Read The Art of Discipline: Dani’s Discovery (The Mockingbird Chronicles) Online
Authors: Stardawn Cabot,Alexandra James
Dani smirked. “Why didn’t you say that in the first place?”
Chapter Fifteen
Dani slowly came up behind Emma in the kitchen. Wrapping her arms around her, she dropped a kiss on her head before turning Emma around and kissing her properly. “That was the best shower I’ve ever had,” she purred. “I never knew anyone could be that creative with soap.”
Emma grinned before turning back around to finish putting dinner together. “I’m glad you enjoyed it.”
“I changed the sheets on the bed,” Dani announced, grabbing a chip from the open bag on the counter. “The old sheets and comforter are a total loss, however. We’ll never get the paint off, so I thought maybe we could pick something out together.”
Emma placed a sandwich in the pan on the stove before turning to smile at Dani, who was now seated at the kitchen table. “I would like that very much.”
Letting out a long breath, Dani smiled before rising again and looking into the pan. “What are you making anyway?”
“Grilled cheese and chips; I thought something easy would be nice tonight.”
“Is there anything I can do?” Dani asked before snagging another chip from the bag and narrowly missing having her hand swatted by the spatula Emma held.
“How about you get the water and set the table? Oh, and a grab a couple of apples out of the fridge. We need some fruit.”
“What? No broccoli, or turnips, or other strange alien food you want to torture me with tonight?” Dani teased as she reached into the cupboard.
“I think there are some green beans in there, if you really want them,” Emma returned without missing a beat.
Dani made a face. “Ah, I think the apples are good.”
Emma giggled. “Thought you might say that.”
Dani retrieved the apples, plates, and water and managed to have the table ready by the time the sandwiches were done. Wincing slightly as she sat on the hard kitchen chair, she dug in.
“This sandwich is good,” Dani mumbled, her mouth full. “So are the chips.”
“Don’t talk with your mouth full,” Emma responded automatically.
“Okay,” Dani replied sheepishly. “It’s just really good, and I was so hungry.”
Emma looked toward the living area of the apartment. “Yeah, I’d say you had a busy day.”
Dani followed her gaze and had the decency to blush. “I told you I went overboard in my research.”
“Uh-huh. So do you want to clean up your mess tonight or first thing in the morning?”
Dani swallowed and took a drink before answering, “Well, am I getting any help cleaning up?”
Emma shook her head. “Nope, it was your research right?”
Dani looked at her plate and quickly shoved another chip into her mouth. “Yeah, it was my research. I hope the Mathews appreciate all my hard work for the twins’ party.”
“The Mathews? I thought it was the Maloys.”
“Ah, yeah, you’re right,” Dani smiled easily. “The little boy’s name is Mathew, and the little girl is Mavis. I guess their parent’s like ‘m’ names.”
“I guess.” Emma watched Dani for a moment before continuing, “So how old are the twins again?”
“Um, six, why?”
“Just curious.”
Dani looked towards her plate once more as she finished her meal. “Thanks for dinner, Emma.”
“You’re welcome, Dani, but you still haven’t answered my question. Are you cleaning up now or in the morning?”
“In the morning, I guess,” Dani pouted.
“Okay then. I’ll clean up here while you go wait in the corner for me.”
“The corner?” Dani’s voice rose a bit.
“Yes, the corner.” Emma threw the now empty paper plates away and moved to put the glasses in the dishwasher. “I still owe you a spanking tonight.”
“Ah, come on, Emma. You’re not serious? After all that? Can’t we forget it tonight?”
Emma turned and narrowed her eyes. “What happened between us doesn’t affect my promise. You need to go find the corner, Danielle.”
Glaring at Emma, Dani turned before stomping down the hallway and slamming the bedroom door.
Shaking her head as she finished wiping the table, Emma smirked. “Looks like I really need to have that conversation with her about slamming doors,” she muttered to herself.
Emma let Dani stew for close to ten minutes before she followed her to the bedroom. Opening the door, Emma approved, noticing Dani in her usual position. Sitting on the end of the bed, she called, “Danielle, come here, please.”
Dani shook her head, refusing to turn away from the wall.
Realizing from Dani’s posture that something wasn’t right, Emma stood and crossed over to the corner. Putting her hand on Dani’s arm, she gently turned her away from the wall and frowned as she realized that she’d been crying.
“Dani.” She couldn’t help but sigh. “Looks like we need to talk.”
Dani pulled away. “I don’t want to talk,” she sniffled. “And I don’t want another spanking.”
Emma ran a finger down Dani’s cheek, wiping away a tear. “I want to know why you are crying, and I want you to come sit with me and talk about it.”
“Promise me you won’t spank me?” Dani tried.
“I promise I won’t spank you until I figure out why you are crying,” Emma countered.
Dani set her jaw but didn’t resist, sniffling as she allowed Emma to pull her back across the room and onto the bed. Once there, Emma sat down, pressing her back against the headboard, and invited Dani to join her.
Dani hesitated for a moment but soon found herself cuddled up against the redhead, Emma’s arms wrapped tightly around her. She then chewed her lip for another moment before blurting out, “I don’t want another spanking.”
“Ah,” Emma responded. “But you knew it was coming. You knew yesterday, the day before that, and all day today. Earlier you were even joking about it. So why the tears now?”
