Chapter 8
CHAPTER 8
Waking up wrapped in the arms of a man was a very new sensation, and one that Reese certainly did not hate. There was only one problem; she was letting herself fall too hard, too fast for someone she couldn’t possibly have a real future with. Her time at the Ranch was temporary, and Arlo was a lot older than her. He was ready to retire and live an easy life, not be saddled with a college student with a hoard of unwanted animals under her care.
She tried to wiggle out from under his arms without waking him, but when they only tightened around her, she knew she’d been unsuccessful.
“Good morning, little one.” His growly, scratchy morning voice vibrated through her, sending her tummy into a tizzy.
“Morning,” she responded. “I, uh, gotta get up and use the bathroom.”
After kissing her on the side of her head, he let go. “That’s fine. We should start our day, anyway. Lots to do. Derek texted me and said your order was delivered, so the animals should have everything they need now.”
“Oh, good.” She smiled and made her way to the bathroom.
She was so filled with gratitude for these strangers who just opened up their Ranch to her. Not just the Ranch, but they were paying for everything. She needed to keep track of how much they spent so she could pay them back. The thoughts turned heavy in her mind, and when she emerged from the bathroom back in her own clothes it must have been written all over her face.
“Hey, what’s that look for?” Arlo asked as he lifted her chin with his finger.
“Huh? Oh, nothing. I was just thinking. I need to get down to the barn.”
“I know. Give me a few minutes and I’ll be ready, too.”
“You don’t have to—” she began but then stopped when his soft, easy look turned stony.
“I do have to because I am your assistant, but more than that, I want to. If I need to keep reminding you of that fact, I will not hesitate in reinforcing it by way of my hand to your naughty behind. Got it?”
She felt her body respond to the threat as a gazillion tiny little ants crawled across her butt. That wasn’t good. She shouldn’t let him win so easily, but everything inside of her wanted to say “yes, Daddy” and have him give her his smile of approval.
Instead, she crossed her arms over her chest and glared back at him. “If I’m the boss, then you can’t just threaten to spank me all the time.”
His smile did return, but it was different somehow. “You may be the boss, but I am the Daddy, which means while I respect you and will answer to you when it comes to the wellbeing of the animals, I am in charge of everything else. If I think you need a spanking, I will give it to you when, where, and how I see fit while respecting your limits.”
Reese heard what he was saying, but it was awfully hard to process when he was standing there staring at her like he was. She latched onto the last thing he said and decided to roll with that for the time being. “Y-you… would you spank me in front of people?”
“Not yet, and not without discussing public physical discipline with you first. But trust me, this is Rawhide Ranch; there is always a private place to go to handle a discipline issue.”
Yeah, that answer didn’t help. Glancing at her watch just so she had a reason to escape his piercing gaze, she nibbled her lip. It wasn’t past the time she usually started her animal chores, but it was getting close.
“I need to go.”
“Right.” He nodded. “We can finish this conversation later, but you have been warned.” Turning on his heel, he made his way to the bathroom, leaving her to ponder the things he had just dropped in her lap.
What was she going to do? Maybe she should tell him this wasn’t going to work and that she didn’t need an assistant? Or maybe someone else could do it? She thought back to her conversation with Master Derek and knew instantly that was not going to fly. He’d already told her in no uncertain terms that he wanted Arlo to look after her for multiple reasons, and she owed it to him to at least try.
She put her boots on just as Arlo came out of the bathroom looking ready to face the day. Men had it so easy. She sighed to herself.
“Ready?” he asked as he slipped his feet into his well-worn cowboy boots.
“Yeah.” She nodded.
“Do we need to discuss again how you will address me, little boss?” He quirked his brow at her.
Shoot. Shoot. Shoot.
“No, D-Daddy.” Why was it so much harder to say in the light of morning? Then another thought hit her. “Can I ask a question?”
“You don’t need to ask for permission to ask questions, little one. As long as you’re respectful and genuine, you can ask me anything you need to ask me.”
That took a little of the pressure off her chest. “D-do I have to call you that in front of people?”
“Call me what?” He raised his brow in expectation.
She knew what he was doing, and she didn’t like it one bit. She also didn’t want to test him any further and earn herself a spanking. That had hurt. Even though she kind of felt like a million bucks when it was over and it was as if the weight of the world had been lifted from her shoulders.
“You know what!” Her mouth spouted the words without her permission, and worse than that was a foot stomp added for emphasis. What was she doing? She wanted to take it back the instant it had happened, but she couldn’t.
“Okay, I can see this is how we’re going to start our day. So let’s just get it over with, shall we?”
He took her hand and led her to the bed, and without a word upended her over his knee and began to spank over her jeans. “I know you probably have a lot of questions and conflicting emotions going on, but you’ll need to learn to communicate respectfully with me, or you’ll be finding it hard to sit more often than you’d like.”
She’d been stunned by her own behavior and his instant response, but when she felt his hand snake around to unbutton her jeans, she was brought back down to earth and tried to wiggle away. It was kind of a joke. He was bigger and stronger than her, and he had so much more experience spanking than she had being spanked. But she wasn’t in the mood to think or act logically.
She fought him as he tugged her pants down, obviously not deterred by her flailing.
