“Talon, I think my bottom is on fire!” Elizabeth called from the corner.
“Daddy, I think my bottom is on fire,” he corrected in an even tone.
“Daddy, I think my bottom is on fire,” she parroted, adding a sniff of unhappiness that made him smile.
“There are no active flames, Buttercup, but your cute butt is red and ouchy. When your time in the naughty corner is up, I’ll spread some lotion on your skin to help you feel better before we go to dinner,” Talon reassured her.
“Can I eat in here? I think someone might have overheard me.”
“No, Little girl. You’ll eat in the common room with everyone so you can thank them for coming to your rescue this afternoon.”
“But…”
“No buts. You misbehaved. You accepted your punishment, and everything is forgiven. No one will look at you differently.”
“Can I take Puff and Borscht?” she asked, hugging her companions he’d allowed her to hold during her punishment.
“Yes. I don’t think they’re ready to let you out of their sights.”
“How much longer?” she whined.
“Three minutes if you’re quiet and think about how you could have handled this better.”
“Am I going to have to tell you?” she questioned.
“Four minutes now and yes.”
Her snort made him smile. She was absolute perfection. The Little girl he’d always dreamed of finding. Someone whose ability to stand up for themselves was legendary but who chose to give their submission willingly. She would challenge him at every turn. He couldn’t wait to see what her quick mind came up with next.
At four minutes precisely, he called her from the corner. Especially with his Buttercup, he needed to act exactly as he had promised. She’d quickly top him from below and Talon couldn’t be a soft Daddy. His edges were as hard as his dance moves were smooth.
“Come here, Buttercup.”
She flew into his arms and wrapped herself around him. Talon lifted her to sit on his lap, allowing her weight to rest on her thighs with her punished bottom free. He kissed her hair before leaning back to look at her expression. Tear streaks lined her face and had played havoc with her makeup. She looked absolutely perfect to him.
“That hurt, Daddy.”
“And why did you get spanked?”
“Twenty swats for lying to Daddy, thirty for putting myself at risk, and ten removed for realizing I had a problem and calling you.”
“What are you going to do differently?” Talon ignored her massive eye roll and waited for her to talk.
“I’m going to tell you the truth.”
“And not put yourself in jeopardy?” he prompted.
“What could I have done? Ask you to drive me to the courthouse?” she demanded.
Her tone immediately changed as he raised one eyebrow and firmly tapped her bottom. That seemed to help her think.
“Oops. I could have asked you to take me to work?”
“That would have been better.”
“Okay. You’re right. I screwed up and now I have a hot bottom to remind me.”
She paused for a few seconds before peeking up to ask, “Can I have some lotion on my skin?”
“Yes. And I’ll let you wear leggings tonight so they’ll be soft on your skin,” Talon told her as he lifted her back to her feet.
“Oh, you mean instead of panties,” she said with a nod as he guided her into the bedroom.
“I mean instead of being bare bottomed and just wearing one of your dresses,” Talon explained and stopped when Elizabeth whirled to look at him in astonishment.
“I can’t go out there with all those people without panties or at least pants.”
“No one there is going to notice unless you turn cartwheels,” Talon pointed out.
“But I’ll know,” she hissed. “And you’ll know.”
“Exactly.”
Talon wrapped his arm back around her waist and guided her into the bedroom. When she was dressed, he washed her face free of makeup and took her hand.
“Hungry?” he asked.
“Starving.”
“Let’s go.”
“Are you sure they won’t look at me strange?” she asked, nervous they had overheard her crying during her spanking.
“They’re going to be concerned if you’ve recovered from the confrontation on the courthouse steps. They know you were punished for putting yourself at risk.”
“And they would have spanked me, too?” She needed to double-check.
“If you were their Little girl, yes.”
“Okay.” She linked her fingers with his and warned, “I’m sitting on your lap instead of one of those mean wooden chairs.”
“This time,” he allowed with a warning glance.
“Oh, you won’t have to spank me anymore.”
“Yes, I will. When you find out you have an appointment with Doc on Saturday for a check-up.”
“Doc? He isn’t a real doctor.”
Talon knew she wasn’t being derogatory. She liked Doc a lot and knew the other girls had discussed his care with her during their “private” time in the fort. Elizabeth was simply back pedaling.
“He’s something even better. He knows medicine and cares about you. And he’s aware how Little girls don’t take care of themselves and how their Daddies can help them.”
“We’ll talk about it on the weekend,” she suggested.
“We can talk all you want,” he answered in a tone that told her nothing was going to change as they walked out the door.
The aroma of taco night made them both speed up. Food would distract his Little girl for a short time. Talon knew there would be an emergency meeting of the Littles to discuss being treated by Doc.
“Can I ask you guys something?” Elizabeth whispered as she leaned into the gathering of Littles.
“Do we need to go to the library?” Remi suggested in an equally quiet tone.
“Yes, please.” Elizabeth nodded.
She looked over her shoulder to meet Talon’s eyes and pantomimed opening a book before pointing to the small room next to the kitchen. After he nodded his permission, she followed the other girls.
“Daddy said I have an appointment with Doc for a check-up on Sunday,” she whispered furiously. “I tried to get out of it, but I don’t think that’s going to be possible.”
“Nope. With a red bottom or without, if your Daddy warned you, he’s set on hearing from Doc what he needs to do to keep you healthy,” Remi warned.
“But… Doc is Harper’s Daddy.”
“That doesn’t matter,” Ivy stated bluntly. “Doc treats all of us.”
“What does Harper say about this?” Elizabeth asked, bristling.
When everyone turned to look at Harper, she blushed at being the center of attention. Stumbling over her words, she tried to explain. “My Daddy isn’t going to become your Daddy or anyone else’s Daddy just because he sees you naked. He sees a lot of people naked.”
Realizing what she said, Harper rushed to add, “He’s trained to make people feel better. He was a medic in the army for a long time. Now as a paramedic with the firefighters, he still uses his medical skills to save lives. He treats all the Shadowridge Guardians. You saw him take two of Rock’s loaded tacos and pour it on a bed of lettuce at dinner tonight.”
“But you’re okay if he sees us naked? Daddy’s going to make me get naked,” Elizabeth warned.
“All the Daddies make Littles get naked in the medical room. I think it’s like the law. At first it made me nervous that he’d think you all were prettier than me, but Daddy explained about the difference of seeing a Little through the eyes of her Daddy and as a medical practitioner,” Harper explained.
Elizabeth stopped and thought for a minute. “That makes sense. I hadn’t thought of him like two different people. Doc loves you so much. That’s easy for everyone to see.”
Harper smiled and nodded. “He chose me. I don’t know why.”
“I do. You’re amazing and he knows he found the perfect Little girl to make his,” Elizabeth stressed.
“Exactly,” Remi chimed in.
“Yes!” Ivy agreed and everyone else nodded.
Harper smiled and wrapped her arms around herself. “We really are lucky to have found our Daddies. Even if Elizabeth has a sore butt.”
“Don’t remind me,” Elizabeth joked, rubbing her bottom.
“What are you going to do about the Devil’s Jesters?” Carlee asked.
“I don’t know. I get the feeling something is going on. Why come to the courthouse where there’s always going to be security? It doesn’t make any sense,” Elizabeth mused.
“You’re there,” Ivy pointed out.
“Yeah. That’s what I’m afraid of. Why are they coming at me?”
“You need to be careful,” Harper warned.
“Oh, I will be,” Elizabeth promised.