Chapter 52
52
C ate was grouchy
As she got out of bed, she groaned. She felt like she’d been run over by a truck.
Picking up her phone, her vision was blurry as she attempted to make out the time.
It was ten!
Oh God! Panic flooded her. How could she have slept in? Why hadn’t she set an alarm? She should be in her office by now.
This wasn’t her routine.
No. No. No.
Wait . . . she glanced around. Where was she?
Everything rushed back to her.
She must have fallen asleep while Ethan drove them to the lake house. And he must have put her to bed.
Where was Ethan?
What should she do now? She had to set her office up. She already had two text messages from Oliver, so she should answer those.
But her stomach was rumbling. She’d like to eat first.
And she had to pee.
What to do first?
“Good morning, baby. I see you finally woke up. I made you some breakfast in bed.”
Glancing over at Ethan, she shook her head. “I . . . I can’t.”
He stared down at her, then he put the tray of food on the nightstand.
A plate with dividers sat on the tray. One section had scrambled eggs, another had bacon. And the third held pieces of toast with butter.
Oh. That actually looked good. But she usually ate a bagel.
“Hey, what’s wrong?”
What’s wrong? Everything was out of sorts.
“I . . . I . . .” She could feel her breathing quicken.
No! She wasn’t doing this. This had been happening too much. If this kept going, she would give herself a heart attack.
“I slept in!”
“You needed the sleep, baby. You were exhausted.” He kneeled in front of her.
Cate shook her head. “You don’t understand. I have a routine.”
“Ahh. And you’ve been out of that routine awhile, but I’m guessing coming here is throwing you.”
“I love it here. But I need to set up my spaces. My work. My . . . safe space.”
“I understand.”
“I have to stick to my routine.”
“Which means long hours of work? Not stopping for breaks? No fun stuff?”
Oh.
She hadn’t thought of it like that. But she had always worked a lot.
Because you never had someone else in your life.
Now you have Ethan.
He deserves your time and attention. Even if he will leave eventually .
“I’m not very good at this relationship stuff, am I?”
“Who said that?” he demanded.
“Routines are boring. I’m not very spontaneous. And I keep getting upset. Are you sure you’re not tired of this? Of me?”
He cupped her face between his hands. “I will never grow tired of you, Cate.”
“You don’t look at my broken parts and think that I’m too much work? That you’ll never fix me? You . . . you . . .”
“Fix you? Why would I want to fix you? I look at those parts and I think they’re beautiful. You’re not broken, my baby. Every piece of you is precious and special. You are amazing just how you are.”
God, this man. He was amazing. And she wished she had the words to tell him that. “You’re special too, you know.”
He smiled. “Thank you. Also, I’ve seen you be spontaneous. Mostly when you decide you want to suck my cock.”
Cate could feel her cheeks heating. She guessed that she was a bit spontaneous, then.
“You have a delicious cock,” she told him.
“Thank you, baby. I like to get good feedback.” He grinned.
Ahh. She guessed she was being cute again.
“But, seriously, routines are not boring. But what I’m asking is that you work a bit less. I think that we can both agree you work too much.”
“How much is too much?”
“How about no more than forty hours a week?”
Her eyes widened. “I would do that easily in four days.”
“You can do it across five and have proper breaks.”
Was he serious? He looked serious.
“And your boss said to take some time off. You don’t need to work today.”
“I have some things to do . . .” But only a few of them needed to be done today.
He took her hand in his, and she glanced down to see that she’d been tapping her fingers against her wrist.
“I do not want to stress you out. I know you’ve had enough of that lately and getting back into a routine will help. But how about if we tweak the routine and build in some Daddy and Catie-pie time. And some Ethan and Cate time too. Because it is well past the time that I got to taste you.”
Cate sucked in a breath. “You really do want to do that?” She hadn’t been entirely sure. She’d thought he might just want to reciprocate because she enjoyed sucking on him.
“I am dying to do it.”
“It . . . will you like it?” That was kind of a silly question. How would he know if he liked it?
“I’m going to love it.” There was something in his gaze. It felt like heat and possession.
She hoped she was reading him right.
“So we can work on a new routine?”
“I think that would be acceptable. Especially while we are here. But I’m afraid it won’t include breakfast in bed. Think about the crumbs in the sheets.”
“Fair enough, baby.”
Ethan studied her new routine.
She’d managed to print off two sheets after typing it up on her laptop. With images.
One for him. And one for her.
The schedule was mostly for the weekdays. Wake up. Eat breakfast. Shower. Work for four hours. Lunch break. Work for three hours. Daddy and Catie-pie time until dinner.
Then Ethan and Cate time.
But she’d agreed to take this afternoon and the weekend off.
So he was setting things up. He had her safe space set up for her in the smallest bedroom. She’d given him permission to put everything in there, but he knew she would likely want to move things.
