by Starla Kaye
He'd watched her lick her lips, seen the warmth of sexual interest heat her eyes. His cock was so hard he hurt. And when she'd talked about him spanking her, didn't seem all that horrified with the idea... Damn, he hardened even more.
Hoping she couldn't see the way he fought down a shudder of desire, he reached out to smooth a finger along the side of her face, trailing it slowly across her lips. "Not a serious one," he managed to say. He already had visions of seeing her sweet bottom nice and bare. Of slapping his hand on the soft skin and turning it pink, not red. Just sexy-as-hell pink. He pulled her closer and moved his hands back to cup her denim-covered bottom. His stiff rod butted against her woman's place, which she had to feel. "Just something in foreplay."
She pushed forward, moving slightly and causing him a sweet torture. "Foreplay?" Her voice, too, had turned husky, sensual.
A second of sanity returned and he stepped back, suddenly uncertain. "This is probably a really bad idea."
"Probably." Then to his surprise and delight, she daringly reached down to cup his erection. "Wrong or not doesn't seem to matter right now."
His chest shuddered as he tried to draw in a steadying breath. "I need you, Shawna. I've taken care of you for days... but I need to take care of you in a whole different way now."
She gave a slight nod of agreement, smiling in such a tempting way that he wanted to throw her to the floor and have a wild and wicked way with her. But he stopped himself. She deserved better than that. He wasn't sure what to do next. Oh, he knew what he wanted to do, that he desperately needed to sink deep into her body. But, oddly, he waited for her to take the next step.
After a second, she shoved her coat off her shoulders and looked at him, suddenly seeming nervous. She finished removing the heavy denim jacket and asked in a rush, "What about the cattle?"
The cattle? He felt a moment's annoyance. "Later. We can talk about that subject later." He wriggled out of his coat, then took both coats and draped them over a nearby stall door.
"I'll hold you to that discussion, later. For now..." She looked boldly up at him and undid her jeans, then inched them and her panties down to mid-thigh. "Still interested in foreplay?"
Foreplay? As in heating her bottom? Hell, yes. But he wasn't sure he could play around too long. His cock throbbed, shoved against his jeans. His brain was starting to focus on nothing more than shoving hard and fast inside her.
She watched him, a naughty look in those amazing emerald eyes. His hands almost shook as he unbuckled his belt, unbuttoned his jeans. He was afraid to unzip them and have his shaft explode out and frighten her. He wasn't a small man.
Impatient now, she brazenly unzipped his jeans and then shoved them down, along with his jockeys, enough to free his cock. Her eyes widened and she slowly smiled. "Well, yummmm."
Yum? Good, gawd! He quickly envisioned her on her knees, holding him, stroking him with her small tongue. He shuddered. No, he didn't want that this time. He'd never last long enough to drive inside her, and he really wanted to do that.
"What now?" She moved away a bit and turned to wiggle her bare bottom at him. Like a matador waving a red flag in front of a bull, tempting, challenging.
To forget the foreplay and just fuck her... She was willing to let him play, to let him indulge in one of his interests. Why the hell not?
Decision made, Cade urged her toward the empty stall's door. He didn't have to say anything and she put her hands on the wooden top railing. He could smell her arousal and her being turned on only turned him on more. He looked down at her taut bottom, watched it shiver in anticipation. His heart raced. What an amazing woman!
He smoothed his hand over her bare flesh and she trembled, curling her fingers tighter around the railing.
"What if one of the men..."
Cade kept his hand on her cool bottom. "No one will come back in here. You and I both know Scott wouldn't allow it. He knows... Well, he isn't stupid."
"Yes, I'm pretty sure he suspects something," she said warily.
"Do you want me to stop?" It would kill him, but he would.
She hesitated and then shook her head. "No."
Thank God! He went back to caressing her bottom. "Such a sweet ass. So firm." He squeezed one cheek. "So pale, for now."
Shawna tensed, obviously sensing he'd just given her some sort of signal. Which he had.
