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I’m enjoying the soft weight of Juliet in my arms far too much to let go of her just yet. “Lap is fine.”
“Perfect. Once you get her in position, I can either take her temperature myself or I can show you how it’s done.”
“I’d love for you to teach me, if you don’t mind.”
An approving smile lights up Millie’s face. “I don’t mind at all. Doctor D believes all Daddies and Mommies should know how to take their Little one’s temperatures.”
“You're acting like you need a medical degree to take a temperature,” Juliet says with a roll of her eyes. “It’s not like it’s all that hard to shove a thermometer in someone’s mouth.”
I catch Millie’s eye a moment before she ducks her head to hide her smile. Which I can’t blame her for, seeing as how it’s taking all my self-control not to laugh at Juliet’s naivete. “The thermometer doesn’t go in your mouth, princess.”
“Of course it does.” There’s a bite of annoyance in Juliet’s voice she can’t quite hide. “Where else would you put a thermometer?”
If there’s one thing Blackwoods believe above all else, it’s that action is king. Sitting around talking about what you plan to do means nothing without action.
With that in mind, I flip Juliet over my knee, pinning her in place by trapping her legs between mine. “The most accurate way to take a Little girl’s temperature is in her bottom. Isn’t that right, Millie?”
“Yes, Mr. Blackwood.”
“What?” Juliet’s screech pierces the air as she struggles over my knee. “You are not putting anything there, Jasper! Let me go!”
Two hard swats, one for each bottom cheek, settles her down quickly. “You are on very thin ice, little girl. What do you call me?”
A long pause, before her much more respectful, if somewhat strained voice reaches my ears. “Please don’t put anything in my bottom, Daddy.”
Emotion tugs at my heart. She really does sound distressed, and as much as I may be enjoying putting my bratty little stepsister in her place, I’m not a complete monster. “I’m afraid you’re going to have to get used to having things in your bottom, princess.”Including Daddy’s cock.But I worry that thought may send her over the edge, so I keep it to myself for now. “Now, be a good girl for me and don’t struggle, and maybe we can have a treat when we get home.”
She sniffles quietly. “What kind of treat?”
“Do you remember when our parents first married and we all went to Paris for a family vacation a few weeks later? To bond, they told us, though you and I joked the whole time it was just good press.”
“Yeah. I remember. You took me into the catacombs even though you were terrified.”
I give her bottom another halfhearted swat as a laugh bubbles in my chest. “I was not terrified, I just couldn’t figure out why a sweet little girl like yourself wanted to do something so objectively awful. Anyway, you and I visited this little cafe later and they had the most incredible mille-feuille. I thought you might die from pleasure on the spot when you tasted it.”
“I remember. I’ve been back a few times, just for that. Nobody else makes it quite the same.”
“I know. Which is why Chef Michael is on the phone right now with the pastry chef of that same restaurant, getting his exact recipe. If you can behave for the rest of your visit with Doctor D, you can have an extra big slice for dessert tonight. How does that sound, princess?”
There’s another long pause, and I brace myself for a fight. But then she sighs and her body lays heavy over my knee. “All right, Daddy. I’ll be good.”
Chapter Thirteen
Juliet
What does it say about me, I wonder, that my obedience can be so easily bought with the promise of dessert?
Of all the things he’s done to me so far, bribing me with sweets makes me feel the most like an actual child. Perhaps because this is the first time I’ve actually felt such a childlike response. The moment he’d told me about the cake waiting for me at home, I was filled with an excitement and longing I hadn’t felt in a very long while.
I was also filled with some other emotion I couldn’t place. One that made my chest hurt and my throat feel tight. That one had started when he’d begun speaking so fondly of our time in Paris. I had no idea he even remembered that trip, and I certainly had no idea his memories were so sweet.
Almost as sweet as my own.
Paris was the first time I realized I might be falling a little in love with my new older brother. At the tender age of sixteen, I’d had my heart broken by a few silly boys, but I’d never even considered handing it over to a man. But the day Jasper hadtaken me under his wing, escorting me about the city, showing me all his favorite spots while also indulging my curiosity in things like the catacombs—and I don’t care what he says, he wasterrifiedof them—I’d started to realize what I’d been missing with the boys I dated. Someone who didn’t just shower me with attention for show, but who actually cared about the things I was interested in. Who listened when I spoke and laughed so hard he couldn’t breathe when I said something particularly witty.
But Jasper obviously hadn’t felt anything remotely similar for me. The second our trip was over, he was off again on some other adventure, leaving me behind with our asshole parents.
Or maybe he had felt something. And maybe he’d been lying in wait all this time, counting the seconds until he could make me his.