Chapter 36 #2
Snatching her phone from the counter where she’d set it down at some point, she swiped at the screen, and his heart twisted with fear at the look of pure devastation on her face. “Goldie? Baby, what’s wrong?”
“I have a signing. In two days. Fuck my life, I completely forgot about it with everything else that’s been going on. I need to call Zoe, and the bookstore, and—”
Sensing a meltdown on the horizon, he gripped her shoulders, holding her in place. Beneath his palms, she all but vibrated with nervous energy.
“Eyes on me, menace.”
Her gaze snapped to his, panic whirling in the golden brown, and he deliberately dragged in a deep breath through his nose, pleased when she instinctively followed suit.
“Good girl. Just breathe.”
“I don’t have time to breathe, Brody. I have—”
Sliding his hand up around her throat, he held her. Not hard enough to cut off her oxygen, as that would defeat the purpose of the breathing exercises. But just enough for her to remember who he was.
“Your Daddy is telling you to take a breath, little girl. What do you think you should be doing?”
Pupils widening, she inhaled sharply. “T-Taking a breath.”
“That’s exactly right. Because my good girl listens to her Daddy. Isn’t that right, menace?”
“Sometimes.”
God, he loved that bratty streak of hers. “Let this be one of those times. Deep breath in for me.”
Beneath his palm, he felt her throat expand as she obeyed. “Such a good girl,” he murmured, brushing his thumb over her thundering pulse. “Hold it there for a bit. Now breathe out, nice and slow.”
She obeyed again, over and over until the panicked look faded from her eyes. “Sorry. I’m better now.”
“Apologize for having feelings again and you’ll be holding wall squats for an hour.”
Bottom lip puffing out in a ridiculously adorable pout, she looked up at him through her lashes. “Meanie.”
Now that the crisis had seemingly passed, he could laugh, and he did so as he leaned in to brush a kiss over her lips. “You love it when I’m mean.”
“Maybe a little.”
“Mmhmm. Now, tell me what needs to be done for this signing. Where is it?” It wouldn’t be ideal for him to be out of the city right now, but no way in hell was he letting his little menace roam the country without him. Killian would just have to deal.
“In town. My next big event I have to travel for isn’t until…” Closing her eyes, she scrunched up her nose as she thought. “September, I think. Down in Florida. Normally I have a lot more but I needed a year off, so I decided to stay as close to home as possible and—”
“We're getting off into the weeds a bit, menace.” And while it was absolutely fucking adorable watching her wander, he needed her to focus. “So we don’t need to worry about travel. What do we need?”
“I don’t know,” she answered with a strained laugh. “Zoe. I need Zoe.”
“The woman who runs your social media?”
“Yes. She travels even more than I do, but she grew up here so she helps me out at my local events whenever she’s in town. God, I hope she’s in town.”
“Let’s start there, then. Call Zoe while I finish breakfast. If she’s not available, see if she can make me a list and I’ll step in for her.”
He had to fight back a laugh as she stood stock still, staring at him like he’d grown three heads. “You want to be my assistant?”
“If that’s what you need, yes.”
“Okay.” Raking a hand through her short strands, she blew out a breath. “Okay. I’ll go call Zoe.”
“Good girl. I’ll have breakfast ready when you’re done.”
“Okay.” She started to turn, then seemed to change her mind, whirling back around to rise up on her tiptoes and press a kiss to his cheek. “Thank you, Daddy.”
“You’re welcome, menace. Now go, before I decide you need some motivation to do as you’re told.”
Flashing him a sassy grin, she turned and headed for the den, swiping at her phone as she walked. “Zoe? Oh, thank god.”
Satisfied his babygirl was taken care of for the time being, Brody pulled his own phone from his pocket and hit a familiar button.
“Kill? I need a favor.”
Goldie
Relief knocked some of the pressure in her chest loose as the face of her social media manager-slash-occasional assistant filled the screen. “Let me guess,” Zoe said, a smirk curving her red-slicked lips as the pale green of her eyes danced with amusement. “You forgot about your signing?”
“You know, a couple hundred years ago they would have burned you as a witch for being that insightful.”
Zoe’s grin widened. “I wear that knowledge as a badge of honor. But not to worry, you're all set. The bookstore has all your books, and they’re very excited to see you. I still have a whole box of swag from your last few events and I’ve been posting to your socials since you’ve been mysteriously MIA the past few weeks. ”
Guilt stabbed at Goldie, making her wince with it. “I know. It’s… too much to explain right now. When things calm down a bit, I’ll buy you dinner and tell you everything.”
