by Loki Renard
*
In the aftermath of the lecture, Miles decided to approach Mattie on her own. She’d fled slowly and uncomfortably to the balcony, where she appeared to be doing her damnedest to chain-smoke herself to death before their flight left.
“Hello Miss Dwyer,” he said as he stepped through the doors and closed them firmly behind him to prevent gusts of toxic smoke blowing into the suite.
“Hey Muscles.” She nodded as she leaned against the balustrade. Cool as a cucumber, that was Mattie. He had to admit he was becoming a little fond of her, she was a tough little thing, and he admired toughness in all its forms.
“I appreciate your cooperation earlier,” he said, sitting at the table. Whenever he stood he ended up looming over Mattie, which wasn’t ideal for the type of conversation he was hoping to have with her.
“Yeah,” she said non-committedly, her face turned from him, a curtain of dark hair shielding her expression from his eyes.
“Do you mind if I ask why the change of heart?”
Mattie didn’t respond. Instead, she put the cigarette to her lips and took another long drag, then exhaled almost as quietly.
“Are you going to tell me what happened to you?” He didn’t expect her to start spilling her guts, but he had to at least ask the question.
“Nothing that will blow back on Cash, so don’t worry about it,” Mattie said, turning so that her back was to Miles. She clearly wasn’t in a chatty mood. Miles guessed that she was probably in pain and maybe embarrassed at having come off second best in the fight.
“I’m not asking just because of Cash,” he clarified.
“It was nothing,” Mattie said. “Okay?”
It was Miles’ turn to be silent. It was not okay, but he couldn’t exactly interrogate Mattie. He would have preferred it if she trusted him enough to tell him. But Mattie didn’t seem like the type to trust easily, not like Cash who trusted almost everyone. He watched as Mattie stubbed out her cigarette, dropped it in the ashtray and sauntered back inside without another word to him. Clearly the agreement to do things his way still rankled.
“Mattie,” he said, following her inside. “You and I need to talk.”
“No we don’t,” she said. “You want things done your way, and I’ve agreed to it. I’ve agreed to the curfew, I’ve agreed not to have any friends come here, I’ve agreed to follow your directions. That’s all that matters.” She walked gingerly into her room and closed the door firmly behind herself. The conversation was at an end.
Cash came over, a curious look on her face. “Are you two fighting already?”
“No,” he said, frowning slightly as he looked at the closed door in front of him. “I just wanted to talk to her.”
“I don’t think Mattie is much of a talker,” Cash said. “She’s more of a doer.”
“You’re probably right, Miss Raine,” Miles agreed.
“Besides,” Cash said, batting her eyelashes at him. “Wouldn’t you rather be talking to me?”
A smile spread across Miles’ lips before he could stop it. Cash was just relentless. He’d thought that after being spanked naked, she’d be cowed for some time, but she’d bounced back from it with all the good natured enthusiasm of a boisterous puppy.
“Day after tomorrow,” she said, “we’ll be on a plane.”
“Yes,” he agreed.
“And then we’ll be in London,” she said.
“Yes.”
“I wonder if spankings hurt more in London.” She looked at him with a gleam of mischief in her pretty eyes and Miles groaned inwardly. It had been obvious that she’d enjoyed the spanking, her arousal was testament to that, but he’d been hoping that it would be something that could go unremarked upon. He realized that had been some seriously wishful thinking.
“Miss Raine,” he said, composing himself so that his expression was full of stern warning. “Though you might have enjoyed our last encounter of that kind, I can promise you I won’t make that mistake again.”
Cash smiled and bit her bottom lip as she moved to stand in front of him, pressing her body against him in a way that was arch and shameless. “What mistake was that, Mr. Rock?”
“The mistake of letting you enjoy it,” he said. “If I have cause to spank you again, Miss Raine, I promise you there will be no arousal involved. You will be a very sore, very sorry little girl.” He lowered his voice to a deep rumble and gave her a hard look. “Do I make myself clear?”
