by Starla Kaye
He strutted—yes, strutted—toward her. “Can we use the bed this time?”
Grinning in mischief, she shimmied out of the swimsuit, tossed it at him, and sped toward the stairway. “Come on, cowboy. Time’s a wasting.”
* * * * *
“You what?” Cole questioned Rusty, barely able to keep from shoving his good friend all the way across the stable the next morning. They’d been doing a little catching up on things around the ranch when Rusty casually mentioned how he’d helped Mandie with one of her romance therapy sessions while Cole had been in Texas. She hadn’t said a word about it. “You kissed her? More than once?”
Rusty didn’t look the least bit intimidated. He went back to brushing down his horse. “You were gone. Mandie asked for my help. I agreed. No big deal.”
Cole was so rigid that if he breathed wrong he thought maybe his spine would break. He was so damn mad with both of them. With Rusty for daring to touch Mandie in any way.And with Mandie for not only asking Rusty to do it, but also doing it. “You know how I feel about her. You had no right to go and kiss Mandie.”
His friend glanced at him with a cocky, knowing look. “So you’re finally ‘fessing up to having feelings for her? It was hard to tell a week ago.”
“She knew.” Cole wished he’d kept his darn mouth shut. What was he thinking admitting to Rusty he had strong feelings for Mandie? He’d suspected as much for a while now. But he’d pussyfooted around it as best he could. Having sex—okay, outstanding sex—with her was one thing, considering he might feel more for her another. His history in relationships was bad, worse than bad.
“Oh did she now?” Rusty turned and faced him. “You told her to move in with you, and then you disappeared on her. Pretty chicken shit behavior, if you ask me.”
Cole clenched his hands into fists, but Rusty was right about that. “What goes on between Mandie and me is our business, nobody else’s. When a man asks a woman to move in with him… well, it means something.”
“It ought to, yes.” Rusty stepped closer, his expression tight. “She’s a good woman, Cole Whitlock. You be real careful not to hurt her, you hear me?”
“Stay clear of her, you hear me?” This was the first time a woman had ever come between them. He didn’t like it, but they’d work it out. They’d been good friends a long time. Besides, Mandie would be gone in August. His gut tightened at that reminder. “Don’t go sniffing around her. And don’t be helping her anymore.”
“Like I said, you be careful with her.” Rusty turned back to brush down his mare.
Cole headed in long strides out of the stable. He didn’t bother to check on his men working in the arena with another new horse. All he wanted to do was get back to the house, find Mandie, and burn the heck out of her sweet butt.
Mandie stood under the rain of warm water in the shower, happy, content. And more than a bit sore between her legs. Her cowboy had turned into a wild man after she’d done some very naughty things to him last night. He’d been pretty hot again this morning. She remembered worrying about him in the pool, when his face had turned so red with effort. Silly her. The man had stamina like crazy.
She sighed and wished she didn’t have clients to deal with today. She’d much rather spend some more quality time with Cole. There were more naughty things she’d like to try.
The bathroom door few open, interrupting her musings. Her heart pounded and she jumped. She recognized Cole’s big form through the clear vinyl shower curtain. Then her hormones did a happy dance with the pheromones. Oh goodie!
“Get out here. Now,” he said grimly.
Okay, maybe skip the happy dance. She reached to shut off the water and squeezed moisture from her hair. Her quick flash of desire changed to one of trepidation. When she shoved the curtain aside, she found him standing stiffly at the far end of the double vanity. A muscle twitched in his neck. His lips pressed thinly together. Not good.
Stepping out of the tub/shower, she grabbed for a folded towel on the vanity. He pulled it out of her reach. “Hey! What’s your problem?”
A vein pulsed in his neck. “You and Rusty.” He took hold of her arm and tugged her closer to him. “Kissing.” He said the word as if it were distasteful.
“He was just helping me.” Her stomach knotted at the anger in his expression. “You were gone.”
“You let him kiss you. You let him put his lips against yours.” His nostrils flared with anger.
