by Skylar Faye
He tapped the belt against the side of his leg. “By making me want you even though I shouldn’t. By teasing me, tempting me nearly every minute of every day. Until all I can think about is fucking you. Hard.”
If he thought she’d be offended by his crudity, he was mistaken. It only made her hotter for him. She couldn’t take her gaze off the leather belt. “You’re going to punish me—for whatever reason—with that?”
He walked next to the bed and grabbed a pillow. “Lift your ass.” When she did, he slid the pillow beneath her stomach. “I only intended to spank you good for not being here when I got home.”
“But I didn’t leave you,” she protested. “I only went into town to see Maybelle and get groceries.”
“I was worried.” He decided a second pillow was needed. “Lift up again.”
When she settled once more on the pile of pillows, she felt thoroughly exposed with her bottom so high in the air. Yet the frustration in his tone at being worried about her and clearly not wanting to lessened some of her embarrassment. He cared about her. Okay, he was going to spank her—no, apply his belt—but she could sense how hard he was fighting his attraction to her.
“This is going to be worse than the spanking, isn’t it?” she asked warily. Even if she would heal quickly, she would feel pain for a short while. Pain wasn’t fun.
For a second he looked uncertain, as if he would change his mind and forget doing this. Then he thrust out his stubborn jaw. “Yes. But this will only be a short thrashing. Just enough so you’ll remember who is in charge when it comes to discipline.”
“It’s not really necessary. I get your message. You make these kinds of decisions, my job is to submit and accept.” She watched him hesitate again, but then he moved to stand where he could easily swing the belt. She clenched her buttocks and waited.
To her surprise, he smacked the middle of her bottom with his hand, sharply. “Unclench your butt. And lower your head to the mattress.”
She dropped her head between her arms once more and concentrated on relaxing her buttocks. Not easy to do when she knew he was about to strike them with something she was totally unfamiliar with.
The first lash landed on her left cheek. The next on her right one. Each one had her arching up at the small lines of fire left behind. “Yeeouch!”
“There will be ten more.”
“Is that negotiable? Five?” Even now the first strikes were fading, but she didn’t like the idea of ten more to come.
Two more landed briskly across both cheeks. “Who is in charge?”
“So the answer is ‘no.’ This isn’t negotiable.” Why was she questioning him? He clearly didn’t like it and she was certain to pay for it.
Another harder lash landed and she squirmed on the pillows. “You didn’t answer my question. Who is in charge of discipline?”
She hazarded a glance back at him and saw him holding the belt ready to lash down again. Oddly, it made her woman’s place pulse with desire. He looked so masculine, so commanding. Their gazes met and she saw the heat in his eyes. She swallowed hard, turned her head away, and said, “You are. You are in charge of discipline.”
“Seven more.” He sounded pleased with her answer and then proceeded to deliver the remaining lashes. They fell quickly, all over her wriggling bottom, but they weren’t as hard as the first ones had been.
Teri had breathed a sigh of relief at the twelfth strike and slumped against the pillows. Her bottom felt as if someone had set it on fire.
Then another lash landed and she yelped, “Hey! That was thirteen!”
He set the belt within her line of vision on the bed and sat down next to her. He smoothed a hand over her poor bottom and said huskily, “A baker’s dozen.”
She grumbled, “Stupid bakers. They need to count better.”
He chuckled and she gaped at him. He seemed as surprised by what he’d done as she did. His hand stilled on her butt and his breathing became even harder. “I want you. Now.”
She wanted him, too. “Even if my ass hurts?” She really didn’t care, but she thought she should put up a small protest.
He stood, toed off his boots, and pulled off his clothes. Deliciously naked, he looked down at her while he stroked his long, hard shaft. “There’s nothing better than sliding between a woman’s pretty red, hot butt cheeks.”
“Maybe for you.” Her heart pounded as she watched him work his rod. Moisture was dripping between her legs. Her bottom still stung, but all she wanted was Seth to drive into her body.
He reached out and moved one hand along her vulva, pinched her clit. She trembled all over, giving a quick hiss of delight. “Enough talk,” he gritted out.
Before she could respond, he knelt on the bed behind her. He pushed her head down to the mattress again and then guided his cock into the place aching for his attention. He froze. “Shit. I forgot the condom.”
She refused to let him pull out and squeezed her inner muscles around him. “I can’t have children.” Okay, that wasn’t exactly true, but it was complicated. She didn’t want to get into--or even think about—that now. “Take me, Seth. Take me.”
He smacked the side of her bottom and held still inside her. “I’m in charge.”
Again with him being in charge? She didn’t care. “Fine, you’re in charge. I’m just bent over here with your cock inside me submitting.”
He began thrusting in and out, slowly, then faster. “You’re such a trial sometimes. Submissive, yet not.”
She panted, nearly mindless with need. He felt so good, filled her so well. “Being submissive is new to me.” She groaned as he rammed her again. “But I’m trying. Oh, ohhhhh, oh yes!”
“You…can…come…now,” he gritted out, rearing back and then shoving as deep as he could.
She’d never been told when she could orgasm before, but she was okay with it. Her fingers clutched the sheets and she cried out his name, “Seth! Oh Seth!”
