He stilled inside of her, and she felt his form go rigid against her back. “What’s wrong?”
He chuckled. “Nothing, just a little leftover burn from the ginger.”
“Oh,” she giggled to herself. There was a bit of poetic justice in the whole thing. “Do you want to stop?”
“No!” His quick response told her that was the last thing he wanted to do. “Do you?”
Ever the gentleman, she thought. “No, keep going.” She pushed her hips backwards, taking him in as far as she could. It was all the encouragement he needed.
“You’re so tight, do you like it when I fuck your ass?” he murmured appreciatively, thrusting into her with abandon now. Her hips rolled with each hard thrust, his cock pulsing inside her.
“More,” she mewed, frantically bucking her hips against him. He fucked her with increasing gusto, her one word plea all the encouragement he had needed. With each hard thrust, the ache from the leftover juices of the ginger root burned her up from the inside out, and the need in her pussy grew until she could no longer stand to not touch herself.
Ginger expertly strummed her lips pulling and flicking and tweaking while he slammed into her from behind, creating a staccato of pleasure with just the right amount of pain to keep things interesting. Her body temperature rose as she boiled from the inside out, just before the orgasm claimed her. She felt Beau shudder his release inside her at the exact moment she, too, rode the wave of her climax.
He pulled out, spent and happy, as she collapsed against the arm of the couch, a burning quivering mess of pure satiated bliss.
Beau flopped onto the couch beside her and pulled her into his lap. “I love you,” he said, his voice raw with emotion and exertion.
“I love you too,” she sighed happily, burying her face into his chest. She was completely numb, from head to toe, even her bottom tingled happily. Tonight had been about much more than punishment and incredible sex. It was the start of a new happier beginning.
Epilogue
Beau watched from where he sat on the floor playing blocks with Hazel as Ginger entered. Her face lit up, and she quickly crossed the room to join them. Just a few short months after her breakdown, she looked like a whole new person. She had filled out in some places, and thinned down in others. Her smile was wide and easy, and her cheeks had a happy healthy glow to them. Gone were the tired eyes and the stress-laden shoulders. Ginger both looked and felt amazing. There was a definite spring in her step these days.
He leaned across Hazel and greeted her with a quick kiss. “Are you ready for our walk?” She still walked every day, as per doctor’s orders, but Beau and Hazel always went with her. It had turned into a family affair, and was the best part of both their day. Well, almost anyway.
“Pretty soon. I was actually thinking it might be best to wait until evening. It’s pretty warm out there.” It was summer, and Beau was now on summer break, with the rest of the kids and teachers in Corbin’s Bend.
He smiled in agreement. “Okay, we can wait. How was your coffee date?” Ginger was still seeing Traci on a regular basis, but now it was as friends, rather than as therapist and patient. Beau was happy for her. While Ginger had been mostly well liked in the community before, she had never taken the time to develop real friendships that weren’t based solely on work relationships. Now she had found that with Traci and Ange, both.
Ginger sighed in response, looking thoughtful. “Traci wants me to help her start a moms group in the community for mothers of young children.”
“What like Mops or something?” Beau knew of the mothers of preschoolers group from back home in California, as there had been a group that met in the school cafeteria after hours.
“Yes, exactly like that basically, but not affiliated. Just an unofficial Corbin’s Bend chapter, for women to get support, and information and cultivate friendships for themselves and their children.”
“Well,” Beau said carefully, “that sounds like it would be a good thing. Lots of little ones these days. What do you think about it?”
Ginger looked equally hesitant and hopeful. “I think it’s a great idea, and that it would be a fantastic resource in the community, but honestly, setting up and running something like that? There is a ton of behind the scenes work that would need to be done. People don’t consider how much work something like that actually takes.”
Beau nodded. “You don’t want to deal with all that. I understand. It sounds like a lot of work. Maybe you can help Traci find someone else to do it.”
Her face fell. “Don’t get me wrong. I would love to do it. I wish I could. You know that type of stuff is right up my alley, but you and I agreed that with summer here, and you around to take care of Hazel it was a good time for me to fully get back into the swing of things at the restaurant.” She sighed, and Beau realized what she was really saying. “I would love to do it, but I don’t have time. I don’t want to take on too much, and burn myself out.”
“That’s really smart,” Beau encouraged. “I’m proud of you for considering your limitations. But I also want you to be happy, and spend time on things you are passionate about. Is this something you would do if you could?” He watched her face carefully, and idea forming as he took in her response.
“Yes, I would. I think it’s a great idea, and I would love to help get it running, but I can’t do that to Laney. She has basically been running the place by herself for almost eight months.”
Ginger looked crestfallen, but Beau only felt excitement. “Would you do it, if you could?” he pressed, taking her hands in his.
“I can’t though! Haven’t you been listening?” she cried, beginning to get frustrated.
He nodded gravely. “Yes, I have, and now it’s your turn to listen to me. You started the Ginger Paddle because you wanted to own a business, and you believed in Laney. For you, it’s always been just a business. For Laney, it’s a passion.”
“Yeah, so?”
“Honey, Laney is the Ginger Paddle. She is the heart and soul of that place.”
“Gee, thanks,” Ginger muttered sarcastically.
“Just listen. You made the business run like a well-oiled machine. You helped her turn that place into what it is by teaching her to be organized and efficient in the day to day operations. That’s your thing. But everything else? All the personal touches that make The Ginger Paddle what it is? That’s all Laney. She chose the décor, created the menu, and until Amber came along, she did all the cooking. She does all the creative work, right?”
Ginger didn’t respond, regarding him suspiciously.
“All of that takes a lot more man hours than doing the books and writing the paychecks. You used to go in and help as much as you could with the day to day operations, but you haven’t in a long time, and when you do, it stresses you out. There are a lot of things you could do with your time that would make you happier and more fulfilled.”
“Yeah, maybe, but I own half a sushi business. I have a responsibility to do half the work.”
“But what if you didn’t?” Beau smiled at her blank stare.
“What are you getting at, Beau? Just spit it out.”
“What if,” he started slowly, testing the waters. “You only owned say, thirty percent of a business, and you only had to worry about things like payroll and profit and loss statements or whatever?”
She still looked confused, and not half as excited as he had anticipated, but maybe he just needed to plow ahead and spell it out for her, instead of slowly easing her into the idea, which seemed to only be confusing her.
“Beau, I can’t just give up twenty percent of the business and expect Laney to pick up the slack. Plus, she’s planning a wedding. She can’t afford to buy out my share simply because I got bored.”
“I know that. So, what if we just give it to her, and call it payment for all the extra work she did this year?”
Ginger’s eyes bulged, and a wide smile spread slowly across her face. “We could do that? You would let me
do that? Can we afford to give up that much?”
“We can manage, and yes, I would do that and more to see you as happy as you look in this moment.”
She launched herself at him with a happy cry, so forcefully that he fell backwards onto the floor. It was a good thing he had been sitting and not standing. She rained happy kisses all over his face, covering almost every inch before pulling back and looking at him quizzically. “Really? Really, really?”
He would have given it all up to see her this happy, and relieved. He picked himself up off the floor and smiled. “Yes, really. We will talk to Laney and Josiah tonight, and if they agree, we’ll call Roy and have him draw up papers.”
She hugged him again, squealing happily. “Oh! I’m so excited, I hardly know what to do with myself!”
He grinned salaciously, and leaned forward to cup her bottom. “I can think of a few things.”
She smiled at him, eyes twinkling, then looked back to where their daughter still sat on the floor between them, joyfully banging two blocks together in her hands.
“Well, it is almost nap time.”
The End
Rayanna Jamison
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Blushing Books
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