“That’s generally how kissing works.” She sensed she should keep her mouth shut, that she was making the situation worse. But she still felt the hurt of finding him gone without telling her he was leaving.
“Stay away from him.”
Jealousy practically danced in his grim eyes. It echoed in his words and in his rigid stance. She liked seeing it, but also knew trouble was ahead for her. This man believed in action, in physically showing his frustration. Her buttocks quivered.
“You’re going to spank me? For such an innocent thing?” Water dripped from her hair, trickled down her shivering body. She could stop this.
He spotted her big wooden hairbrush and picked it up. “You should have told me.”
“Why? We didn’t do anything wrong. It was my job. He was just helping me.” She stared at the brush in his hand. She knew well how much a spanking with a brush stung. Again, she could stop this.Do it. Stop him. Yet she remained silent.
“I’ve got to burn your butt. I’ve got to.” He made the declaration as if he knew she didn’t really deserve a paddling, but for his sanity’s sake he needed to do it.
Mandie was torn between refusing the not earned punishment and showing him how strongly she felt about him. Enough to suffer a sore bottom today. She made her choice when she saw the frustrated love in the depths of his eyes.Men and their egos, such fragile things at times.
“This is going to make for an unpleasant day for me.”
He took that as her acceptance and breathed a small sigh of relief. He guided her to bend over the vanity so her bottom was pushed well out. “You’ll tough it out.”
“Maybe I don’t want to tough it out.” Still she remained just as he’d positioned her. Her forearms braced on the cool vanity top, she looked at him in the mirror. Determination tightened his jaw. He felt the woman he was coming to have strong feelings for had wronged him. After all the hell Danielle had put him through in the past and yesterday, he needed to know she was a better woman in his life, that she trusted him. And she did…with her heart and with her soon-to-be-very-sore bottom.
“I had to get involved with a spanker,” she muttered under her breath.
“Are you regretting it?” He held the brush against her still damp skin.
Their gazes met in the mirror. She tried not to focus on the brush. “I’m going to regret having a tender bottom today. But becoming involved with you, no.” She gave him a weak smile. “Although I might temporarily change my mind in the next few minutes.”
Again, relief eased some of the tension in his large body. “Ever been spanked with a brush before?”
“Unfortunately, yes.” Those were definitely some unpleasant memories.
“On a wet bottom before?”
“No.”
“You’re not going to like it.” He lifted his arm to shoulder-height. “Put your head down, darlin’. You’re not going to want to watch the brush connect with your bottom.”
She knew he was right. She dropped her forehead to her arms and held her breath. Just do it.
He did. The swat that landed sent her forward and her knees bumped into the cabinet. The sound of wood connecting with flesh resounded around the small room. But she gritted her way through the first flash of pain.
“Very good.” He smoothed his hand over what must be a brush print on her bottom.
She grew moist between her legs, turned on by his touch. She didn’t think that would last.
It didn’t. He sent a rapid rain of a half dozen swats, alternating cheeks.
She danced up on her toes, concentr
ated on keeping her head down, and hissed with each smack. Each one burned with a fire she’d feel for a while. You can stop this. But she remained in place.
Again, he smoothed his hand over her stinging bottom. “I hate the idea of another man touching you, in any way, for any reason.” He trailed a finger between her cheeks and she trembled. “Maybe I don’t really have the right, but that’s how I feel.”
“Cole.” She didn’t know what she wanted to say, other than ask him to stop this spanking. A glance into the mirror told her he wasn’t ready to do so.
His arm rose once more and she squeezed her eyes shut. No! Not again! Yet she sucked in a breath and prepared for more.
This time he put a hand to her back. “Stay put, darlin’. I’m going to finish up now.”
She didn’t like the sound of that, but she’d made her choice. She tried her best to stay still as the awful brush rose and fell a dozen, two dozen times. She lost track. Her thoughts scattered. Her resolve not to cry out, too. She threw her head back and sobbed out her misery. “Oooooooowww! Ohhhh, uhhhhhh!”
