His by Valentine's Day (8 page)

Cade nodded and gave her what she seemed to want. His hand connected, harder this time, but not too hard. Just enough to have her drawing in a shaky breath. He spanked her over and over, never hard, just steadily. Her bottom grew pinker, hotter. He was enjoying it, but more than ready to stop. Her call.

Shawna wriggled beneath Cade's hard hand. Each swat had her sucking in a breath, had her trembling with a powerful need building within her. Never would she have imagined enjoying getting spanked. But this wasn't a "real" spanking. This was all about lighting an internal fire. And it had.

"Okay!" she gasped after yet another swat landed. "I'm ready. Oh, I'm soooo ready."

"Thank God!"

She smiled at the obvious relief in his voice. Then before she could even think about moving, Cade stepped behind her. He nudged her legs further apart as far as her lowered jeans would allow. In the next instant, he guided himself into her, pushing deep, deeper. He held her tight around the waist and moaned, "Yes. Oh, yes!"

Each drive had her going nearly mindless, had her clawing at the railing. He was so big and yet he fit her perfectly. And the friction of him rubbing against her sensitized bottom was amazing. Not that she'd want to be spanked every time before... What was she thinking? This was a one-time deal. A one-time wild and crazy fucking. It couldn't be more.

As if he sensed her sudden depression, he drove as far as he could and held still. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," she lied. She'd asked for this and no way was she going to stop now. Especially when his cock was buried inside her and making her desperate to have him move again. "Please."

Yet he didn't move. "Am I hurting you?"

"Yes! By not moving. I ache... Cade...Move, damn you!"

She pushed back against him, squirmed in desperation. Her inner muscles squeezed him, but finally he pulled back.

He drove forward, grunting. "This is going to be a rough round, sweetheart," he panted out a warning.

"I can take it." She squeezed him even more. "You spanked me. Now fuck me. Make it good!"

He held her tightly and pistoned back and forth. Nothing mattered now. Only the wondrous thing he was doing to her. Only him forcing them both beyond all reality and into that mindless bliss.

Shawna clung to the railing, covered in sweat, panting, settling back down to Earth. Cade had been amazing, just as she'd thought he would be. Even now she still felt him semi-hard inside her. She was sure with very little encouragement that she could get him to take her all over again. But did she really want it? Yes. No.

Fortunately, he was coming back to sanity, too. He eased his hold on her, started to pull out, and then stiffened. "You're on the pill, right? Or something?"

Kind of late to be thinking about protection when his sperm filled her and dripped down the sides of her thighs. But, no, her prescription had run out a month ago. She and Eric had been having problems, had stopped having sex, and she just hadn't gotten around to refilling the prescription. Surely only this one time... Cade didn't need to know her problem. If she got pregnant... Well, she'd deal with it.

"Sure."

He pulled out and she heard his sigh of relief. Odd, she felt disappointed.

She heard him moving away, heard him readjusting his clothes. Feeling sort of embarrassed, she remained turned away and pulled her own clothing back into place. Now that the wildness of the moment was over, her strength was faltering again. She needed to get back to the house.

"I'm going to have to leave for a few days."

She spun around, surprised, annoyed. "But the cattle..."

He was putting his coat on and looked straight at her. "A couple of the men will be driving them back here tomorrow. My attorneys will deal with the thieves."

"Just like that." It irritated her that she and the men had gone through another cattle rustling last year and it had taken what seemed like forever to get through it all.

Cade nodded curtly. "I make things happen when necessary."

"Like selling this ranch out from under us." Gone were the brief moments of pleasure they'd shared. They were back to being basically enemies in this matter. She felt strangely dirty by what they'd just done.

He looked at her sadly. "That was never my intention. Not to hurt you. Or the others. It was just business."

Just business. Just like she was "just" another woman he'd had sex with. She forced down the hurt she felt. "You promised me until the end of the month." Like it would matter.

His shoulders slumped for a second. "There is no way you and your friends can come up with the money you need. We both know that. But I..." He heaved a sigh and stopped talking.

