Chapter Four
“Come on, baby girl. Let’s get you out of this elf costume.” Connor sat her down on the couch and pulled off the other ear that had plastered to the drool on her cheek while she snoozed on the way home.
Mmmm, she was so drowsy and warm… and happy. Weird. She kicked off her shoes, barely missing Connor’s head. She giggled at his stern expression. “Sorry, Daddy.”
“It’s okay. Arms up.” He tugged the green dress over her head, and helped her to her feet. “Legs apart.”
She obeyed and he pulled down her leggings and lifted each foot to take off her striped tights.
“Why are you so angry?” She yawned and sat back down in her undies while Connor grabbed the blanket from the back of the couch.
“I’m not angry.” His brows furrowed tightly. “Not at you anyway. Come here.” He sat down and pulled her onto his lap, tucking the blanket around her.
It felt so nice to be in this position again. Safe, warm, snuggly, breathing in the scent of him with long, slow breaths. She was getting sleepy again. Her eyes kept closing, and his heartbeat pitter-patted in a nice slow cadence that calmed her. It was so wonderful. They weren’t playing. This was real. Her heart felt lighter than it had in weeks.
“Can you tell me what happened, Pip?”
“Mmm.” She wiggled and burrowed until her top half was jammed in between his chest and his arms. This was her favorite spot. Nestled between his arms, her head against his chest, her bottom on his lap. It was perfect. “Not right now. I just want Daddy snuggles, ’kay?”
“Pip, I need to get your blood drawn; make sure you’re safe; get something on record so we can bust those two.”
“No, Con.” She sat up and felt the chill waft across her almost naked upper half as the blanket fell to the couch. “I’m not high. It’s not drugs, I swear.”
His eyes said he didn’t quite believe her and that pissed her off. She pushed off his lap and stood in front of him. “You listen to me, you overbearing know-it-all. I know the difference between alcohol, drugs and a natural high, okay. It wasn’t marijuana.”
He cocked his head, his stern jaw tightening.
“I’ll go pee in a cup, and you can take the sample to the lab along with the rest of the brownie, okay? But I’m telling you, it was natural.”
“Christmas joy in the center of the brownie?” he growled at her.
“Yes! Gah!” She ran her hands through her hair in frustration and raised her fists into the air. “Christmas joy, all right? I know it sounds crazy, but it was legit. Straight up, natural Christmas joy.” Tears filled her eyes. “No, you sit right there. I don’t want you to touch me right now.”
He stayed put and took a couple of deep breaths.
She paced back and forth. “Okay, I know it sounds crazy. Stop nodding your head. I was talking with Sophie, and explaining some of the stuff I’ve been going through.” She rubbed her lips with the back of her hand to stop them from doing that stupid trembling thing. “I’m sad, and I’m lonely.”
“How can you be—”
Alex made a quick cutting motion with her fingers and Connor closed his mouth. “I’m lonely because I miss my dad. I hate Christmas. He was always so busy. I know now that that’s how he dealt with Mom being gone. But I was right there. I needed a Santa in my life. I needed a father who hid Christmas presents under the tree when I slept; who nibbled on the cookies I left out; who gave me just a little magic.” She shrugged and sat on the chair on the other side of the room across from Connor, curling her feet up under her.
Connor handed her the blanket when she shivered.
“I needed a childhood with magic in it. Just for a little while. Just a few years. But his anger and resentment became mine. You see enough bad stuff during the holidays, it gets to you.”
“I understand. But that’s not all of it, Pip is it?”
“Could you call me baby or little girl? And hold me? Please?”
He was across the room so fast, it made her head spin. He picked her up and set her back on his lap and curled the blanket around her. They sat back in the chair and he put up the foot rest. “This is right where we belong, baby girl. Now tell me the rest.” He nuzzled her forehead, and she basked in the loving warmth that built between them.
“I lost my mother’s ring,” she whispered.
“What, baby?”
“I lost her ring!” she yelled. “I can’t get married without her ring. Let me go!” She squirmed, but he held her tighter against him.
“No, you’re not getting away from me. I know you’re hurting. But couples work out their problems together. I won’t let you go.”
She fought a bit more, but only half-heartedly. It was so nice to feel safe and protected. She could push and squirm; she could fight it a little, but he wasn’t going to let her go. Connor would fight for her. After one last attempt at freeing her body from his tight grasp, she collapsed against his hard chest.
“Feel better?”
“Almost. I still want… I need you to spank me. And I want you to hold me and cuddle me until I fall asleep afterward. I want you to call me little girl and baby and sweet little elf, all the stuff that I roll my eyes at. Please?”
“You’re sure you’re all right?”