Her cry had gotten to him. He tossed the brush farther down on the vanity and he cursed himself. Then he pulled her up, turned her into his embrace, and held her tightly. He wasn’t sobbing like she was, but he suffered in his way. “Thank you, darlin’. I had to do it. I just had to.”
Mandie let him hold her, needed him to hold her. She quietly sobbed and her tears wet his chambray shirt. Neither of them cared. Her bottom hurt so much. She wouldn’t be able to sit comfortably for hours. She’d have trouble even pulling on panties and jeans. No, jeans were out today. She’d wear a skirt.
He kissed the top of her head. “You’re a hell of a woman, Mandie James.”
“Yes, I am,” she whispered into his chest.
His chest rumbled with a laugh. “I’ll go down and tell your people that you’ve got a bad headache or something. Buy you some time. You should stretch out on the bed and recover a bit.”
“Tempting, really tempting,” she answered on a sniffle. She eased out of his embrace. “But I’ve got a job to do. Just as you do, I’m sure.”
“I don’t think Rusty wants me around for a spell. We had some words.” Regret was in his eyes.
“Too bad you and I couldn’t have just had words.” She reached back to rub her burning bottom. “Go make up with him.”
“Am I going to have to make things up with you too?” He glanced at the brush. “For taking out my frustrations, my jealousy, on your sweet butt?”
“Let me think on that, cowboy.” Then she smiled in spite of her pain. “Yes.”
Chapter Nine
The sun had just started creeping its way up the horizon, spreading shades of pinks and blues in what would be a clear sky today. God sure could paint a pretty picture. Sad fact was Cole seldom took the time to enjoy such sights. Normally he was buried in chores and ranch duties from the second he crawled out of bed in the morning until he dragged himself back into bed before the ten o’clock news at night. That was pretty much his routine seven days a week. Except lately. His routine and his life had been shoved off-kilter by a hot little blonde who’d invaded his world.
He sat atop Jazz at the crest of the hill overlooking his ranch. It was the first time in a couple of weeks that he’d mounted a horse and ridden anywhere. His ribs were still tender, but it was past time he got fully back into the running of the CW. He’d spent too much time babying his bruised body. And he’d spent too much time observing Mandie and her clients, even helping out with another session. She had discussed the many little ways a couple could share romantic moments, give each other gifts that cost almost nothing. He had to admit she knew her stuff. And her clients adored her, but then who wouldn’t. He certainly was heavy into deep adoration.
His shifted in the saddle, wincing a bit. Not his ribs this time. No, he and Mandie had gone at each other like wild animals in heat ever since Danielle had come and gone. He still bristled every time he thought about his ex-wife and her ridiculous belief that he’d buy her a new car. No way in hell! Every time he got frustrated with that again or the least bit moody, Mandie was there ready to distract him. She’d come up with some amazing ways to distract him and, truthfully, his body needed a break. She was wearing him out. Which was another reason why he was here now instead of back in his bed letting her wake him up in yet another imaginative manner.
The sound of hooves clomping down on the hard ground behind him had Cole stiffening. His moment of privacy had ended.
“I guess you’re feeling better now,” Rusty said and guided his horse up the hill. “You up here to check the fencing, too? Or hiding out from Miss Mandie?”
He didn’t want to talk about why he’d fled the ranch before his men had even gotten up. He sure didn’t want to tell his friend why he was staying clear of Mandie this morning. A man would never admit to not wanting sex.
“Checking the fencing isn’t my job. You’ve already told me about the sections needing to be replaced. I trust your judgment.” He studied the range in front of him where over a hundred head of cattle calmly chomped on grass. “I’ve always liked this view. Needed to see it again, that’s all.”
“Sure, right. Just sightseeing.” Rusty rode closer, stopped his horse next to Cole’s chestnut. He squinted for a second, studying Cole. Then he grinned. “That a hickey on your neck? Miss Mandie getting a mite out of control?”
Before he could stop himself, Cole reached up and touched the red spot he’d noticed in the mirror this morning. He felt heat flame his face. “She’s spirited,” he grumbled and ground his teeth. And that was putting it mildly.
