by Jodi Bella
Ten more spanks followed, fired off at her bottom in rapid succession. They were hard enough to make her gasp and kick a bit, but still wonderfully erotic. The warmth from her bottom was spreading in that wonderful spiral throughout the rest of her body and she felt heat everywhere. He paused to caress her again, murmuring how pretty she looked with her pink bottom and how lovely her gasps sounded to his ears. He asked her if she was okay, and she answered in a breathless sort of whisper that she was.
He began spanking again, this time swatting her much slower and letting each stinger sink in fully, before delivering the next. They were crisp, firm swats and Alicia grabbed hold of his leg with one hand and held on. She knew that her bottom had to be quickly reddening under his broad hand and even though the heat was really intensifying, she still arched up to meet him every time. He stopped after twenty more, announcing that they had only twenty more to go, and commenced stroking her again.
Another moan fell from her lips as he once again came as close to touching her as he could, yet each time fell just short. This time, she heard his warm chuckle above her and she looked back over her shoulder at him as he again swept her hair away from her face.
"I think you are enjoying this, Alicia," he accused teasingly. She felt her face blaze in embarrassment and tried to duck her head, but he wouldn't let her. He touched the blush on her face and said, "Don't be embarrassed. It's a beautiful reaction you're having. I love it. Your body is beautiful and your bottom is all pink and warm from my hand." He patted her bare seat as he spoke. "It makes me so happy to know you are excited by this." His hand rubbed again, circling each of her nether cheeks around, and around again. A tiny whimper escaped her. "The sounds you're making makes me very excited, Alicia. But I want to hear you admit you like this."
"Oh… I… I don't think so…"
"No?" His fingers dipped so close to her sex she nearly went mad when he pulled them back. "Well, I think you can. And I think we'll just take a little breather here, until you figure out a way to tell me."
Then, to her surprise, he nudged her legs further apart and she knew he could see the evidence of her arousal. But for some reason, draped over this man's lap, excited beyond belief by his attentions to her backside, she found that her embarrassment was fading. She felt strangely… proud of the way he was making her react. It was like he saw her response as a gift, and he certainly accepted this about her, had said he thought it was beautiful. Why shouldn't she agree?
"I have the answer here, in and of itself," he commented. She felt him lean back away from her and his body grew tense. "You might not believe this, Alicia, but I've never crossed the line between business and pleasure before, but right now there's nothing I would rather do. It would get me fired. I want to touch you, though, more than anything." She heard the strain in his voice and started to tell him that she wanted that too. He stopped her before she could finish. "No, darlin,' I can't do that. It wouldn't be fair to either of us."
She couldn't deny the disappointment those words brought on. She didn't know what to say, and so remained quiet as his fingers drew twin hearts on her bottom, then in silence his hand fell down in the first spank of her last remaining twenty.
The last set of swats were the sharpest yet and she heard herself moaning loudly throughout them. She knew she was grinding herself against his leg, and she couldn't help it. She wanted him so badly, and she knew she couldn't have him.
When he finished her last twenty, he once again petted her bottom. She was writhing over his lap and half crying with frustration.
"Shh, baby…" He bent and gave each of her bottom cheeks a soft kiss. Then he patted her bottom low on her sit spot, right behind her sex and she bucked and writhed over his leg shamelessly while he spoke encouragingly above her, bringing her to climax as much with his words as with the light spanks he delivered. The loud cry announcing her orgasm brought a broad grin to his face.
He caressed her back and bottom as she came slowly down. He smoothed her hair back from her face and smiled down into her dreamy expression, finally holding a calm, well-spanked, well-sated woman over his knees.
"Happy birthday, Alicia Marie," he said as he helped her stand. She wiggled into her panties and touched her still warm bottom through the silk and lace before letting her skirt fall back down over her behind. She was shy now, unable to look him in the eye, especially when she noticed the large bulge straining at the zipper of his jeans.
