Learning to Blush (17 page)

Penny hadn't a clue how this was going to end. How could their relationship repair after something like this? Penny swallowed and watched Graham crack the paddle against one of Ellie's exposed cheeks and then another as he looked down, seemingly frustrated with Ellie's expression of pained anguish.

Eventually, Graham carefully dropped Ellie’s legs down and put the hairbrush on a bedside table. Ellie had already curled onto her side in the fetal position, still crying and sniffling. Ellie looked so ridiculous naked—she was
too
naked. She had no hair anywhere; she had barely even a freckle covering up her pale skin. But even though Penny could only see the front of her, she could still see places on her inner thighs were the hairbrush had struck her, leaving angry pink and red welts on her skin.

Graham put his hands on his hips and looked down at Ellie for a moment thoughtfully before he bent down, lifted up her body, and pulled the covers out from under her so he could cover her up with them. Afterwards, he sat on the bed and petted his fingers through her hair soothingly before he bent down and kissed her ear, then her cheek. “Do you understand why I spanked you?” he asked her quietly.

Ellie sniffled and nodded.

“Are you gonna start being a good girl for me?”

“Yes, sir,” she muttered weakly, and was rewarded with him putting his large hand over her hip and rubbing it soothingly. He then lowered his lips to Ellie’s ear and started to whisper something into it, kissing her on the ear now and again, until Ellie emitted a smirk, followed by a small giggle.

The air between them seemed to change just that quickly. Ellie rolled over and looked up at Graham, and he began to pet her hair again. For a few long moments, they didn’t even speak. Graham was just staring at her, so
lovingly
. He seemed so content, like a man at the beach. How could this man be the same one who was wearing the stern look moments before, the one he wore when he was spanking her—spanking her hard enough to have his wife cry and scream?

Ellie eventually sat up, letting the blankets fall down around her, and then bent forward so that her forehead leaned against his stomach. Graham balled her up and he just held her like she was a child who had skinned her knee.

Penny frowned, shifting her eyes left and right, dissecting the emotion boiling within her. Penny was no stranger to being jealous of Ellie, but it didn’t seem right that she would be jealous of
this,
too! Ellie was just spanked like a child, for God’s sake!

Penny remembered she hadn't done anything to help Ellie. Penny had just stood there and watched of her own free will… And had been somehow delighted to do so; she knew that now. And she knew why she had been delighted.

When they were growing up, Ellie had gotten both of their fathers’ attention, despite the fact that she was a girl. Penny’s own father had brought Ellie to car shows and baseball games while she, Penny, just as female, was left home with a mother who didn’t much care for her, either.

But at least Ellie couldn’t attract
attention from outside the family. Ellie was a fly on the wall. She wasn’t popular, she wasn’t well-known or well-liked, she had never been called 'pretty' and she definitely wasn’t desired by anyone. She just was a greasy mechanic like Michael, Tim and Tom. Sure, they had their own world down in the garage, but Penny had known that she was at least experiencing things that Ellie never would.

Ellie would get attention from their parents, but it was more of a friendly relationship than actual love like other daughters were getting from their fathers. And Ellie had sacrificed her femininity to get even that much. That's why her parents ostracized her when she returned to Earth—they thought she was off with some man; that she had given up the farce of being a boy, betraying the needs of the family. For once, Penny felt like she had been promoted
above
Ellie for a change!

As she watched Ellie's spanking, Penny had thought that maybe Ellie was in the same boat again; that finally she wasn't again held in such high regard by her husband. She thought for a moment that the relationship she had been so jealous of for the last six weeks wasn't so perfect, after all!

Penny was wrong. The spanking didn't have anything to do with her husband's regard for her! Ellie still had
everything
. She had more than she ever had on Earth.

Ellie was no longer invisible to outsiders. She had attention everywhere she went and from everyone that she met. Graham let her work and still loved her as a woman. He had disciplined her like a parent and had even given her comfort afterward. Graham looked at her like the universe revolved around her.

Penny's stomach reeled with envy as she realized that she, more than anything, wanted someone to love her like that!

