to shake himself to stop looking at her mouth and, even more importantly, stop thinking about how much lovelier it would look wrapped around his thrusting cock. “What about what else?”
“I have to go home,” she reminded. “Pack my things in Oregon, find a new place to live in or around Santa Fe, move.”
“When am I going to see you?” he finished for her.
Her lips tried to smile, but it fell a little flat. “Yeah.”
“Every morning, I’ll accept a good morning from my little girl. Every evening, I’ll expect a goodnight. We’ll have video chat, and when you get ready to move, I’m going to bus up and help you load the moving truck and drive back.”
She started. “You are? I don’t have a lot of stuff. That’s a long way for you to come for nothing.”
He knew what she meant to say, and she probably hadn’t even meant those words to come out the way they had, but it still rankled. “I’m not coming for nothing. I’m coming to help you. Are you saying you’re nothing?”
He held her stare, careful to keep his tone even as he gave her both enough room to back out and also rope enough to hang herself if that’s the direction she chose.
“N-no,” she stammered, noting his look. She might not be Little, but she responded to his Daddy look as if she were. “No, I just meant, it’s a very long way to come to help me.”
She wasn’t helping herself.
“Are you saying you’re not worth my time or of being helped?”
“No. I mean, but it’s a long way—”
“Stand up,” he cut in.
She stayed where she was, her mouth open, her eyes flickering as she tried to think what to do.
Quietly, for her ears only, he said, “Is Daddy’s little girl trying to find out what will happen when she misbehaves in public?”
She glanced quickly around them, her head ducking a little as she shrank into the back of the booth seat. She shook her head.
“Stand up.”
Pushing her glass aside, she hesitantly eased out of the seat. Her fingers fidgeted with the side seams of her skirt as she stood.
“Go into the bathroom, take off your panties and bring them back to me. If they’re not in my hand in five minutes, you’re going to receive punishment in addition to what you earned earlier, and now again by suggesting you aren’t worth my time.”
Her breathing hitched, her chest rising and falling in swift, shallow breaths. “B-but...”
“Five minutes,” he cut her off. Digging his cell phone out of his back pocket, he checked the time. “Starting right now.”
She had to shake herself out of her surprise before she got moving, but once she was gone, he signaled their server for the check and a to-go box. She was two minutes over by the time she came back, and the only thing that saved her from that promised additional punishment was her obvious distress as she slid into the booth hurriedly whispering, “I’m late. I know I’m late. But it was locked, and I had to wait for someone to come out before I could go in and, um, do it.”
She looked everywhere but at him before pressing the wad of her panties into his waiting palm.
If she thought he was going to hide them, she was in for a disappointment. He stood up first and, shaking out the wad, tucked her panties into his pocket, unhurried. Reaching for her, he cupped her jaw, his fingers on her cheek while his thumb stroked along her jawline. He could feel her racing pulse through the palm of his hand as he brought his mouth to her ear. Those around them might have thought he was indulging in a kiss before they left the restaurant together, but Georgia already knew better. She shivered when he whispered, “My little girl does not say bad things about herself. She doesn’t imply she isn’t worth my time, and she certainly doesn’t try to talk Daddy out of spending time with her. Unless you have a very good reason for not wanting me to come help you move, then I am going to take you out to the truck, and I am going to give you a taste of what you can expect when you misbehave in public. Got it?”
Her pulse was still racing, and her shallow breaths were every bit as shaky as the rest of her when he pulled back. Her eyes, though, told a different story. That she didn’t