Kelli was trembling again when they finished reading it. "Derek, I don't want everyone reading that," she insisted. "I don't deserve to be called a hero. You're right; what I did was pretty stupid, at least the way I did it, and this article glorifies it. I was lucky. What if people read this, think it sounds simple and try it or something else like it themselves, but they get hurt? I'd feel terrible."
Derek didn't know what to think. He was proud of what she'd done, and she was a hero for stepping up and helping the lady. However, she was right; he wouldn't want other people trying the same thing. What concerned him most, however, was how upset she was. She had pulled free from his arms and was pacing. He walked up behind her and softly put his arms on her shoulders, and she jumped. "Calm down, honey," he whispered. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."
"I'm sorry, Derek." She had her arms wrapped around her stomach, still pacing. "Why did they put that in there? And where did they get that picture?"
Derek tried to soothe her. "I don't know, Kelli. I've never seen the picture, either. I wouldn't mind having a copy of it, though. It's a good picture of you. You're beautiful, and it shows in that picture."
She smiled and said, "That's what I thought about you. It shows how handsome you are in real life." She continued pacing then, until her phone rang, the same time Derek's did. They looked at each other as they answered their respective phones. Derek talked with Phil, while Kelli and Lisa chatted a couple minutes.
Derek didn't like the look on Kelli's face when she hung up. He pulled her into his arms as he asked, "What's wrong?"
Kelli had a frown on her face as she said, "Nothing. Not a damn thing!"
Derek's concern grew, and he said, "Kelli, watch your language. Now, what's wrong?"
She jerked away from him and stomped over to the window, where she stared out onto the street. He saw her shaking, and was getting more concerned. "Apparently every freakin' person in the whole damn city has read it. Everyone's so damn proud of me. Crap."
Derek went toward her, intending to hold her in his arms again, but she ducked his grasp and stomped away. "Now what the shit am I supposed to do?"
Frowning, he grabbed her upper arm and said, "Let me tell you what you're going to do, young lady." He pulled her to the couch and brought her down with him as he sat down. She was over his knee before she realized what was happening. He quickly flipped her skirt up and pulled her panties down. He gave her two firm swats and said, "The first thing you're going to do, my little one, is stop cussing."
"Derek, what are you doing?"
He spanked her several more times before he answered her question. "As often as we've done this, you don't know what I'm doing?" He was spanking firmly, but not putting as much strength behind them as he normally did. He was afraid she was starting to panic, as was her tendency, and he was simply trying to snap her out of it. He hoped a few firm swats would get her attention and allow her to listen to him rationally.
He stopped spanking and started rubbing her bare bottom. After a few seconds, Kelli looked back at him. He smiled and asked, "Are you ready to listen to me yet, young lady, or should I continue?"
He could tell she was confused. He never rubbed her bottom until the spanking was over, and he'd never ended a spanking this soon. He continued rubbing while he had her attention. "Honey, you need to watch your language, but right now you mostly need to calm down. You're letting your emotions get away from you, and I don't want to see a temper tantrum tonight. You're starting to panic again, and I want you to calm down." He continued rubbing, and talking softly.
"But, Derek—"
He didn't like the look on her face at all; she hadn't relaxed or calmed down a bit. He started spanking her again, a little harder, but still not as strong as normal. "No buts, Kelli. I want you to calm down and trust me. We're a team now; remember? You're not on your own any more. We'll get through this together. I'll be right here with you. I'm not going anywhere. I want you to lean on me whenever you get scared or upset. Can you do that?"
He stopped spanking and started rubbing again. He was glad when he felt her relax this time. He kept rubbing her bottom while he talked to her softly, assuring her everything would be fine. He knew she didn't like all the attention this was bringing her, and tried to assure her it wouldn't last long, and he'd be there to help her through it.
The more he talked, the more she relaxed, and before long, he was enjoying the feel of his hand rubbing her bare bottom more than he intended. Fortunately, though, she seemed to be enjoying it just as much. "That's my girl," he praised softly. "Just lay back and relax. Trust me, honey."
"I do trust you, Derek." She chuckled and added, "According to the paper, you're my hero, so I have to trust you, right?"
He gave her four quick swats, firm, but not too hard, and immediately started rubbing out the sting. "Brat."
"Who, me?" she asked mischievously.
That sounded much more like his Kelli, and he was glad she seemed to be relaxing. He grinned and gave her four more quick swats as he said, "Yes, you." He was rubbing again, enjoying their little game. He was delighted when he heard a little moan, and saw her squirm a little under his hand.
She looked back at him and grinned. "I can't believe you called me a brat."
He gave her a few more swats, followed by more rubbing as he said, "I don't know why you'd find that hard to believe. You are definitely a little brat," he said with another good swat, "but you're my little brat." He was rubbing again, and was glad to see her lifting her bottom a little, as if reaching for his hand. As much as he hated to, he knew if he didn't stop now he wouldn't be able to. They were finally a couple, and he wanted to keep it that way. He thought they had something special between them, and he didn't want to rush things and move too fast. They needed time to get to know and trust each other in a relationship setting, which was a new role for them. They needed to feel comfortable in that role.
He pulled her panties up and pulled her up to sit on his lap. She had a confused, and rather disappointed look on her face, so he tried to explain his actions. "Kelli," he said, as huskily as she'd ever heard him, "if I don't quit now, I'm not sure I'll be able to."
"You didn't have to quit," she said quietly.
"Yes, I did," he said. "As much as I'd like to continue, if I don't stop now, I'll take it further, and we're not ready for that yet. We've just begun seeing each other, and I care a great deal about this relationship. I want us to take our time and do this right. I love you, Kelli."
