by Maggie Ryan
“Laney, you can’t be expected to do all the cooking and general running of the place, and all of Ginger’s job too. That’s too much for one person.” Beau rubbed his hands over his face, thinking. “Okay, I will make sure you get paid by Friday, and I will make sure Ginger starts doing her job, instead of expecting you to take care of everything.”
“Beau, I’m fine. Except for not being paid, everything at The Ginger Paddle is going great, and we’re busier than ever. We just need to give Ginger a little more time to get back to her old self. She’s been through a lot, and she doesn’t need to have to worry about rushing back to work.”
Beau frowned, his eyebrows raised in annoyance. “Laney, it’s been four, almost five months. She’s had time. We’ve all given her plenty of time and space, and asked as little as possible from her. I hate to say it, but I don’t think we’ve done her any favors. I’ve been letting her get away with murder at home, and now I find out she hasn’t even attempted to go in to work?” Beau stopped short, shaking his head. “No. I’ve had enough. This stops now. No more free ride, no more pity party, and no more calling off domestic discipline.”
He didn’t miss the shocked faces around him as he turned and stomped off, fully intending to go home and get to the bottom of what was going on with his wife, even if it meant busting her butt to get there.
He was blocked at the doorway by Josiah and Benjamin.
“Move.” He was in no mood for good manners, and especially in no mood for well-meaning interferences from his friends.
“Hang on just a minute.” Josiah stepped in front of the doorway and wouldn’t move. “What did you mean you called off domestic discipline? When?”
Beau sighed. “When she was on bed rest.”
Josiah gaped at him incredulously. “That was months ago, bro! You seriously haven’t been doing DD all this time? Like, not at all?”
“Nope,” Beau snapped, trying to push past him.
“And now what? You’re going to storm in there and… That doesn’t sound like a good idea.”
“Well, not doing it isn’t working. I gave her time. I’ve been patient. Marcus told us to use alternative punishments, but they didn’t work for us, so we took a break. Now she doesn’t seem to want anything to do with it at all, and she’s taunting me with it.” He shook his head. “Look, I’ve been dealing with it as best I can, but not doing DD is not working for us.”
Benjamin stepped forward and put his hand on Beau’s shoulder. “Okay, okay. I can see that something needs to change, but storming in there like that and spanking her without consent is not going to fix things. Let’s sit down and talk about this. Stay, have a beer, enjoy the party, and we’ll talk this out and try to come up with a less caveman-like solution.”
Beau deflated. He knew Benjamin was right. He didn’t intend to let the break continue, but he needed a better plan than what he currently felt like doing about it.
He allowed himself to be dragged away to where the beer was being served.
She was asleep when he got home from the party. One beer had turned into two, and two into three, until he had let go of his frustration and allowed himself to have a good time. And thanks to his meddling friends, he did have a better handle on how to handle it.
He tucked her in, bringing the cover up to cover her, and tucking it under her chin. Tonight, he would let her sleep. Tomorrow, she would be in for a rude awakening.
Chapter 4
Smack! Ginger awoke instantly to a hard slap across her upper thigh. Her short pajama bottoms offered nothing in the way of protection.
She grabbed at the covers, pulling them up and over her head. “Leave me alone, Beau. I’m sleeping!”
Beau did not listen. The covers were ripped off her once again, falling to the floor in a heap. Another stinging slap to her left thigh jarred her from sleep, and she leapt off the bed, indignant.
“What the hell?” She glared at her husband, reaching behind her to rub the spot where his hand had met her thigh.
“It’s time to get up. You need to shower and be downstairs for breakfast in ten minutes. You have a lot to do today.”
She stared blankly at him, her mind still fuzzy in her half asleep state. “Beau, shhh. You’re going to wake Hazel.” She gestured to the bassinet beside the bed, her heart skipping a beat when she looked over and found it empty.
“Hazel is sleeping in her crib, in her room. If she wakes up, I will take care of her. You now have nine minutes.” Beau left the room, leaving her standing there confused and angry.
She stared in confusion at the closed door. What on earth had gotten into her husband? Even as she asked herself this, a familiar feeling of desire and anticipation knotted up within her, and she was appalled to realize she was almost aroused. I obviously need more sleep she told herself, picking the covers up off the floor and climbing into bed underneath them. She, of course, couldn’t fall back asleep, but she stayed there burrowed stubbornly under the covers. She figured that when Beau came in, if he thought she was asleep, he would leave her alone.
Instead, she found herself ripped out of the covers, and lifted through the air as if she were weightless. The air whooshed out of her lungs in a surprised oomph when she found herself upended across her husband’s knees for the first time in a very long time. She immediately struggled against his arms, flailing about in an effort to get herself off his lap by any means necessary. Beau, of course, was stronger, and had her effectively pinned within seconds. When she realized she was not getting up unless he let her up, she tried appealing to his logical side.
“Stop it, Beau! Let me up this instant! I haven’t done anything to deserve this, and furthermore, we’re on a break!”
She couldn’t believe it when he chuckled. That made her even more furious, and she fought against him with renewed strength, even though she knew her efforts would be futile.
