13. Damian

“Hey, Damian, it’s Nick Miller.”

“Hey, Nick. What have you got for me? Were you guys able to arrest Wheeler?”

Damian knew Nick Miller and many other officers in the city. In Damian’s line of work, he often worked with law enforcement while keeping clients safe.

“Unfortunately, no. He was out of town during the incidents. I contacted the hotels where he was staying, and they confirmed he was there. He’s a real piece of work, though. A grade-A asshole.”

Damian grunted in agreement.

“There’s a woman that he seems to be dating that also has it out for Carly. Her name is Sandra Fisher.”

Nick snorted, “Yeah, that woman was there when we visited Wheeler. She’s pure crazy. She was with him at the hotels, though. I had the hotel send me the video footage of their floor showing them coming and going from their room.”

Fuck.

Damian knew the man would have an alibi. Men like Wheeler didn’t complete a dirty job by themselves. They hired someone to do it because they didn’t have the balls to do their own dirty work.

“Wheeler insists that Carly is crazy and is trying to set him up. He said she probably did the break-ins herself for attention,” Nick said.

Rolling his eyes, Damian cursed under his breath.

“What a fucking head case. So now we just wait for something else to happen? We have nothing to go on and no evidence, so Carly and potentially Lainey could be at risk for who knows how long?” Damian asked.

Nick sighed, “Sorry, Damian. You know how it goes with cases like this. Might want to look at having Carly move in with you, though I have a feeling you’ve already thought about that.”

Yeah. He had. He had already considered asking her to give up her townhouse and move in with him permanently, but that was crazy. What was even crazier is that he had also thought about just going and packing up her house and moving her in with him without even asking her permission. Not that he would actually do it, but the caveman inside of him really wanted to.

He knew he needed to move slow and give Carly time. They barely knew each other, and she still hadn’t been able to experience being Little all that much. She also still didn’t trust him completely. Maybe he needed to kick it up a notch and really Daddy her the way he wanted to.

He had been taking it easy on her and moving slower than he normally would. Damian knew he was a strict Daddy, and he was possessive as fuck. It wasn’t in any way that he thought of her as a possession, but more that he would want his precious Little to be protected from anything that might harm her. He did, however, plan to keep her hidden away from any other man who so much as looked her way. He admitted that this might be pushing the boundary a bit – only a bit – but what the fuck. She was his.

“Thanks, Nick.”

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Damian thought about what to do next. They were in limbo and had no idea if they were waiting for something else to happen or if whoever was having their fun was done. He hated the unknown.

“Hello?”

“You motherfucker, Damian. You sent me to Montana to babysit this college girl who is obsessed with me. She snuck into the damn guest house last night and got into my bed.”

Damian burst out laughing at Nash’s rant.

“So the job isn’t going well?”

“You need to give me a fucking raise; that’s all I can say. A big fucking raise.”

He grinned and shook his head. Poor Nash.

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll get on that. You deserve one anyway. How’s the job?”

Nash snorted, “Well, let’s see, she snuck into my bed and I woke up with her hand gripping my cock, she flirts with me constantly, she’s a bitch to Carter, she tried to sneak out to a frat party the other night, and she calls me Big Daddy.”

“Maybe you should put her over your knee and spank her.”

“Jesus, Damian! Have you lost your mind?”

Maybe he had. He wasn’t really sure.

“She’s cute, though, huh?”

Nash sighed, “She’s cute, and she knows it, and a fucking brat. She’s spoiled rotten and is seriously getting on my last fucking nerve. I might kill her myself before the threat gets to her.”

“Well, I can’t endorse you killing a client.”

“A big fucking raise, Damian. And a new car. That’s all I’m saying. I gotta go. The brat is knocking on the guest house door. Jesus!”

“See you soon, buddy. Ordering you a new car now.”

Damian hung up the phone laughing. Poor Nash. The guy was every woman’s dream, but it seemed like he wasn’t interested in any of them. In all the years he had known Nash, he had never seen the guy get involved with anyone for more than a scene or two.

“Come on, baby doll, it’s naptime.”

Damian found Carly in her playroom, lying on her tummy with a stack of coloring books and crayons.

“No thanks, Daddy. I’s coloring.”

Now’s your chance to assert your authority. Don’t back down.

“Time to put the coloring away. It’s time for a nap. Right now, little girl.”

Carly turned to look at him and shook her head. Raising his eyebrow, Damian gave her the sternest expression he could muster, which was quite difficult because she was so damn cute in her defiance. He had never thought he would have liked a sassy brat for a Little, but with Carly, he thought it was adorable.

“Now, Carly. I’m going to start counting, and if I get to three, you are going to be in trouble.”

Before he could start, Carly threw her crayon across the room and slammed the coloring book shut. Yeah, that definitely wouldn’t work out well for her.

