by Livia Grant
With a sudden shout, he arched his back and drove even more deeply into her, and as she felt his cock throb with his release, she, too, fell over the edge, her muscles clutching at him as she shuddered with the force of her climax.
Chapter Eleven
“Well, I think we can both agree that scared of you is one thing I am not.” They were laying on Josiah’s bed, still naked and sweaty in a tangle of limbs and sheets after their intoxicating romp.
Josiah leaned up on one elbow, and peered at her in disbelief. “Really? Of all the things you could say right now, that’s the one you choose to go with?”
“What?” Lannea shrugged, seemingly unaffected. “I had a point to make, and I think we both know I made it.”
Josiah sat up fully and stared at her in alarm. “That’s what this was about to you? Making a point? Proving something? I’m sorry, what are you saying, do you often jump into bed with someone just to prove a point?” Josiah looked angry, and almost hurt, but Laney knew that that couldn’t be right. Men weren’t that sensitive.
“Well, no, but no one has ever called me a chicken before either,” she snapped. “Now I will know what to do if that ever happens again. Not,” she continued emphatically, “that it will, because as I just showed you, a chicken I am not.”
Josiah’s only response was a low growl. Without a word, he scooped her up, and upended her across his lap as she shrieked and laughed.
“Josiah! What are you doing? Quit it! Stop it right now!” Her shouts were cut off by a sharp spank on her bare backside that was hard enough to take her breath away.
She shrieked in surprise as he continued spanking. A fresh onslaught of unexpected swats covered her thighs and naked bottom.
“Jos-IAH! Stop! I’m not in the mood for spanking! I wasn’t ready!”
Her loud protest gave him pause, but only for a moment. “You proved your point, apparently. Now I am proving mine.” His voice contained not one hint of amusement, and Laney’s eyes grew wide as she came to the realization that he was truly intent on spanking her. A real spanking, and not a fun one as she had originally thought.
She could tell her cries of protest would fall on deaf ears, but she voiced them anyway. When that didn’t work, and Josiah calmly continued raining punishing blows onto her tender skin, she switched tactics.
“Okay! Okay! I give! What’s your point? What are you trying to prove?”
He stopped then, and pinched a handful of her aching butt as he spoke. “I don’t have one. To use somebody’s body to prove a point would be rude, and hurtful. I would never do that to anyone, but especially not someone I cared about, and wanted to make a future with.”
Laney’s mouth opened, and then closed as she processed his response. She could go with her instinct and sarcastically point out that he had done exactly that, and made his point with the statement that he didn’t have a point to make, but the retort stuck in her throat at the weight of his second admission.
“I…you…what?” she sputtered, struggling to make a coherent thought while still prone in the spanking position. Josiah seemed to sense her struggle, and helped her into a sitting position on his lap.
“I care about you, Lannea, a great deal, and I want to make a life with you.”
“You hardly know me!” Arguing was her go-to, her comfort level, and it had always served her well. But, even as the words spilled from her mouth, she knew they were just a cover up for her true feelings. It was true that they hadn’t known each other very long, and she knew that was the factor at the root of her fear, but she also knew she harbored similar feelings. Sometimes she felt as if she had known Josiah for a lifetime, and she had to bring herself back down to earth and remind herself that it had only been a few weeks.
From the look in Josiah’s eyes, he saw her words for exactly what they were, and he knew exactly where they came from. He tenderly brushed her hair back from her eyes, and tucked it behind her ear. “Lannea, I know it hasn’t been very long, but from the moment I met you, I’ve felt like you were the one I have been waiting for all my life. I love your wit, and your feistiness, and your impulsiveness. I adore your creative mind, and the love you have for your job, and your customers, and everyone around you. Not to mention, you are without a doubt, the most beautiful woman I have ever laid eyes on.”
