Rafe had called her three times during his long absence; the third call she hadn’t answered because at that point she’d convinced herself everything they’d shared had been a lie. Then he’d sent Tom to try to talk to her in his stead and she’d shut Tom down before anything real could be communicated.
Max had a feeling she might have made the biggest mistake of her life by sending Rafe away the night before; an error that had now been compounded by Javier. The truth was she loved Rafe and needed him more than she wanted to admit to him or anyone else. Needing someone that much when they weren’t available had caused her to make some rash choices. She’d been scared by how great her need for him was and had decided to cut him out of her life.
Then she’d started drinking to numb herself to the aching emptiness inside her; what if she was too late now? What if Rafe decided she wasn’t worth the trouble? She’d been so drunk the night before, her memory was a little muzzy on what’d he’d told her; she knew they’d had sex… a flush stole up her cheeks as she remembered the blatant way she’d used him for sex. Rafe hadn’t been happy with the situation, but he’d allowed it.
The fact that he had was telling in itself; before he’d left, Rafe would have simply paddled the daylights out of her, then taken her to bed and loved her so thoroughly she would have forgotten all her misgivings.
Max shook her head as she realized there was a fairly large part of her that wished he’d done exactly that… taken the choice and the control away from her. Then she wouldn’t have to worry about making the right decision.
What a coward she was!
“My lovely Maxine, you are miles away from here, I think,” Javier said softly in his cultured voice.
Max blinked and looked over into his understanding eyes. “I’m being terribly rude, please accept my apologies.”
“No need to apologize, dear lady. I only hope he’s worth all the thoughts flitting behind those lovely eyes,” Javier said smoothly.
“Who?” she asked, trying to dismiss the knowing look in her escort’s eyes.
Javier laughed. “The man who’s been glaring daggers at me from the bar, I assume.”
Max stiffened and looked over her shoulder and straight into Rafe’s smoldering gaze, and everything below her waist clenched in response—her bottom winced in trepidation but everything else tensing in remembered pleasure. He was angry.
“Maybe we should go?” Max asked Javier hesitantly. They’d been lingering over coffee, but the air was thick with tension and no way did she want a confrontation with Rafe at the top of Reunion Tower.
“But of course, my dear, I aim only to please,” he said with a grin, rising from the table and offering his hand. “Let’s go; the check has already been paid.”
Max sighed with relief as he led her quickly from the restaurant; they rode down in the glass elevator in complete silence, the view around them unseen.
Without a word Javier helped her into his low-slung Porsche and then drove quickly to her apartment.
“I give it about ten minutes before your man arrives to claim you,” Javier said jovially as he walked her up to her apartment.
“Don’t be silly…” Max began, only to be cut off by Rafe’s terse voice.
“Less than that and you have about two seconds to tell me exactly what you’re doing here.” He stood with his back to the wall, facing Javier menacingly.
“Rafe, you’ve no right to…”
Rafe grabbed her arm firmly and pulled her to his side after liberating the keys from her suddenly lifeless fingers and opening the door. “I would be very careful how you talk to me right now, Maxine. You go on in your apartment while I deal with your friend. I expect to find you bare-bottomed and standing in the corner when I get inside.”
“How dare you!” she gasped, embarrassed he’d spoken to her that way in front of Javier.
He simply delivered four sharp swats to her skirt-covered behind and pushed her gently into the door. “You’re about to find out I’ll dare a lot when it comes to you. Mind me now unless you want a spanking out here in the hall in front of this gentleman and the neighbors.”
Max promptly closed her mouth and hurried inside, pulling the door shut behind her with a satisfying bang.
* * *
Rafe studied the man in front of him curiously; the man didn’t seem to care that his romantic evening had been interrupted. Rafe had recognized Javier in the restaurant and would find out exactly what he was doing there now that Maxine was inside.
“I see now why the fair Maxine hired me, she was trying to get your attention,” the man said with a smile.
Rafe frowned. “Hired you?”
“Yes, allow me to introduce myself, Javier Degrazio. Escort to lonely women in this fair city. Your Maxine paid for the whole night.” The man’s eyes twinkled with obvious amusement.
He growled under his breath, “Trying to get my attention, you think? I think she was trying to divert it.”
“No, my friend, I assure you she wants it. She is conflicted at the moment, I think, but the way her eyes lit up when she saw you at the bar was unmistakable,” the other man assured him.
Rafe sighed. “How much did she shell out for your services?”
“Eight hundred dollars; I was running a special. Usually my fees are higher,” Degrazio said with a grin.
“Escorts have sales?” Rafe asked in disbelief; never in a million years would he have thought to be having this conversation with a fake gigolo on his woman’s front doorstep. “Cut the fake smarmy accent, Jake.”
The man in question snorted. “We were just trying to cover your back, commander.”
“How did you come to know Maxine was looking for an escort?”
“Come on, Rafe, you know it’s standard procedure to monitor Internet and phone activity on close friends and family when someone is planted deep. Especially new relationships,” Jake replied.
“Of course, but I’ve been stateside for two weeks,” Rafe said with a frown.