He stood and framed her face with his hands. "I want to tell you that I've never done that with anyone. I hope I haven't offended you, now that it's over. I wanted to give you the pleasure you seemed to ask for and it gave me great pleasure to do it."
She nodded and looked up into those blue eyes. "Thank you," she whispered.
He smiled and surprised her with a soft kiss to her lips. "You're most welcome, my little birthday girl." He continued to hold her before him, which was just fine, actually, with her. His expression had grown serious and he finally said, "May I call you sometime, Alicia?"
"Yes, I'd like that."
He let go of her and found a pen and paper on one of the shelves in the room. She wrote her phone number for him, trying to ignore the insecure voices in her head that told her she was an idiot, that he probably had a new collection of similar slips of paper every day. He thanked her when she handed him the paper.
"I suppose I ought to return you to your table before your sister starts to worry," he said, sounding disappointed. He hesitated a bit longer, this time giving her a longer kiss that left her feeling light headed from the hammering of her heart. She felt so faint, in fact, that she doubted she'd heard him right when he added, "Plus I'd best give them my notice."
"What did you say?"
He grinned. "I said I'd better hand in my resignation if I intend to take you out on a date, Alicia Marie. And I fully intend to do exactly that."
"But…"
"Don't argue with me, woman," he teased. He claimed possession of her hand and led her towards the doorway before she could really protest further.
They were heading back to the noise of the restaurant and the expectant faces at her table too soon for her to question him. Though she did manage to pull back a moment to ask him his name.
"It's Luke," he said. "Luke Stephens."
Definitely not the "cool hand" kind of Luke, she mused. They reached her table of giggling, gawking friends and Luke gave her bottom a soft pat to urge her back to her chair. She returned and sat tenderly beside her sister, who immediately jumped on her with twenty questions. Alicia looked over her shoulder and smiled as Luke gave her a wink and a wave and then turned and walked away. She could have sworn she heard him whistling despite all the noise surrounding her.
Chapter 2
Alicia spent each night, and the better part of her days for the next week dreaming about Luke. She saw him in her mind, remembering how sexy he'd looked in his low slung blue jeans with the sleeves rolled up on his flannel shirt. She saw the dancing light in his eyes, the teasing smile on his sensuous lips. She heard his southern drawl as he'd assured her that she would have her spanking. She remembered the feel of his hard thighs beneath her belly when she'd been over his lap and her entire body flushed with the memory of the wonderful present he'd given her with the flat of his palm and the skill of his voice. If she closed her eyes, she could almost feel his lips against her own again.
When he finally called her, eight days after her birthday, she ignored the flutter in her stomach at the sound of his voice rumbling over the wire, and snapped, "Well, it sure took you long enough to call, Cowboy!"
He chuckled. "I'm sorry I kept you in suspense, darlin'. This week was really hectic and I just plain didn't have the time to give you a ring until now."
She felt a pang of guilt at his words, thinking about how he had quit his job so that he could take her out on a date. "Did you find another job?" she asked quietly.
What do you mean?" he actually sounded confused and for a minute some o
f her ire returned.
"You said you were going to quit the restaurant," she reminded him.
"Oh, yeah. I did quit. But I was only working there part time, filling in for people when they were out, or coming in if they had a special request from a customer for a cowboy."
Alicia blushed hotly at that last bit of information.
"I honestly didn't have the time to give you a call, Alicia. I'm sorry 'bout that. But I can make it up to you," he pressed.
Alicia crossed her arms over her chest. "Yeah?" she prompted grudgingly when he said nothing more. "I'm listening."
Luke laughed again. "How about dinner and spanking?"
"Don't you mean dinner and dancing?" she groused, not budging yet despite his attempts to be light.
"Well, if you'd prefer dancing, I guess that'd be okay," he conceded with a put-upon sigh. "But I said dinner and spanking, and that's exactly what I meant."
"Humph!" Alicia twisted the phone cord around one finger. "Well, just so you know, Cowboy, I don't do spankings on the first date."
