by Livia Grant
He hasn’t found it too hard to find women who like to give up control in the bedroom. Women happy to be dominated into doing all kinds of erotic acts they feel too guilty to admit they love. More than happy to let Troy ‘force’ them to be a naughty girl. Yes, those women he had no trouble finding at all.
It’s the woman who subscribes to his dominating tendencies once they leave the bedroom that he’s found to be a bit more elusive. Not that he blames them really. He knows and works with many brilliant, strong women whom he respects deeply. He really does understand the strength it must take a woman like his sister or so many of other women he had the privilege to meet last summer at the Corbin’s Bend picnic, to follow the lead of their HoH. Strength to walk that tight rope of dominance and submission every day as they go about their daily lives.
Troy thinks back to something his sister had said the night before that surprised… and disappointed, him. It hadn’t really been a conscious part of his plan, but only after finding out that Corbin’s Bend had not been a good singles place for his sister to meet other like-minded singles, did Troy realize he had moved back to Colorado to spend time with his sister here in this community, in hopes of finding a like-minded woman. Finding out his sister has lived here over two years and hasn’t met anyone special puts a damper on his enthusiasm.
Thoughts of his sister are still in front and center as he looks up to see her walking towards him, freshly showered and changed to a pair of jeans and comfortable top. Troy had taken the time to shower and change himself before deciding to start breakfast.
“Good morning, Trace. You ready for your first cup of coffee?”
“I was ready for that about an hour ago, but I was too tired to get out of bed to get up and make it. Thanks so much for starting breakfast. I’m starving.”
“Me too. How’d you sleep?”
“Honestly, not too great. It was hard to turn my brain off, ya know?” Troy sees her glance his way sheepishly.
“Yeah. I had a bit of that myself last night.”
“I just checked in on Hallie. She’s asleep. Did you get any sleep sitting up in the chair?” Traci has crossed to the refrigerator to pour herself a glass of orange juice when she turns back to her brother. “Wait a minute. Where did all of this food come from? I haven’t been to the market.”
Troy grins. “Really? I couldn’t tell.” He lets her off the hook. “I’m glad the storm broke so I could drive over to the quick mart and pick up some of the basics. You know you really need to stock up during the winter. You never know when you will get socked in for a few days.”
“I know, but I was planning on going to Denver today to run all of my errands. I guess that’s out now.”
“Especially with the roads covered. You really need to take more care with your safety, Trace.” When his sister shoots him a ‘yes, dad’ look, he retorts. “Are you trying to go for round two today? I must not have gotten through to you last night about the safety rules.”
She backs down immediately. “Oh no. You got through loud and clear. It’s just gonna take me a little time. You’ve been away for a while, you know.”
Troy plates the eggs and hands his sister her breakfast. “Keeping safe isn’t just a part-time job, Trace. You are the only relative I have left. You are important to me. I need to know you are taking care of yourself, even when I’m not here.” When his sister looks doubtful, he adds on the incentive he knows will hit home. “Fine. Don’t do it for me. Consider it practice for when you meet Mr. Right. I’m sure he would have gone harder on you last night than I did.”
“Somehow I doubt it. Heroes from romance novels rarely jump off the page to spank women’s butts, as much as we readers would like it.” She at least smiles sheepishly.
Troy can’t help but chuckle. “Yeah, well I noticed your choice of reading material while I was waiting for you last night.”
His sister is blushing a rosy pink. “Just great. My big brother is gonna tease me about my immoral reading habits.”
Troy steps up to his sister to look her in the eyes, making sure she knows he’s telling the truth. “I just want you to be happy, sis. You can read or even watch whatever you want. Makes me no difference. It’s when you get around to acting where I’m going to make sure I stick my nose in. No woman has ever been hurt by reading a racy romance novel. Going to a bar to pick up a stranger, on the other hand, has landed many a young woman in the hospital, or worse… the morgue. Got it?”
He sees the regret in her eyes. “Got it.”