The joy of the moment was overwhelming as Josiah poured forward with every sweet thing she had ever wished someone would say to her. Tears welled up in her eyes unshed as he continued. “I wanted more time with you, and I wanted it so desperately that I was willing to go along with your crazy edict that we keep it platonic. But I can’t go on like that anymore, and you can’t either. I want to keep seeing you, I want to be with you, and I want to be the one who takes your naughty little self in hand with a good hard bare bottom spanking when it’s needed. There, I’ve said everything there is to say, and laid it all on the line, so to speak. Now, you need to decide what it is you really want, and be completely and totally honest with yourself, and with me.” He wiped a stray tear from its path down her cheek. “So, what’s it going to be?”
* * * * *
“What do you mean, you’re not sure?” Terri was looking at her as if she had grown a second head.
“I mean, I told him yes, and so technically we’re in a relationship, but I think I may have just been caught up in the moment, and reacted in haste because it felt good at the time.” Laney picked at her salad, not looking her friend in the eye.
“So let me get this straight,” Julie cut in. “This gorgeous, amazing, dominant man comes into town and shows an interest in no one but you, literally from day one, and wants to give you everything you have ever wanted, and you’re not sure? Girl, what is wrong with you?”
“He’s not that dominant,” Laney grumbled, annoyed that her friends didn’t understand, and seemed to be siding with Josiah. “He’s got this weird innocence, and he’s actually kind of naïve. It’s really hard to explain. You have to see it.”
“What? Oh my goodness— stop the presses. You mean, he’s like, a real man with faults and idiosyncrasies, and he doesn’t fit perfectly into the bullshit image of the perfect HoH that you’ve spent years perfecting in your head? Well, fuck, I guess you should focus on that, and not the fact that he’s head over heels crazy about you and ready and willing to give you everything you ever wanted.”
Laney glowered at Terri. “Not everything,” she mumbled under her breath.
Terri rolled her eyes. “Hey, Julie, you know what I think?”
“Hmm, what’s that?”
“I think Josiah was right. Our little Laney is nothing but a big ol’ chicken shit.”
Julie’s eye’s widened in shock, but it only took her a minute to nod her agreement and throw her own two cents in. “Laney,” she began, her eyes softening as she spoke. “I think you are a little scared.”
Laney glared at her but remained silent as her friend went on.
“I also think it’s justified and completely natural. In a matter of weeks you went from single sushi chef sharing a home with her cousin and cousin’s husband, to business partner in a successful restaurant and taken in hand girlfriend to the hot new cop on the block. I mean, sure, nothing’s settled yet, but it looks like a new title, a new relationship, and with it possibly a new home is staring you in the face, and it’s everything you have ever wanted, but with it comes a great deal of responsibility. And we all know that responsibility terrifies you. But, c’mon, these are your dreams. You can’t run from them because you’re afraid you’re going to mess it up.”
“But I always mess up everything!” Laney wailed. The truth in her friends’ words were hitting a little too close to home and she was close to tears as she listened.
Julie gave her a sad smile. “You don’t mess up any more than the next person. We all have our faults and foibles. Some are just easier to see than others is all. You may be a little out of focus and flaky at times. I have a habit of destroying things when I get frustrated, l
ike smoke detectors, and phones.” She grimaced and reached under the table to rub her bottom. “And pencil sharpeners.”
“Do you really think I’m just scared?” When Josiah had said it, the accusation had seemed ridiculous, but coming from her two best friends…well, even Laney had to admit their words made a lot of sense.
“Without a doubt,” Julie told her.
“Absolutely,” Terri chimed. “The question is, now that you see it, what are you going to do about it?”
“I guess I just have to quit lying to myself about my feelings and move forward,” Laney said, her stomach in knots at the thought. Denial was much easier to handle than the truth. “And at least if I go astray and freak out again, I have the two of you to bring me back down to reality and straighten me out. So, thanks for that. Truly.”
“Awww, anytime!” Julie said with a wink.
