His by Valentine's Day (7 page)

"Stupid Calloway," she muttered. "Walk in here like the big shot executive you are. Cold hearted. Used to getting your way all the time. Come in here and destroy everything. I hate you. I really hate you."

Then she thought about how he'd put aside his work life and come here out of concern for her. Silly man. She'd been taking care of herself just fine. Okay, not so fine. But he'd strutted in here with all of his ridiculous medicines and determination to get her on her feet again. He put up with her crankiness, with her demands to leave. He'd ignored it all and simply taken care of her. He'd even sat by her side for hours on end while she'd fought fever after fever. He'd wiped her brow, forced chicken soup down her. His touch had been unusually gentle. Okay, his touch when he'd spanked her hadn't been all that gentle. Yet, in spite of that, she wanted to feel his tempting mouth on hers, wanted to have those big hands touch her in more intimate places, wanted to...

Stop! Just stop! She couldn't keep thinking these kinds of things about the man who would soon ruin her life. No, she should be thinking about trying to seduce him. Maybe if...

She snorted. Who are you kidding? That was the stupidest idea she'd had in a long time. The man was a world-class playboy. She'd seen his pictures in magazines, in newspapers, and on TV. Some of the most beautiful women in the world were known to cling to his arm at one fancy event or another. And, no doubt, many of them had warmed his bed. An idea she definitely didn't like thinking about. No, he would never even look twice at a simple country gal like her.

But he has. Looked at you with lust. Her mind was playing games with her. Sure, she'd seen heat in his gaze now and then. But he was a man. It didn't take much for a man to get aroused. She sure knew that from experience with her ex-fiance. Cade had also looked at her plenty of times in anger and irritation, too. Still, maybe... No! Not possible.

Disgusted with even thinking of such a crazy notion, she got to her feet, swayed a bit, and then made her way out of the stall. Time to get back to reality. Time to...

The stable doors opened and she froze. A stream of men poured inside the building, stomping around on the cement floor to get rid of snow covering their boots. Cade and Scott led the group. Even as she tried to remain perfectly still and pray not to be noticed, they both spotted her at the other end of the long walkway between the two dozen stalls.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Cade growled and strode straight toward her. Six foot something of very angry man.

She bristled, annoyed at how her heart skipped happily at the sight of him. "I came to check on Bessy."

"Didn't I tell you to stay in bed?"

"We've been taking good care of Bessy. You knew we would," Scott stated, sounding equally irritated, walking right behind Cade. Make that two big, angry men.

She glanced away. "Well, yeah, but..."

"But you had to come out here, in the middle of a snowstorm, to check on her." Alan, too, walked closer, disgust in his tone, as well as concern. "Dang it, Shawna. You've been real sick."

When she looked up it was to see the other men frowning in annoyance as well. Because they care about you. She felt good and foolish at the same time. She'd hoped to be back in the house she'd escaped from before any of them came back. "I'm good now. You don't need to worry about me. None of you."

Scott and Alan snorted.

Cade stopped in front of her. Frustration made a vein pulse in his neck. Yet he just looked her over for a long second. At the same time, she drew in the scent of him, the scent of his aftershave. And, foolish woman that she was, she tingled all over.

He seemed to fight something for a few seconds, and then he heaved a put-upon sigh and reached toward her. His cold hand gently cupped her cheek. "You have no business being out here. I don't even know how you managed it, weak as you were."

"She's a powerfully stubborn woman," Alan offered from nearby.

"Damn truth there," Scott confirmed.

"I've learned that." Cade smoothed his hand over her face again. "You could have set your recovery back with this nonsense."

Shawna decided she really liked the feel of Cade's hand on her face. Too much. She batted his hand away and glared at him. "I'm fine. None of you need to worry about me." When he didn't move back, she tried shoving him away.

"That's our girl," Alan said on a chuckle.

She scowled at him, and then at the others. Looking relieved, they started moving away, even Scott. All except Cade.

The odious man smiled at her, but a spark of irritation had returned to his gaze. A look she'd seen on two other occasions. In response, her buttocks automatically clenched. He was thinking about warming her bottom, she was almost certain of that. Her bottom cheeks clenched and unclenched again. An odd eagerness spiraled through her.

