Page 3 of Tantrum Interrupted (Blue Collar Daddies in the City #10)

HUNTER

I went back in, determined to just get it over with.

Janet’s gaze washed over me, searching for signs of the tantrum I’d just had, but when she didn’t find any of that, she merely nodded and clapped her hands together. “Alright then. Places, everyone.”

I stood where she pointed and let her manhandle me into the position she wanted. “One hand by the lamp and one on your hip. Don’t think, just do. No pouting on this one. We want crisp, not petulant.”

I wasn’t entirely sure what “petulant” even meant, but I knew it was bad, so I just plastered on a smile when I was supposed to smile and my version of sultry when she wanted sultry. The lights were so bright I had to squint, but I got through it.

My body performed as requested, acting as an accessory to some advertising executive’s brilliance. But that was a relief, actually. It was easier to get through the day when I was on auto-pilot.

Roman kept things professional, but every so often, I’d catch him staring at me with a different kind of intensity. Like he was looking beyond my stance and my expression and really seeing inside me. I wanted to ignore him, but it was impossible not to glance at him every chance I got.

He was the only thing in the room that felt real.

We worked until my lips were dry and cracked from all the fake smiling, and when I was finally released to go home, I was exhausted. With my phone out, I went straight to the break room to call for an Uber.

I collapsed on the couch and watched the screen refresh as it tried to find my ride. Finally, I got the message I didn’t want to see. Due to high demand, your driver will arrive in 32 minutes.

“What the— Thirty-two fucking minutes.” I slammed my phone down on my leg and threw my head back. “Dammit.”

No one else was in the break room, and it was quiet out in the showroom, so I assumed most people were on their way out for the day. That was probably for the best. They’d already witnessed one meltdown for the day. No one needed to see another.

Since I had plenty of time to kill, I curled up in the corner of the couch and closed my eyes.

As the adrenaline I’d been riding all day fully seeped out of my body, I sagged into the cushion and took a deep breath.

Thirty-two minutes was nothing in the grand scheme of life.

A quick power nap, maybe a pee break, and then my car would be here.

No need to be frustrated or upset. Just a teeny, tiny hiccup in my day.

It wasn’t like I had anything better to do than to hang out for a while.

I peeked at the app and watched the little car on the screen.

It didn’t appear to be more than a few miles out, but since it wasn’t moving at all, I had a feeling they would be long miles.

I closed my eyes again and wrapped my arms around my legs, trying to curl tight enough to preserve my body heat.

Why was the AC set to “deep freeze” in here?

If I weren’t too ashamed to face anyone still packing up, I might have walked outside to wait in the sunshine.

But I couldn’t risk it. If I had to stand around with Roman lecturing me about being respectful of others, I’d probably cry.

No joke. All the smiling and nodding and looking aloof had messed with my emotions.

And then that weird conversation about spankings messed with my dick. My head, not my dick. Okay, fine, my head, my dick, my balls—just about everything that could be on high alert was…and then nothing.

I did what I was supposed to do and that was the end of it.

Maybe I should have acted out a bit more? Did he want me to earn a spanking? He did, right? Maybe. “Fuck!”

“Everything okay?”

The deep voice startled me out of my thoughts, and I gasped. “Shit. You scared me.”

“Sorry.” Roman put several large cases down and then sat at the other end of the couch. “Why are you in here?”

I made a strangled sound and my thumb was aimed right at my mouth. I realized where I was just in time to pretend to bite my cuticle before pulling it back out. “My ride is gonna be a while longer.” I checked the app again and my driver was now forty-five minutes away. “Dammit.”

“You need a ride?” He slowly reached out—giving me plenty of time to stop him—and then gently brushed a tuft of hair away from my eyes.

“Uh…” I didn’t know what to say. Words were suddenly too hard to grasp. “Kinda.”

“I can take you.” He held my gaze with his, and I almost swayed. Or was that what swooning was like? I’d never done it before, but I was pretty sure he could clearly read the interest all over my traitorous face.

“You don’t have to.” I held up my phone and gave it a little wave. “My lady will be here in a—” I glanced down at the screen and saw that my driver had canceled and it was trying to match me with a new driver. “Motherfucker!”

Roman’s brows knit together. “Was it something I said?”

“No.” I wanted to teleport home, but my body had become a gravity well and moving was suddenly too difficult to even consider. “My ride canceled. I guess there’s some festival happening and they can’t get through.”