She hated that tears burned her eyes. She refused to let him see them and jerked her coat on and stormed toward the front of the stable. For a second she thought he would come after her, but he didn't. She was glad for that. Wasn't she? Yes!

She strode into the fading snowstorm and toward her house as fast as she could manage. It was time she made serious plans for her future...ones that wouldn't include living or working here. Plans that would take her far, far away from Cade Calloway.

Chapter Five

Three days. Cade had only planned to be gone a few days, like he'd told Shawna. Not that she had been listening to him when he'd told her that. No, she'd been furious with him for being honest enough to tell her they both knew she and her friends could never come up with the ranch's selling price. He'd seen the pain in her eyes before she'd marched proudly out into the snowstorm. It had been like a kick in the gut, to both of them. She'd taken the "just business" comment he'd made wrong. He hadn't meant to hurt her that way, or at all. He'd never run into a problem on a business buy/sell matter before...at least not like this. Not on a personal level. He'd been struggling to figure his way around the mess since the day he'd met Shawna.

He rubbed at his forehead, at the headache pounding there. Today had been extremely long and complicated. And he was still adjusting to the time zone change here in London. He looked out his hotel room window at the darkened sky still well lit by the city's many lights. He hadn't expected to be back here for a while, but Adam Harrison had become somewhat of a friend on Cade's most recent sell of a small publishing business here. And Adam had requested--practically begged for--his help with some management issues that had come up since the transfer of property. Normally Cade sold a business and never looked back. This time was different. Or maybe he was different now; maybe he had actually learned to care more about the people affected by one of his buy/sell arrangements. Anyway, he was here in London, halfway around the world from where he wanted to be. He needed to get done with this assisting matter and get back to Kansas.

Cade glanced at his watch and paced his hotel room again. He should be dropping into bed since he was dead tired, but he couldn't get beyond his desperate need to talk to Shawna. The six-hour time difference was playing havoc in his communicating with her. That and she clearly didn't want to talk to him. Damn, she was a stubborn woman. His patience with her attitude was thinning big time. In fact, if he were there, someone's pretty little bottom would be getting a hand applied to it. Avoiding him wasn't helping their situation.

Finally he just gave up and punched in the ranch's phone number. Even if it was almost three in the morning there, he couldn't wait any longer to try calling her. If he waited a few more hours so that she'd be getting up, he would be far beyond his ability to stay awake here. He didn't want her running out to deal with ranch duties and avoiding him again. So he waited impatiently while the line rang and rang, and rang some more. If she'd just returned one of his messages...

"Rolling Hills Ranch," Shawna answered sounding groggy. Then she evidently looked at caller ID and grumbled, "You couldn't wait to call until morning?"

He could tell by the testiness in her voice that she was still upset with him, that she was about to hang up on him. "Do not cut me off! I've been calling for days now and you've ignored all of my messages."

She yawned. "If I'd looked at the caller ID when I grabbed the phone, I would have ignored you again." She yawned again. "What happened to only being gone for a few days? It's been a week already."

He was envisioning her looking all sleep rumpled, which he imagined would be sexy as hell. And he savored the disgruntled yearning he heard in her tone. It made him smile, even if she'd avoided his calls until now. "Missed me, didn't you?"

She snorted. "Like I'd miss a sore tooth."

He chuckled and eased down onto an over-stuffed chair next to the window. "I've missed you, too." He'd missed her far more than he'd even imagined. Sure he'd missed the heat that had developed between them, definitely wanted to pursue it much farther. But there was far more about Shawna that he missed, things he couldn't even fully define. He just missed her.

She rattled off some very unlady-like curse words. "You've got two seconds to tell me something important enough to keep me from hanging up."

"So saying I missed you isn't enough?" Why was he teasing her? Especially when she was clearly tired and not in the best of moods. When she didn't respond and he feared she really would hang up, he said, "I wanted to make sure everything was going all right at the ranch. That you got the cattle back okay. That my lawyers handled the situation." Of course he already knew all of those answers.