As she started coming to her feet, Damian stepped over to her and picked her up. Immediately, she started screeching at him to put her down.

“Daddy, put me down! I’m not taking a nap.”

Since he didn’t have a chair in her playroom yet, Damian carried her across the hall to his bedroom and sat down on his bed, pulling her in a face-down position over his lap.

“What’s your safeword, Carly?”

Carly twisted back to look at him with confusion, and instead of saying anything, he gave her an expectant look. She stuck her tongue out at him in return.

“Tell me your safeword.”

“Why? Let me go. I don’t wanna take a nap, and you’re being a big meanie!”

Damian smacked his hand down on her bottom, causing her to still.

“Daddy isn’t being a meanie. Carly is being naughty, and Carly is going to get a spanking for being disrespectful and for not being nice to her belongings.”

Carly kicked her feet and squirmed against his grip.

“No!”

He chuckled, “No isn’t your safeword, and as a reminder, your safeword is red, so use it if you need it, but otherwise, you are getting a spanking.”

Damian worked to pull her white leggings down, along with the white cotton panties he’d picked out for her earlier that morning. Carly tried to kick and claw her way out of his hold, but he was much stronger than she was, making her no match for him. He took his time peeling her clothing down her legs, wanting to give her plenty of time to use her safeword if she wanted to. She didn’t, so he began swatting her bottom.

Since he knew it was her first spanking, he started out slowly, giving her a moment to catch her breath between each smack. His sporadic swats soon turned into him peppering her entire bottom with hard spanks as she kicked and screamed into the room.

“Daddy! Stop! Let me go! No spank Carly! No!”

He loved that even while she was in trouble and fighting him, she was still in Little space and calling him Daddy. She might have been telling him she didn’t want a spanking, but she hadn’t safeworded, and she wasn’t calling him by his first name—both good signs.

“Yes, Carly gets spanked because she was naughty.”

“No, no, no! Not naughty. Good!”

Carly”s cries became sobs when he moved down to the tender flesh at the top of her thighs.

“I’s sorry, Daddy. I’ll be a good girl. Owwie!”

When she stopped fighting him and went limp over his lap, Damian stopped spanking her and admired the bright red shade of her skin. He rubbed her lower back as she continued to cry, and when her cries became quieter, Damian moved her into a sitting position on his lap.

Instantly, Carly snuggled into his chest and made quiet whimpering sounds. He held her against him and stroked his hand up and down her back.

“I’m s-sorry, Daddy.”

“I forgive you, baby. Sometimes it’s hard to follow directions, and that’s why I’m here - to help direct you back to being a good girl.”

He held her for a bit longer until she was settled down and then stood with her in his arms and deposited her gently into his bed.

“It’s naptime, baby.”

Carly gave him the poutiest look he’d ever seen, and he couldn’t help but grin.

“Will you nap with me, Daddy? I don’t want to sleep alone.”

How could a man say no to such a sweet thing like her? He sure the hell couldn’t. Not when she was asking for something that meant he could be curled up against her. But he hadn’t put her panties or pants back on, so she was completely naked on the bottom. Fuck.

“Scoot over.”

She happily wiggled over to her side of the bed and pulled her doll to her chest as he climbed in next to her. He immediately pulled her body up to his. It might be torture having her tucked so closely into him, but it was torture that he would gladly endure so he could snuggle his sweet little girl.

Reaching back to his nightstand, Damian slid the drawer open and grabbed a brand new pacifier that he’d ordered when Carly had agreed to be his Little. He held it out in front of her so she could look at it.

“You got me a pacifier?”

“Yeah, I ordered a few. I thought you might like to try them. They can help Littles sleep better, and some Littles like to have them when they are stressed or sad. You don’t have to use it, but I ordered a few different things for you to try if you’d like.”

She eyed the pacifier for a long moment, and Damian was about to put it back in the nightstand drawer when she reached out for his hand. Carly wrapped her small fingers around his forearm and pulled on it until the pacifier was close to her mouth. When he saw her lips part, he slid the soft nipple between them and let go, wrapping his arm around her waist.

He could tell that she was unsure of it at first and didn’t know what she was supposed to do with it in her mouth, but after several minutes she found a sucking rhythm, and her eyes began to flutter closed. She looked adorable with her mess of curls surrounding her face, her flushed cheeks, and the pacifier moving gently against her mouth.

Damian reminded himself that this was only supposed to be temporary, that she was only with him until the threat was over. Then she would go back to her old life. The thought of losing her made a knot form in his stomach and he lay awake watching her sleep for a long time. He didn’t want her to leave. He didn’t want to let her go. He wouldn’t let her go unless she really wanted to. But damn, that would kill him.