by Maren Smith
“Look at me.” He waited for her to look up. “I don’t want you hiding anything from me. There is nothing that you feel that I don’t care about, you hear me?”
“Yes, Daddy. It’s just that”—she looked down again, this time at her hands, unclasping and clasping them back together—”it’s, I don’t know, I guess I think you are going to tell me I’m being silly.”
“Your thoughts and feelings are important to me, no matter how small or how silly you might think they are. Nothing about you is silly to me, Bee. Now, I’d like you to tell me what is going on in that head of yours. And this time, I want you to look at me while you are talking to me. Not at your hands or your feet. If I have to tell you again, I’m going to warm up your behind to help you remember.”
“Yes, Daddy.” She met his eyes this time and kept her attention on him as she spoke. “I’m scared of what is going to happen when we leave.”
“Are you scared of the extraction? Of the plane?” Confusion was etched on his face. “I’m happy to go over the plans with you one more time.”
“No…” She couldn’t help it, she looked down again.
“Over my lap.”
“What?” Snapping her head up, she searched his face. He didn’t seem upset with her.
“Now, Bee.”
“But, Daddy—”
“Little girl, if I have to put you there, I’m going to send you to get the wooden spoon out of the kitchen.” His stern voice spoke volumes.
She slowly lowered herself over his lap, resting her upper body on the couch. She jumped, startled, when he placed his hand on her butt.
“What did I tell you was going to happen if I had to tell you to look at me?”
“Oh.” A sharp swat landed on her pant-clad bottom.
“Try again.”
“You said you would warm up my bottom, Daddy.”
“And where were you looking just now?”
“My feet, Daddy.”
“Was that where you were supposed to be looking?”
“No, Daddy.”
“Good girl.” He didn’t say another word, just let his hand do the talking. It wasn’t a hard spanking. His hand danced across her butt for a minute, landing a couple dozen medium-forced swats on the fleshiest part of her butt. They both knew it wasn’t anything worthy of serious correction.
It stung some, but this spanking was not about the pain. It was about their balance. He was in charge; he made the rules and she followed them. It was a reminder, a tone-setter, a way to help her get in the right mindset. She recognized exactly what he was doing and she was grateful for it. It would help tremendously for her to be in the follower mindset today. Let him lead. Let him protect. Let him be Daddy.
The spanking was over almost as quickly as he started it. He sat her back up and looked at her. She felt the heat rush to her face and knew it was probably bright red.
“I’m going to keep you right here in case I have to do that again, but I hope I don’t have to. Now, what is going on?”
“I’m scared that when we get stateside, things aren’t going to work out and all of this is going to come to an end and I’m going to be hurt again. I don’t know how we are going to make it work in America…” She let her words trail off but remembered to keep her eyes solidly on his.
“Thank you for keeping your eyes on me when talking this time,” Max praised her. He rubbed her back absentmindedly as he thought about her words. It wouldn’t be easy at first. He knew he was going to be asking a lot from her. They had talked quite a bit in the past forty-eight hours about their careers and their personal lives. He told her about his brothers, his teammates. She seemed to be living a rather isolated life. He wasn’t surprised. She had come from a broken, unstable family growing up and she had never felt the closeness, love or stability from any kin. While she had mentioned a couple friends, nothing was keeping her at home, or she wouldn’t be going on years-long sabbaticals to dangerous overseas locations.
“Bumble, I have no doubts that we can make this work stateside. It will work. I won’t walk away from you again. I love you, Brianna. I have always loved you. I let you push me away once; I won’t let that happen again. I’d like you to move to San Diego, where I am stationed out of, and live with me. There are plenty of medical opportunities for you there. Might you consider it?” He held his breath waiting for her to respond.
“Is it too soon to ask me that? What if you change your mind?”
“I’m not going to change my mind, Bee.”
“What if you do. What if I move up there and you decide I’m not what you want after all? Then what?”
“That’s not going to happen.”
“But what if it does?”
“If you ask me what if again—”
“I’m just saying, Max, you are hot and any girl would want to be with you. You are and have always been out of my league. I could move up there and someone younger, better than me could catch your eye and now I’m stuck there and…”
Max stood up quickly, taking Brianna with him. He yanked her pants and underwear down as he walked, pulling her through the small house. He reached the kitchen and snatched the tall wooden spoon out of the holder next to the sink, completely deaf to the screeches coming from Brianna.
“Wait! Max! What are you doing! Stop!”
He didn’t stop. He propped his leg up on a kitchen chair and bent her forward at the waist over his knee and brought the spoon down on her bare butt.
Pop! Pop! Pop!
The spoon splattered little round circles on her creamy white orbs. Pink ovals rose up where it landed.
“Ouch! Ow! It hurts!” She danced from foot to foot as he continued his assault. When she reached a hand behind her to protect her ass, he deftly gathered both of them into one of his and pinned them at the small of her back.
