“He’ll be back in a few minutes, but I don’t have time to babysit you.”
“I don’t need a babysitter, Julia. I’m a grown ass woman.”
Julia narrowed her eyes. “You’re a Little, which means you’re not supposed to be out of the wing unsupervised.”
“Oh.” Some of the tension left her shoulders and Hayleigh offered her an apologetic smile. “Connor got permission for me to come straight to the kitchen after class, so I’m allowed to be here. I’ll stay out of your way until he gets back.”
“Until who gets back?” a stack of boxes asked from across the kitchen. The boxes slid onto the island behind Julia, revealing a grinning Connor.
Forgetting her earlier embarrassment, Hayleigh squealed and ran over to throw her arms around his neck. “Daddy! I missed you!”
“I missed you too, jellybean. But what have I said about running in the kitchen?”
Pouting, she pulled away and lowered her gaze to the floor. “You said not to ‘cause I could get hurt.”
“The next reminder I have to give you is going to be given with my paddle. Understood?”
“Yes, Daddy. I’m sorry.”
“Just be more careful.” He pressed a quick kiss to her forehead before turning to Julia. “You have everything under control here, Jules?”
“Yup!” The surly Julia from a few minutes ago had been replaced by a sweeter, perkier version Hayleigh didn’t even recognize as the same person. “You crazy kids go enjoy your night.”
“All right. Don’t forget we got that shipment of beech mushrooms in for breakfast tomorrow. They need to be fully cooked before they go in the eggs, or they’ll be too bitter.”
“I remember. We’ll be fine, Chef.”
“Also, if the meat delivery shows up before I get here, call me. I was not impressed with the filets we received in the last shipment and I want to inspect everything before we accept this one. We may need to find a new vendor.”
“Daddy, comeon,” Hayleigh whined, tugging on his arm. She was ready to go like ten minutes ago.
“Just a minute, jellybean. I need to make sure Julia will be okay before we go.”
From across the kitchen, Julia sent her a smug smile that seemingly went unnoticed by Connor. A surge of jealousy flooded Hayleigh and she stomped her foot. “Fine! You can have a sleepover with Julia if you like her so much!”
She turned on her heel, intent on making a dramatic exit, but she didn’t even get two steps before a large hand wrapped around her upper arm and spun her back around to face her very confused, very angry Daddy.
Uh oh.
“Little girl, I do not know what’s gotten into you this afternoon, but I intend to get to the bottom of it very soon. You’ve earned yourself a timeout while I finish talking to Julia.” With his free hand, he pulled a stool from the island. “Bottom on the stool and hands on your head until I tell you otherwise.”
“No! Let me go!”
The normally noisy kitchen fell silent at her outburst and Connor’s jaw tightened. “Hayleigh Anne. Did you just tell me no?”
“I, um, I didn’t mean to, Daddy,” she whined. “It slipped out.”
A moment later, she was tucked up under her Daddy’s arm, her skirt was flipped up over her back, and his hard, heavy hand was lighting up her backside.
It was the first time since he’d officially become her Daddy that Connor had spanked her in public and it was even more humiliating than she could have imagined. Especially knowing Julia was standing there, watching her squeal and dance with every blistering swat.
“Daddy, stop!”
“I’ll stop when I think you’ve learned your lesson about who’s in charge here, little girl.”
“I have, I’m sorry! Please stop!”
Instead of stopping, he moved the spanks to her thighs, where everyone would see the red marks even when her skirt was back in place. The embarrassment of it all overwhelmed her and she broke down into soft, hitching sobs.