Terri’s eyes were thick, and she looked to be holding back tears. “Enough with all this sappy girl talk! Who’s up for a mid-afternoon cocktail?” she asked, waving down the waitress.
* * * * *
“So, you and Laney make it official yet?” Brent asked as soon as Josiah walked in the door of the clubhouse with Matt on Saturday afternoon. Nods of agreement and curious stares surrounded him from the other residents present. Besides Brent, Matt, and himself, he recognized Jonathan Travers, Beau Davies and Vance Foster to name a few, as well as two of the other CB beat cops, Tate Leano and Tarrent Banyon. That meant their only female officer, Sandra O’ Nette was on duty.
“Hey now, back off him for a few.” Matt laughingly leapt to his defense. “This is his first time at the clubhouse. Don’t you all think you could manage to show at least a semblance of restraint and at least show him around before you leap down his throat like a bunch of gossip hungry old ladies?”
The men had the decency to look chagrined, and Brent jumped up to give him the unofficial tour. It was quite the setup down here in the clubhouse basement. Nothing less than a Grade A man cave with all the amenities, it included several comfy oversized leather couches, a large stainless steel fridge stocked with a variety of beers to choose from, and of course, a giant widescreen TV mounted on the back wall. Josiah gave a low whistle of approval as Brent wrapped up the short tour, and they rejoined the other men in the sitting area.
“Nice set up.”
The men nodded their agreement, but their faces were pinched tight, and he could tell they were itching to interrogate him on the subject of everyone’s favorite sushi chef. He considered messing with them, and drawing out the tour with a number of creative and pointless questions that he knew Brent would jump to answer, but he wasn’t that cruel, and to be honest, he kind of wanted their advice. He had gone over to talk to Matt, and Matt had dragged him here. But two minds were better than one, and surely a dozen were better than two.
“Okay, okay, I give. Ask the questions you’re all dying to ask. I can tell y’all are chomping at the bit to know the full story. Normally I would do as Matt did, and call you old ladies and make you suffer, but we did make out in the middle of Amore on a Saturday night, so I guess we gave up our right to privacy at that point. Just keep it clean,” he said jokingly. He had enough brothers to know a large group of men could get raunchy at times no matter how civilized they were in their everyday life, and his brothers were a bunch of prudes and saints compared to this group.
“So, are you dating her, officially now?” That was Matt.
“Have you put your welcome gift to good use yet?” Brent asked with a sly wink.
“Do you need some new implements? Cause, you know, I can help out in that department,” Vance hooted.
Josiah threw back his head and laughed. Matt was right, they were just like a group of women, but he liked it. It did remind him of the easy comradery within the community back home. “Let’s see if I can keep this straight,” he said, still chuckling. “Yes, I think we are officially dating. No, I haven’t used my welcome gift yet, although I did drink the wine, and I will keep that in mind, Vance, but I think we are good for now.”
He had hoped that would satisfy their curiosity but it only served to open up a whole new round of questioning.
“What do you mean, you think you are dating? Wouldn’t you know?”
“Why haven’t you tried out your paddle? It’s a beauty and it sure gets the point across.”
Matt and Brent spoke in unison, but thankfully the rest of the group remained silent, waiting for his answers.
“I mean, I don’t know. We made it official Saturday night, but…she’s just seemed a little off ever since. Just a little distant, I guess. But it could just be our schedules. This is the first time we have both been off at the same time all week, and we both already had other plans. I’ll see her tonight, I’m sure.” He paused. “As for the paddle, I’ve sure thought about it, but to tell you the honest truth, I’m pretty new to all this, and I don’t know, I guess it seemed too harsh for most things.”
“Wait, what do you mean, you’re new to all this?” Jonathan spoke up quietly, looking concerned. “I thought you had lived in a community that practiced domestic discipline like this one.”
Josiah drew a deep breath before explaining. “Well, I did. I mean I grew up knowing about it, and learning about it and seeing the positive effects of it, but I’ve never actually practiced it myself.”