“I’ve had enough of you thinking badly of yourself and of me. These trust issues are going to end one way or another, do you hear me, little girl? If I have to turn this ass crimson, I will. It is going to be a really hard trip back to the States sitting on a sore butt. You will not speak badly about my girl that way. You are perfect for me and are not out of my league. Furthermore, it hurts me when you say things like I would leave you for another woman. I have never cheated on you and I would never cheat on you. I don’t think you believe the words that are coming out of your mouth, Bumble Bee.”
She was trying to push him away. It wouldn’t work. He wasn’t going anywhere. They had spent eight years together, eight beautiful years. He knew her and he knew what a good person she was. Her worth had nothing to do with the shit bag family the cards had dealt her. If anything, he didn’t deserve her goodness.
“I noticed how you suddenly decided I was Max again. What did we talk about?” They’d had a long conversation the night before. In private, when they were alone, he would always be Daddy. There would be times they would have to be professional and she would have to slip into her role as a doctor, but alone, she would be his, every part of her. Together, they had come up with their rules. He had listened to her needs, both the ones she verbalized and the ones her body told him about.
The spoon danced across her flesh. He moved it lower, to the crease where her legs and thighs met. He flicked his wrist, performing a cadence of sharp, short pops that covered the entire space on both legs.
She stomped her feet and wailed, “It hurts! Please stop! Please, Daddy!”
“It’s Daddy now, is it?”
“I’m sorry!” she gasped out. “Please!”
“Not yet.” He dropped the spoon to the floor and replaced it with his open palm. The crack filled the room, reverberating off the wall. He wanted to feel the heat of her butt. It was warm against his hand, good. He continued the spanking, skin to skin.
He covered every inch of her behind with hard, harsh swats. Not a spot was missed. Then he started again. Her feet were still kicking, her begs were still coming. She wasn’t there yet.
“I told you this t
wo days ago before I claimed you and I am telling you this again. You are mine. Now and forever. I won’t be going anywhere and you won’t be pushing me away. I love you, Brianna Bradford. There will be challenges ahead of us, but as long as we face them together, we will be fine.” He continued to paddle her behind with his hand, feeling the sting of her flesh in his palm. He monitored her breathing, watched as her legs stopped their thrashing.
He lowered his hand from her beautifully curved, full bottom to where the spoon had just been, her sit spot and upper thighs. He’d bring home the point and get her to where he needed her to be. His hand made contact with that hot, tight flesh. The fight went out of her and she relaxed over his knee, finally. He stopped then.
Standing up fully, Max pulled Brianna up and into his arms. He wrapped her up, resting his chin on the top of her head, holding her to his chest while she sobbed. When her tears stopped, he released her, bending down to pull up her pants. She hissed as they made contact with her butt. Taking her hand, they walked back to the living room.
“Let’s try this again.”
“Yes, Daddy.”
He kissed the bridge of her nose.
“What do you say about moving in with me, Little Bee? I’d sure love to have you there with me all the time.”
“I have a few things I would need to get taken care of first at home. It’s not a decision to make lightly,” she said.
“I know it’s not. We can do the long-distance thing for a while. I’ll be honest though; I hate the idea of that. We will have to spend time apart because of our jobs and we’ve lost an entire decade of time already.”
“I hate the amount of time we have already lost.” She sighed and snuggled into his chest.
“I do too, sweetheart.” He tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “I am gone a lot with work. They call and I leave. There aren’t enough hours in a day for us to be together. Even if we won the lottery and got to spend every hour of every day for the rest of our lives together, it wouldn’t be enough.” As he stared into her beautiful eyes, he realized he meant it. He meant every goddamned word coming from his mouth.
“I love you, too.”
“I’m glad you knew what I was saying. Look, I have a lot of leave saved up. I can take some and help with whatever you need back home. We can spend some more time together.”
“Then I would just go back with you?”
“Yes. I think you will like my place. I have plenty of room.” What he didn’t say was that the four-bedroom house belonged to a teammate who had lost his legs by a roadside bomb and had to sell his house when he moved back to his hometown. Max had bought the house when it looked like it was going to be foreclosed on. The market wasn’t good and he couldn’t see his buddy going through all of that.
“Okay, Daddy. That sounds like a plan.”
“I have another plan. Why don’t we go into the bedroom and let Daddy give you some pleasure to distract from that hurt butt of yours?”
She was off of his lap in two seconds flat.
Chapter Seven
The whirling and thumping of the helicopter was music to Max’s ears. On time and exactly where it was supposed to be at the primary extraction point. He wanted to get Brianna out of this country once and for all and back to America where she belonged. Crossing back into the Congo had given him a sinking feeling in his stomach, one that hadn’t been there since his first mission as a new SEAL. The object of his anxiety was standing next to him, and he was damn proud of her. She had followed every one of his instructions to a tee.
“Ready, Bee?” He nodded toward the helicopter where Phantom waited to hoist her in.
“Ready.” Just like he had instructed, she ran low to the ground until they reached the opening, and Max, right behind her, swung her up and handed her to Phantom, who had her in the canvas seat and buckled in just as the chaos erupted.
“RPG!” The shout rang out overhead. Max dove into the helicopter, and crouching, he pulled his weapon and started shooting.
