Chapter 6
Chapter Six
She wasn’t exactly sure when she finally fell asleep.
Her ass ached and every time she moved she was reminded of the welts the strap had left behind.
But the demanding pulse between her legs was the real problem.
It was so so tempting to slide her hand down and fix that problem—but she took Carter’s threat seriously.
It was a long night, and she was grumpy in the morning, until Carter, or rather, Daddy, jollied her out of it. She bumped into him coming out of the bathroom and he was all smiles. Obviously he’d slept fine.
“Morning, sweetheart. I hope you have time for breakfast. I made pancakes, with corn in them, just the way you like it.” He kissed her on the forehead. “Come eat when you’re ready.”
Corn pancakes were her favorite thing, but she wasn’t normally a breakfast person, so she hardly ever got to have them. And Carter had always had a caretaker streak, but in the past couple of days that had deepened.
The energy between them felt lighter. There was more casual touching, more smiling and laughing. How could she be grumpy when her husband was leaning across the table to feed her bites of her favorite food.
But her good mood lasted only until she got to work. Edward had avoided her since Carter had handled the vacation situation, but that didn’t mean he was making her life easier. She found three client folders on her desk when she came in, extra work that needed to be done immediately.
There was also an off-putting aura in the office.
None of her co-workers were talking to her, but they were sneaking a lot of looks in her direction.
Allegra wasn’t especially close to any of the team, but they’d always been casually friendly until now.
During an afternoon bathroom break, she found out what was going on and it left her absolutely furious.
“Edward says we’re all going to have to work overtime because of it,” Linda was saying as she pushed the ladies’ door open.
Melissa was right behind her. “Ugh, that’s so awful. I can’t believe she did that. I always thought she was nice.”
Neither woman knew Allegra was in the end stall, and when it became clear that they were talking about her, she went silent, listening. Doors banged as the women went into separate stalls, but the conversation continued through the wall.
“Some women will do anything to get ahead but hitting on the boss and then telling your husband he made a pass at you is low.” There was a tinkling sound and the rattle of the toilet paper roll as they took care of business.
Melissa picked the gossip back up after she finished and moved to the sink, washing her hands as she said, “I heard she demanded a promotion and said she’d report him to HR for sexual harassment if she didn’t get it.”
Linda, still in the stall snorted. “With what proof? Besides, Ronnie told me there’s a promotion freeze until the end of the year anyway. He couldn’t promote her if he wanted to.”
Allegra’s mouth opened. She could feel a scream building in the back of her throat, and she had to swallow it down. All that work and he couldn’t even follow through. For a minute the bitter disappointment paralyzed her, but then she backtracked to the rest.
How dare he lie about such a disgusting thing. She was tempted to throw the door open and tell them what had really happened, but she held herself back. She needed time to think before she acted.
“Probably why he gave her the time off. It’s a bribe and now we’re the ones paying for it,” Linda said, as she finally finished and flushed.
“He shouldn’t have given in to her. She’ll just try again. What a piece of work. Ugh.”
“Probably afraid it would ruin his career. You know how rumors spread.” The taps ran, the paper towel dispenser clanked, and a few seconds later they were both gone.
Allegra allowed herself to hyperventilate in the stall.
The nerve! The audacity! Her mind was jumbled; thoughts flying fast and furious as she debated all the ways she could get revenge.
She didn’t leave the bathroom until she was entirely calm, outwardly at least, and as much as she wanted to, she didn’t just walk out on her job.
She went to her desk and worked quietly until the end of the day, and then she ignored whatever work was left and went home. Maybe she should have left her resignation on the desk with it, but she had put so much time in that she just couldn’t bear to do it. Not yet.
Luckily, she was about to leave on a three-week vacation with her husband. And no matter why her co-workers thought it had been approved … she was going to use that time to decide what she wanted to do with her life.
“Home early again?” Carter’s eyebrows shot up when she came through the door. “I was afraid you’d work yourself to death trying to get things done before we leave.”
Allegra opened her mouth, and then closed it and shook her head. She took a deep breath and buried the urge to blurt out everything she’d learned. “I’m going to take a hot shower.”
