by Stella Moore
“Well, if you'd like. It's a big enough house for the two of us, so there's no reason we can't comfortably stay here. But if you'd rather find something together, I'm open to that possibility as well.” Melissa was certain she couldn't have shocked him more if she'd hauled off and punched him in the nose. He simply stared at her for a long while. She'd picked up a thing or two from him about making a silence count, so she waited him out.
“Okay,” he finally said.
Pleasure bloomed inside of her. “Okay? Really?”
He shrugged. “I practically live here anyway. And I'm not planning on changing that anytime soon, so it makes sense. So yeah, I'll move in. And the house is fine. We can search for something bigger once we add kids.”
The comment was so casual, it knocked the breath out of her. “Kids?” she squeaked, certain she'd misheard him.
He glanced up and then back down at his work. “At least two. Don't you want kids?”
“I do. I really, really do.” With that she burst into tears.
Almost instantly Jack's arms were around her. “Shit. I'm sorry. Please don't cry.” The panic in his voice was like a switch, instantly changing the sobs to laughter.
“Happy tears, I promise. I was just thinking today I wanted to build a family with you. But I figured I'd start with moving in together so I wouldn't scare you off.”
“There you go, calling me a wimp again.” He slid an arm under her legs and literally swept her off her feet. “I think a lesson in respect is in order.”
Her laughter rang out as he carried her to the bedroom.
Chapter 27
Sunday afternoon they joined the rest of what she now thought of as their group for their celebration dinner at Penny and Eric's apartment. Judging by the “Whoo!” she let out when she opened the door, Penny had started the celebration early.
“The heroes are here!” she announced to the apartment at large when she let them in.
“Oh, we're not heroes,” Melissa protested with a blush.
“Nonsense. You both tracked me down and saved me. And then you both testified to put that fucker away for good. You're my heroes, and I don't want to hear any back talk, missy.” The mockingly stern look she sent Melissa sent all three women into a fit of giggles.
“I think they're making fun of us, boys,” Paul said, giving his wife's hair a gentle tug.
“Oh, never, sir,” Elisa assured him breathlessly. Penny snorted and the three of them were lost all over again. Once they finally had themselves under control, everyone settled in the living room. When Jack's phone rang, he excused himself and disappeared into the hall.
“So how did meeting the mom go?” Elisa asked when he closed the door behind him.
“Excellent, actually. She's pretty much perfect, as far as mothers go. Well, as far as human beings go, really. Oh, and Jack and I are moving in together.”
Elisa and Penny squealed, making their other halves cringe. “Seriously? That's so exciting! Is he moving in with you? Well, duh, you have a house. Maybe you guys will get married soon and then we can all be married and we can have babies together and our babies will be best friends!” Elisa bounced in her seat as she spoke.
Before Melissa could respond, Jack returned to the living room, his face closed off in a way that made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. “I need a moment with the doc,” he said before turning and walking back out into the hall. Penny and Elisa sent her sympathetic looks, but for the life of her she couldn’t figure out what she’d done wrong as she followed him outside.
“Is everything all right?” she asked when she joined him.
“That was DA Jennings on the phone. Apparently, he had a letter sent to his house, about you.” He turned and his expression was no longer closed off. It was furious. “The letter said that you’d been warned not to testify and now you and Jennings will both pay the price.”
Melissa felt herself go pale. “I can explain.”
“I’m waiting.”
She rubbed her damp palms on her jeans as she searched for the right words. “Someone sent me a note. Just once, so I figured I’d wait and see if they escalated. They didn’t, so I honestly forgot about it.”
He looked so baffled, she had to stop herself from laughing. She wasn’t entirely sure he wouldn’t spank her right there in front of all of their friends, so she kept her mouth firmly shut.
“Let me see if I have this straight.” His voice was deadly calm. “You received a threatening letter and you didn’t bother to go to the police. You just thought you’d see what happened.”
“It’s a little more nuanced than that.”
“How so?”
“I didn’t want to worry anyone if it turned out to be nothing. I was going to tell you if anything else happened, I swear.”
“I need some time to think. See if one of the girls can drive you home.” He turned and strode away down the hall. She watched as the elevator doors closed on him, and she had to take a minute before she returned to the apartment.
“Mel? Sweetie, is everything okay?” The concern in Elisa’s eyes broke the dam and Melissa simply burst into tears. Within seconds, both women had their arms around her, leading her to the couch.
“What happened? Where’s Jack? Is everything okay?”
She shook her head at Penny’s rapid-fire questions. “He l-left. I messed it all up and he left.”
“Start at the beginning, honey. What did you mess up?”
Melissa took a deep, shuddering breath and focused on the soothing sound of Elisa’s voice. She thought dully that Elisa would make a great mother someday, with her nurturing nature. “Someone sent me a note. Before the trial. Telling me not to testify.”
“And we’re just now hearing about this?” Eric’s angry voice drew the attention of all three women.
“I didn’t tell anyone. I didn’t want anyone to worry. I figured if it got worse, then I’d tell Jack but I never heard from whoever it was again.”
