He nodded. “Definitely.”
Oh. That was nice.
He smiled. “It is nice.”
She went to hit herself again when he grabbed her hand. “Stop that. You’ll hurt yourself.”
She snorted. “My head is made of bricks, Daddy.”
“It is?” He looked slightly startled.
Oh. She bit her lip. “My dad used to say that to me. He’d call me stupid. Say I had nothing but bricks in my head. Stuff like that.”
“All right.” He sat on the couch and settled her onto his lap. “Not only was that a cruel thing for him to say, it’s also very untrue.”
“I never graduated high school,” she said tearfully.
“That doesn’t mean you are stupid. And there were extenuating circumstances.”
She shook her head. “He’s right. I was never very good at school. I am stupid.”
“Enough,” he said firmly. “I know it’s hard to dispel things our parents have told us. When you’re told something often enough, especially by someone who is meant to love and care for you, you can start to believe it.”
He sounded like he had firsthand experience of that.
“Did your dad do that to you?”
He grimaced. “Yeah, I very rarely lived up to his expectations. I wasn’t smart enough, strong enough, fast enough. Luckily, he was rarely around. And the women in my life were amazing. They made up for a lot.”
Still, she could tell his father’s behavior had affected him. How could his dad not see how amazing he was?
She wished this was a permanent thing between them. She didn’t want to think about never seeing Macca again.
Oh God, she was in so much trouble.
“Now, I do believe I told you that talking badly about yourself is another entry in your notebook. Let’s just take care of that now, shall we.”
He gently arranged her over his lap once. More.
Noo. How did she keep getting herself into this position? He slowly raised her nightgown, which she’d worn to take a nap while he’d been visiting Penny, up over her bottom. Without a word he laid into her bare ass. He didn’t seem to give any consideration to the fact that he’d just blistered her poor bum. Nope, his spanking was brisk and hard and soon she was wailing in pain.
Thankfully, it wasn’t a long spanking. Soon, he’d stopped and was rubbing her lower back as she sobbed. “No more putting yourself down, little miss. And no more hitting yourself, for any reason. For what it’s worth, I think it’s cute the way you blurt out what you’re thinking. Takes out all the guesswork.”
He carefully rolled her over. She winced as her throbbing ass came into contact with his hard thighs. Ouch. Ouch. Owie. He didn’t say a word at her squirming. He grabbed a tissue to clean her up before he stood and set her on her feet.
With a hand on the small of her back, he turned her towards the dining table.
“Daddy, I can’t sit on my bottom to eat dinner,” she complained.
“Is your bottom that sore?” he asked.
“Yes.” She rubbed it dramatically, with her lower lip poking out. “I’m very, very sore.”
“That doesn’t sound good. You better let Daddy take a look at it.”
“Um, what?” That wasn’t what she’d been expecting him to say.
“Put your hands on the dining table, then bend over and show me this poor, sore bottom of yours.”