I made myself keep going. “I wanted them to know I’m yours.”
Something dark and pleased moved through his face. “Good answer.”
Then he backed me up until the backs of my knees hit the bed.
His gloved hand came up and ran slowly over my face, down my throat, the touch light enough to make me want more and firm enough to remind me exactly who was in charge oncethat door closed. I tipped my chin up without even thinking about it, and he watched me the whole time.
“I am proud of you,” he said. “You did well on that test for me.”
That warm, ridiculous rush of pride hit me so fast I nearly smiled.
Then his hand slid down and he tipped his head a little. “But that doesn’t make up for the way you’ve behaved this week, does it?”
The smile died right off my face.
He kept talking in that calm, measured voice that always got to me more than if he had snapped. “The teasing. The talking back. The little rules you keep trying to bend just to see what happens. That attitude.”
His hand stroked once over my throat. “None of that disappears just because you passed one test. Does it?”
I looked up at him and let the answer come soft.
“No, Daddy.”
His eyes darkened.
He reached for the straps of my dress and slid them down one at a time, slow enough to make me feel each second of it. Then he pushed the dress down my body, the fabric whispering over my skin until it pooled around my feet. Standing before him completely bare.
The dress hadn't needed a bra, and I had started the night out with panties, but I had gone into the bathroom before we came down the hall and done exactly what he told me to do: remove them. My underwear was currently held hostage in one of his pants pockets.
He looked. Not rushed. Not greedy. Just a long, steady look that made my skin hum.
Then he nodded toward the bed. “Sit.”
I did.
He stood in front of me, one gloved hand lifting to my jaw. “Now tell me something. What should we do about your attitude?”
I knew what he wanted. Or at least I knew what I wanted.
He tilted my face up a little farther. “Should I paddle that ass of yours?”
I licked my lips and nodded once. “Yes, Daddy.”
His hand slid into my hair and tightened just enough to make me gasp.
“You understand that just because you’re being sweet right now does not mean I’m going to go easy on you.” His voice stayed low and smooth and absolutely serious. “You do not want me to go easy on you. Do you?”
The answer came out faster than I could think about it. “No, Daddy. Please don’t go easy on me.”
That smile of his was the kind that always made me feel like I had just walked into something and was about to like it way too much.
“You’re going to enjoy this,” he said. “And if it gets to be too much, you’ll use your safe word.”
“Yes, Daddy.”
“Which is?”
“My safe word is red.”