Beau’s only response was to tug down her panties and shorts, letting them fall down to her knees. She sucked in her breath. That was never a good sign.
“I think,” Beau said matter-of factly, his finger resting atop the entrance of her dark hole, “that you and I both know that you have done plenty to deserve this, and more.”
Belatedly, Ginger recalled her cousin’s warning phone call from the party last night. She silently cursed Laney for not keeping her big mouth shut.
She squealed when Ben’s finger penetrated her bottom hole, and instinctively stilled her struggles, laying stiff as a board against his penetrations.
That darn man had the audacity to chuckle again.
“You always have listened best with my finger in your ass. Do I have your attention now, my darling stubborn wife?”
“Yes. Yes, I’m listening!” she shrieked, bucking against his finger as he moved it slowly up and down inside her. “But we’re still on a break!”
That earned her a volley of smacks, each one harder than the one before.
“See, I think you and I have a difference of opinion on what a break actually means,” he told her jovially, resting his hand on the hot spot of flesh below her cheeks.
“Well that’s ridiculous–a break is a—EEEK!” she shrieked as he rained a barrage of punishing blows on her bare bottom.
“I have—” Swat “—had about—” Swat “—enough—” Swat “—of your smart mouth!” His hand came down hard on her sit spots, alternating sides, until she was gasping for breath. “Now, you are going to be quiet and listen, or I am going to break out the paddle and show you what I really think of this break of yours. The only thing I want to hear out of your mouth for the next ten minutes, is yes, Sir!” He punctuated his edict with a spank to her upper thighs that nearly brought her reeling up from his hold. “Do you understand?”
“I…I…” she sputtered. Beau’s finger plunged deeper inside her tight hole, and she gasped at what she knew was a warning. The fight left her. “Yes, Sir.”
“Good girl. Now we’re getting somewhere.” As a reward, he stilled h
is finger, relaxing it inside her. His other hand rested atop her still warm cheeks as a reminder. “Now, as I was saying, we seem to have a differing opinion these days as to the purpose of a break. See, I saw it as a way to let you recover physically and emotionally from everything that you went through. And maybe you did too, in the beginning. But, see that’s changed. Now it seems as if you are viewing the break as a free pass to get away with whatever you want, or don’t want to do as the case may be. You’re abusing my generosity, aren’t you?”
She shook her head in vehement denial, but Beau was having none of it. His finger plunged deeper inside her until she squealed and bucked against him. The bucking just earned her a fresh set of punishing blows to her tender bottom crease.
“Do you want to re-think your answer, darling, or should I continue? Are you ready to listen now?”
Ginger was stubborn, but she wasn’t stupid, and she could see there was only one way out of this. “Yes, Sir.”
“Yes, Sir, what?”
“Yes, Sir, I’m ready to listen.”
“Good.” He stopped spanking then, resting his large palm against her hot skin. She shivered in spite of herself. She wanted to be mad. What he was doing shouldn’t feel so good, but her body was reacting in ways it never had before.
“See, here’s the thing. I was more than willing to take a break. Aside from your temper, I’ve never had to worry much about you, and I figured I could trust you enough to keep yourself under control, and remember the heart of why we do this. But now, now you’re disobedient, you’re not living up to your responsibilities at work, you’re rude and belligerent, and you seem to enjoy throwing it in my face that I can’t spank you for it. The way I see it, you’ve been begging me to do just that.”
Ginger bit her lip, chewing it absently as she pondered his words. Is that what she had been doing? Shame rose up in her cheeks as she remembered her harsh words and defiant actions. It was just yesterday, but it seemed so long ago now. Nothing to put things in perspective like a first thing in the morning trip over your husband’s knee, she mused.
“Is that what you’ve been doing, Ginger? Have you been begging for a spanking?”
She didn’t reply. Still wrapped up in her own thoughts, she didn’t even realize he was asking her a question until his hand stopped rubbing and came cracking down on her backside with all the force of a paddle. Damn, she had forgotten how hard his hands could be.
“Answer me, woman.” His hand went back poised for impact, and she squeaked out her answer, bracing herself for the blow.
“No, I wasn’t, I wasn’t!” It didn’t seem to be the answer he was looking for as his hand connected with her aching backside.
“Okay, okay, maybe I was! But it wasn’t conscious!”
At her admission, his hand stilled, coming down softly to rest on her back. “Now we’re getting somewhere. Tell me, whose idea was it to do domestic discipline?”
Ginger sighed. “Mine, Sir.”
“And, whose idea was it to move to Corbin’s Bend?”
She could see where this was going, and it didn’t bode well for her. “Mine, Sir.”
“Mmm-hmm.” His finger pumped inside her, in and out of her tight hole. “Whose idea was it to take a break from any and all punishments against the advice of our friends and mentors?”
“It was my idea.” Her voice sounded empty, even to her.
The pumping stopped, but the spanking began in earnest. His hand flattened against her bottom, again and again, peppering both cheeks with sharp swats, one after another, with no pause between. DD may have been her idea, but damn, the man could spank.
“It seems to me,” he began, concentrating on reddening the crease between her thighs and bottom cheeks, “that we’ve been doing things your way for much too long. I’ve let you be in charge of everything, even this.”