“I’m sorry, but I just have to ask. I love you, Trace, but did I overstep my bounds last night? I know I’ve never played that kind of role in your life, but honestly, it was more because I’ve never felt the need to before. You’re normally so level headed that I’ve never felt like you were off course like you were last night. Did I read you wrong?” When his sister silently looks into his eyes, he pushes her. “Please tell me I didn’t damage our relationship by disciplining you.”
Tears flood her eyes just before she launches herself into her brother’s arms, letting loose a stream of hot tears. “Oh Troy, I love you so much. I know at the time I hated it, but you were right. I’ve been so lonely lately and I was feeling sorry for myself. It just felt like no one loved me, but I was wrong. I know how much you love me and want me to be happy and safe.”
Troy holds his sister close until her tears are spent. He reaches for a tissue from the near-by counter and offers it to her to dry her eyes. “Your Mr. Right is out there and he won’t be happy when he finds out you were acting so foolishly while he was looking for you.”
His sister’s half smile tells him his message might have gotten through. She confirms it with a quiet “Yes, sir.” Music to his ears.
“Let’s eat before it gets cold. Then we can go feed your houseguest.”
Chapter Five
Hallie is stirred awake by the promise of caffeine. The aroma of freshly brewed coffee mingles with the heavenly scent of bacon. Her passion for bacon had not been popular in California. Hallie suspects she’s even thinner than normal considering it’s been days since she’s had a really good meal. The promise of one now has her opening her eyes.
Hallie is relieved that it’s the woman of the house, Traci, sitting in the chair at the end of the bed and not her domineering, albeit freaking hot, husband, Troy.
“Good morning. You must be hungry. Troy made you a big breakfast. I know you’re still stuck with the IV so we thought it would be easier if I brought it in to you on a tray. You feel up to eating a bite?” Traci is being really polite considering Hallie had basically committed her own special version of breaking and entering the night before.
Hallie’s stomach does the answering for her. The loud rumbling of her tummy has both women bursting into giggles. Traci speaks first. “I’ll take that as a yes. Here, let me help you sit up.”
The women spend a few minutes getting Hallie into a sitting position, back resting comfortably against the fluffed pillows. As hungry as she is, Hallie beelines it to the coffee first, and the tall, cold orange juice second. She hadn’t realized how thirsty she was. Only when she’s drained both beverages does she turn her attention to the bacon on the plate. Not too crispy. Not too wobbly. It is the Goldilocks of bacon. Just right.
She digs into her bacon, eggs and toast with gusto before remembering she’s not alone. She glances up to see Traci studying her from the chair at the end of the bed. She has curled up, her legs drawn up under her, looking completely at ease, which in turns helps Hallie relax.
Hallie can see she is a beautiful woman. Probably a half dozen years older than herself, she takes the time to admire Traci’s thick, dark hair. Hallie has always hated how thin and straight her own hair is. What she’d give to have thick, wavy hair like Traci.
“Don’t let me interrupt your eating. I can see you’re hungry and thirsty. Let me know what you need refills on.”
“Thanks. You’re being really nice to me, considering…” Hallie’s v
oice trails off.
Traci picks up her thought. “Considering you broke into my house in the middle of the night.” The grin on Traci’s face tells Hallie she’s just teasing.
Still, embarrassed, Hallie has the decency to blush. “Yeah. That.”
Traci’s smile turns more serious. “Want to talk about why you did that?”
“What do you mean? I could hear you all the way outside as I was coming up your driveway. I could hear you crying out and knew you needed help. I mean, yes, it was rude to barge in, but at least it got him to stop beating you.”
Traci is remarkably calm talking about something so serious and personal. “Is that what you thought Troy was doing to me? Beating me?”
“Well… yeah. Don’t deny it. I saw it with my own two eyes.” Hallie lets the vision of Troy standing behind Traci as her ass was being thrashed with his belt return. For the hundredth time in her life, Hallie hates that with memories like this come much scarier feelings than just fear and anger. She feels that strange fluttering in her tummy again and she works hard to squelch it.
