“Likely pick you up, put your over my knee, and spank your cute ass.”
“In front of Aunt Marie!”
He shrugged. “You threw the tantrum in front of her, so I’d think she would deserve to see you get your butt spanked. But if that’s a hard limit, I could take you out to the truck. Course, she’d know you were getting your butt whipped.”
Her cheeks went red at the thought. “I don’t think that will ever happen,” she said primly.
His eyes danced with amusement. “Never say never. Do you know what would happen after that spanking?”
“Um, I’d apologize.”
“Yep. And after that?”
What was he wanting her to say?
“What would your mother do if you’d thrown a tantrum while at one of her friend’s houses?”
She winced. “Well, she wouldn’t spank me.” She shot him a quelling look. He just grinned. As though the idea of spanking her was enjoyable.
“And then she’d likely ground me for a month. Take away any privileges and then freeze me out. And then once she started talking to me again, she’d bring it up over and over.”
“That’s kind of what I figured. So you learned to hold everything inside so she wouldn’t freeze you out or scold you again and again until it ate you up inside.”
“Pretty much.”
“A spanking or any kind of punishment I give, that’s it. Sure, I might scold you. Depending on the crime, you might get a spanking and corner time or lines. But afterward, I’ll hold you tight and tell you how wonderful you are. I’ll give you all the aftercare you need. And then that’s it. Do the time, serve the crime and there is no more punishment.”
“Really?” She gave him a skeptical look.
“Really.” He tucked her hair behind her ear. She hadn’t realized that it had come free. She needed to fix it. She’d put it in a bun before leaving the house, but as soon as Ed had seen it, he’d pulled her hair free. Apparently, she wasn’t allowed to wear her hair in a bun anymore. So they’d compromised and she’d braided it.
She’d never realized that men had an opinion on how women wore their hair. She now knew better.
“So you’re going to spank me now?”
His head reared back. “What? No! That’s not what I meant.”
“I’m confused.”
“You haven’t done anything wrong to deserve punishment. If anyone has, it’s me.”
“Why?” she asked.
“For not telling you about Aunt Marie. For making you feel even an instant of panic over something I could have prevented. I feel like shit about that.”
“You couldn’t have known . . . “
He shot her a look. “I could have thought it through better. I wanted it to be a surprise, a nice surprise.”
And she’d ruined that. She bit her lip.
“Nope. No feeling guilty for you. You have done nothing wrong, hear me? Nothing. But there is one thing we need to discuss.”
“What’s that?”
“You using words like freak and stupid.” He gave her a stern look.
Oh.