Tempted by her Daddies: Chapter 23

“Oh, this place is so cool!” Tamsyn skipped down an aisle filled with toys.

She couldn’t remember the last toy that she’d had other than her wolf. And there was sooo much here.

But they weren’t here to toy shop. She didn’t even know what she might like.

“Little one, come here.”

“But the clothes are back here.” She pointed further back. Why was he being such a slowpoke? And he’d gotten a cart. She wasn’t sure they needed one. All she was getting was one outfit.

This shop was surprisingly busy. She’d already seen one adult girl sitting in the front of the trolley and two men together. One of the men had a harness on and the man with him held the other end.

She didn’t like that much.

Salem had explained that this was a store that catered to Littles and their caregivers which was super cool.

“Come. Here. I won’t repeat myself again.”

Uh oh.

That was his stern voice. That meant she was in trouble.

Tamsyn was used to being in trouble, but she didn’t like the idea that she might disappoint Salem.

She slowly moved toward him. Her hand went instinctively behind her to protect her butt.

She didn’t know why, but he just had that look on his face.

The spanky-look.

Alexei had it too. And sometimes Roman did as well. She wished they were here. That was the only thing this trip was missing. Alexei would be grumbling at them all, while secretly enjoying himself and Roman would be analyzing everything, working out what would be the most beneficial things to buy her.

“Yes?”

Salem had told her that she could let her Little out here and no one would judge her or worry. But there was still a part of her holding back.

She might have some trust in Salem, Alexei, and Roman.

But that didn’t mean she had trust in anyone else.

Tamsyn stopped about two feet away from him. Well out of striking distance.

But he crooked a finger at her and then pointed at the floor in front of him.

“Right here.”

With a large sigh, she moved forward. “What is it? Do you want something?”

“Yes. Now, are you sure your foot is all right?”

“Yes, you checked it earlier, remember?” And it felt fine. All good.

“All right, tell me if that changes. Now, I want for you to listen when I tell you something. What did I say before we came into the store?”

“Uh, I do believe you said that you wished they made the car parks bigger.”

He sighed. “After that.”

“That I’m supposed to stick close to your side at all times and not wander off. And that I have to obey you.”

She’d only listened to that with half an ear, though. It was all a bit boring, really.

“And what did you do?”

“Skipped off.”

“Right. So now you’re going to have to sit in the trolley.”

What? No fair.

But he wrapped his hands around her waist and lifted her into the seat at the front of the trolley.

Whoa.

Next, he put the straps over her so she couldn’t slide down.

“But this is no fun! I can’t touch anything from here.”

“You also can’t run off and get lost.”

“I wasn’t going to get losted. I have a very good sense of direction. Maybe you would get losted, not me.”

All right. Seemed her Little was coming out whether she wanted her to or not.

“Maybe if you behave yourself, you can get down,” he told her as he pushed her.

Wee!

Actually, this was a bit fun. For a start. After about ten minutes of being pushed around she started to get bored.

And she desperately needed to pee.

Salem started looking at all the clothes. He asked her a few times for her opinion, but honestly, she had little interest in what she wore.

When he got into a conversation with an employee about which pinafore dress would be warmer, she knew she had to make her move.

After all, she was a ninja. She could sneak out of this death contraption before he noticed she was gone.

All she needed was to undo her belt.

Ta-da!

That was easy.

Free! She was free!

She could do anything she wanted and the first thing she wanted was to pee.

It took her a while to find a bathroom. And she heard her name shouted in the distance, but she ignored it as she raced into the bathroom.

When a girl had to go, a girl had to go.

As she exited, there was a large man standing there. He would be handsome, if he wasn’t so cold looking.

He had his arms crossed over his chest. He wore a navy blue shirt and black pants. His dark hair was cut short. And he was scowling.

Hmm. He might be attractive if he didn’t frown so much.

Immediately, she found herself frowning back at him with her arms crossed over her chest.

He wasn’t going to out-frown her!

His eyebrow rose in surprise. “Brave little thing, aren’t you?”

“Maybe you’re the brave one,” she stated.

“What are you doing here on your own?”

“I’m not here on my own,” she stated. Did he own the place or something?

He moved his gaze around pointedly.

“I don’t see anyone, do you?” he asked.

“Well, obviously he’s not here.”

“He isn’t? Are you sure he’s not imaginary?”

Huh. How rude!