He paused, letting his words sink in. Ginger fought back tears against the pain of the spanking and the truthfulness of his lecture. She had even controlled the way he took control. Shame filled her, and the tears fell hot against her cheeks. And yet even through her embarrassment over the position she was in, there was a sense of peace and relief. Had she been pushing for this to happen, secretly wishing that he would take charge, and get her under control since she hadn’t seemed to be able to?
“I think,” he continued, his tone decisive, “that it’s time we started doing things my way.”
Even with his finger still wedged in between her ass cheeks, and her bottom throbbing from the unexpected morning spanking, Ginger felt the familiar waves of panic rise up in her chest. Her heart was pounding, and her face was flushed, and she was fighting an overwhelming urge to scream and cry. But beyond that, she felt something new and unexpected. It almost seemed surreal, as if her brain was refusing to connect the two things, but her body was betraying her. Beau’s newfound dominance was making her ache with arousal. It didn’t make any sense. It wasn’t as if Beau had never been dominant before, in his own quiet way, but it had never had this effect on her. Annoyed, she told herself it must be due to the early hour, and her half asleep state. Even as she told herself this, she knew it was a lie. She was fully awake now.
“I want you to say it, Ginger. Say, from now on we will do things my way.”
God. She nearly creamed herself with every bossy thing that came out of his mouth. She was panting with need. “We will do things your way from now on,” she told him, nearly choking on the words.
“Sir,” he reminded her.
“We will do things your way from now on, Sir,” she corrected breathlessly.
“Good. Very good.” He carefully removed his finger from her bottom hole, and patted her bottom, helping her rise off his lap. She was limp and her legs felt like Jello as she swayed in his arms.
He held her tightly and kissed the top of her head. “Now, you are going to take a shower, and I am going to get cleaned up for work.”
She nodded her agreement, eager to obey.
“Don’t be long, Hazel will be waking up soon,” he reminded her, exiting the room and making his way downstairs.
Chapter 5
When Ginger came out of the shower, Beau was gone, and Hazel was still sleeping. She had lingered in the shower, trying to process her feelings over the morning’s events.
She should be furious. She wanted to be furious at him. After all, they were on a break, and the only person who should be able to call that off in her mind, was her. Beau had made a pretty strong case, and she knew he was right about the way things were going lately. She never would have ended the break, and she would have continued to push and poke and taunt him over it, just as she had been doing. She knew it was stupid, and immature, and she absolutely hated herself when she was doing it.
And then, there was the way her insides had turned to mush when he lifted her from the bed and flipped her over his knee. The submissive longings that she felt when he questioned her with his finger pumping in her ass, and the fact that even now, she still was turned on by the way he had spoken to her. Beau had gently accused her of pushing him for a reaction, and she realized now that he had been right. Even if she hadn’t been fully conscious of it at the time, she had been all but begging him for a spanking.
That must be it, she decided. It was the only logical explanation. And logical or not, it still didn’t explain why she had wanted to jump his bones afterward and had to settle for pleasuring herself in the shower. That had never happened before. It was unnerving—to say the least. She had heard, of course, of some people being turned on by discipline, but it wasn’t for her. As far as she was concerned, discipline was for just that—helping her to become more disciplined. A spanko she was not. The whole idea of being turned on by spanking made no sense to her. If you liked it, how was it a deterrent? For her, the way she had reacted had to have been a one-time thing, and it had to do with the fact that she had been nearly half asleep when it started. It had to.
Still shaken by the memory, she moved to th
e coffee pot. Coffee would help, she told herself. Coffee always helped. She was delighted to find a fresh pot ready and waiting for her. Waiting for coffee to brew was the worst thing in the world as far as she was concerned, and Beau knew it. He also knew that having her morning coffee ready and waiting for her was—as silly as it may seem—the quickest way to make her feel loved and cherished. And that’s how she felt. Until she saw the note propped up against her favorite coffee cup.
Good morning, my darling,
I hope your day goes better than the way it started. Although, honestly, I’m not complaining. You need to go into the restaurant today, and do the books. If Laney has not been paid by the end of the day tomorrow, you will be the one paying for it, if you get my drift.
There’s a lasagna in the freezer, and I have a meeting after work. I should be home around five, and I will expect dinner to be ready when I get there. It’s time for things to start returning to normal around here.
I meant what I said. From now on, we will be doing this my way. We will discuss it further this evening.
Much Love, Beau
She dropped the note. Just dropped it onto the kitchen floor, and stared at it in shock. Her first reaction had been that it was sweet, then embarrassed at his reference to their morning activities. Embarrassment had quickly turned to annoyance as she read over his instructions for her, and the last thing she had felt was still the most troubling of all. She was completely and utterly turned on. It seemed like it would be something straight out of a spanking romance, if she read those types of things.
She ignored the note, leaving it where it had fallen, and made her coffee. As she sipped the sweet, warm liquid gold, she fought a war in her head. Part of her wanted to down her coffee, bundle up the baby and haul ass to the restaurant, breeze through three months’ worth of book-keeping in record time, and rush home in time to clean the house and cook a gourmet meal.