Jake shrugged. “We hadn’t pulled the Internet surveillance yet and when your ladylove seemed to be trolling for company, we thought we’d better make sure she didn’t end up with the real deal. I knew you’d been having some trouble and needed time to settle her back in.”
Rafe closed his eyes and shook his head. His whole team knew Maxine had tried to hire a prostitute; he would never live this one down. “I’m going to paddle her backside raw.”
Jake chuckled. “As it should be. If I had a woman and she dared to hire a man such as myself, I think she would not sit comfortably for quite some time. I know you have things to attend to so I will bid you goodnight.”
He watched the man walk away and then considered Maxine’s front door thoughtfully; this was going to require a little more of an impression than his hand could deliver and he was pretty sure the paddle he’d bought before going out of town was history. Good thing he had reinforcements in his truck.
A few minutes later when Rafe walked in Maxine’s door with a small bag in his hand, she was standing not far away next to the couch.
“Is that the corner, young lady?”
Her spine stiffened and she glared up at him. “I will not be sent to the corner like some naughty child, Rafe Jennings! I’m an adult. If I want to entertain another man, I will do so!”
“I thought he was paid to entertain you. Did I misunderstand him when he was explaining you paid him eight hundred bucks for the night?”
Maxine gasped. “He told you? That’s got to be against hooker/client privilege or something! Well, I’ll never use that agency again!”
Rafe snorted. “You certainly won’t,” he said before grabbing her by one arm and deftly pulling her over his lap as he sat down on the couch.
“Rafe, no! You can’t!” she cried as she frantically tried to roll off his lap.
He simply tucked her in close and began to rain hard swats down on her skirt-covered bottom. His hand fell hard and fast with no discernible rhythm.
“Are you about ready to go stand in the corner with your naughty bottom on display, young lady?” he asked almost conversationally. “Bear in mind that your punishment hasn’t even begun. This is just about standing in the corner right now.”
Maxine’s breath hissed out in a gasp and then her voice came very soft and tremble-y. “May I go to the corner now?”
Rafe immediately lifted her to stand in front of him. “Are you ready to mind me?”
Her chin quivered as she nodded and looked down into his eyes. “Yes, sir.”
He nodded and, never breaking eye contact, worked her skirt up over her hips and bottom until he was able to tuck it into her waistband, then he pulled her panties down to mid-thigh and turned her with another hard swat to her already pink posterior. “To the corner with you, young lady, and I expect those panties to stay exactly where they are.”
“Yes, sir.” Maxine walked to her bedroom with a little slump to her shoulders, but he had also noticed relief in her eyes that he was taking charge of her again.
* * *
Max let her breath out in a shuddering sigh as she took her position in the corner. It was odd; though she’d fought him on it, she felt more at peace right now with a bottom blistering imminent than she had in the entire period he’d been away. It was like the world had been shifted back into its axis and everything was okay now.
Her bottom clenched in anticipation of the hard spanking she knew was coming. Rafe was going to light her tail on fire; Max just hoped when he was finished he would set the rest of her aflame as well.
She’d missed the clarity and relief that came with his control. He would take care of everything… he’d take care of her.
Max heard him behind her as he sat down on the edge of her bed. Any second now and he’d call her out of the corner and take her back over his knee.
Clenching her bottom tightly again, she felt the telltale trickle of moisture between her thighs in response to his dominance.
“Come here, little girl, we have things to discuss, you and I. Don’t we?” he asked, his deep voice rolling over her like hot honey, turning her bones to mush.
She moved to stand in front of him, not even trying to cover the damp curls that shielded her secrets from his gaze.
He gently took her arm again and guided her down over his lap, running a hand over her already warmed flesh. “What were you thinking, Maxine?”
“I wasn’t thinking about anything but pushing you away, pushing away all the feelings inside me. I know I haven’t handled any of this well, Rafe. I’m not proud of myself for that.” The words were so softly spoken, Max was sure he had to strain to hear them.
He didn’t say anything else. It wasn’t necessary; they both knew exactly why she’d landed over his lap. Rafe began to bring his hand down hard and fast, each slap making her gasp and mewl as she jerked over his knee.
The heat filling her bottom quickly grew to immense proportions that had her yelling more loudly as she clutched the bedcovers for something to hold on to. She’d forgotten just how much a spanking hurt!
Still his hand continued to fall, then he began to deliver several in a row to the exact same spot where her bottom and thigh met on one side until she thought she’d die if his hand fell again, then he moved to the other side and gave it the same treatment.
By the time Rafe stood her in front of him again, she was a mess, tears dripping down her face, mingling with other things she’d rather not think about. It was beyond embarrassing to sob like a little girl.
Rafe simply held a handkerchief up to her face. “Blow.”
Max did as requested and then he gently mopped her face up before turning her back to the corner. “Now I want you to stand there and consider your behavior since I got back and how you should have handled things differently, because we both know I didn’t abandon you; so you need to focus on the real reason you’ve been pushing me away. You have fifteen minutes, then we’ll finish your spanking with a paddling.”