He looked surprised and more than a little curious, but he shrugged. “Sure, I didn’t have time to cook today, back-to-back meetings, so I figured we’d order. Any preference?”
She didn’t have it in her to make any more decisions today. “You choose, Daddy.” It was nice to be able to say that and then just head for the shower, knowing Daddy would take care of everything.
He chuckled and waved his phone at her. “Sure, sure. I know what you like, sweetheart.”
With the water as hot as she could stand it, she eased under the spray and let it wash the tension out of her body. It left her limp and tired, and she slumped against the cold tile wall as the water continued to run, doing her best not to think.
She’d tuned out the world, and let the water beat down on her until she completely tuned out. A hand touched her shoulder; she jumped as her eyes snapped open to see Carter climbing into the shower with her
“Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you. You seemed miles away.”
“I was.” She laughed, but there wasn’t much humor in it. “Stressful day, I guess.”
“Hmm, maybe I can help you relax.” He pulled her back against him, arms sliding around her. “Have to say I’m a big fan of these earlier nights. It’s nice to see you before we’re both ready to pass out.”
“Mhm.” She melted back against his hard chest. It wasn’t the only thing on him that was hard, and she pushed back against it, circling her hips. “Has it been twenty-four hours yet?”
He leaned in to nip her neck, growling. “Close enough.” His hands began to explore her body, slipping across wet flesh.
“That feels perf… wait, what about the food?” She hated to bring up practical matters, but the last thing she wanted was to be interrupted in the middle.
“I put a delay on the order. We’ve got an hour.” He turned her in his arms and ducked his head down to capture a nipple in his mouth, sucking.
“O-only an hour?” Her fingers threaded through his hair and tightened.
He laughed. “Greedy,” he said as he moved to the other nipple, giving it equal treatment.
She leaned back against the wall, eyes sliding shut as she lost herself in his touch. Her skin seemed to tighten in the wake of his mouth. A slow pulse began between her thighs, and it drew a long low moan from her.
Carter slid down her body until he landed on his knees in front of her. Hands settling on her hips as he kissed and licked his way down her chest, her stomach, and finally reached the v between her thighs. The angle wasn’t right to really get in there, but he teased her with the tip of his tongue.
Her hips canted to give him better access, and with a low growl, he stopped to drag one of her legs up and over his shoulder. “That’s better,” he said. A smirk tilted his mouth as he flashed her a wink, and then his face vanished as he buried his head between her thighs again.
Now he could reach everything, and she cried out as his tongue drove between her pussy lips and swept up and down in long teasing strokes. There was no special attention for the place she wanted his tongue the most, just a quick circle before his tongue moved away again.
The sounds she made grew increasingly frustrated as she tried to guide his head to her clit by tugging on his hair and circling her hips.
The long licks up the middle heightened everything, but it wasn’t enough to make her come.
She knew he was doing it on purpose, and her desperation made him laugh, which sent ripples straight to her core.
“Daddy. Daddy, please.” It wouldn’t take much. She was already so close. “This isn’t fair. Isn’t a whole day of edging enough?” A huff exploded from her as he flicked his tongue against her clit, and then tipped his head back to look up with heavy-lidded eyes.
“That was not a day of edging, sweetheart. If you’d like to experience a full day of edging … that can be arranged. What you had was a delay of gratification and if you keep whining about it, that delay will get longer. Would you like to wait until after dinner to try again?”
Allegra shook her head frantically. “No, no Daddy. This is fine,” she assured him.
“Good. Now, if you don’t mind, I’m busy down here.” The tone was playful, so she knew he wasn’t really mad.
She also knew that mad or not, he’d follow through and stop if she didn’t behave. She clamped her mouth shut and tried not to whine as he took his time getting back to business. And once his tongue slid between her folds, she was too wrapped up in sensations to think about complaining.
His hands left her hips and a second later he was spreading her pussy wide open.
The slow teasing strokes were done. He used his tongue with aggression, finally giving her clit plenty of attention.
Lapping with the flat of his tongue, catching all those nerves—it sent her mind spiraling until she couldn’t think, could barely even breathe.