Eager now, he raised his hand, and then swung it back down. Smack! The sound echoed around them, started some of the horses and they whinnied.
She moved forward, quietly hissed, and then glanced back at him. Her gaze was even hotter now. When he just stood there, she said in irritation, "More. Darn it, more."
Damn, she was something! He gave her a crooked grin. "Demanding woman, aren't you? But how can I refuse you?"
He raised his right hand again, but she didn't look away. Her watching him prepare to send down another firm swat lit his fires higher. His cock turned as hard as stone.
When his hand struck, she gasped and locked gazes with him. "Stings. Good sting, though."
He smoothed his hand over the print he'd left on her once creamy flesh. "Such a pretty shade of pink."
Her focus shifted to the swollen shaft bobbing behind her. He saw her eyes widen, saw the anxious rise and fall of her chest. He knew she was wet, beads of moisture dotted between her legs as she thrust her bottom out. She was ready, as was he.
Before he could move onto the next part, she pleaded, "Again. Heat me up more. We both want it." Then she gave him an encouraging smile, turned her head away, and shoved her bottom at him.
Instead of going on to what his rigid cock demanded, he drew in a breath and said huskily, "How can I resist such an invitation?"
He had no problem with spanking a woman when she needed it in punishment. He decided he liked even more having the opportunity to spank a woman who would put up with it in foreplay. Shawna was one of the few he'd ever done this with. She was the most responsive. Pleased with that, he stepped to the side, put his other arm over her back and held her in place. "You tell me when you've had enough, when you're ready for--"
"Do it. Now," she prodded. "Before I change my mind."
He was pretty sure she wasn't even close to changing her mind, but he decided not to chance it. His hand connected again with a sharp, sizzling Smack! Again, several horses whinnied in response.
"Yeeouch!" she hissed and shot up on her toes. "That was quite a swat."
"Are you ready to stop?" He kept his hand on top of the heated mark he'd left.
It took her a second, but she shook her head. "Not yet."
He reached between her legs, fingered the moisture he found there. "Sure? You're ready."
She glanced back at him, her eyes dark with desire. "I'll tell you when...just like you said before."
Cade nodded and gave her what she seemed to want. His hand connected, harder this time, but not too hard. Just enough to have her drawing in a shaky breath. He spanked her over and over, never hard, just steadily. Her bottom grew pinker, hotter. He was enjoying it, but more than ready to stop. Her call.
Shawna wriggled beneath Cade's hard hand. Each swat had her sucking in a breath, had her trembling with a powerful need building within her. Never would she have imagined enjoying getting spanked. But this wasn't a "real" spanking. This was all about lighting an internal fire. And it had.
"Okay!" she gasped after yet another swat landed. "I'm ready. Oh, I'm soooo ready."
"Thank God!"
She smiled at the obvious relief in his voice. Then before she could even think about moving, Cade stepped behind her. He nudged her legs further apart as far as her lowered jeans would allow. In the next instant, he guided himself into her, pushing deep, deeper. He held her tight around the waist and moaned, "Yes. Oh, yes!"
Each drive had her going nearly mindless, had her clawing at the railing. He was so big and yet he fit her perfectly. And the friction of him rubbing against her sensitized bottom was amazing. Not that she'd want to be
spanked every time before... What was she thinking? This was a one-time deal. A one-time wild and crazy fucking. It couldn't be more.
As if he sensed her sudden depression, he drove as far as he could and held still. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing," she lied. She'd asked for this and no way was she going to stop now. Especially when his cock was buried inside her and making her desperate to have him move again. "Please."
Yet he didn't move. "Am I hurting you?"
"Yes! By not moving. I ache... Cade...Move, damn you!"
She pushed back against him, squirmed in desperation. Her inner muscles squeezed him, but finally he pulled back.
He drove forward, grunting. "This is going to be a rough round, sweetheart," he panted out a warning.
