Total pages in book: 27
Estimated words: 25686 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 128(@200wpm)___ 103(@250wpm)___ 86(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 25686 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 128(@200wpm)___ 103(@250wpm)___ 86(@300wpm)
“So no more classes for me, daddy. They want not only this series, but a whole five-book one after this. The class I took with you? The last one I’m taking.” She lets that sink in. “I’m not your student anymore.” There’s a pregnant pause on the phone.
“Not my student,” I say quietly. “But still my babygirl. I’m so proud of you.”
I can practically hear her smiling on the other side of the phone.
I feel lighter. Hopeful. She’s no longer a student here, which could change whatever happens with the dean. And now, she’ll be a published author. I grin.
“See you tonight, and we’ll celebrate,” I promise.
No matter what happens today. I don’t tell her where I’m going next.
“Thank you, daddy,” she responds. “I can’t wait.”
I shut off my phone and slip it in my pocket, then square my shoulders to face the dean.
I knock on the door and ignore the way my gut clenches, my palms sweaty.
I can leave. She’s no longer a student here, but if I have to, I’ll resign quietly and find another position somewhere else.
Somewhere with Giada.
“Come in.”
I open the door to find Debra and three of her colleagues sitting next to her.
Shit.
“Shut the door behind you,” she says with a nod. I do, then turn to face them. This is it. I know it is.
“Please sit, Geoffrey.”
I gratefully fold myself into the chair facing them all, and fold my hands in my lap.
No matter what happens. No matter what’s said. Giada is mine, and I don’t regret a thing that I’ve done.
“Geoffrey,” Debra begins staidly, then her eyes crinkle into a smile. “We’d like to offer you a promotion.”
Chapter Twelve
Giada
Six months later
“Daddy, it isn’t really fair, you know.”
“Oh, yeah, little one?” I’m sitting on his lap and he’s playing with my hair. I moved into his place shortly after he got his new office at the school, and I’m loving my job as a full-time writer. No more early hours. No more arriving late to class.
I still get spanked over his desk, but now that’s because I fail to correct my comma splices after he’s edited my drafts, not because I’m late to class.
“I know of no other writers whose doms are their editors. It just isn’t fair. You’re tougher on me than any other editor I’ve ever heard of.”
“Mmm?” he murmurs, not at all repentant as he breathes in my scent and sighs in contentment. “So you think the right thing to do is to allow your errors to go uncorrected?”
I squirm on his lap, getting turned on already at his insinuation.
“Yessss,” I say with a smile, my words ending in a hiss as his tongue trails a lazy path along my collarbone. “N-n-no fairrrr.”
My eyelids flutter shut as I squirm on his lap. “Dadddyyyy.”
“I think you have it made,” he says, one hand traveling down my back to land on my ass and give it a sharp squeeze. I squeal.
“A daddy who takes care of you. Helps you work.” He pauses. “Loves you.”
I burrow my head on his chest, the knowledge that my daddy loves me filling me with warmth and pleasure. “I suppose I should consider myself lucky. I could have ended up with Professor Stodgy.”
His shoulders quake with laughter as he turns me over his knee and gives me a sharp spank for good measure.
I crane my head and look up at him. “But I love you, too. Even if you can be a total hard-ass.”
“Which is exactly what you need.”
I have nothing else to say as he turns me onto his lap and takes my mouth with his. I give myself over to him.
Showing up late for class was the best mistake I ever made.
The End