He wished he had a whole room of stuff to fill it with. But he had unpacked the onesies and other bits of clothing he’d bought for Catie-pie. And he’d put in her big cushion, blanket, headband, and pacifier.
There was one surprise in the corner of the room that he hoped she liked.
He’d put away her bib, bottle, and sippy cup in a clear cupboard in the kitchen. Rhodes had assured him that no one would bother them.
There was a single bed in the room, but he wanted her napping beside him.
Moving outside, he took in the view. God, it was beautiful here. Walking over to where there was a firepit, he saw that there was firewood stacked under the concrete bench that surrounded the firepit on three sides.
That gave him an idea for later. He moved back into the kitchen to make sure that what he needed was stocked.
Cate looked up with a yawn at the knock on the door.
“Time to finish, Catie-pie.”
Immediately, she smiled in happiness.
Funny. She’d expected to feel annoyed or worried about not getting any work done this afternoon.
However, all she felt was anticipation.
Maybe she really did need some time off. Things had been all go. And she wanted to let go for a while.
“I just need to email this to Oliver, then I’m done.” Her stomach growled. “And it must be time for lunch.”
“It is. I’ve got it all ready for you.”
“You made me lunch?”
“I sure did. You can eat after we get you dressed.”
She glanced down at herself. “I am dressed.”
“Cate is dressed. Catie-pie isn’t yet.”
Oh! She sent the email to Oliver, then shut down her laptop. She glanced at her phone, unsure what to do.
“Why don’t you give me your phone. I’ll keep it with mine. If someone texts or calls, I’ll let you know.”
Nodding happily, she passed it over and took his hand. He led her into the bedroom they were using and lifted her onto the bed, laying her down on her back.
She blushed as he stripped off her clothes, leaving just her panties on. His gaze didn’t linger on her.
Much to her disappointment.
He got her redressed in her onesie. Then he lifted her off and put her on his hip. She pressed her face into his chest.
“I want to show you what I did. If you don’t like it, you can change things around.” He carried her into the small bedroom she used as a safe space. It only had one window and she generally just kept the drapes pulled across it.
When he walked in, her mouth dropped open. Not much had changed, but enough for her to notice.
There was a pair of ladybug slippers on the floor by the bed. And a ladybug pacifier on the nightstand.
But in the corner was a large teepee. It had a garden print on it with ladybugs and birds and bees flying around. She rushed over and peeked in. Her big cushion was on the floor and Lady was in there along with her blanket.
“Ohh, Daddy, this is perfect!” The Daddy came easily. Something about this setup had her slipping into her Little headspace.
She climbed into the teepee and gave a sigh of happiness, wriggling around.
“Like it, Catie-pie?” Ethan was crouched down at the entrance.
“So much! Thank you!”
He smiled. “Good girl. Come out now, though. It’s time to eat.”
“I don’t wants to come out, though, Daddy. I want to stay in here.”
“You can come back here after your nap.”
Nap? Who wanted to nap?
“I don’t needs to nap,” she complained.
“The marks under your eyes say differently. Out now, please.”
That sounded boring.
“But, Daddy. I could nap in here.”
“No. And you’re not napping without lunch.”
Cate grumbled but crawled out of the tepee. Several sharp slaps landed on her bottom.
“Ouch!” she cried. “What was that for?”
“That was for being naughty,” he told her sternly. “When Daddy tells you to do something, he doesn’t expect any objections from his Catie-pie.”
“But, Daddy, you aren’t always right.”
He gasped. “I’m not? That’s a shock.”
“I’m sorry to be the one to tell you,” she said seriously as he lifted her onto his hip again. “But it’s true.”
“I will take it under advisement. However, while I want to spoil you, you have to learn that you are not in charge. Daddy is. And I will always do what is best for you.”
“I still don’t think spanking my bottom can be what is best for me, Daddy,” she complained as he sat her on a stool at the kitchen island.
“That wasn’t a spanking, just a small reminder. You are owed a spanking, though. We’ll take care of that before you nap.”
“I have to nap and have a spanking! I thought this was a holiday.” She pouted and folded her arms over her chest.
He tugged lightly at her hair, which she’d pulled back in a small ponytail.
“It is. But that doesn’t mean that you get to do whatever you want.”
Well. That was rude.
He set down a plate of food in front of her. It was one of the divider plates. There were cut-up strawberries in one section. Slices of chicken in another. Some grapes were in the third and crackers in the fourth.
Um. Yum.
Why had she been complaining about having to eat lunch?
“Daddy! Can I have a fork?”
“I’ll get one. One moment.” He set down a sippy cup of water and then moved behind her. He placed something on her chest and tied it around her neck.
A bib?
She glanced down at it. Yep. Bees and ladybugs.
“Daddy, you do spoil me.”