Where had this man gotten his manners from? The recycle shop?

He needed to return them for a refund.

“Considering he’s storming toward us right now, no.”

The guy turned toward Salem just as he reached them.

“Tamsyn! What are you doing over here? Why did you wander off?” Salem demanded, running his gaze over her.

“I had to pee.”

“Why didn’t you tell me? I would have brought you to the bathroom.”

Tamsyn tilted her head to the side. “Um, you were busy and I didn’t want to disturb you when I can go myself. I was fine until I ran into this guy. Be careful . . . he hasn’t got many manners.”

The guy gave her another stern look. Sheesh. Did he ever smile? It would lighten up his whole face and make him look years younger.

“Salem, I didn’t know you had a Little.”

Well, I do.” He frowned at her. “You didn’t listen very well when I told you not to wander off.”

“Oh. I’m sorry. But I wasn’t wandering. I had to pee.”

“I’m guessing your hand hurts,” the man said to Salem.

That was a strange thing to say. She stared at Salem’s hands. They just looked like they always did. Why did he think they would be sore?

“Why would his hand hurt?” she asked.

“From all the spankings he has to give you,” the big man rumbled.

“She’s new to this, Oxford,” Salem said.

Oxford? That was his name? Well, she guessed Ox kind of worked for him. He was as big as an Ox. And she’d always thought they looked grouchy.

“You’re not, though. You should have made it clear that she was to stay with you at all times.”

Umm . . . oh no. She didn’t like this guy telling her off. But she really, really didn’t like him telling Salem off.

No one scolded her man.

“Hey, don’t talk to my Salem like that.” She stepped between the two of them and glared up at the big Ox.

“Or what?” Amusement filled his face.

“Or you’ll answer to me.”

Salem wrapped his arm around her waist and drew her back. “It won’t happen again, Oxford.”

The big man just grunted. “Littles running around on their own is just going to cause trouble, you know that. Also, aisle twelve holds all the spanking implements. You might want to pick up one or two. Save your hand.”

What? That was so rude!

As the Ox strode off, she attempted to run after him. She was going to give him a piece of her mind. But Salem drew her up off the ground.

“He’s so rude! Let me down! Let me at him. I’ll teach him. I don’t need any spanking implements to teach him a lesson.”

“Whoa, calm down.” Salem turned her around and held onto her shoulders. “You need to stop and calm down. Oxford might be somewhat stiff and stern, but he owns this place, and he can make the rules.”

Stiff and stern?

“He’s got the manners of a donkey and the personality of wet cardboard.”

To her shock, Salem’s lips twitched. “Wet cardboard?”

“Uh-huh. Nothing worse than wet cardboard, it’s just mush. He’s got the personality of mush.”

Salem’s smile grew and he shook his head. “You are so much trouble, you know that?”

“I am?”

“Uh-huh and you’re also in trouble.”

She pushed her lower lip out. “But, Daddy, why am I in trouble? The big Oxen was the one being mean.”

“The big Oxen . . . oh, is that a play on his name? Or his looks?”

“Both.”

“I like it. I’ll have to tell Alexei. He and Oxford do not get along.”

“Because Alexei doesn’t like people telling him what to do,” she guessed.

“Exactly. Now, Oxford’s mushy personality aside, you’re in trouble because you knew that you weren’t meant to leave my side. And I don’t want to talk about the definition of meandering. Because you know you should have asked me to take you to the bathroom.”

“But I can do it on my own, Daddy.”

“That isn’t the point. The point is that you knew the rules and you broke them. What happens when we break the rules?”

“We get ice cream!”

“Nope. You get punished.”

“Well. That wasn’t the outcome I was hoping for.”

“I’m sure it wasn’t. Come on.” He took hold of her hand and led her back to the cart. Then he lifted her into it and did up the seatbelt.

“I don’t think I even want to know how you got out of this.”

“It really wasn’t that hard,” she told him.

“I think we might need to get you one of those leashes. Then you won’t be able to wander off or go to the bathroom on your own.”

A leash?

Um. Not happening.

He pushed her to the side of the building where a number of doors were. She caught sight of a sign next to one door.

Feeding Room.

Then another.

Nap Room.

Then he stopped outside the third one.

Punishment Room.

“I want to visit the nap room,” she said hastily.

“Are you tired, baby?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Poor girl. I’ll put you down for a nap after your punishment then.”

That wasn’t what she’d meant!