She thought a moment before nodding. "You're right, Derek. I don't want to mess this up, either. I love you, too."
He held her face gently in his hands as he gave her a soft, tender, yet very passionate kiss. They decided to watch a movie on television, but they talked a little bit first, while they were looking at the schedule of movies.
"Kelli, I meant what I said earlier. You're no longer alone. I know you don't like all this attention you're getting, and frankly, neither do I, but we'll get through it together."
"Thank you. It's not just the attention that bothers me, though. It's that we're getting a lot of attention, but for the wrong thing. You're right; the way I chased after that man was dumb and dangerous. I wasn't thinking when I did it, and I'm lucky everything eventually turned out okay. But people are calling me a hero, in essence for doing something stupid."
"They don't see it that way, honey. They see it as instead of doing the easy thing and staying out of it, you jumped in and got involved. You did something about it."
"I know, but what I did about it was dumb, and I don't want anyone else doing it. Likewise, I don't want anyone else doing what you did, which wasn't a whole lot better than what I did."
Derek's eyebrows raised as he looked at her, while he thought about what she said. He slowly started to nod his head. "I see what you're saying."
"I mean, don't get me wrong. I love you to death for going out and finding the real thieves, and I know in your case, although you're not a cop,
you are a probation officer and work with the police and people they've arrested so you have some knowledge of what the police would have done. I also noticed that you took my brother along with you, who's also big, strong, and intimidating, just like you. But all people heard is that you went out and did your own investigation and found the real thieves, to rescue me. The average person shouldn't do what I did, but they shouldn't do what you did, either."
"You're right."
"But we're getting all this publicity, and we're being called heroes. What if others look at that article and think, if they can do it, and they're ordinary people, I should do it, too? If we all step up and do that, this town will be a much safer place. Derek, if they start doing that, someone could get hurt and I'd feel terrible."
Derek took a moment to think about what she'd said. "You do have a good point. Maybe we can do something about it. They read about it in the paper, so let's give them something else to read about in the paper. We can either write a letter to the editor, or we can call the reporter who put that article in the paper and ask her to do a follow-up story. Whichever way we go, we can state our feelings. We'll thank everyone for the wonderful reception they've given us, but say we have a concern. After it was all over and we had a chance to think about what we'd done, we don't want to encourage other people to follow our example, at least not in quite the same way."
"I see what you're saying," she said, thinking. "We can tell them it would have been much safer for me to yell at someone to stop that man, he stole the lady's purse, as I'm chasing him. We can tell them you're a probation officer, trained in dealing with people charged with crimes, and police procedure."
"Would you feel better if we did that?"
"I would. I don't want anyone doing what I did, and getting hurt."
"Which is part of the reason I love you, Kelli. You do truly care about other people." He chuckled as he added, "Which is why you chased after the thief in the first place, now that I think about it."
She giggled a little, realizing he was right. "I couldn't let that little lady lose her purse. She may have had her life's savings in there."
"She could have at that," he agreed. "We'll call the paper and ask to talk to the reporter Monday morning. Now, do you still want to watch a movie?"
"Yep. I feel better now. Thank you."
"I'm glad. But Kelli, that's why I want you to lean on me. Tell me if something's wrong. I may be able to help. Like I said, you're not alone anymore, but you have to trust me and share your feelings with me now." She nodded and snuggled in against him as the movie started.
They were still sitting on the couch with her head resting on his chest and his arms wrapped protectively around her when the movie ended, and he felt he needed to bring them back to the real world. "As much as I hate to, honey, I better get you home pretty soon, or your brother will come looking for me, and he won't be smiling."
She giggled at the thought of that, but agreed. "He is pretty protective of me, isn't he?"
"He certainly is," he confirmed. "And I'm glad. I need all the help I can get keeping my little brat safe and behaving herself."
"Hey," she said, punching him in the arm.
"Keep punching me and you'll find yourself over my lap again, little one," he warned, trying unsuccessfully not to smile.
She looked up at him shyly. "If it's like a little bit ago, that'd be fine with me."
He pulled her in tighter and asked, "You liked that kind of spanking, did you?" He smiled as she moaned while she nodded her head. "I like that kind, too. Behave yourself and you can have that kind all the time."
She looked up at him, a question in her eyes.
"Once we've been dating longer and our relationship is well grounded, I'll gladly give you those fun spankings anytime you want one, providing you haven't gotten yourself in trouble lately." She was still watching him as he continued. "Your rules are all still in effect, and I expect them to be followed, Kelli. If you don't, you'll still find yourself over my lap for a punishment spanking, like always. Now that we're together, though, I'd much rather give you fun spankings, like tonight."
"I much prefer them," she said dreamily.
He chuckled and said, "All you have to do is behave yourself, and you can have them all the time." She leaned against his chest again, determined to enjoy those fun spankings for a long time. He pulled her tighter against him, knowing in his heart his little brat was the woman he'd spend his life with, and they'd do just fine.
Meanwhile, she was having some thoughts of her own, as she cuddled in against him. She'd been worried about being on probation with a new probation officer, but now, after everything they'd been through the last few days, and their talk earlier tonight, she knew that with Derek at her side, watching over her, she'd be just fine—on probation, and for the rest of their lives, which she knew they'd spend together.
The End
Misty Malone
Misty has dreamed of writing romance novels where handsome men are willing to take the young ladies they love in hand. She's following that dream now. She and her husband and their son live in the Midwest.
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