She’d barely collapsed limply over the pillows when he clasped the sides of her hips and renewed the strength of his pounding into her. His body rubbed against her tender bottom. She winced a bit, but savored when he held still and growled out his own release. “Mine!”
As he draped over her for a second, she asked, “Mine?”
But he didn’t answer. In fact he’d become a heavy weight. With a glance back, she saw that he’d passed out. Well, that was new.
Chapter Five
Seth slowly stirred, realized he’d passed out on top of Teri. For a second he didn’t move, just enjoyed the soft woman beneath him who wasn’t complaining even though he had to be squishing her. He was too stunned to move. His mate. His true mate. The idea rocked his world, completely. He’d always heard and accepted that a wolf mated for life. He’d also been told that a wolf male could have such intense sex that he could pass out, but only with the female destined to be his forever soul mate. It hadn’t happened with his first wife. He’d never thought a lot about it, but he’d known they were meant to be together. And it certainly hadn’t happened with Sarah.
Now? It happens now?
He shifted awkwardly off Teri, heart pounding. How could this be? How could she be his one true mate? She wasn’t even a shifter of any sort, definitely not a wolf like him…like Catherine had been. He stretched out on his back and stared at the ceiling as if he would find answers there.
“Are you all right?” She turned to face him, drawing his attention. Her brow was pinched and her brown eyes held such concern for him.
“I’m…fine.” What else could he say? What did he do now? He needed to go somewhere alone and think about what had happened. Surely this had been something else. He’d been working too hard, exhaustion played a big part in it. But then he hadn’t been working the ranch lately. Stress. The stress of having this beautiful woman here and being attracted to her even when he didn’t want to be.
“You don’t look ‘fine.’” She cautiously touched his chest.
His stomach muscles
tightened beneath her small hand and she pulled it away, watching him, worrying her bottom lip. He didn’t want her gentle touches, her concern. He wanted his normal life back. Really? “Yes, I do,” he bit out, and then realized he’d spoken the protest out loud.
“What?” She sat up and his gaze immediately landed on her breasts with their hardened nipples.
It was all he could do not to pull her to him and latch his mouth onto… Disgusted with himself and his fading lack of control, he frowned at her. Then he climbed off the bed. “I’ve got to go.”
“Go where?” She scrambled off the bed, too, and stepped next to him. “Did I do something wrong?”
“Yes. No.” He scooped up his clothes and headed for the bathroom. He didn’t like the flash of hurt he’d seen on her face when he looked up. This wasn’t her fault. “I have some thinking to do. Alone.”
“Okkkay.” She sounded confused, but she couldn’t be any more than he was.
“I’m going back to the line shack for another day or so.” He closed the door and stood there staring at himself in the mirror. He barely recognized the man in the reflection. His face needed shaving, but he’d been in too big a hurry to find Teri to clean up properly before he’d driven into town. His hair needed cutting. But it was his eyes that bothered him most. They held the wild look they got when he was desperate to change. The beast in him was so near the surface. He needed to get out of here. Now. Before he hurt her.
“I’m worried about you, Seth.”
Her quiet voice pulled at him, warmed him, made his dick harden all over again. He wanted to toss her on the bed, get her on all fours once more, drive into.…
He ground his jaw and fought down his needs, cursed under his breath. He jerked on his clothes. Distance. If he didn’t put some distance between them, he wasn’t sure he could restrain the brute much longer. He couldn’t remember ever feeling so desperate to take a woman.
When he stepped closer to the door, he sensed her standing on the other side. He smelled her scent…along with the scent of their lovemaking. His wolf nearly lost it. Take her again. Make her yours. Want. Need. Must have. It was becoming harder with each passing second to fight against his desires. Mine. She belongs to me.
He shook off that thought. She didn’t belong to him. Couldn’t. He was little more than an animal. She was human, delicate, fragile. Wrong for a man—a barely tamed wolf at times—like him. Yet he yanked the door open, snarling, “You will not leave while I am gone. Do you understand me? You will not leave.”
She blinked up at him, startled. “No, but…” She straightened her small shoulders, raised her chin in challenge. “I won’t leave until you get back and we can talk. But I really should be moving on. I’ve stayed too long here already.”
His body tightened in annoyance. He didn’t have the strength to argue about this now. He had to get out of here. But her words were like a knife to the gut. “Do you want to leave?” Not that he would let her, not if he decided she really was his one true life mate, no matter how wrong it was. This was when he missed his pack. His friends who would understand what he was suffering and help him through this.
“Not necessarily, but…”
Relief swirled through him as her words trailed off and pulled him from his troubled musings. “We’ll talk in a day or so.”
He buttoned his work shirt and tucked it in his jeans, zipping up and then glancing toward the bed where his belt lie on the floor next to it. The belt he’d used on Teri’s bottom. For no good reason, yet she’d let him do it. Why? She could have refused him. It pleased him that she hadn’t. Again, he felt an overwhelming need to claim her as his woman, even though he knew she couldn’t be.