His admission was met with blank stares all around. Josiah could tell he was going to have to share more information about his hometown, but he hoped he would be able to keep the polygamy out of it. It wasn’t him, and he didn’t want people thinking it was.
“It was a deeply religious community with a very unique set of beliefs concerning marriage,” he started, hoping that would be enough, but the faces of his friends were drawn and cautious. He glanced at Brent and Matt, and was relieved to see they still wore genuine smiles of encouragement. Of course, the two of them knew the truth already. Everyone else was basically in the dark, and to tell the truth, he kind of liked it that way.
He returned their smiles and started again. “Basically, the marriages were arranged, and I was never chosen for marriage.”
“So, you never practiced it with any of your girlfriends?” Jonathan asked.
“I…ermm…I’ve never had any girlfriends. We didn’t believe in that, and I knew for a long time, I was going to leave. I just never did. I was comfortable, I had a great job and my family was there, and it was really all I knew.”
Josiah looked up, and winced at the shocked faces in the room. The more he said, the more shocked they became it seemed.
Sensing his obvious discomfort, Jonathan came to his rescue. “Hey, I think that’s great. No baggage from past relationships. On your end anyway. Laney is another story.”
“So basically you’re saying they marry whoever they are told to, and then practice domestic discipline in their marriages?” This came from Beau, who was looking very unsettled at his news.
“Yeah, that’s basically it.” Josiah hoped this would put an end to this line of questioning, without him having to break out the fact that Green Valley was a polygamist community. He must have looked as uncomfortable as he felt, because Jonathan jumped to his rescue again.
“So, are you saying you’ve never, ahem, spanked anyone? Like ever?”
Josiah groaned, and nodded. So much for saving the day. He wasn’t sure which conversation was more uncomfortable, and he prayed they didn’t start asking about his sex life next. That would open a whole new can of worms. “Well,” he said with an evil grin, “I have now.”
Jonathan closed his eyes, and buried his face in his hands. “Oh my god,” he moaned. “Oh my god, somebody help him, quickly, or our little Laney is gonna run for the hills!”
Josiah thought this was a little melodramatic but the other men were nodding sagely, and looking equally concerned.
“What’s the big deal?” He shrugged. “Everybody’s got to start somewhere.”
This just incited further moans
from Jonathan, and comically concerned looks from the rest of the group. His blank stare was met with utter silence.
“The big deal,” Jonathan said cautiously, looking nervous even as he stood up and paced the floor in front of Josiah, “is that Laney has been waiting for this and wanting this and probably yes, fantasizing about this for a really long time. And no offense, but I just don’t think you’re going to live up to her expectations, unless you learn to step up your game.” He stopped pacing and pressed his finger to his lip in concentration, before starting back up. “Laney is the equivalent of a hair dresser when it comes to people talking to her. When people order from The Ginger Paddle, they order their sushi to fit their day, and nine times out of ten, they tell her all about it. Laney doesn’t just want a spanker, trust me, that girl wants the whole shebang, with a side of ginger.”
The whole rant was so absurd to Josiah he nearly spit out his beer laughing. But he was the only one laughing. Everyone else in the room was slowly shaking their heads in agreement.
“What does that even mean? The whole shebang with a side of ginger?” Jonathan might as well have been speaking a different language for all the sense he was making.
Now, even Matt was staring at him aghast. “So, what have you done, exactly?”
If it hadn’t come from Matt, he never would have answered, but coming from his good friend and mentor, he had to address the question. “I don’t know what the big deal is. I’ve spanked her several times, with my hand mostly, but also with a wooden spoon or a belt, and in different positions. I’ve also had her do corner time beforehand, each time.”
Josiah frowned. At home in Green Valley, that would have been a standard response, but they were looking at him with something akin to pity, as if his dog had just died or something.
“Oh brother,” Beau groaned. “Jonathan is right. This man needs our help, and soon!”