"I can take it." She squeezed him even more. "You spanked me. Now fuck me. Make it good!"
He held her tightly and pistoned back and forth. Nothing mattered now. Only the wondrous thing he was doing to her. Only him forcing them both beyond all reality and into that mindless bliss.
Shawna clung to the railing, covered in sweat, panting, settling back down to Earth. Cade had been amazing, just as she'd thought he would be. Even now she still felt him semi-hard inside her. She was sure with very little encouragement that she could get him to take her all over again. But did she really want it? Yes. No.
Fortunately, he was coming back to sanity, too. He eased his hold on her, started to pull out, and then stiffened. "You're on the pill, right? Or something?"
Kind of late to be thinking about protection when his sperm filled her and dripped down the sides of her thighs. But, no, her prescription had run out a month ago. She and Eric had been having problems, had stopped having sex, and she just hadn't gotten around to refilling the prescription. Surely only this one time... Cade didn't need to know her problem. If she got pregnant... Well, she'd deal with it.
"Sure."
He pulled out and she heard his sigh of relief. Odd, she felt disappointed.
She heard him moving away, heard him readjusting his clothes. Feeling sort of embarrassed, she remained turned away and pulled her own clothing back into place. Now that the wildness of the moment was over, her strength was faltering again. She needed to get back to the house.
"I'm going to have to leave for a few days."
She spun around, surprised, annoyed. "But the cattle..."
He was putting his coat on and looked straight at her. "A couple of the men will be driving them back here tomorrow. My attorneys will deal with the thieves."
"Just like that." It irritated her that she and the men had gone through another cattle rustling last year and it had taken what seemed like forever to get through it all.
Cade nodded curtly. "I make things happen when necessary."
"Like selling this ranch out from under us." Gone were the brief moments of pleasure they'd shared. They were back to being basically enemies in this matter. She felt strangely dirty by what they'd just done.
He looked at her sadly. "That was never my intention. Not to hurt you. Or the others. It was just business."
Just business. Just like she was "just" another woman he'd had sex with. She forced down the hurt she felt. "You promised me until the end of the month." Like it would matter.
His shoulders slumped for a second. "There is no way you and your friends can come up with the money you need. We both know that. But I..." He heaved a sigh and stopped talking.
She hated that tears burned her eyes. She refused to let him see them and jerked her coat on and stormed toward the front of the stable. For a second she thought he would come after her, but he didn't. She was glad for that. Wasn't she? Yes!
She strode into the fading snowstorm and toward her house as fast as she could manage. It was time she made serious plans for her future...ones that wouldn't include living or working here. Plans that would take her far, far away from Cade Calloway.
Chapter Five
Three days. Cade had only planned to be gone a few days, like he'd told Shawna. Not that she had been listening to him when he'd told her that. No, she'd been furious with him for being honest enough to tell her they both knew she and her friends could never come up with the ranch's selling price. He'd seen the pain in her eyes before she'd marched proudly out into the snowstorm. It had been like a kick in the gut, to both of them. She'd taken the "just business" comment he'd made wrong. He hadn't meant to hurt her that way, or at all. He'd never run into a problem on a business buy/sell matter before...at least not like this. Not on a personal level. He'd been struggling to figure his way around the mess since the day he'd met Shawna.
He rubbed at his forehead, at the headache pounding there. Today had been extremely long and complicated. And he was still adjusting to the time zone change here in London. He looked out his hotel room window at the darkened sky still well lit by the city's many lights. He hadn't expected to be back here for a while, but Adam Harrison had become somewhat of a friend on Cade's most recent sell of a small publishing business here. And Adam had requested--practically begged for--his help with some management issues that had come up since the transfer of property. Normally Cade sold a business and never looked back. This time was different. Or maybe he was different now; maybe he had actually learned to care more about the people affected by one of his buy/sell arrangements. Anyway, he was here in London, halfway around the world from where he wanted to be. He needed to get done with this assisting matter and get back to Kansas.