Maxine’s stomach hit her knees as she looked over her shoulder at him in alarm. “I… er… umm… Rafe, I… I sort of threw away the paddle…”
He grinned. “I suspected as much; don’t worry, baby, I brought a replacement. I bought it in Washington right after you hung up on me.”
“Oh…” she said rather lamely.
“Yes, oh,” Rafe said before twirling his fingers to indicate she needed to face the corner.
Max turned to the corner with a shuddering sigh; as much as she hated the corner, her bottom was grateful for the brief respite. As she stood there with her burning bottom on display and thought about the last few months away from Rafe, she began to cry again. She cried over how much she’d missed him and how worried she’d been about his safe return. When she contemplated how she’d behaved since she’d seen him again, big heaving sobs began to shake her frame.
She’d been completely horrid; she loved this man but she’d treated him as if she hated him. After the first month Max had begun to focus on the danger of his mission and not knowing exactly where he was in the world. The thought of him coming back with missing pieces—or worse, in a body bag—had consumed her to the point she’d stopped eating and sleeping. Soon she was losing herself in vodka and the dance floor. Somewhere along the line Max managed to convince herself nothing they shared had been real or meant anything to Rafe at all. How could it have meant something if he was able to leave so easily?
She’d nurtured the little thread of doubt until it had grown into bitterness and resentment, and then she’d started acting the part of the woman scorned.
Underneath it all though, her need and love for him had waited… waited until Rafe was home to bring it back into full bloom.
He’d come home to rudeness and an attempt to use him for sex without strings and then she’d hired a prostitute to put him off. What if after all of this and the punishment was over, he decided she wasn’t worth the trouble?
As she continued to stand there with harsh sobs wracking her body, she didn’t hear him come up behind her until his big warm hands covered her shoulders and turned her into the comfort of his embrace.
“Shhh, baby, everything is going to be okay. I promise, once we finish your punishment, all will be forgiven. Actually you’re already forgiven, but I am still going to paddle your naughty bottom for being so audacious and hiring a male escort,” he said, pushing her back from him a bit so he could tip her chin up and force her to meet his stern gaze. “I intend to make sure you realize the folly of your actions and never do something like that again.”
“I promise I won’t, Rafe!” she said fervently. “I wish I hadn’t done it this time!”
“You certainly won’t. The remembered sting of the Lexan paddle will make sure you think twice before you do anything so foolish. Let’s get this done; bend over the end of the bed.”
Max moved almost eagerly into place. She needed the punishment to be over so she could be held securely in his arms once more.
A firm hand rested in the small of her back and then the paddle landed with a crisp swat and the most awesome sting she’d ever felt biting into her left bottom cheek. Her mouth formed a little ‘o’ but no sound escaped until the third swat fell and the sound came out in a full-fledged howl of distress.
She began to buck her hips in an effort to escape the relentless sting; Rafe held her easily in place as her brought the paddle down hard and fast, alternating sides.
“The last six are all going on your sit spots,” he told her just before the hardest swat yet fell on her left sit spot with two more following quickly in its wake in the exact same spot. Max tried to pull herself up the bed to escape the horrid paddle, but a hand catching the top of her shoulder prevented that and her right sit spot received the exact same treatment.
She was too busy sobbing and absorbing the intense sting filling her p
oor posterior to pay much attention to the fact that it was over and Rafe just continued to hold her in place rubbing soothing circles on her back and murmuring to her until she calmed.
Then he sat down on the bed and lifted her to straddle him. Max wrapped her legs instinctively around his hips and gasped when she realized he’d freed himself from his jeans and his cock was pressing insistently at her wet core.
His strong hands cupped her stinging bottom, eliciting a gasp from her as he impaled her on his thick cock. Rafe easily lifted her up and brought her back down hard and fast.
“Who do you belong to, Maxine?” he asked sternly as he continued to pump her up and down his shaft in a relentless rhythm, squeezing her sore bottom with each thrust.
“You!” she cried out in a gasping wail as the pain and pleasure intermingled, flooding her with sensation almost too intense to bear. The orgasm came over her so suddenly that she screamed, and still he continued to work her up and down his shaft, relentlessly wringing another hard orgasm from her before lifting her free of him and bending her over the bed.
Max could only yowl in pleasure when he spread her apart from behind and speared her with his tongue as he worked her clit between two fingers. She tried to shy away when his thumb began to press insistently against her bottom hole, but he pulled her hand away and delivered four sharp swats to her still stinging bottom.
“You will take everything I give you, young lady. Next time I have to use this paddle on your naughty little ass, it will be my cock you feel inside it,” Rafe told her firmly as he once again pressed his thumb against her shy little hole. “Relax and let me in.”
She whimpered but tried to press her bottom back against his thumb; there was a burning stretch and then his thumb pressed all the way inside while his fingers worked her little clit. Max found herself grinding back on his thumb as the slight pain gave away to pleasure, and then his tongue was thrusting back into her wet heat in tandem with the thumb working its way in and out of her ass.
Unacceptable Behavior Page 7