Looking up at him with an expression somewhere between surprise and shock, Cash gulped. “But… I thought…”
“I know precisely what you thought, Miss Raine,” he said, taking her by the hand and drawing her toward her bedroom. “You thought that perhaps you could orchestrate another situation in which you could squirm your bare bottom over my lap.” He led her into the room and pushed the doors closed so that they had some privacy. He then let her go and stood with his hands on his hips as he lectured her.
“Miss Raine, I do not do this for your pleasure. I do it because you are in dire need of discipline, and your antics last night only proved that.”
“What?” Cash blushed profusely.
“You tried to seduce me, Miss Raine, you tried to use your naked body to manipulate me.”
She didn’t deny it. “Most men wouldn’t complain about that.”
“I am not most men, Miss Raine,” he said. “From the moment we discovered the break in, you were petulant and uncooperative. You deserved a damn good spanking, and you got one. Unfortunately, you got it in the wrong way. That was my fault and my mistake. I will not make the same mistake again.”
Cash’s face went bright red with both embarrassment and anger. “If seeing me naked is so repulsive to you, then maybe you should try being Raoul’s bodyguard.”
“I never said it was repulsive, Miss Raine, far from it,” he replied. “But having a gorgeous body isn’t a ticket out of trouble.”
Her anger faded almost immediately. “You think I’m gorgeous?”
“Again, Miss Raine,” he growled. “You miss the point. This isn’t about your undeniable attractiveness. This is about your undeniable and growing need for a spanking you can’t masturbate your way out of.”
Cash’s jaw dropped and she clapped both hands over her open mouth, whilst uttering a squeak of surprise. “You saw that? Oh my god I am going to die.”
“No you’re not,” he said, softening his voice to a more kindly tone. “But you are going to keep your hands away from there unless directed.”
“Unless… directed?” Horror and humiliation were replaced with curiosity and Miles realized he’d said too much, yet again.
“The next time I spank you, sweetheart,” he said, knowing that there would be a next time because Cash’s curiosity was far too great for there not to be, “you’ll know exactly what I mean. For now, I want you to stay in here and think about how you behaved. Understand?”
“I understand I just got sent to my room,” Cash said, pouting.
“Yes you did, and be glad that’s the limit of the trouble you’re in for the moment.”
Miles left Cash sitting in her room wide eyed and returned to the main suite. It was quiet. With Mattie sulking and Cash confined to quarters, he finally had a moment’s peace – and he intended to take full advantage of it. The tour was looming quickly. In less than 48 hours they’d all be thrown into almost continuous performances interspersed with the cramped quarters of a tour bus. Stretching out on the sofa, Miles closed his eyes for a moment. Before he knew what was happening, he was asleep.
He woke up when a glossy gossip rag was tossed at his midsection. He opened his eyes to see Kevin standing over him, an expression of annoyance clearly written over his usually placid face.
“Look at that!”
“Look at what?” Miles batted the paper away, not at all appreciating the manner of his waking.
“Look!” Kevin snatched up the crumpled pages and held them open in front of Miles’ nose.
T
here in bold red print three inches high were the words ‘WHO IS CASH RAINE’S SAND HUNK?’ The picture below was of him and Cash walking in the sand dunes, shot by a night vision camera that revealed little detail of their faces.
“I hired you to protect her, not seduce her on moonlit walks.” Kevin dropped the glossy pages into Miles’ lap.
“So someone took a picture and made up a story, so what?” Miles shrugged. “What’s the big deal?”
“The big deal is this could ruin Cash’s career.”
“I don’t see how. Aren’t these young singers and actresses dating people all the time?”
“If Cash is linked to you, to her bodyguard, there’s no value in that.”
“Value?”
Kevin sighed. “Cash has to be single. She has to be desirable and she has to be vaguely obtainable. Why do you think so many young celebrities are either single or in short term relationships with other celebrities? Nobody in Cash’s position is attached. In five years she can get married, in a couple more she can have a baby.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about the celebrity life cycle,” Kevin said. “This is how the game works. When her popularity begins to wane, she gets married. When it dips further, she has a kid. Then she releases a studio album.”