She wasn’t expecting Traci’s answer. “What you saw as a beating, I prefer to call a spanking. And I can assure you, it doesn’t happen very often, but I had earned this one.”
“That’s what men try to tell us so they can get rough. Nothing we do deserves a beating.”
Traci’s smile is sincere. “Oh, I completely agree with that. No one ever deserves a beating. I just think we might have different definitions for the word.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Okay, let me ask you what the word spanking means to you?”
“I don’t know. I guess of being a kid and my grandma spanking me when I didn’t clean my room or when I was late getting home and she had been worried.” She doesn’t include her last spanking at the hands of her Uncle Adam the last summer she had spent with them. He had only spanked her that one time, but she would never forget it. She had wanted to be so angry with him at the time, but she had found she just couldn’t get mad because she absolutely knew she had deserved it. As much as she wanted to hate him for hurting her, she had found the spanking had brought her closer to her uncle because he had told her at least a dozen times, he was correcting her because he loved her.
Traci is continuing on. “Well, those of us living in Corbin’s Bend believe that the value of spankings doesn’t stop when we grow up. Have you ever heard of domestic discipline or DD?”
“I think I’ve heard… people… mention DD before, but I never really knew what it meant.” Memories of the night of her spanking courtesy of Uncle Adam return. She remembers her aunt and uncle arguing about if they had the right to spank their sixteen-year-old niece since she didn’t really understand anything about DD. She hadn’t understood at the time, but in the end they had agreed that doing something as stupid as borrowing their car to drive into town to see friends was bad enough to warrant correction. Borrowing the car without permission had been bad. Driving without a valid driver’s license had been plain stupid. The lesson over Uncle Adam’s knee with Aunt Gina’s wooden spoon had ensured she would never repeat that particular mistake ever again.
Lost in memories for a few minutes, Hallie looks up to see Traci still watching her patiently. She smiles kindly. “Welcome back. Want to share what you were remembering?”
“Not particularly.”
Tracy smiles. “That’s okay. You don’t have to. So do you want to tell me what you’re doing in Corbin’s Bend in the first place and more importantly, what had you out walking in the middle of the night in a blizzard?”
Hallie tries to deflect. “Not particularly.”
“Hmmm. I see a pattern.” Traci’s smile grows. “So how about telling me if there is someone I can call to let them know where you are? Surely someone is out looking for you and is worried.”
Traci must see the look of sadness on Hallie’s face she had failed to mask. “No one is looking for me. No one knows where I am and more importantly, no one cares.”
“I find that very hard to believe.”
“Well, sorry to burst your bubble, but it’s the truth.” Then something Traci had said hits her. “Wait. You said the people of Corbin’s Bend believe in the value of spankings. How the hell would you know that? I mean it’s a town. How can everyone feel the same way?”
For the first time, Traci looks like she is a bit uncomfortable, but to her credit, she answers Hallie’s question head on. “Well, that’s the thing. This town is unique. It is a co-op where the residents buy in shares to live here. In order to be approved, everyone is screened and only those people… families… believing in the domestic discipline way of life are approved.”
Pieces of a very strange puzzle start clicking into place for Hallie. “Wait. You’re telling me everyone in Corbin’s Bend feels this way? That it is okay for men to beat their women? It’s part of the town bylaws?”
Traci is laughing at her now. “You aren’t listening closely enough, Hallie. Yes, everyone here believes in relationships where one member of the family is the Head of the Household or HoH and the other is the submissive partner. Sometimes called Taken In Hand or TiH. In most couples that means the man is in charge of all major family decisions, but there are some couples where the woman of the house takes the lead. We also have several gay couples living here, but all relationships have one thing in common. Someone is the HoH and someone else is the TiH.”
