Learning to Blush (21 page)

“It’s okay,” he said, putting his arm around her waist and leading her out of the tavern. “Shh…”

He led her into the lot and immediately saw the gaudiest cruiser he’d ever seen. He stifled a sigh and walked up to it. Low and behold, the keys worked. He helped his female inside and reached for her harness.

She looked extremely dazed, like she was awakening from a nightmare. “I… I can do that,” she finally said meekly, trying to grab at her safety harness.

He grunted and continued strapping her into her harness, anyway, before he walked over to his side of the cruiser and hopped in. The mating had taken too much time already, so he wanted to get her as far away from this place as quickly as he possibly could… More accurately, before any other bodyguards showed up and realized that the person that they used to work for was now dead.

“Let’s get you home and into bed,” he said, glancing at her as he drove the cruiser away from the tavern. She still was dazed, not looking at anything, just letting tears fall down her face. It was both so sad and so beautiful. “Maybe a nice bath? Wouldn’t that feel good?” he offered lightly.

No response. She merely sniffled. After a few seconds, she closed her eyes as if her tears were burning her and moved her face towards the window.

Thorton frowned. He could almost hear Graham teasing him now about how only Thorton could get himself in the doghouse in the first five minutes of marriage. “Is there something you wanted to talk about?” he offered.

She shook her head.

“Okay.” Maybe she wasn’t angry with him; she had been molested, fondled, and God-knows what else before he had come into the tavern. There was simply no way that her tears were because of him!

“I can’t believe you just… did that! In public, too,” she whined miserably, and sniffled again.

Nope. It was definitely him.

He sighed. “Penny—lots of first matings happen in public. I wasn’t able to control myself. Nobody can. That’s why we try to make sure it only happens in controlled settings. The matings can be violent, sometimes. I didn’t hurt you, did I?” he added, suddenly concerned. She was no Ellie, but she was still smaller than the average Swarii female by several inches. It was possible his girth caused her discomfort…

She didn't answer that, she only let out a sob. “You came in me! I’m not on the pill right now! What would happen if—!?”

“The pill,” he repeated, not understanding. Did she use
drugs
?

“Birth control,” she snapped.

Birth control… Control of
birth
? Huh? “Okay, okay. I’m very tired and I’m having trouble following. Use your words, Sweetie. What is birth control?”

“So I don’t get
pregnant
!” she blared. “You just
came in me
!”

He raised an eyebrow, thinking she was translating herself horribly. He was about to suggest they switch to English when she clarified, “You put semen in me!”

“Ah…” His forehead straightened since he didn’t feel any less confused. “Yeah… That’s… That’s how it’s done, Penny…” Certainly she should have known that much! Wasn’t SHE the one with experience?

“I’m only eighteen! Why would you do that?
Why
?” she sobbed. “I don’t know what to do!” She trembled. “And then you just… Beat me! I just… I don’t…” She sounded like she was hyperventilating.

He stopped the cruiser on the side of the road, letting it hover in place. He pulled off his harness so he could fully turn in his seat and put her face in his hands. She was still sobbing, panting, and trying to catch her breath, so he said calmly, “Penny? You’re gonna have to take a deep breath, okay? Breathe with me? There’s my good girl,” he praised when she took a deep breath. He combed his hands through her red, shiny hair.

It was just as soft as he knew it would be.

“I didn’t beat you. I gave you a spanking for scaring the hell out of me for three days. Do you know the difference?”

She shook her head.

He frowned. “Didn’t you ever get a spanking before?”

“Dad smacked me a few times…” Penny admitted softly.

“What? In the
face
?”

When Penny nodded, Thorton closed his eyes, pissed. He had never been so happy that Penny hadn’t stayed on Earth. In six weeks, she had probably only even
mentioned
her parents less than a handful of times… But from her brothers, Thorton had come to understand that she had been grossly neglected from day one.

But he hadn’t heard that she had been hit! If he knew that she had come from such a horrible situation, he would have explained himself beforehand. He should have told her what the difference was
before
he corrected her! Certainly, he wouldn't have spanked her in public… That was too harsh for a first-timer.

“Sweetheart, I would never slap you or strike you. I promise. I spanked your butt today because I care about you, and I don’t want you to make the same mistake again. Wandering off could have gotten you killed, or worse.”