Unable to stop himself, he clamped his hands on her bare shoulders and held her in place as he leaned down to kiss her. He needed the touch of her lips against his more than he needed another breath. She didn’t resist him at all. He kissed her with such heat, such desperation that he feared letting the beast out. When he heard his low growl, he released her abruptly and strode briskly from the room.
* * *
Teri stood stunned as Seth tore away from her. She carefully touched her lips, swollen from the impact of his rough kiss. He’d been a man on the edge, a man facing something that was unnerving him. He’d looked almost wild when he’d stepped out of the bathroom. His eyes…something had been odd about them…something almost primal. He carried a secret that tugged at her curiosity. What was he hiding? Why was he so desperate to get away from her?
She walked to the window overlooking the ranch yard, pushing a couple of the slats open from the closed blinds. Seth’s long legs ate up the ground as he headed for the building housing his four-wheeler. She wanted to go after him, but knew he wouldn’t like that. And she had to respect his wishes. If she went against him now, she’d probably get a serious taste of his belt.
Her hands went back to cover her still tender bottom. Why had she allowed him to give her a thrashing? Why did she let him spank her? She wasn’t really the submissive type of woman. Except to him. Except with him it felt right. While he was gone she needed to do some thinking. She’d been right when she’d told him it was time for her to move on. Her feelings about this gruff rancher were becoming complicated and her life was complicated enough. But she didn’t want to leave him.
In truth, she didn’t know what she wanted anymore. Her life had become tedious. All the constant changing of careers, of remaking herself into a new identity, of moving on to yet another place. Never having a home, never belonging. Her eyes misted and she fought back a new wave of depression. Maybe it really was time to end her existence. She’d toyed with the idea many times this last year. But now that she’d found Seth…or they’d found each other. Whatever. The idea held a lot less appeal.
Stop these morbid thoughts! Buck up and stop feeling sorry for yourself. You created this situation. You were the one to walk away all those years ago. You’re the one who hasn’t been able to go back and make things right. By now it was probably too late. Surely her mother had passed on by now, although she’d hoped that somehow, some way someone would have let her know.
Enough! Enough! Enough! She needed to go do something, focus on anything else. Even cleaning the stupid house. No! She wasn’t that desperate. Besides, Seth had punished her—yes, he’d also made hot love with her—but basically she didn’t feel that she had to get back to her normal duties yet. And he was leaving, would be gone for a day or so he’d said. Her household duties could wait until tomorrow.
She turned from the window and couldn’t stand seeing the rumpled bed where so much had happened in the last couple of hours. She’d change his sheets later. Right now she just wanted to go to her room and think about… No. She wasn’t in the mood for thinking about anything at the moment. Maybe she should go watch a movie in the great room, except she preferred watching them with Seth. Maybe she should go through the photos she’d taken recently. No. Boring. She could read a book, one of Seth’s books that she’d seen in the bookcase by the fireplace. This might be a way to learn more about the man she felt so drawn to, the man who starred in her dreams at night. The man who she had allowed to claim her body in many ways.
* * *
“You going away again? So soon?” Walker strode into the building and stopped next to Seth. “That gal getting to you? Maybe you should send her on her way.”
“She’s going to be around a while, so get used to it.” Seth looked at his foreman, the man he trusted with running the ranch and planned to make a partner before long. But not if Walker couldn’t come to terms with Teri being here. “I don’t want you giving her grief when I’m away. Is that clear?”
Walker’s jaw tightened and he nodded. “She means something to you, doesn’t she?” he asked in resignation.
“What if she does?”
For a second, the slightly older man remained silent, his expression hard to read. “Then I guess I need to accept her. If she makes you happy…well, that’s good enou
gh for me.”
Seth straddled the four-wheeler, thought about what Walker had said. “I honestly don’t know how I feel about her. She argues with me over nearly every damn order I give her. She does things her own way, at her own pace. She--”
For the first time in as long as Seth had known Walker, the man smiled. “Yep, you like her all right. She challenges you.”
“She stands up to me, yes.” Not that he always let her have her way. But he’d begun to look forward to antagonizing her on things that didn’t really matter. He wasn’t sure he’d like being alone in the house again if she left.
Walker’s smile faded and he frowned. “Not in a bad way, like that bitch Sarah did.”
Seth’s hands gripped the handlebar so tightly they hurt. Sarah was a sore subject, always would be. He’d jumped into lust with her and then a marriage because of it. He sure as hell didn’t want to make that kind of mistake again. He needed to go away, get his head straight, get control of his body once more. “I’ll only be gone a couple of days at the most. Watch after her for me. Make sure she doesn’t leave the ranch.”
Walker nodded and Seth drove out of the building. He slowed to look toward the house, toward his bedroom. Was she still in there? Still naked and… Frustrated, he sped across the ranch yard and headed for the far field of his property.
* * *
Moonlight streamed in through the partially open window of Teri’s bedroom. She’d lolled about in bed ever since Seth had left the ranch, reading two of his westerns. He had a real flare for writing and easily held a reader’s attention. She’d never read that genre before, but she’d read all of his books, what he’d already written and what he would write in the future. But now she was tired. It had been a long, frustrating day. She did feel as if she understood him better and yet there was so much more about him that she wanted to know.