"Oh, no?" There was an audible smile in his voice. "Well, you know what they say, angel: There's a first time for everything."
Why did the simple use of the word 'angel' make her toes curl and the icy tone vanish from her voice? She cleared her throat and hoped she wasn't giving it away that she was coming around. If there was one thing that Alicia Goode had learned about men it was that she should never let them think they had the best of her.
"Don't count on it."
He laughed. "We'll see. I'll pick you up on Friday at seven?"
"I never said yes," she pointed out.
"Sure you did. The first time you looked in my eyes, Alicia Marie. You said 'yes' to me the first time you looked at me."
It should have sounded corny or arrogant—it would have sounded corny or arrogant coming from any other man in the world. But coming from Luke, even over the telephone wire, it gave Alicia goosebumps. She couldn't think of a single snappy reply, and instead found herself meekly giving him her address so that he could pick her up on Friday night. His words were echoing in her mind even after he had told her to "be good" and "wear something pretty," then said goodbye and hung up. She replaced the handset on the cradle and stared at the phone a few minutes before the 'pretty' comment sunk in. Ha! She ought to wear her old pair of camouflage army pants and a man's tee shirt and work boots, just to spite the bossy man!
Of course, when Alicia opened the door of her apartment to Luke that Friday night, she was wearing a pale pink flowered sundress. Nothing very dressy since she didn't know where they were going for dinner, but pretty and feminine all the same. As he had requested—no, told—her. She'd been silently berating herself since the moment she'd slipped the cotton dress over her head, but the moment she saw him in her doorway, looking her over appreciatively with that sexy grin of his and a bunch of pink carnations in one hand, she blushed with pride.
"Hello, beautiful," he rumbled, holding the flowers out to her. Lord, when was the last time someone had given her flowers? "Here, you should have these. They match your blushing cheeks."
She giggled nervously as she accepted the carnations, blushing all the more at the thought of the other cheeks that had been blushing the last time she'd seen this man.
"Th-thank you. Uh—let me put these in some water…" she stammered. And get myself back under control!
"Sure."
Luke waited just inside her doorway while she rushed into the kitchen. She made herself take ten deep breaths as she arranged the flowers in a vase.
Calm down, he's just a man for goodness sake. A gorgeous, spanking man—but still just a man.
When she came back into the living room, Luke was cradling her devil cat, Lucy, against his chest. Alicia stopped dead in her tracks.
"Careful… she doesn't like to be picked up," she cautioned.
Luke was busy rubbing the silver tiger's belly. "She's purring," he pointed out.
Sure enough, she was. Alicia could hear her clear across the room.
"So you charm all kinds of females, is that it?" she joked. At his puzzled look, she continued. "That cat doesn't go near any stranger. She barely tolerates me. If I tried to hold her like that, my arms would be shred to ribbons in seconds."
Luke shrugged as he set Lucy on the floor at his feet. The cat rubbed herself unabashedly against his jeaned calves, walking across the toes of his boots in a shameless bid for more attention. "I've always been good with animals."
As Alicia's eyes traveled up from her cat to Luke's face, she noticed for the first time that he was dressed as he had been the last time they'd met--faded jeans, flannel shirt, cowboy boots. No Stetson this time, but she was glad for that since it left her with a clearer view of his handsome face and those blue, blue eyes.
"You're not exactly dressed for dinner and dancing," Alicia pointed out—unless he was planning to take her line-dancing. "Where are we going for dinner?"
"It's a surprise," he answered, grinning wickedly.
"Oh, come on! Tell me!"
He just shook his head. "Nope. You're just going to have to wait and see."
Alicia gave out a loud, exasperated sigh and crossed her arms over her chest. She saw his amused expression out of the corner of her eye.
"Don't pout, angel. Unless you want me to put you over my knee and give your bottom a nice warming to start off our evening."
Just those words made her blood race. But she raised her chin up and plastered a false smile on her face. "No thank you," she sang cheerfully. "Remember, Luke, no spanking on the first date."