Cade glanced at his watch and paced his hotel room again. He should be dropping into bed since he was dead tired, but he couldn't get beyond his desperate need to talk to Shawna. The six-hour time difference was playing havoc in his communicating with her. That and she clearly didn't want to talk to him. Damn, she was a stubborn woman. His patience with her attitude was thinning big time. In fact, if he were there, someone's pretty little bottom would be getting a hand applied to it. Avoiding him wasn't helping their situation.
Finally he just gave up and punched in the ranch's phone number. Even if it was almost three in the morning there, he couldn't wait any longer to try calling her. If he waited a few more hours so that she'd be getting up, he would be far beyond his ability to stay awake here. He didn't want her running out to deal with ranch duties and avoiding him again. So he waited impatiently while the line rang and rang, and rang some more. If she'd just returned one of his messages...
"Rolling Hills Ranch," Shawna answered sounding groggy. Then she evidently looked at caller ID and grumbled, "You couldn't wait to call until morning?"
He could tell by the testiness in her voice that she was still upset with him, that she was about to hang up on him. "Do not cut me off! I've been calling for days now and you've ignored all of my messages."
She yawned. "If I'd looked at the caller ID when I grabbed the phone, I would have ignored you again." She yawned again. "What happened to only being gone for a few days? It's been a week already."
He was envisioning her looking all sleep rumpled, which he imagined would be sexy as hell. And he savored the disgruntled yearning he heard in her tone. It made him smile, even if she'd avoided his calls until now. "Missed me, didn't you?"
She snorted. "Like I'd miss a sore tooth."
He chuckled and eased down onto an over-stuffed chair next to the window. "I've missed you, too." He'd missed her far more than he'd even imagined. Sure he'd missed the heat that had developed between them, definitely wanted to pursue it much farther. But there was far more about Shawna that he missed, things he couldn't even fully define. He just missed her.
She rattled off some very unlady-like curse words. "You've got two seconds to tell me something important enough to keep me from hanging up."
"So saying I missed you isn't enough?" Why was he teasing her? Especially when she was clearly tired and not in the best of moods. When she didn't respond and he feared she really would hang up, he said, "I wanted to make sure everything was going all right at the ranch. That you got the cattle back
okay. That my lawyers handled the situation." Of course he already knew all of those answers.
With an annoyed sigh, she said, "Yes, yes, and yes. And I'm sure your high-priced lawyers already told you anyway. Are we done now?"
"Someone needs a hand applied to their bottom," he answered, definitely not opposed to the idea of taking her over his knee, of touching her smooth skin even in a spanking. She could be such a sassy cowgirl. She could be so stubborn...and he adored her for challenging him so much. No one else had done that in years, maybe ever.
"You need a spanking?" she taunted right back. "I'd be more than willing to oblige you."
The idea caught him off-guard and he blinked in surprise. Then he smiled at her daring. "I hadn't ever considered switching roles, but... No. No, I'm the only one who will play the dominant, sweetheart. Besides, you make such a nice submissive."
She actually growled at him. "I am not a submissive, you pervert."
He smiled even bigger. No, she wasn't a meek, quietly accepting submissive. But... "Admit it, you like a man--me, in particular--taking charge now and then. Behind all your huff and puff lies a woman longing to be held responsible by a man with enough guts to do it."
"Don't be ridiculous! That's your ego talking." She muttered something under her breath and added, "Your two seconds are more than up."
He knew he'd been lucky to keep her one the line this long. "I'll be back by the end of the week," Cade pressed before she could disconnect. "We need to talk."
"Yes, we do." With that said, she hung up, and he hated how she sounded so defeated.
Shawna speed walked and fell on her ass twice the next morning as she raced across the ice-covered gravel to the bunkhouse. She was late to a meeting with Scott and Alan. She had overslept and it was all Cade Calloway's fault. He could stay in London forever for all she cared. She hadn't missed him, not for a second. Liar, liar, liar. Okay, she didn't want to miss him.
