco. I’m here. Everything is okay,” he soothed her.
“Oh, that was awful! The house was spooky as I ran through it. Then you were in a coffin. Dead!”
“Oh, Little girl. That was scary. But you can see, I’m fine. No coffin. I plan to stick around for a long time.”
“Promise?”
“I have everything to live for now that I’ve found you.” He gathered her close and kissed Coco hard.
She clung to him, deepening the exchange. Her Daddy was everything to her.