Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve

“Good morning, sleepyhead,”a sleepy, but deep and delicious voice woke me from possibly the best night’s sleep I’d gotten in years.

“Morning…” I grumbled, snuggling back into his chest. Then realization struck. “Morning? It’s morning? Oh, God. What time is it?”

Glancing over at the clock on his bedside table, I nearly shrieked when I saw the time.

“What’s the problem, princess?” He asked, leaning up on one elbow as the sheets fell down around his waist, giving me a scrumptious view of his bare chest. Jeepers, he was all muscle and man, wasn’t he?

“I can’t be princess right now. I am going to be late for work! Shit, where are my clothes?” I scanned the floor of the bedroom, trying — and failing — to remember where I had taken them off last night.

“Your clothes are right over there, folded up on the chair. But before you go, turn and face me.”

“Adam, I —” but he put a finger to my lips, halting my words.

“You need to take a breath and calm down if you’re going to have a successful day at work. You told me during our date yesterday that your workday starts at eight, which gives you over an hour to get ready and get to work on time.”

“Yes, I did say that. But I have a meeting at seven this morning. I didn’t mention anything because I thought I would go home last night, but —”

“I see what happened. Come here and take two slow, deep breaths.”

“But I —”

“No, buts. This is part of my job as a Daddy. To take care of you. Let me take care of you.”

“Fine.” I stood straight and huffed out two frustrated breaths in quick succession.

“Mmm, no. I don’t think so. Slow it down, breathe in on five, out on five. Slowly.” His caring sternness called to my submission, and I closed my eyes for a moment.

“Okay.” Slowly taking two deep breaths, I regulated myself.

“Feel better?” he asked with a knowing grin.

“Yes, Daddy.” He kissed the top of my forehead sweetly.

“Now, go freshen up and get dressed. You should have time to run home and change quickly if you hurry.”

I scurried from his bed towards the bathroom, but not before he threw a hand out, slapping me on the ass sharply with a chuckle. I shot him a look and then closed the bathroom door on his smarmy, charming, all together too handsome face.

As it turned out, I did not have time to run home to change before work. Traffic was a nightmare, and I was forced to make a Hail Mary pass at getting to work on time at all. I only prayed that no one noticed I was in the same clothes as I was yesterday.

A full work day later, and I was frazzled out of my mind. Frazzled wasn’t even the word. I had been late for the meeting, though no one had really said a word about it. Then, I had returned to my office to a slew of emails that all seemed to be on fire. Who hired a new director of marketing when there was a new product launch less than a month away, and didn’t tell that new director about the launch during the hiring process?

It had been one thing after another, and as I cleared away all but ten of the emails, I was grateful to see that if I could just keep my head down, I would actually get out of work on time today. Probably. Well, maybe.

“Shame, shame!” A squeal came from my office door. Alyssa burst through and quickly closed the door behind her with a look on her face like she had gossip to spill. I did not have time for gossip. After the day I’d had, I had no desire to be around Alyssa, either. I was barely holding it together.

“Hello, Alyssa. What can I do for you?” I asked her, adopting the professional tone that the job required and pushing any other thoughts of her, or Adam, or being little, aside. Right now, I needed to focus on work, and that was hard enough as it was, with everything that had already happened today.

“Oh, don’t even start with the professional pish-posh Willow. You are so wearing the same clothes you were yesterday!” Plopping herself into the chair opposite my desk, she literally put her elbows on my desk, her chin in her hands, and looked at me with a glimmer of mischief. “Spill the tea, sister. Who were you with last night? Coz, you know you said you weren’t ready for dating.”

“Who says I am ready for dating now?” I scoffed. My frustration and temper simmered right at the surface.

Deep breath, Willow. Count to ten if you have to.

“Stop the presses! Are you saying that it was a hookup?” She whisper-shouted, shock writ large across her face.

“Alyssa, I really don’t want to talk about this right—”

“Well, too damn bad! Come on! I’m your best friend. You have got to dish!” she tittered.

“You know what, Alyssa? No. I don’t have to dish, actually.” The final strings holding my fraying temper together finally snapped.

“But I’m your best friend, Willow.”

“No, Alyssa. You were my best friend. Back in high school. We are in our late twenties now. Our ten-year class reunion is literally this summer. A lot has changed since then,” I lashed out in pent-up frustration.

“Willow, I didn’t mean any —”

“And furthermore, this isn’t my living room. This is not your home. This is where we work. This is my office. And you are my subordinate. It’s highly unprofessional, and I’m kind of sick of having to remind you how to be professional,” I spat at her.

“Wow. Okay then,” she muttered with a low whistle, rising from the chair and making her way back to my office door. “Guess it wasn’t a good night for you after all. You know what, Willow? Feel free to reach out to talk to me, but only once you’ve removed the fucking stick from your ass.”

With that, she slammed the door with a loud bang that I was certain everyone on this side of the floor heard.

Great. Just great.

Tears welled up in my eyes as I pulled my phone out.

I can’t do this today, Daddy.

Can’t do what, princess?

Can’t handle anymore things going wrong. I just… I don’t know.

Sounds like you need to work through some things. Tell Daddy all about it.

For the next few minutes, I sent Adam text after text, detailing my entire day to him. I hadn’t realized how badly I’d needed to vent.

Here’s what you are going to do, princess. Write down a list of what you need to accomplish at work today and a list of what can wait until tomorrow. Then I want you to take it one step at a time. Send Daddy a picture of your to-do list. Then I want a text message each time you complete an item. If you complete all the must-have items on your work list by the time your workday is done, you will get a reward. If you have to stay late, you will get a funishment. XOXO, Daddy.

The little devil emoji he included at the end had me feeling all sorts of funny feelings, but his message was clear. I needed to get organized and then get to work. He was right. As I sent off the screenshot of my to-do list and settled in to work, I breathed a sigh of relief. This was exactly what I needed.

He was what I needed.

After all, what good girl didn’t need her Daddy? I could still feel the swirling anxiety slithering around low in my belly at the thought of Alyssa finding out about her father and I, but right now, I could not let her or anything else bother me. I had a job to do.

With a smirk of joy, I got to work.

Time to make Daddy proud.