With an annoyed sigh, she said, "Yes, yes, and yes. And I'm sure your high-priced lawyers already told you anyway. Are we done now?"

"Someone needs a hand applied to their bottom," he answered, definitely not opposed to the idea of taking her over his knee, of touching her smooth skin even in a spanking. She could be such a sassy cowgirl. She could be so stubborn...and he adored her for challenging him so much. No one else had done that in years, maybe ever.

"You need a spanking?" she taunted right back. "I'd be more than willing to oblige you."

The idea caught him off-guard and he blinked in surprise. Then he smiled at her daring. "I hadn't ever considered switching roles, but... No. No, I'm the only one who will play the dominant, sweetheart. Besides, you make such a nice submissive."

She actually growled at him. "I am not a submissive, you pervert."

He smiled even bigger. No, she wasn't a meek, quietly accepting submissive. But... "Admit it, you like a man--me, in particular--taking charge now and then. Behind all your huff and puff lies a woman longing to be held responsible by a man with enough guts to do it."

"Don't be ridiculous! That's your ego talking." She muttered something under her breath and added, "Your two seconds are more than up."

He knew he'd been lucky to keep her one the line this long. "I'll be back by the end of the week," Cade pressed before she could disconnect. "We need to talk."

"Yes, we do." With that said, she hung up, and he hated how she sounded so defeated.

Shawna speed walked and fell on her ass twice the next morning as she raced across the ice-covered gravel to the bunkhouse. She was late to a meeting with Scott and Alan. She had overslept and it was all Cade Calloway's fault. He could stay in London forever for all she cared. She hadn't missed him, not for a second. Liar, liar, liar. Okay, she didn't want to miss him.

She forced her frustration with him aside and stormed into the warm dining area of the bunkhouse. She shivered for a second, letting the heat warm her and calm her down. It wasn't working as well as it should.

Scott sat leisurely at the far end of the long, wooden trestle table. He set his coffee cup down and said in concern, "You look like hell."

"And you're almost a half hour late," Alan added, with a raised eyebrow, from where he leaned against the wall nearby.

Her face heated and she avoided looking them in the eye. "Our lord and master Calloway is responsible for all of it," she explained in irritation.

"Lord and master?" Scott questioned while Alan chortled.

What were you thinking? Saying something stupid like that? She ground her teeth. She'd been thinking about Cade ever since his call, trying to stop thinking about him, trying to forget the way his husky voice had gotten to her again. Not that she'd let him know about her reaction. No sir. The man did not need to know she wanted him with every cell of her being, even if she was still furious with him. God, you are so pitiful!

"Ignore that," she bit out. "I'm just pissed at him for calling damn early this morning, around three." And she hadn't slept a wink since then.

Shawna watched her two friends share a glance that she couldn't quite read. She tugged off her heavy coat and dropped it on the end of the table. "Nasty day out there."

"Did Calloway say when he's coming back?" Scott asked.

She knew he and Alan--and all of the ranch hands--were worried about Cade's return. It would surely mean the time had finally come for him to sell the ranch. They still hadn't figured out a way to come up with more downpayment money. She'd let them all down, at least that was how she felt.

Her shoulders slumped. "By the end of the week."

The men were silent for an uncomfortable couple of minutes, again sharing looks about something they'd clearly discussed. Then Scott nodded toward the table and chairs. "Sit down, Shawna. It's time we had a serious talk."

Her stomach tumbled with nerves. They had asked to meet with her first thing this morning but hadn't said why. She was pretty sure it wasn't ranch business...at least not day-to-day ranch business. Wanting to steer them away from a conversation she wasn't in the mood for, she said, "We've still got a couple of weeks." She sank down onto one of the wooden chairs. "There's still time to--"

Alan shook his head, sadness in his eyes when he caught her gaze. "No, honey, there isn't."

Before she could protest, Scott, too, drew her focus. His expression showed how hard it was for him to say the words. "You know the boys and us have tried our hardest to scrape up that kind of money. But it isn't going to happen."