He put a big hand on my shoulder to get me to look up from my phone. “My car’s out back. Let’s go.”

“Oh.” The last time I’d been alone with him, he’d…threatened to spank me. That was obviously just to get me to finish the job, but the way he was looking at me made me wish I could curl into his lap and hide there forever. “Are you sure you don’t mind?”

“Not at all.” He squeezed my shoulder, then stood up. “Cancel your ride and come with me. I know all the shortcuts.”

We walked out together, but I stayed a few feet behind him.

With my eyes locked firmly on the floor, I tried to keep myself from hyperventilating.

I’d always been good at hiding my emotions with strangers, but it wasn’t working with Roman.

I couldn’t find any piece of the armor around my heart and mind and emotions and desires that I usually had in place.

Roman’s stride was slow like he was waiting for me to catch up, but I didn’t rush. I needed a few more seconds to get my head straight.

When we finally got to his car, he opened the passenger door to let me in and then packed up his gear in the back.

I sat quietly and waited for him to ask where to go, but he didn’t start the engine right away.

For a full minute, he just sat and drummed his fingers on the steering wheel.

The silence stretched so long I thought maybe I was supposed to say something first, but I didn’t know what.

“You did well, Hunter.” He turned to face me, but I couldn’t read his expression. “I know you didn’t want to be here today, but you pushed through and got the job done. I’m proud of you.”

“You are?” I just stared back, unsure how honest he wanted me to be. I didn’t have a good lie on the tip of my tongue, so I went with the truth. “Thanks, but I think I screwed up on that. Sounds like I was too good?”

He cocked an eyebrow. “How’s that?”

I turned to look out the windshield, watching strangers pass by on their way to and from whatever event was destroying traffic today. “I didn’t even get my spanking.” My voice was soft, but he heard me.

Even with my head turned, I could sense him stiffening up. “Is that what you wanted?” His voice dropped in octaves and volume too. Shit, what was happening between us?

My throat was tight as I found the nerve to turn toward him. Flirting and teasing was one thing. But this felt real, and I didn’t do “ real .” My worlds were online and detached. Graphics and sounds and avatars that created fantasy worlds that I could control.

But Roman wasn’t any of that. He was a man made of flesh and blood. A sexy-as-fuck man who I was talking to like he was my boyfriend. “Never mind. I just need to get home and eat.”

He nodded and sucked in a deep breath before starting the car and putting it in gear. We rolled out of the parking lot. “Wanna punch your address into the nav?”

It wasn’t a complicated drive but something in me wanted him to have a record of my address. Something he could refer to later and remember the time some pathetic kid begged for a spanking and didn’t get one. “Whatever.”

The drive was silent except for a low hum from the radio and the faint tapping of Roman’s fingers against the wheel.

My body had stopped buzzing with nerves, and I was mostly tired. And hungry. I was definitely hungry.

Roman must have heard my tummy rumbling because instead of going straight to my house, we ended up at a drive-thru. He ordered a burger meal for himself, and without asking me what I wanted, he got me a kids’ meal.

He handed it over with a little smirk and then parked in the shade so we could eat.

“Wow, thank you.” I hadn’t had a kids’ meal since I was eight or nine.

My mom stopped ordering that stuff for me when I was too old for it, and once I was an adult, I didn’t feel comfortable ordering childish things for myself.

My Little tendencies were private and secret and only for me to indulge when no one was looking.

I ignored the fries and chicken strips and pulled out the toy.

“This is cool.” It was a fidget toy with one of my favorite superheroes on it.

“You seemed like you needed a bit of cheering up.” Roman watched me study my toy and then tapped the side of the box it came in. “Now, eat. You’ll feel better after you do.”

So I did. I finished every fry after inhaling the chicken. When I was done, I wiped my hands on my hoodie. “Thank you. That was so good.”

“You’re welcome.” Roman brushed a few crumbs off my lap, then adjusted my seatbelt so it sat squarely across my chest. “Ready to go home?”

I didn’t want the day to be over, but we couldn’t just hang in the parking lot forever. “Yeah, okay.”

He drove me home without saying another word until we pulled up in front of my house. “You did good today.”

I reached for the handle to get out but stopped and turned back. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.” He hesitated and then exhaled loudly. “Listen, if you ever need anything…you can call anytime.”

“I can?” Why would he want to help me with anything? Didn’t matter. “Yeah. I’d like that.”

He handed me his phone. “Put in your number. I’ll text you.”