Before Hallie can comment, Traci continues on, making sure Hallie is paying attention. “Hallie, look at me. This part is the most important part. What you saw last night. What is practiced here in Corbin’s Bend, it has nothing to do with beating. Ever. DD is about loving people enough to guide them when they get off course. Protecting them, sometimes from themselves when they make poor choices.” Hallie can’t help but notice the sad look on Traci’s face and she suspects she had made some poor decisions recently. “The HoH’s in Corbin’s Bend do use spanking or corporal punishment if you prefer the term for punishments, but they also use traditional things like grounding, loss of privileges, corner time… stuff like that. Never anything to do lasting harm. Never striking anything but a bare bottom.”
“That can’t be right. I mean Aunt Gina would never stand in the corner.” Too late Hallie realizes her error.
“Is Gina Newberry your aunt?” Traci looks pleased with the new information.
Hallie is not. “You know my Aunt Gina?”
Traci smiles indulgently. “Honey, I know every person who lives in Corbin’s Bend. It’s not that big of a town and we are… well let’s just say we are a very close-knit community. Everyone knows each other.”
Hallie is starting to panic. “Aunt Gina doesn’t even know I was coming. I haven’t seen her or Uncle Adam for over five years. It’s just… well I didn’t really have anywhere else to go. I was hoping they might put me up for a few days while I figure out what I’m gonna do next.”
Traci has stood up and crossed over to stand next to the bed. Hallie is startled when Traci takes her hand. “Hallie, I can absolutely promise you that your aunt and uncle are going to be thrilled to find you are here in town. They never told me your name, but they have talked to me several times about their regrets over not insisting on having you come live with them when your grandma died. They’ve been so worried about you. Please trust me. You are going to make them very happy by coming to stay with them.”
The relief of hearing that her aunt and uncle had loved her enough to talk about her with complete strangers has tears streaming down Hallie’s face. She has to fight not to melt down into an emotional mess. “Do you think you or your husband could call them and tell them where I am? I really would like to see them.”
The surprise on Traci’s face has Hallie pausing, afraid she had said something wrong. “Hallie, I think you’ve totally misunderstood. Troy is not my husband.”
Anger flairs again that this wonderful woman who is fast becoming a friend would put up with the abuse of someone wh
o didn’t even have the decency to marry her. Great. He’s just as bad as Eddie is. Wanting his cake and to eat it too. “What a jerk. I can’t believe you’d let a boyfriend treat you like that.”
“Hallie, Troy isn’t my boyfriend, either.” Hallie gets a flutter in her tummy at the sight of Traci’s sly smile. “Troy is my brother.”
The flutter in her tummy turns to a rolling churn. She had thought Troy was dangerous before. Him and his sexy five o’clock shadow and dimpled grin just turned damn right lethal. Hallie remembers her anger at seeing him beating his sister. She’s not sure if the possibility of what she’d witnessed being a consensual spanking verses a more sinister whipping make her feel better, or worse. She just knows she needs to get the hell out of here.
* * * * *
“Come on in, Officer Leano. Join the party.” Troy shakes his hand before stepping aside to allow the uniformed officer to come into the quickly filling house. After taking his boots off at the front entry, the men make their way to the kitchen where it’s close to pandemonium.
Troy watches as the officer makes his way straight to the tallest man in the room, Brent Carmichael. He had returned this morning, his pretty wife and adorable toddler, Kayla, in tow. Troy hadn’t known it before they arrived, but he’s been able to piece together that Char and Traci are not only good friends, but he suspects Char sees Traci professionally based on some of the comments they’ve shared. Not more than five minutes after the Carmichaels had arrived, a man introducing himself as Lelo Stevens had arrived, trailed a few minutes later by Jason Rolson. Apparently, they are planning an impromptu board meeting in Traci’s kitchen.
Young women barging into unlocked homes is apparently big news in Corbin’s Bend.
Troy manages to stand on the fringe of the commotion, feeling a bit like a fifth wheel. He’s not an official member of the community and as such, isn’t exactly sure what his role is in the current situation. The only thing he knows with certainty is that he isn’t deserting his sister or the waif of a houseguest in the back bedroom currently being examined by Dr. Devon.