The string of swear words Eric released would have made a sailor blush. “How could someone so goddamned smart be so fucking stupid?” he demanded, glaring at her.
When she began to weep again, Penny and Elisa moved to block her from the men. “Leave her alone! She already feels bad enough.”
Penny’s demand was like tossing a log on the fire. “Don’t yell at me, young lady. I’ll blister your ass right here in front of God and everyone.”
“Let’s just all take a deep breath and calm down.” Paul’s quiet, authoritative voice eased the tension a bit, though Penny and Eric were still glaring at each other. “Obviously, Melissa knows she messed up. Eric, buddy, this is one for the women to handle. Let’s see if we can track down Jack and get him calmed down before he gets home.”
“Fine. But you and I will be having a long discussion about respect when we get home, Penelope.” He pulled her to him for a quick, hard kiss before following Paul out the front door.
“I’m sorry. I should go. I’ve caused enough trouble.” Melissa started to rise, but she was pushed back down onto the couch by two pairs of surprisingly strong hands.
“You’re not going anywhere. You need your girlfriends tonight, so that’s what you’re getting. And ice cream. We need ice cream.” With that, Elisa rose and hurried to the kitchen.
“I’m sorry I got you in trouble, Penny.”
Penny shook her head. “I got myself in trouble. But Eric’s just worried. Once he has some time to calm down, it won’t be as bad. Probably won’t sit comfortably tomorrow, but it won’t be the worst I’ve ever gotten. Are you okay?”
Melissa sighed and dropped her head into her hands. “I honestly thought I was doing the right thing. I’ve worked with enough dominant men to know how they think. He would have completely overreacted to the idea of me being in danger.”
Elisa returned with the ice cream, which Melissa accepted gratefully.
“You were trying to save everyone a little heartache and worry. We get that,” Elisa sa
id as she dug into her bowl of ice cream. “But all he’s seeing is that you lied to him. I’m betting he’s taking that pretty personally right about now.”
“Shit,” Melissa muttered as she attacked her ice cream. “I really messed up.”
“Yeah. But you’ll make it right. Going to hurt like hell, but it’ll all work out,” Elisa assured her cheerfully.
Chapter 28
Jack was halfway into his second glass of whiskey when Paul and Eric pulled up a stool on either side of him. He kept his eyes on the television behind the bar as they ordered.
“Come here often, big guy?” Paul asked, sipping his own drink.
Jack grunted in response, not looking at either of them.
“Strong silent type. I like that,” Eric said, knocking back his drink and signaling for a second.
“Why are you here?” Jack asked irritably.
“Because we’ve both been where you are and we figured you could use some moral support before you go home.”
Jack finally looked over at Paul. “Well I don’t. Go home to your women.”
Eric snorted. “Our women are busy comforting your woman.”
He felt a twinge of guilt that he deliberately ignored. “Send her home, then. She’ll be fine. She obviously doesn’t need anyone to take care of her.”
“You don’t believe that,” Paul said with a surprising amount of heat.
He didn’t, but he wasn’t ready to let go of the anger and goddammit the hurt he’d been battling since he’d gotten the phone call. “I really don’t need you guys here.”
“Too bad. You’ve got us. Let’s go for a walk.” Eric tossed some bills on the bar and clapped Jack on the back.
He wanted to stay, get drunk, then go home to his apartment for the night. But he felt pulled to leave with them for reasons he couldn’t explain. They walked in silence for a while, the thick fall air hanging heavy around them. They stopped when Paul’s phone buzzed so he could answer Elisa’s text.
“The girls took Melissa home. She’s waiting for you,” Paul told him.
Jack stared at him for a minute then turned and walked back toward the bar. Paul and Eric jogged in front of him, blocking his path. He eyed them for a minute, trying to decide if he could take them. They were all of a size, though he had a few inches on Eric. He also had years of hand to hand training on his side, and he was spoiling for a fight.
“I really don’t want to hurt you guys.”
Paul shrugged. “Do what you gotta do, man. You need a good fight so you can calm down enough to deal with your woman? We’re game.”
Eric looked over in surprise. “We are?”
Paul grinned at his longtime friend. “Yeah. I got your back.”
Despite himself, Jack laughed. “All right, all right, no fighting. But I can’t go home to her, not feeling like this.”
“I get it. We get it,” Paul amended, gesturing between him and Eric. “We’ve both been there. Hell, Penny went and got herself kidnapped and Eric had to deal with that.”
Jack was forced to admit he had a point. “I just can’t believe she’d keep something like this from me. Like she doesn’t trust me or something.”
“I don’t think it’s that,” Eric finally spoke up. “She didn’t want you to worry. Do you tell her every time some perp threatens you?”
Jack rubbed the back of his neck. “No, but that’s different. It’s just part of the job.”
“And like it or not, in her mind, this was part of her job. She was being threatened on a professional level, not a personal one.”
“So, what, I should just let it go?”
Eric and Paul both laughed and slapped him on the shoulder. “Hell, no,” Eric said. “You should definitely bust her ass. Come on. We’ll give you some pointers.”