"You're not fine, but you're better." His smile disappeared and he waited until the others were leaving the building. He lowered his voice. "I'm taking you back to the house and then..."

"Do not even think it!" She straightened and refused to even consider how much she wasn't all that opposed to him applying his big hand to her bottom. Was she nuts? Spankings hurt. They were humiliating. Yet when he... "No! Not happening."

As if he'd read her confused thoughts and sensed her ridiculous appreciation of him going all Alpha-in-charge, his eyes danced with amusement. "Me thinks the lady doesth protesteth too much. Me thinks you find getting spanked a bit exciting."

Her face heated and she couldn't meet his gaze. She sort of did, but she didn't want to admit it. "Me thinks you're full of it!" She scooted around him.

Before she could get away, he snagged her arm. In a flash, he turned her sideways and smacked her bottom hard several times. Hard enough that she felt a tiny sting through the thick denim.

"Are you going to drop your jeans so I can do this right? Or shall we finish this up in your bedroom?"

To her mortification, someone cleared his throat from the front of the building. They turned together and Scott called out from the door he was closing, "I'll just give you some privacy."

Now her face really was flaming. Worse, though, everything lower than her belly button quivered with awareness. She wanted this annoying man to spank her if he insisted, and then she wanted him to take her. Right here, right now. To heck with her still being at less than full strength.

As he turned her to look at him, she saw how Cade's eyes had darkened. "Privacy is good," he said in a husky tone that curled her toes.

She licked her lips, felt wetness low in her body. "I don't really deserve a spanking," she said quietly, unable to take a steady breath, unable to move away.

Cade wasn't sure why this woman affected him so much, but she did. More than any other woman ever had. When he'd seen her here in the stable, he'd lost it. Only a couple of days ago she'd nearly died from being so sick. He'd worried and fretted over her like a mother hen. She had no business coming out into this blustery weather, coming here to check on a horse that every other man on the ranch was treating like the Queen Bee of horses because Shawna loved her. The crazy woman deserved a spanking for scaring them all, especially him. Yet he didn't really want to punish her. No, he wanted to do things far more intimate with her.

He'd watched her lick her lips, seen the warmth of sexual interest heat her eyes. His cock was so hard he hurt. And when she'd talked about him spanking her, didn't seem all that horrified with the idea... Damn, he hardened even more.

Hoping she couldn't see the way he fought down a shudder of desire, he reached out to smooth a finger along the side of her face, trailing it slowly across her lips. "Not a serious one," he managed to say. He already had visions of seeing her sweet bottom nice and bare. Of slapping his hand on the soft skin and turning it pink, not red. Just sexy-as-hell pink. He pulled her closer and moved his hands back to cup her denim-covered bottom. His stiff rod butted against her woman's place, which she had to feel. "Just something in foreplay."

She pushed forward, moving slightly and causing him a sweet torture. "Foreplay?" Her voice, too, had turned husky, sensual.

A second of sanity returned and he stepped back, suddenly uncertain. "This is probably a really bad idea."

"Probably." Then to his surprise and delight, she daringly reached down to cup his erection. "Wrong or not doesn't seem to matter right now."

His chest shuddered as he tried to draw in a steadying breath. "I need you, Shawna. I've taken care of you for days... but I need to take care of you in a whole different way now."

She gave a slight nod of agreement, smiling in such a tempting way that he wanted to throw her to the floor and have a wild and wicked way with her. But he stopped himself. She deserved better than that. He wasn't sure what to do next. Oh, he knew what he wanted to do, that he desperately needed to sink deep into her body. But, oddly, he waited for her to take the next step.

After a second, she shoved her coat off her shoulders and looked at him, suddenly seeming nervous. She finished removing the heavy denim jacket and asked in a rush, "What about the cattle?"

The cattle? He felt a moment's annoyance. "Later. We can talk about that subject later." He wriggled out of his coat, then took both coats and draped them over a nearby stall door.

"I'll hold you to that discussion, later. For now..." She looked boldly up at him and undid her jeans, then inched them and her panties down to mid-thigh. "Still interested in foreplay?"

