Just One Night

by Carolyn Faulkner

  Andrea edged over to the side of the bed a bit tentatively, since her head seemed to have grown to be about twenty sizes bigger than usual. Her eyelids were not only stuck together, but swollen together, and her tongue seemed to have grown a fur coat at some point that she was quite sure she hadn't authorized.

  "Stay there. I'll get you some water."

  Rad headed for the kitchen, only to turn around and practically trip over her because she was right behind him.

  "Jesus! Don't do that! You scared me! And I thought I told you to stay put?"

  An eyebrow rose, but the rest of her face was annoyingly expressionless. "Yeah, I don't think you have the right to tell me what to do anymore, Mr. Windsor, so you can shove the fuck off."

  "You love me."

  He said it because he wasn't sure how much of last night's true confessions she was going to remember.

  "Loved," she corrected.

  "Potato, potahto."

  "Yeah, no. Loved, and now hate with a fiery passion. Why have you not left yet?"

  "Love and hate are very close."

  Andrea frowned at that. "Then you have some weird fucking emotions in England. Here in 'Merica, hate is hate and love is love, and never the twain, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera."

  Rad didn't really think about what he was doing. He took a step closer to her, and she took one back from him. Then he took another toward her, and Andy found herself trapped in the corner of the kitchen, up against the counter.

  Rad very casually put a hand on either side of her, not particularly near, but not far enough away that she could escape, either.

  "Mr. Windsor, let me go, or I will scream bloody murder."

  "I like it when you scream sometimes, Andrea."

  She looked alarmed at that. "Well, you won't like it this time, I can promise you."

  "Well then, I'll just have to give you a reason to scream in a way I enjoy."

  Andrea put her hand out in front of her, not touching him and trying not to look at him, either. He was just too fucking potent, even for her extremely righteous anger. She had too many memories of exactly what he was talking about, and she was still exhausted and hung over to the point that she really wasn't sure that she wasn't actually dead. She was weak and weakening more so with every step he took toward her. "Rad, stop, now. I want you to leave, please."

  She could see out of the corner of her eye that he was shaking that leonine head of his. "I don't think so, Andrea. How could I possibly leave the woman I love—and who has confessed to loving me—when she feels so badly because of something I have done to her?"

  "Loved."

  The last step he took brought them in close contact with each other while he stood with his hands on the counter behind her now, as he looked down at her.

  "Rad!" she objected, less loudly than she wanted to. "Go away—please!"

  One hand came up to bury itself in the hair at the back of her head, using his hold to tilt her head back as his mouth descended on hers in a kiss that was as passionate as it was excruciatingly tender.

  When he pulled back, Rad vowed in a ragged whisper, "I will spend the rest of my life making it up to you, I promise, Andrea. Give me another chance."

  He saw dark splotches on her shirt and brushed the tears from her cheek with his thumb.

  "I'm such an idiot! How could I not have known? I knew I couldn't trust my instincts when it came to men. Here I am again, alone and hurt—"

  "No, baby. Not alone." His arms closed gently around her, ignoring her reluctance. At least she wasn't fighting him outright, which was better than when he had first gotten there. "I'm more sorry than you will ever know that I caused you any anxiety or fear or pain. And I certainly never meant to make you doubt yourself." He kissed her again, and he would have sworn that he felt her melt a little against him, tightening his arms just a little to take advantage of that. "But I love you, and I have reason to believe that, beneath all of your understandable anger, you might feel the same way about me, too."

  "No," she whimpered. "I don't want to forgive you." She raised tear filled eyes to his. "You hurt me."

  "And I am incredibly sorry, my love. But I also know that you're a wonderful, empathetic, forgiving woman—"

  She growled at that, but he just smiled, sensing victory.

  "No, I'm not."

  In answer, he kissed her again, sneakily slipping his hand under his own shirt and into her panties.

  She gasped and clenched beneath his fingertips, gushing onto them rather than her panties.

  "Rad," she tried to say sternly, but it never came out as well as he did it, and it was even worse now, when she should have been more than strong enough to resist him. Then a familiar bold finger slipped between already swollen lips to find her clit and coax it to prominence.

  "Rad." This time, it came out like a whispered prayer.

  "Yes, my love?" he asked against her lips.

  She craned her head back a little, eyes that were still showing the ravages of all of the tears they had spilt over him finding his, then darting away nervously. "I'm going to make you pay for this for years, you know," she whispered.

  A tidal wave of relief washed over him as he lifted her with one arm and settled himself inside her.

  "I wouldn't want it any other way."

  Epilogue

  Months later, they were lying in bed, both sated from lovemaking that had never dulled or dimmed in the least. They were both still as greedy for each other as they had always been.

  "We need to talk," he whispered into her ear.

  Andrea was half asleep. "Oh, no! Don't tell me—you're gay." She didn't need to see him to know that he was frowning mightily.

  "Yeah, definitely."

  "Let me guess. You want a divorce?" She could feel his glare deepen even further.

  "No, since we're not married, that's probably not it."

  "Oh."

  "But, since you brought it up…"

  "Brought what up?" she asked sleepily.

  "Marriage."

  "No, I brought up divorce. You brought up marriage, but only in the context that we're not."

  "Yeah, well, I think we should be."

  "Why? Are you pregnant and you want me to make an honest man out of you?"

  "Andrea," he growled. "I'm trying to say that I think we ought to get married."

  "Oh."

  "Is that all you have to say about the subject?"

  "What do you want me to say?" she asked, snuggling into her pillow.

  "Yes. I want you to say yes."

  "Then, yes."

  "Really?"

  "Really what?"

  "You'll really marry me?"

  "Why not? I figure you haven't even begun to make things up to me yet, and that should make the prenup skew heavily in my favor."

  He didn't care if the prenup gave her everything he owned, as long as he had her. Then he thought of something. "You're going to remember this in the morning, right?"

  "Remember what in the morning?"

  Rad sighed heavily, shaking his head. He knew he should have waited until she was more awake.

  But then Andrea turned toward him, leaning on her elbow to look down at him. "Do you mean the fact that you just proposed to me and I said yes? Of course, I'll remember that." Then she flounced over onto her side, facing away from him.

  Rad wasn't about to let her get away with that, so he lifted her bodily into his arms. "We're getting married!" he screamed, hugging her fit to break her ribs as she screamed back at him and hugged him as hard as she could.

  "I should probably fit that one night stand in before that, though," she mused out loud, finding herself tucked beneath him and full of him seconds later.

  "Absolutely not, Mrs. Windsor," he growled.

  Andrea wrapped her arms around his neck, saying, "That's fine by me, Mr. Windsor."

  The End

  Carolyn Faulkner

  The words “spanking” and “discipline” have always sent a shiver up
Carolyn Faulkner's spine. She knows she's not alone.

  Writing started as a way to explore her feelings. Soon short stories flowed from her pen featuring reluctant heroes taking the leading lady in hand, but always for her own good.

  Today Carolyn is the author of dozens of books. She writes from her home in Maine, where she lives with her husband and leading man.

  You can read an interview with Carolyn here:

  http://www.blushingbooks.com/blog/?p=175

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  www.carolynfaulkner.com

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