“Go, go!” Shots rang out from inside and outside of the helicopter. They were under direct fire. Max saw the man with the RPG launcher; he steadied himself before taking careful aim. Direct hit. He was down. More men ran from the woods surrounding the landing site, all shooting at the helo. The SEALs on board fired back. Their aim was good, several insurgents fell.
Dust flew up as the helicopter lifted and rose, finally taking off. His adrenaline was pulsing through his veins as he took a deep steadying breath, everything slowing around him, his training kicking in. Focusing, he took out another insurgent. Finally in the air, he turned to check on Brianna. The red stains flowing down the front of her shirt turned his blood to ice. If he lived to be a hundred, he would never forget the terror he felt in the moment he had turned to see her covered in blood.
“It’s not mine!” she cried out, seeing his face. “Max, it’s not my blood!” She was fighting at the straps holding her into her seat. Setting herself free, she lurched forward and onto the floor. Max’s gaze followed her to the unconscious pile on the cold, hard helicopter floor.
“McGhee’s been hit!” he called out. Fuck. He pushed Brianna out of the way to get to his best friend.
“Max!” She struggled with him.
“Stop, Bee. I need to check Phantom.” He feared the worst, there was no movement coming from the downed man.
“He’s breathing,” Max declared, relief filling him. ABCs. ABCs. ABCs. Max repeated the phrase over and over again in his head. Trauma training had come back to him. Airway. Breathing. Circulation.
“Max!” Brianna shouted his name, refusing to allow him to push her away this time. “I’m a doctor, remember?”
Max heard her, but training had kicked in. He was in auto mode. “Give me your IFAK!” He turned to a gunner at the door who quickly complied, handing him his individual first aid kit. “We have to pack the bleeding.”
He felt Brianna doing her own thing besides him.
“Max, I need your help!”
Stopping what he was doing immediately, Max complied. “What do you need?”
“His leg is shattered. It looks like he’s bleeding out. We need to get this tourniquet started.” She was calm, her hands steady.
He was so fucking proud of her. “What do you need?”
“These damn pants need to go!” Within seconds, Brianna had the tourniquet expertly applied. Then, she was straddling Hudson, her small hands moving inside a gaping wound in his leg. “Hand me some gauze. How long until we land?”
“Five minutes, ma’am,” the SEAL to the right of them called out.
“What can I do?” Max felt helpless. He fucking hated that feeling.
“Finish packing his shoulder.”
Max moved to obey.
“Come on, Phantom, wake up for me.” He heard Brianna talking to his best friend.
“Phantom, my girl is straddling you. I’m going to have to kick your ass.” No response. Come on, brother. You can’t die on me. I can’t lose you, too. Phantom was a damn fighter. He would make it. Max’s fingers went to find Phantom’s pulse. It was there. It was faint, but it was there.
“He’s alive,” he said to no one but himself.
“And we are going to keep him that way,” Brianna reassured him.
God, help me.
Kneeling next to Max’s best friend, Brianna was worried, but she was disciplined enough in her craft to keep that worry from her face. It was probably a good thing the SEAL was unconscious; the pain would be unbearable. She scanned his injuries during her initial review. The gunshot in his shoulder seemed to be a through and through. The one she was most concerned with had hit his leg. While Max had been busy packing his shoulder, she had been focused on examining his leg. When she felt along the wound, she had silently chanted to herself, “Don’t let it be the femoral artery.” She had been relieved when she moved along and found that the injury was to the lower leg and not the upper thigh area. There was more hope that he would live to
see surgery. She owed this man her life.
While Max and the rest of the team had been returning fire, Phantom had been securing her into her seat. When the shooting started, he turned, grabbing his weapon. That’s when she saw him: an insurgent coming from the trees, closer to the helicopter than the rest of them, hidden from direct view of the others by the angle of the helicopter. The evil man had taken aim at Brianna. She’d opened her mouth to scream but before she could get the sound out, Phantom had thrown his body in front of her, using himself as a human shield.
While the shots rang out tearing into his body, he’d leveled his weapon and was able to get off a single round. Headshot. Evil terminated. It was only then that he collapsed to his knees on the floor in front of her. Brianna had torn at her seatbelt trying to remove it, trying to get to him. He’d looked at her, shaking his head, telling her to stay put, stay safe. There was blood squirting out of the holes in his body and he’d been worried about her. The blood loss was just too much and he fell back. It had taken her entirely too long to get free.
Once she was and had made it to him, she wasn’t about to let Max push her aside. She was a doctor; this was her expertise. She knew that Phantom’s heart was unaware of his catastrophic injuries, and that it would continue to pump large quantities of blood toward them, causing the life-threatening loss of blood. He needed a transfusion and surgery immediately. If they didn’t get help soon, she was afraid he would hemorrhage internally.
“Almost there.”
The words came from Max. She felt his hand on the small of her back, steadying her. Her hand was getting tired holding pressure to the pulsating artery. She was using all of her weight to keep it from gushing. The helicopter landed and a team rushed toward them with a stretcher.
“We’ve got him from here!” a navy corpsman said, approaching her.