As promised, Melissa was waiting for him when he got to her house. When he walked in, she jumped up from the couch and started toward him, then stopped and wrapped her arms around her waist. The red, puffy eyes tore at him. He hated to see her cry, even when it was from a punishment. He held his arms open and she raced to him, throwing herself into his embrace.
“I’m sorry,” she said on a sob, burying her face in his chest.
He ran a hand down her back, soothing them both. “Why didn’t you tell me, Melissa?”
“I didn’t want you to worry. I figured it was just someone trying to rattle me before the trial. Men like Franklin—handsome, charming men—often have women who flock to them in prison. A groupie could have easily gotten wind of my intention to testify and tried to scare me off. If I had thought it was serious, I would have told you, I swear.”
Her explanation helped him get a better handle on the emotions buffeting him. “I get that. But from now on, I want to know about any threat, no matter how small. I don’t care if it’s just some weirdo you’re treating looking at you sideways. No more secrets.”
“No more secrets. I promise. Are we good?”
He couldn’t help but chuckle at the hopeful tone of her voice. “We will be once your punishment is over. Go to your room and change. I’ll be up in a minute.”
Chapter 29
Melissa pulled away and looked up at Jack, her lower lip poking out in an almost instinctive pout. “You said you understood.”
He gripped her chin between his fingers, tilting her face up further. “I do. That doesn’t mean you haven’t earned yourself a spanking. Upstairs, Melissa. Unless you want extra with the belt after we’re done.”
“No, sir.”
“Then go get ready.”
With a sigh, she turned and made her way upstairs, where she changed into one of the t-shirts he kept in her drawer. It was long enough on her to cover her bottom, not that it would matter once she was facedown over Jack’s lap. Figuring he’d make her get rid of them anyway, she shimmied out of her underwear and sat on the bed to wait for him.
When he finally came upstairs, he was holding a large, wide hairbrush in his hand. “Where did that come from?” she asked, eyeing it warily.
“Stopped on my way home to pick it up. Should make more of an impression than the spoon I used the last time. Stand up.”
She stood and he took her place on the bed, pulling her between his knees. “Why are you getting a spanking right now?”
Oh, how she hated this part. Standing in front of him, half naked and explaining why she was being punished made her feel like a little girl instead of the independent woman she tried so hard to be. “I kept something a secret from you.”
“And why was that wrong?”
She resisted, barely, the urge to roll her eyes at the question. “Because you don’t like secrets.”
Jack shook his head. “Try again, with a little less attitude this time.”
“Because it put my safety at risk?”
“That’s the one. I do hate secrets, but I absolutely will not tolerate them when your health or safety is on the line. Do we have an understanding, young lady?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Good. Over my knee.”
The order made her want to drop to her knees and show him exactly what he did to her when he said things like that. She briefly considered it, weighing the pros and cons of what might happen if she tried to distract him that way. Deciding it wasn’t worth the risk this time, she lowered herself over his left knee and braced her hands on the floor.
The spanking started hard and fast, with seemingly no rhyme or reason. For a few swats he would alternate sides, and then he would lay into one spot several times in a row until she cried out in protest.
“Stop! It hurts!” she cried pitifully after one such assault.
“So does keeping secrets, young lady.”
The response was a knife in the heart that nearly brought her to tears. If he’d just been angry with her, she could have handled that. Anger could be fought with anger. But the hurt she’d seen in his eyes and could even now hear in his voice, that was something she was completely helpless against.
By the time he stopped the spanking, her entire backside was throbbing. When the cool plastic of the hairbrush he’d purchased tapped against her skin, she shook her head. “No more, please!”
But he was either deaf or immune to her pleas. “If anyone ever threatens you again, what are you going to do?”
“Tell you immediately.”
“Are you going to lie and keep secrets anymore?”
“No, I swear! I’ll tell you everything. I’ve learned my lesson.”
“Let’s make sure.” With that, the brush slammed into her backside with a force she hadn’t even realized was possible. She came alive over his lap, twisting and thrashing to try and prevent it from connecting again, but he just tightened his grip and continued paddling her with the unforgiving implement.
“I’m sorry, Jack! I won’t do it again!” She wasn’t too proud to beg, she realized. At least not in this situation. Every inch of her backside burned and she was certain she’d be feeling this spanking for several days.
“You’re not alone, Melissa. You don’t have to handle everything by yourself. I want you to come to me with your problems. Don’t ever keep something from me because you don’t want me to worry about you. I want you to trust me, goddammit.”
The simple, frustrated request completely undid her. “I do! I’m s-sorry!”
Even after she stopped fighting and lay over his knee weeping, he continued the punishment, focusing his attention where she’d feel it the most when she sat over the next few days. When it was finally over, she heard the brush drop to the floor and she was being lifted into strong, familiar arms.
He pressed a kiss to her hair as he held her on his lap as she worked to get her breathing back under control.
“I wasn’t sure I’d see you again,” she confessed quietly once she’d calmed down.
“I’m not your parents, doc. I’m not going to abandon you just because you pissed me off.”
She frowned, considering his comment. “I know that. But you left. I didn’t know what to think.”