Luke chuckled. "We'll see."
Unable to give up so easily, she pressed, "I thought that get-up was just your costume at the restaurant," she said, gesturing towards his clothes.
Luke grinned. "Nope. This is generally how I look every day. These clothes are comfortable and serviceable, especially when I've been working at my mother's farm." He shrugged. "But I thought you would like this 'get-up,' as you put it. Your sister did request a cowboy for your birthday spanking, after all."
Alicia felt herself blush again. "I… I've always had this sort of… thing for cowboys," she admitted to the floor beneath her.
Luke tipped her chin up with one finger and smiled softly. "Well, darlin', this time you've found yourself the gen-u-wine article."
They laughed at the way he drew out "genuine" and some of her tension eased.
"Now, little lady, if you're done scrutinizing my wardrobe, we'll be off to dinner."
She nodded her agreement and grabbed her purse. They had to shoo the cat back into the apartment when they closed the door behind them. Luke took Alicia's hand as they descended the stairs to the parking lot.
"If you don't mind a friendly bit of advice, Alicia," he said as they crossed the lot. "I wouldn't be coming home too late by yourself in this part of town, if I were you."
She made a face. "Yeah, I know it's not the safest area, but while I'm still getting my bakery off the ground, it's about all I can afford."
Luke had a black pickup truck that he had to give her a boost up into. She grinned to herself as he was walking around to the driver's door. When he started the engine, the local country station came on, playing Garth Brooks. Good Lord, after all her years of fantasizing about cowboys, she really had found a real one!
It took her a few minutes to realize Luke was staring at her, with an expectant look on his face.
"Wh-what?"
"Seatbelt."
She made a face.
"You ride in my truck, Alicia Marie, you wear a seatbelt." To her surprise, he actually leaned over and grabbed the belt himself, snapping it firmly into place. "If you're not careful about things like that, you might find yourself getting a real spanking from me."
A real spanking? She didn't know what he meant by that, but decided not to ask. "Uh, sorry."
He seemed to let it go after a minute and the tension eased. As they pulled out of her complex, he asked her abou
t her new business and she relaxed as she told him about the joys and troubles of launching her bakery.
Before she knew it, the ride was slowing as Luke pulled the truck into the parking area at the local park. She stopped talking and glanced at him, confused.
"What happened to dinner and dancing?"
He chuckled and tweaked her nose. "You're cute. I never said 'dinner and dancing,' I said 'dinner and spanking.' Remember?"
Alicia made a face at him and opened her mouth to retort, stopping when one of his long fingers pressed against her lips. "Dinner is a picnic. Spanking to follow later." That said, he grabbed his keys from the ignition and got out of the cab before she could say a thing.
A picnic? Alicia hadn't been on a picnic in….had she ever been on a picnic? She frowned as she hopped down from her side of the truck.
Luke was closing the cap on the truck, holding a huge picnic basket in one hand and a checkered blanket under his arm. He made a 'tsk 'tsk sound at her as he came around her side of the truck and saw she was already waiting for him there. "Didn't you ever date a gentleman, Alicia? You're supposed to wait for me to open your door for you before you get out of the truck. Remember that next time."
Alicia shook her head at his back as he led her down a grassy slope to an area of picnic tables. A small playground stood nearby, consisting of a swing set, slide and a small jungle gym. Luke set their basket down on one of the benches and nodded towards the area as he opened the blanket over the table. "If you're not a brat, I might just push you on the swings after dinner."
Heat filled Alicia's face, despite the fact that they were all alone. To cover her shyness, she taunted, "Oh yeah, and what if I am a brat?"
"I think you know the answer to that already, honey." Luke's eyes pinned her and she stared at him as his voice dropped an octave. "Would you like a demonstration?"
"N-n-no, thank you." So much for her false bravado. She was blushing even hotter now than before. Luke grinned and touched one cheek gently with an index finger.