Dani shrugged again. “I guess I didn’t think you’d really do it.”
“Have I ever told you that I was going to do something and then not followed through?” Emma asked as Dani shook her head. “So, why do you think I’d start now?”
Dani remained silent, so Emma pressed on. “This may be hard for you to understand, Danielle, but I am going to spank you because you need it. You need the stability, you need to know that I will always follow though, and you need to know that I will always be there for you. You need this spanking, Danielle Ryan, because you crave it.”
Dani’s eyes went wide. “No I don’t. I’d be perfectly happy to grab a soda and box of cookies and go watch TV until I can’t keep my eyes open any longer instead.”
Emma raised an eyebrow. “And you think that would make you happy—to just chuck the rules and do whatever you want?”
“Sure, why not?”
“Better question would be, why?”
“Why what?”
“Exactly,” Emma smiled.
Dani crossed her arms in a pout. “You are making no sense.”
“Aren’t I? Danielle, remember the story you told me, how your grandfather sent away the only nanny you were ever close with? How everyone you ever tried to bond with either pushed you away or left?” Emma gave Dani a moment to respond, and when she remained silent, she pressed, “Why did you like that nanny so much?”
Dani shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess because she cared about me enough not to let me get away with stuff.”
“You trusted her.”
It wasn’t a question, but Dani answered anyway, “Yeah, I did.”
“Do you trust me, Dani?”
Blue met green as Dani studied Emma for a moment. “I want to.”
“I want you to also.” Emma paused. “I love you, Danielle. And I know it’s scary, but I want you to know that you can trust me. There is no one that is going to send me away, and I’m not going to let you push me away.”
“Even if I do terrible things?”
Emma wrinkled her brow. “I don’t expect you to be perfect, Danielle. I know you’ll make mistakes. I will too.”
Dani chewed her lip for a moment. “I have to tell you something. You know those toys?”
“Yes?”
“There is no party that I was doing research on. I lied to you, Emma.”
“I know.”
“How… how, did you know?”
“The delivery boy came to the store yesterday afternoon. I figured something was up, so I gave Morgan a call and asked if there was any reason why you would have ordered a boatload of toys.”
“But why didn’t you say anything?”
“I wanted you to tell me.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah, oh. I’m glad you did. I’m proud of you for confessing, Danielle, even though it would have been nice if you did it earlier.”
“We were busy earlier,” Dani smirked.
“Yeah, we were.” Emma returned the smirk.
“Guess that means I’m in pretty big trouble?”
“Yes, but you wanted to be, didn’t you?”
“It sounded like a good idea at the time,” Dani confessed as she shifted. “Not such a good idea now,” she added with a frown. “You’re going to spank me now, aren’t you?”
“Yes.” Emma nodded. “Right after you get the hairbrush off the dresser and bring it back to me.”
Dani’s jaw dropped. “But Emma…” A single eyebrow rose, cutting Dani off. “Alright, I’ll get it.”
By the time Dani returned, Emma had repositioned herself on the edge of the bed. She took the hairbrush from Dani’s hand and set it on the bed next to her. “Danielle, I promised you three spankings, and I intend to keep that promise. But before I begin, I want you to know that I was only planning to give you a dozen or so swats with my hand tonight. Obviously, that plan has changed. I want you to remember that you brought this on yourself and not only made your punishment tonight worse, but I’m going to extend your grounding by a day.”
Dani frowned, groaning in protest, but Emma cut her off with a raised eyebrow. “You think that I’m going to count today when you played the day away?”
“No.” Dani looked down at the ground.
“Good. Also, you have been slamming too many doors around here. Next time there will be an automatic ten swat penalty. Understand?”
Getting a nod, Emma continued, “And finally, tomorrow, before you do anything else, you will pick up every single toy, puzzle, and game and box them up. We will find someone to donate them too. That goes for the paint too. I better not see a drop of paint anywhere. Understand?”
Dani was quiet for a moment before she dared to look up into green eyes. “Do we have to?”
“Have to?”
“Get rid of the toys?”
“After the mess you made? You were just using them to goad me...” Emma trailed off, noticing Dani shift. “Weren’t you?” Emma again asked.
Dani’s cheeks flushed. “I, um. I don’t want to get rid of them, Emma. It’s been a long time, but well, it was kinda fun. You know, to play.”
“Ah. I’ll tell you what, honey. I still want you to clean them up. We’ll put them in a box, maybe in the study. If you want to play with them again, I don’t mind. I just need you to be responsible with them and not leave them all over the apartment, okay?”
Dani gave her a small smile and a nod. “I can do that.”
“Good. And just for the record, while you’re grounded, they are off limits unless you ask first, alright?”
“Okay,” Dani managed another smile. “We can keep the finger paints too, right?”
Emma chuckled. “That’s the one I think we have to keep, no matter what,” she winked.
Dani again blushed as Emma stood and gave her a peck on the cheek. “Alright, Danielle, let’s get this over with.” Emma then reached out and pulled down Dani’s pajama bottoms and panties, before sitting back down and helping her over her lap. Tapping Dani’s bottom gently, she prompted, “Tell me why I am going to spank you tonight, Danielle.”
Dani was quiet for a long moment. Emma heard a sniffle before Dani answered, “Because I trust you.”
“I love you too, Danielle.” Emma couldn’t help the smile.
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