Foreplay? As in heating her bottom? Hell, yes. But he wasn't sure he could play around too long. His cock throbbed, shoved against his jeans. His brain was starting to focus on nothing more than shoving hard and fast inside her.

She watched him, a naughty look in those amazing emerald eyes. His hands almost shook as he unbuckled his belt, unbuttoned his jeans. He was afraid to unzip them and have his shaft explode out and frighten her. He wasn't a small man.

Impatient now, she brazenly unzipped his jeans and then shoved them down, along with his jockeys, enough to free his cock. Her eyes widened and she slowly smiled. "Well, yummmm."

Yum? Good, gawd! He quickly envisioned her on her knees, holding him, stroking him with her small tongue. He shuddered. No, he didn't want that this time. He'd never last long enough to drive inside her, and he really wanted to do that.

"What now?" She moved away a bit and turned to wiggle her bare bottom at him. Like a matador waving a red flag in front of a bull, tempting, challenging.

To forget the foreplay and just fuck her... She was willing to let him play, to let him indulge in one of his interests. Why the hell not?

Decision made, Cade urged her toward the empty stall's door. He didn't have to say anything and she put her hands on the wooden top railing. He could smell her arousal and her being turned on only turned him on more. He looked down at her taut bottom, watched it shiver in anticipation. His heart raced. What an amazing woman!

He smoothed his hand over her bare flesh and she trembled, curling her fingers tighter around the railing.

"What if one of the men..."

Cade kept his hand on her cool bottom. "No one will come back in here. You and I both know Scott wouldn't allow it. He knows... Well, he isn't stupid."

"Yes, I'm pretty sure he suspects something," she said warily.

"Do you want me to stop?" It would kill him, but he would.

She hesitated and then shook her head. "No."

Thank God! He went back to caressing her bottom. "Such a sweet ass. So firm." He squeezed one cheek. "So pale, for now."

Shawna tensed, obviously sensing he'd just given her some sort of signal. Which he had.

Eager now, he raised his hand, and then swung it back down. Smack! The sound echoed around them, started some of the horses and they whinnied.

She moved forward, quietly hissed, and then glanced back at him. Her gaze was even hotter now. When he just stood there, she said in irritation, "More. Darn it, more."

Damn, she was something! He gave her a crooked grin. "Demanding woman, aren't you? But how can I refuse you?"

He raised his right hand again, but she didn't look away. Her watching him prepare to send down another firm swat lit his fires higher. His cock turned as hard as stone.

When his hand struck, she gasped and locked gazes with him. "Stings. Good sting, though."

He smoothed his hand over the print he'd left on her once creamy flesh. "Such a pretty shade of pink."

Her focus shifted to the swollen shaft bobbing behind her. He saw her eyes widen, saw the anxious rise and fall of her chest. He knew she was wet, beads of moisture dotted between her legs as she thrust her bottom out. She was ready, as was he.

Before he could move onto the next part, she pleaded, "Again. Heat me up more. We both want it." Then she gave him an encouraging smile, turned her head away, and shoved her bottom at him.

Instead of going on to what his rigid cock demanded, he drew in a breath and said huskily, "How can I resist such an invitation?"

He had no problem with spanking a woman when she needed it in punishment. He decided he liked even more having the opportunity to spank a woman who would put up with it in foreplay. Shawna was one of the few he'd ever done this with. She was the most responsive. Pleased with that, he stepped to the side, put his other arm over her back and held her in place. "You tell me when you've had enough, when you're ready for--"

"Do it. Now," she prodded. "Before I change my mind."

He was pretty sure she wasn't even close to changing her mind, but he decided not to chance it. His hand connected again with a sharp, sizzling Smack! Again, several horses whinnied in response.

"Yeeouch!" she hissed and shot up on her toes. "That was quite a swat."

"Are you ready to stop?" He kept his hand on top of the heated mark he'd left.

It took her a second, but she shook her head. "Not yet."

He reached between her legs, fingered the moisture he found there. "Sure? You're ready."

She glanced back at him, her eyes dark with desire. "I'll tell you when...just like you said before."