But she had to chase down the only bachelor within a million miles just to get him to let her give him a hand-shandy!

Penny’s eyebrow furrowed. What was so bad about
her
? Why didn’t she deserve what Ellie had?

Penny might have even started tearing up at the state of things, but the petting and the staring between Ellie and Graham turned into kissing. Not just any sort of kissing, either. It was a deep, I-don’t-plan-to-stop-at-just-kissing sort of kiss! Suddenly, Penny realized that she was looking at an X-rated scene! “I need you inside of me,” Ellie panted when they stopped for air.

“You had me only five
hours
ago,” Graham chuckled slightly, but he was already unfastening his belt. “My father said once that it’s not healthy to comfort one’s wife with sex after spanking. Sends a bad message…” He popped his heavy boots off and removed his shirt.

At Graham's defined muscles, Penny stifled a troubled sigh. Yep—it was official. Ellie caught herself a hunk. Damn her.

“So I guess
you’re
the one being a bad boy now, huh?” Ellie teased, wiping some tears off her cheeks.

Graham chuckled. “Conflict of interest. He can advise me to put you in the corner all he wants, but that’s not how he’s gonna get the grandchildren he’s been haranguing me for,” he added with a tease, winking at her. He was just about to tug his pants down when he looked at the door. His body froze.

Penny’s eyes widened and she jumped back from the door before scampering quickly in the direction of the main cabin on the other side of the ship, where her brothers were still playing video games as Mike read something on an electronic tablet. She was absolutely certain that Graham had seen her peeking. In fact, they had exchanged eye-contact!

Tom looked around immediately from his video game. “What happened?”

Penny shook her head. “Nothing,” she panted.

“You’re out of breath,” Tom noted.

“Saw a spider in the next room. Really scary. Squashed it, though,” she quickly lied before taking a deep breath to get herself under control.

“Awe! You squashed our first space-spider? Totally not cool, Penny,” Tim teased, and then he put down his controller. “You know what I could use right about now?”

“Some weed?” Tom said, nodding. “Yeah, me too. I totally need to unwind…”

“Guys, if you were any more unwound you’d start to get tangled,” Michael replied, not looking up from his tablet. When Penny sat down on the sofa, and Mike tried to push his cold feet under her warm thighs, he finally glanced up and then arched an eyebrow. “What?” he asked, looking at Penny. “Did Thorton slam the door in your face or something? You look all eaten up.”

“No, I didn’t see Thorton. I just went to go stretch my legs,” Penny said, pulling her legs up to her chest and resting her chin on her knees.

“When we land, we’ll go explore, okay?” Mike said, smiling consolingly. “You’re probably just getting blue from being cooped up. But we’ll go out, pull some hijinks or something, and I promise that you’ll feel loads better.”

* * *

“Now, I don’t want any exploring or running around pulling hijinks,” Graham was announcing the next morning when everyone was eating their breakfasts while looking out through the windows at two different suns rising over snow-capped mountains in the distance. “It’s a dangerous planet out there, it is a known pirate haven, and I want everyone to stay within touching-distance of the ship at all times. Is everyone clear on that?”

The Jonases groaned in response.

Graham straightened his shoulders, taking their groaning as a sign that everyone was at least paying attention. “Good. Thank you.”

“Look, we’re feeling a little stir-crazy,” Mike informed on behalf of the lot. “And this is a new planet, so you can’t expect us to just sit here and—”

“On this planet, I expect just that. When we get to Swaraan in a couple of weeks, I’ll make sure you all have a great time. Here, we’re working. I will be going out to procure more fuel and supplies. You, Michael, will control your team.”

Tim made a face and glared at Michael before he turned to Tom and jerked his thumb in Mike's direction, since Mike was already looking pleased with himself. “Why is
he
always in charge?”

“He’s older and more trained,” Tom admitted with a shrug. “Not to mention, that in most cultures, preference is decided with regard to age…”

“Well, it must be. It definitely wasn’t decided by
beauty
, or else everyone would have made me Captain by now,” Tim harrumphed.

Graham continued, “Thorton Hux is the Commander in charge, so Mike—you’ll be taking orders from him.”