“You will call me Daddy as a reminder of who is in charge.” He laid three hard smacks down on each panty-covered cheek. “If that doesn’t work for you when we’re around other people, then we’ll discuss other options, but discussions do not involve yelling and foot-stomping.”
“Discussions shouldn’t involve spanking either!” she argued.
Arlo froze for a moment before grabbing the waistband of her panties and tugging up hard, which caused her panties to wedge between her cheeks and, therefore, gave him access to spank her on the bare.
“Are you in charge here, little girl? And before you answer. I want you to think long and hard about the response. You agreed to let Daddy take care of you last night, but if that’s changed, then I need you to say your safe word. If you haven’t changed your mind and decide to keep up the sass, then I promise you will be one sorry Little girl when I’m finished with you.”
Resse gritted her teeth, trying not to react and tell him where he could shove his bossiness. She didn’t completely understand why she was so upset with him, but all of a sudden, the anger inside her felt like a bubble that was about to burst.
“I’m waiting for an answer, little girl,” he warned.
“Wait longer,” she grumbled.
Apparently that was the wrong response. Arlo’s hand fell hard on her bare skin, and if she thought the spanking from the night before hurt, this was an entirely new level of ouch. Each spank stung and almost took her breath away. She wasn’t able to hold onto her thoughts any longer, let alone the angry feels, and before she knew it, it all came out in a rush of tears and sobs. And Daddy kept right on spanking her.
“I-I’m s-s-sorry, D-Daddy!” she finally relented.
Her bottom was no match for his work-hardened hand.
“Sorry for what, little one? Sorry you’re getting your bottom blistered, or sorry for the way you treated me?”
“I’m s-sorry for being rude and disrespectful and not calling you Daddy.”
“Good girl.” He rested his hand on her backside as she cried.
She wanted to snuggle in his arms, but he made no move to let her up.
“Now, would you care to discuss what brought on this little show of naughtiness this morning?”
“Can I get up first, please?”
“Nope. I want you right here in case I don’t like any of your answers.” He patted gently, his threat crystal clear. He wanted quick and instant access to her backside should he need it. “Now answer my question, please.”
“I don’t know. My thoughts and feelings are all jumbled and I… it just happened. I didn’t mean to be a bad girl.”
At that, Daddy scooped her into his arms and hugged her to his chest.
“There is no such thing as a bad girl. You may have been naughty and made bad choices, but you are not, nor will you ever be, a bad girl. Okay?”
“Okay, Daddy.” She liked how he explained the difference, and somehow the idea that he didn’t think she was bad made her feel good inside.
“I know this is all new, and we’re going to go through some different feelings and emotions that we may not have dealt with before, and that’s okay. I’m a safe place for you to act however you need to act, but that doesn’t mean those actions won’t have consequences. If you need to be naughty and throw a tantrum, go for it. Just know that I’ll respond accordingly.”
“But what if I’m really, really naughty? Or what if I’m naughty too many times?”
Arlo chuckled. “Littles are naughty. It’s part of their charm. My answer doesn’t change. If you’re naughty, I’ll punish you. After the punishment will be forgiveness, and then we move on. It’s a very simple process. Not a pleasant one for you, by any means, but simple nonetheless.”
“That kinda sounds too good to be true.”
“Well, I’ll just have to prove it to you, then, won’t I?”
“I guess.” She sighed.
Arlo kissed the crown of her head. “The question you asked before all of this nonsense happened was if you have to call me Daddy in front of people, right? And the answer is no. I will not request or require you to call me anything you don’t want to in front of anyone else, but in private, I am Daddy, and you will do well not to forget that.”
“Yes, Daddy.” Relief washed over her.
She wasn’t really ready for all that just yet.
“Good girl. Now let’s go take care of the animals before they come looking for us.” He stood her in front of him and righted her clothes.
“That reminds me, if Stella’s pen isn’t shut and locked, she’ll get out and come looking for me.”
“Well, that’s definitely good information to have. We might want to think about putting a sign on her gate so everyone else gets that memo, too.”
“Good idea. One time, I found her halfway down the lane at the Hutchinsons’ farm. I have no idea how long she was out there, and it really scared me that she could have wandered off or gotten hurt. I can’t believe I forgot to mention it before.”
“It’s okay, little boss. Even a boss sometimes forgets things. And you’ve had an awful lot on your mind recently. Let’s get your Noah’s Ark taken care of, then I’ll make a sign for her stall.”
She giggled. “It’s not a Noah’s Ark, Daddy! There aren’t two of everything.”
He reached down to ruffle her hair.
“Little one? You just called me ‘Daddy’. How did it feel?”
“It felt great.”
“That’s my good girl”
Even as she felt the smile on her face, the smile in her heart was even bigger. She realized that with each spanking she felt lighter, and she still could barely believe her luck that she got to have all of this. A safe place for her animals, new friends, and her Daddy, who could make her feel better than anyone else in the world.
As they fed all the animals and gave them fresh water and some pets, she found herself wishing she could stay at the Ranch forever, but she was no one’s charity case. She would figure it all out. But for now, she just wanted to enjoy her time there.
As she raked out some new straw for Clancy and Clara, she glanced over at Arlo, who was mucking out Stella’s stall with Bossy P on his shoulder, and he sent her a wink and a grin.
She was safe. Her animals were safe. And for the first time in a long time, she felt like the luckiest girl in the world. If only it could last.