“I know my body, Con. Sophie gave me a huge energetic hug that wrapped itself around me, and worked itself through my heart, and… are you going to laugh if I say this?”
He furrowed his eyebrows. “It depends on what you say.”
“I felt like the Grinch. My heart was a gazillion sizes too small and then when she hugged me, my heart grew. Like five sizes, you know like the Grinch story? And I didn't even eat the brownie until afterward. You’re laughing.” She tried to frown at Connor, but the sight of him holding his breath, and his face turning red as his eyes watered was too funny. She started laughing and he followed suit.
After they finally stopped the chuckling and chortling, they leaned back into the chair, breathless. “I’m telling you, Con. It was Christmas spirit. I felt warm and loved and safe, and I knew I could get past any problems—as long as I had you.”
“You will always have me.” His eyes were warm and hopeful, as if a hundred pound weight had been lifted off his chest. “As long as you want me.”
“I do. I’m sorry I freaked you out. I was a lot unhappier than I realized, and that sudden jolt of joy kind of overwhelmed me.”
“Next time, talk to me before things get so out of hand that I think you’re on an illegal substance when you’re happy.” He gave her a stern look that made her squirm.
“All right.”
“Okay, what can we do about your mother’s ring? Have you searched everywhere? Checked pockets? Called restaurants? Checked lost and found boxes?
“I’ve done all of that, and it’s gone. I lost it. But it’s okay. She’s in my heart and will always be, even without the ring.”
“I’ll get you a new ring, one that looks just like it—”
“Connor,” she interrupted him and kissed his soft lips. “Thanks, but it’s okay. I just want you.”
“All right. After the holidays, we’ll go shopping together and get something you like. Something suitable for a cop and part-time elf.”
She giggled. “Sorry I let it go for so long. Do you really believe me?”
He shrugged. “Well, I don’t know if I believe in the physical manifestation of an actual Santa that goes down chimneys, leaves presents, and drives a sleigh, but I do believe in the magic of hope and love. If you’re sure you’re okay?”
“Yeah, I really am.” She snuggled back against his chest. “Thanks for getting me out of there before I got too wild. Holy cow, I haven’t been that hopped up since the time I ate a whole red velvet cake when I was ten.” She grimaced. “Luckily, I’m not having the same reaction.”
“I’m still going to take that brownie in for testing. Just to be on the safe side.”
“Of course.” She got up and grabbed it off the counter. “It’s the professional thing to do. But believe me. You won't find anything. Here, sure you don’t want a nibble?”
His eyes darkened. “I want a nibble of something all right, and it’s not a brownie. But first.” He stood up. “Take off your panties and lean over the edge of the couch, little girl.”
She gulped and her panties dampened at his firm demeanor. All joking gone. Now it was time to play. Or was it real? She grinned. Maybe it was a bit of both. “And if I don’t?” She raised her eyebrow and cocked her hip the way he loved.
“Then Daddy is going to take off his belt and paint your little ass with more red stripes than a… say the word.”
She shook her head. Candy cane was their safe word, and she wouldn't use it again. Unless she needed to.
“What’s your safe word, Pip?”
“Candy cane,” she said it so quietly she could barely hear it.
“Over the couch, young lady. Daddy’s going to spank you hard with his hand and his belt. Do you know why?”
She lowered her panties to the ground, and leaned over the cushioned arm of the sofa. The chill wafted across her naked buttocks and she shivered. “Because I didn’t talk to you. I waited too long and let myself get into a deep funk I might not have been able to get out of.”
He stroked the back of her legs and over the curve of her bottom. “Yes, why else?”
“Um…” she was having a hard time thinking with his hands tapping along her bottom cheeks, along her thighs. “Because I safeworded instead of being honest with you.”
“Yes. And?”
A small smack echoed through the room. It didn't hurt, but the sound startled her. “I, I don’t know, Con.”
“Who?”
“Daddy. I don't know why, Daddy.”
“Because you want me to.” He slapped her right cheek hard, and then her left cheek even harder and she let out a low hiss. “You need me to.”
She pressed her bottom into the air and nodded, grateful for this man who knew her so well. “Don’t stop until I cry, Daddy.”
“Tears or candy cane, baby. Don’t clench. This is going to hurt.”
And it did. Every stinging slap. Every hard swat. Each admonishment followed by a term of endearment. The pain and pleasure combined until she was nothing more than a mass of blubbering, shaking, red-eyed contrition, and she loved every second of it. Curled up in her daddy’s arms after it was all over, she knew she didn’t need a brownie or a hug from a nice stranger to give her happiness. Her Christmas joy came from Connor, her daddy.