“Wait, wait, wait…” Ellie crossed her hands in the air. Penny realized that Ellie hadn’t sat down all morning, and she didn't blame her. “What about
me
? I’m a lieutenant! How can Mike be in charge?”

“Because you’re not a full lieutenant, for one,” Graham said firmly, straightening. Before Ellie could argue, he said, “Before you stole the ship you’d already been demoted to
junior
lieutenant. And by the time my father’s through with you, you’ll be thanking your lucky stars if you can call yourself an ensign. You’re probably kicked out of the service and don’t know it yet. Maybe you’ll be court-martialed—that would be
oodles
of fun. I suppose we’ll all find out. In the meantime, you’ll be acting engineer ensign forth-class and you’ll taking orders from your brother, who’s acting ensign second-class.”

“That’s not—!” Ellie began to say, but Graham’ stern expression cut her off and made her clench her teeth together. Apparently, she didn't want another spanking today.

“Did you have something to say, Private?” he asked over his coffee, not entirely unlike an officer in any military training movie.

Ellie swallowed something back. “No,
sir
.”

Graham softened and bent down to kiss her head. “And as your husband, I’m asking you to be good today. We really need your help around here, and so does your brother.” He put his fingers under her chin and raised it until she looked into his eyes. “Promise you'll be good?”

Ellie nodded. “Yeah,” she groaned.

“Good.” He smiled and then looked over at Penny and then his stern expression returned. Maybe because Penny looked so guilty. Normally when Graham was issuing orders, he would speak English, but he went right into speaking his own language with Penny. She hadn’t heard him speak English to
her
for over two weeks, now. “Penelope—can I have a word?”

Penelope
. She hated when Graham said her full name, which he always did. It always made her feel like she’d been bad. Maybe she
had
been bad, actually. “Sure,” she said as sweetly as possible before she followed him out of the room.

He didn’t mention anything about her peeping… Not at first, anyway. He was talking her through the computer program he wanted her to have a look at. Only when he was sure she was clear on what he wanted her to do did he finally ask, “How much did you see last night?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I was just walking through yesterday and glanced in,” Penny lied. “I heard you talking and your door was sort of open. I mean, I saw enough to know that Ellie needs to get some more
sun
, but…”

Graham looked suspicious, but he didn’t press. “I’ll make sure the door’s closed next time. Sorry you saw that,” he finally said.

“I’ve seen sex before,” she reminded. “And I didn’t see it
then
. Nice abs, though.” She gave him a chirpy thumbs-up, but then she jerked even that towards the door. “Can I go?”

“Yeah,” he said, grumbling the word like he expected her to scamper off and go play. But then he turned and called her back, “Oh, and Penelope?”

She was nearly to the door then, and turned around. “Huh?”

“I graded that language test you took,” he told her, and then he gave her one of his rare smiles. He looked encouraging. “You were exceptional. I know learning a language like you have couldn’t have been easy, and I know you’ve been working hard on it… Anyway, I’m really proud of you.”

Her face flushed.
Don’t cry, don’t cry, don’t cry
.
If you cry, he’ll know that he’s the first person to ever say that… Your cousin’s alien husband is the first one to congratulate you on anything but a good blowjob.
“Thanks,” she said, trying her best not to sound choked up. She turned away from him as soon as she could.

She walked back toward the main cabin where she crossed paths with Thorton. He took one look at her and stepped back. He was wearing a short-sleeved shirt and goggles on his head like a headband. “Keep your distance, Penn. I’m not wearing gloves,” he warned her.

She couldn’t help how those words stung.
Keep your distance
. “Don’t worry,” she said grimly. “I won’t touch you.”

If Thorton was struck by her terseness, he didn’t show it. He relaxed immediately, and said something that took away any good lingering feelings from Graham’s praise; “Good.”

Good
. Penny swallowed hard and walked toward the nearest window to look at the outside world and the strange little backwoods civilization that they were on. Captain Hook would feel comfortable in a place like this—all the ships and shack-like buildings rested on elevated planking above a thick, murky forest below. It was exactly what she pictured as a pirate’s haven.