Zoe frowned. “You seem more high-strung than usual. Which I didn’t think was possible. Everything okay? Wait.” Eyes narrowing, she leaned in closer to the screen. “That’s not your apartment. Where are you?”
“Ah…”
“Oh my god! Did you finally meet a guy? Who is it? Can I meet him?”
It was difficult to feel stressed with Zoe around, which was one of the things Goldie loved most about her. “Yes. His name is Brody. And maybe.”
“You should bring him to the signing! Let him see what a big fucking deal you are.”
“He’s, ah, already been to one of my signings, but I’ll ask.”
“Oooh, even more mysterious. Okay, well, I gotta go. I’m flying up to NYC tonight, but I’ll be back for your signing. Don’t worry about a thing, it’s all handled. Go get your mystery guy to give you a few good orgasms to help you relax and I’ll see you Friday.”
“Thanks, Zoe. I appreciate you.”
Grinning widely now, Zoe winked, a dramatic gesture that drew a laugh from Goldie as she shook her head at her friend. “You can thank me by bringing Mr. Mystery to your gig so I can meet him. And so I can grill him and make sure he’s good enough for my star client.”
Goldie rolled her eyes. “I am not a star.”
“Tsk, tsk. Would the men in your books put up with their girls lying like that? Oooh, is your mystery man a spanker? Hey, mystery man! Your woman needs—”
“Goodbye, Zoe!”
Face flaming, she hit the button to end the call, shaking her head at Zoe’s antics as she turned to head back to the kitchen—and screamed when she found Brody lounging against the wooden frame of the door to her “office”.
“Fucking Christ, Brody! You about gave me a goddamn heart attack.”
Smirking much the same way Zoe had, Brody pushed away from the doorframe and stalked forward. “Seems you haven’t learned your lesson yet about paying attention to your surroundings. You’re racking up those spankings again today, menace.”
Her ass instinctively clenched, reminding her of how thoroughly he’d punished her the night before—as well as the plug still lodged in her ass she really needed to ask him to remove. “I don’t have time for games, Brody. I have to get ready for this event.”
In the blink of an eye, he had an arm around her waist, hauling her up onto her toes, her hands pressed against his broad chest. “Your friend is right. You do need a good hard spanking to remind you not to lie to your Daddy.”
The heat of embarrassment that had already engulfed her face cranked up to an inferno. “You heard that?”
“I did. So let’s see.” Tilting his head, he put on a serious expression as he backed her up toward the plush leather couch in her makeshift office.
“Lying to your friend and yourself about not being a star. Not paying attention and letting me sneak up on you—again—and lying to your Daddy about work after I specifically heard your friend tell you she had everything under control and you only need to show up. Does that cover everything?”
The backs of her legs hit the couch and she sucked in a sharp breath. “I wasn’t lying either of those times. There are way bigger authors than me who are actual stars and I do still have things I need to do to get ready for this event.”
His expression shifted, the playful sternness in his gaze hardening into something much more real.
“Someone else being more famous than you doesn’t negate your success, Goldie.
In fact, I’m making that a rule. Any time you try to belittle or downplay your accomplishments, I am going to make you recite a running list of them while I paddle your ass.
Now,” he continued before she could do more than open her mouth to voice her outrage, “what do you need to do to get ready for your event?”
“I, um, just need to…” Of course her brain chose that moment to go completely and utterly blank. “Things, Brody. I have things I need to do.”
“If you can name one specific thing, I’ll let you go and save your spanking for bedtime.”
Fuck. “I need to… figure out what I’m gonna wear! There! That’s one thing.”
But her smug triumph faded when he chuckled. “Menace, I’ve been watching you long enough to know you wear the exact same outfit to every signing. The sparkly pink number. Your ‘signature look’, I believe you call it. And now that’s three lies.”
In a move so smooth she wouldn’t have believed it if it hadn’t happened to her, he spun, sat on the couch, and yanked her down over his lap all in one fluid movement. “I think a good spanking before Daddy washes all those lies out of your mouth with his cum should do the trick.”
She got the spanking, along with more orgasms than she could count, both before and after he put her on her knees. By the time he was finished with her, she felt as though she’d been wrung out, all of the worries and anxiety simply drained from her.
Pre-signing spankings and orgasms were definitely going on Zoe’s checklist.