“I hope to high heaven you’re joking.”
“I didn’t make it this way. Whatever you do, don’t knock her up,” Kevin warned.
Miles bit back the sharp retort that came to his lips. “I don’t know when you became this damn cynical, Kevin, but if you talk about Cash like she’s nothing more than a product again, you’ll regret it.”
“She has a job to do, Miles.”
“Yes, and she’s a human being. She’s a girl with dreams. Don’t you dare speak in such a vulgar manner about her. She’s nineteen years old!”
“Yes, she’s nineteen. And there are dozens of younger, hotter up and comers snapping at her heels. She needs to make hay while the sun is still shining – and you need to keep yourself out of her way.”
Miles gritted his teeth. He did not at all appreciate Kevin’s tone. He appreciated the things Kevin was saying even less.
“I suggest,” he said, his voice dangerously calm, “that you keep these little industry pep talks to yourself. I intend to treat Miss Raine like the young lady she is. You manage her career, I’ll handle security.”
A dark look was thrown in his direction. “Just as long as that’s all you’re handling.”
Miles bit back a growl. “You’re getting on my last nerve, Kev.”
“Well you’ll have to suck it up,” Kevin replied. “You’re not my CO anymore.”
Miles stood up, an action that would have put him nose to nose with Kevin, were Kevin not shorter than he. “What is that supposed to mean?” He asked the question in a dangerously soft voice, making no move to intimidate the man he liked to regard as being a friend, when he wasn’t being a complete ass.
“It means,” Kevin said, taking a step back. “That we’re civilians now.”
“Yes we are,” Miles agreed. The two men glared at one another. The days of strict hierarchy were gone and they were not who they once had been. The identity of soldier and officer had been left behind in blood soaked dust, but the echoes of those roles remained.
“Oh my god, kiss and get it over with already.” Mattie’s feminine but gravelly voice rasped. “The sexual tension in this place is killing me.”
Both Kevin and Miles gave her dirty looks, which did not faze her in the slightest. She smiled sweetly and flipped them off as she limped back out to the balcony for yet another cigarette break.
Chapter Seven
The day of departure had arrived. Cash could not have been more excited. She’d barely slept the night before. Now they were on the plane, and the plane was in the air. There was no turning back – not without a parachute anyway. Cash sat next to the window with Miles beside her. Mattie and Kevin occupied the seats across the aisle. It was all very exciting, seeing the world drop away and then heading out over the ocean. Cash was glued to the portal for quite a time, until the stewardess offered her champagne, which Miles declined on her behalf. She scowled at him, but he didn’t seem to mind that much. He didn’t seem to mind much of anything, let alone her.
Miles’ ongoing refusal to give in to her seduction was becoming tiresome. To think he had seen her naked, he had laid his bare hand on her bare behind, he had seen her in all her vulnerable, naked glory and now he sat next to her, as unyielding and disinterested as ever.
“Why don’t Mattie and I sit together,” Cash suggested, hardly relishing the prospect of twelve hours next to a man doing a decent impression of a brick wall “then you and Kevin can discuss manly man issues.”
“You will stay in your assigned seat, Miss Raine,” Miles rumbled.
“For the whole twelve hours? You’re going to make me sit here for a whole twelve hours?” Her voice rose in a whine.
His dark eyes slid across to settle on her. “If you keep that up you can spend some of those hours over my lap.”
“Oh yeah, Cash Raine spanked in front of an entire plane, like that’s going to happen,” Cash hissed under her breath. “Kevin would kill you.”
“Then I’ll defer it with interest until we get to the hotel.”
Cash scowled at him again. “You wouldn’t.”
“I assure you, I would.”
“Mattie!” Cash said, leaning across Miles. “Want to switch seats?” If he was going to insist on being in the way, she was happy to use him like furniture, plus, she couldn’t deny that it felt good to press her body against his.
“Fuck no,” Mattie replied succinctly.