“Of course,” he said as he sat next to her and then turned her stool to face him. “You’re my Little girl.”
Instead of handing her the fork, he used it to spear a piece of chicken. Then he started to feed her.
Cate grew all warm inside. She loved being taken care of like this. He even held up the sippy cup for her to drink some water.
“I can feed myself if you want to eat, Daddy.”
“Thanks for thinking of me, baby,” he replied. “But Daddy will eat later once his girl is taken care of.”
When she was finished, he even washed her hands and face before removing the bib.
Then he lifted her down and took hold of her hand, leading her into the living room.
“Now, I’m going to clean up the kitchen. I set up a small play area for you until it’s time for your spanking and nap.”
She squirmed a bit. She’d kind of hoped he’d forgotten about that spanking nonsense.
There was a soft blanket on the floor. As well as a coloring book. But it looked like one of those coloring books for adults rather than children. And there were even pens.
He’d also set up some colored clay on a chopping board. And the third area had a small easel with a canvas on it. There were some paints and paintbrushes, along with a jar of water.
“Where did all these things come from?” she asked.
“I ordered them. I thought you might like to play with more tactile things. Or perhaps a more challenging coloring book.”
That was really thoughtful.
“And Rhodes told me how you used to love painting.”
She had? She vaguely remembered that. Actually, she was really drawn to the idea of painting.
“Now, the rule is that you’re to stay where I put you. That means you’re not to move off this blanket, understand me?” He stared down at her while she nodded.
“I understand.”
“Good girl. Because you don’t want to add to your spanking, do you?”
“No, Daddy.”
Sitting, she moved toward the easel.
“Good girl. If you need Daddy, call out.”
She thought she murmured something in reply, but she was too engrossed by the idea of painting.
Huh. That was keeping her occupied and happy.
Ethan almost didn’t want to interrupt her. But he’d finished cleaning up the kitchen and eaten something. Then he’d turned down the blankets in their bedroom and drawn the curtains.
It was nap time.
He’d seen her yawn three times in the last five minutes, so he knew she needed this.
Sitting down next to her, he waited for her to notice him.
He would have to watch this. When she was focused, she was very focused. To the point of not noticing what was going on around her.
“Catie-pie, time for your nap.”
Nothing.
Hmm.
He stared at her painting. It was a landscape scene and it was amazing. His breath caught as he took in the meandering river and the hills above it.
Wow.
Ethan leaned forward to touch her shoulder lightly. “Cate.”
“What? Oh! Daddy, you gave me a fright.” She wiggled a finger at him. “Not. Nice.”
“I’m sorry, baby. I tried to get your attention.”
“I was busy with my painting.”
“And it is truly amazing.”
“It is?”
“So beautiful. You’re so talented. I’m so proud of you.”
“Thanks, Daddy.”
“I’d never be able to create anything like this.”
“I guess some of us just have natural talent at this sort of thing. Don’t feel bad. I’m sure you have talents in other areas.”
“One or two. It’s time to stop now though. Playtime is over.”
“But I was enjoying it.” She pouted.
“I’m so pleased. However, you’ve been yawning and swaying where you’re sitting.”
She looked at him slyly. “Well, if I’m so tired, then I guess you shouldn’t spank me, huh?”
“Oh, you’d rather have your spanking after your nap? I guess we can do that.”
“No! No, I want to get it over with.”
“Good girl. Come on.” He stood and held out his hand. After helping her stand up, he led her to the kitchen where he washed her hands. She’d managed to get paint all over them.
Then he led her back to the sofa. Sitting, he drew her between his open legs. Placing his hands on her hips. He studied her. “Do you remember why you’re getting spanked?”
“Because you’re mean.”
Ethan gave her a stern look and she sighed. “Because I didn’t stay where you put me and I ran off.”
“That’s right. Come here.”
He helped position her over his lap with her upper body and legs resting on the sofa on either side of him. Then he undid her drop seat and drew her panties down. Ethan took a moment to rub her bottom.
“You’re so precious to me, baby girl. I just want to do my best to take care of you. I want you to remember your rules so I can do that.”
“I know, Daddy.”
Not wanting her to have to wait any longer, he started spanking her. He began lightly, then increased the speed and heaviness. Her bottom soon grew pink and she let out a small cry. She kicked her feet against the sofa as she sobbed.
But he kept going.
He wouldn’t be doing her any favors by shortening this punishment. He spanked her until her bottom was red and she was lying on his lap, exhausted.
After pulling up her panties and refastening her drop seat, he moved her so she straddled his legs, her face against his chest.
Ethan rubbed her back until she stopped crying. Grabbing a tissue, he wiped her face before she slumped against him.
As he held her, he felt her relax entirely, a soft snore coming from her. Hmm, perhaps this was the perfect spot to nap.