Rusty chuckled. “If she’s too much for you, old man….” He let the offer fade away, grinning so much his cheeks had to hurt.
“Stay away from her.” Cole was getting tired of warning his friend off, not that he blamed Rusty. Mandie would tempt any man, especially a womanizer like Rusty.
He reined his horse around to head back to the main part of the ranch. “Find your own woman.”
To his surprise all humor left Rusty’s tone as he answered quietly, “I found a woman. Damn thing, is she’s already taken.”
Cole glanced back at Rusty and they locked gazes. His friend was serious. Well, shit!He didn’t know what to say, neither did Rusty it appeared. He looked away first and then galloped past Cole. Damn! It looked like things had gotten even more complicated around here.
* * * * *
Mandie trembled from head to foot. Someone trailed a tongue slowly up and down her quivering lower lips. “Ooooooooh. Oooooooh. Yessss!”
A deep male voice said, “Want me to make you come, sweetheart?”
His tongue moved back to nibbling her aching clit. She arched upward, needing, desperate. “No! I want you inside me. Now.”
She sleepily opened her eyes, thinking it wonderfully delicious to wake up this way. Only she discovered she was alone in bed. It wasn’t Cole’s expert tongue playing with her; it was her own hand.
Shocked, she pulled her hand away, ignored the sexual frustration throbbing between her legs. It had been ages since she’d done anything like this. She’d be mortified if Cole caught her… Cole!
She looked at the empty space beside her in the bed. Her hand slid across the sheets. Cold. He’d been gone a while. Why? They always woke up in each other’s arms. They always made love before going about their individual business of the day. So where was he?
“Cole?” she sat up and called out, quickly realizing he wasn’t anywhere in the suite.
Disappointment weighed heavily on her. Beyond that, her body throbbed in a demand difficult to deny. She wasn’t in a hurry to get around this morning, since her first group of clients had left last night. The next group wouldn’t arrive until tomorrow. She had time to lazily get around. She’d looked forward to enticing her lover to stay in bed longer this morning, which was probably why she’d had such heated dreams. Preparing. Anticipating.
Her swollen lips pulsed, demanded
attention. Her clit throbbed as well. It was difficult to think about anything beyond satisfying her needs. But she desired more than just her experienced fingers moving within her wet and ready body. She wanted bulk. She wanted Cole’s nice long, thick cock. Evidently that wasn’t going to be, but she had something that would make a decent substitute.
Feeling wicked, naughty, and frantic, Mandie returned a couple of minutes later to the rumpled bed with her long-time friend. Over the years since college, she and Fred had shared many a lonely night. While a man’s cock, of course, was by far preferred, Fred gave great pleasure. She shivered in anticipation and moved to one of her favored positions.
She leaned against pillows she’d hurriedly stacked, pulled her legs up until her heels nearly met her buttocks. Thinking back on her dream moment of having Cole between her legs, tonguing her, she eased her feet to the side, spreading her legs wide. Ohhhhhhh, she could hardly think, only desired.
She quickly applied the KY to Fred’s length and put the head to her eager slit. With one intense thrust, she drove the dildo deep inside. Her inner muscles tightened and then quivered all around it as she held her breath for a second, adjusting, savoring.
She closed her eyes and let her hand perform the familiar act, pulling Fred nearly out and then ramming him deep once more. Her body’s need rose higher and higher. She worked harder and harder. Sweat soon covered her and she panted. Her mind switched the idea of the dildo moving within her to Cole plundering her depths. She twisted and turned, arched up and moaned, oblivious to everything around her.
So close… God, so close.
“Hot damn,” Cole husked out from somewhere in her daydream.
His velvety voice only added to her desperate need to find that magical explosive moment. She worked the dildo even faster, bucked even more.
“Lord a’mighty, that’s so damn hot.”
The bed dipped as Cole sat down and Mandie’s eyes flashed open. She gaped at him, the dildo half in-half out, her body trembling with the need for release. “Cole…I….” Caught. Mortified.