“Cash.”
She stiffened as Miles murmured her name against her ear. He hooked his fingers in the back of her pants and pulled back, drawing the crotch tight across her pussy. She was forced to stifle a moan right there on the plane.
“Cash, honey, when we get to the hotel in London, you’re going to get a spanking,” he murmured in her ear.
A tremor of excitement ran down her spine. He might have threatened her with a sore bottom, but there was much, much more promised in the husky drawl of his voice. She pushed up from his lap and caught his eye, blushing as his desire registered.
“I think I’ll like that.”
“I think you’ll find a way to like it, minx,” he rumbled under his breath.
Cash giggled and blushed. He was flirting with her, well, as close to flirting as a man like him ever got. It was a surprise. A very pleasant surprise. “I thought you said you were going to be professional with me. Strictly professional.”
“A conversation I had recently made me re-think that,” he said, lowering his voice so that only she could hear him. “You’re a client, but you’re also a person, Cash, and it’s futile to pretend otherwise – if not outright wrong.”
Cash nodded solemnly. “I agree,” she said. “If one more person treats me like I’m a product, I think I’ll scream.” She picked at the vestigial ashtray in the side of the armrest. “Then they’ll probably auto-tune it and put out a single.”
Miles chuckled, and she beamed, pleased to have amused him. Miles did not laugh easily. She could count the number of times she’d seen him genuinely amused. She was rather proud of herself as she sat back in her seat and started looking through the in-flight entertainment options.
*
Eleven hours later, Cash discovered London. It was difficult to make out much of the place, because a pea green fog was settled across the land as far as the eye could see. The buildings were impressive, but in a way that made Cash feel just a little depressed as they drove through the narrow streets.
“What a fucking shit hole,” Mattie observed succinctly.
“Ms. Dwyer, the city of London is a historical wonder,” Miles reproved.
“It’s a wonder anybody ever wanted to live here,” Mattie agreed, making Cash giggle. She could se
e both Miles and Mattie’s perspectives. There was a sense of age to the place, a great and wonderful history. Simultaneously, there was something deeply dreary about it all. Maybe it would look better when the sun came out.
Cash’s concerns regarding the weather slipped into insignificance as they drew closer to the hotel. It was completely surrounded by men and women with cameras slung about their necks and perched on their shoulders. The furor was far greater than anything in Los Angeles, where celebrities were a dime a dozen, where almost everyone seemed to be famous. Cash was quite used to clusters of photographers, but nothing like the mass bubbling around the hotel.
“Are they all… here for me?”
“It looks like it,” Miles said grimly. “We’ll have to circle around.”
The technique might have worked in Los Angeles, but the British paparazzi were hungrier than their American brethren. They gave chase, and within minutes Cash’s car was being followed by dozens of paparazzi, many of whom were trying to take pictures through the windows.
Finally Cash’s little party was given no choice but to drive up to the front of the hotel and scuttle inside. Miles wrapped a sheltering arm around Cash as flashes went off in her face. There was a lot of shouting, compliments and insults alike. She knew that the sort of attention she was getting came with being a celebrity, but there was nothing glamorous about the press of people, nor the curses that they were shouting in between pleas for poses.
Mattie ended up obliging them by returning the profanity and aiming a few swift kicks. It took Kevin to drag her away from one particularly foul-mouthed fellow. Once inside the hotel, things did not improve overly much. Somehow the paparazzi had gotten inside and the photographs didn’t stop until they got into the elevator. Hotel management was politely apologetic, but they did not seem entirely impressed by Cash. She got the strangest sense that her presence was seen as an inconvenience.
Fortunately, Kevin had the situation well in hand. He looked quite impressive, his hair slicked back from his head in a way that gave him a refined but hawkish appearance, his usually mild eyes glinting with annoyance. “Miss Raine needs privacy, can you explain to me how her reservation here became public knowledge?” Whilst he spoke he kept one hand firmly on the scruff of Mattie’s neck, where it had been since they entered the hotel.