“You did it because you were mad at me,” she pouted, dropping her eyes to the floor. “That’s why you did it. That’s why you did it in front of all those people…”

He stroked his thumbs across her freckled, tear-stained cheeks. “No, sweetheart. I mean, I wasn’t
happy
, but I would never hurt you. I had this thought that the lesson would drive home if I spanked you where I caught you. Sort of something my uncle taught me once when I stole his car as a teenager… But you scared the hell out of me. When I walked in the door and saw what was happening, I…” He stopped talking there. It was obvious enough from his actions that he was angry enough to kill all the bastards involved.

“But it hurts. It still really hurts,” she sulked miserably, squirming a bit in her seat.

“I know, Babygirl. Spankings are supposed to hurt. But I will never lose control on you. I will never cause you lasting harm. I will never spank you for revenge, okay? I’ll calm down more before I spank you from now on.”

Her eyes widened nervously, and her blush returned under his hands. “From now on?”

“Yes, sweetheart. You’re mine, now. To provide for and to protect you is my job. Even if I have to protect you from yourself—which might happen more often than not, considering that you’re a Jonas.” He kissed her cheek as she just blinked at him, and then he settled back into his seat and restarted the car.

“And what’s
my
job?” She asked a few minutes later.

“To love me, keep my house, and to raise my pups.”

“Please say you’re talking about dogs?” she pleaded.

He snorted. “No! Children!”

And then the sniffling started up again for some reason.

He reached over and rubbed her knee affectionately. “Penny, you’ll have children just fine. Five or so won’t be a problem. One of the best things about having the Union young is that you get to start your family sooner. It's like a head-start! You have tons of child-birthing years ahead of you!”

For a minute or so, she didn’t react at all. He was even beginning to think she wouldn’t argue about it, which was fantastic, because he really didn’t want to!

But then when she suddenly
did
react, she exploded with aggression. “I want out! I want to go home! I want—” She was nearly getting out of her harness, so he reached down and clicked on the child-safety lock.

“Go ahead and tire yourself out,” Thorton said, watching her out of the side of his eye as she tried to push against the harness with angry fury. He had a feeling something like this would happen—she’d realize she made a mistake in touching him. But it was too late for that, now! What was done was done. “You need to get used to it.
I’m
not the one who kissed me. You made this bed for yourself.” He watched as she angrily kicked the panel in front of her with her shoes.

He took a deep breath and decided he wasn’t going to get on her ass about wrecking a car that wasn’t his. Besides, the tantrum was… well, quite adorable. Pretty gosh-darn cute, and he hated to admit it. It was possible, though, that he had the cutest wife in the universe; he had to make sure she didn’t take advantage of him. “And you thought I was just being mean for making sure we didn’t touch, didn’t you?” He shook his head. “That’s where you’re wrong. I’m actually a nice guy.”

“NICE?” she snarled. “NICE? You weren’t
nice
back there! You were horrible! You were scary! You were—!”

“Protecting my female and giving her what she asked for. I call that being nice,” he begged to differ. After a moment of silence, he added, “I’m the nicest guy I know! I can tell you what’s
not
being nice, and that’s tying me to you forever and then complaining when I tell you how it’s gonna be!”

She didn’t have anything to say to that except to scowl, “That’s
not
how it’s gonna be. You can’t tell me what to do! Ever!”

He frowned. “Well, I’m going to tell you what to do, and if you don’t want to get another spanking, you’ll listen to me. You have the prettiest bottom I’ve ever seen and it would suit me just fine to give you as many trips over my knee as you require.” He saw her cheeks pinken again, and his manhood stirred.

God help me
, he thought.
I love making that girl blush.

Chapter Nine

Thorton was hoping that when they pulled up to the ship, he and his mate would be able to go into his room, take a shower, and sleep for the next decade. Graham would be there, repairs would be almost finished, and there was nothing left to do but to leave the next morning.

Once again, life disappointed Thorton. When they walked into the ship, they found that it had been ransacked and not a soul was onboard.

“Timmy! Tom! Mike! Answer me!” Penny was crying frantically as they looked around the ship.

Thorton went looking for a specialty gun he’d hidden away in his room in a secret chamber, and then came out. Penny stopped her aimless wandering and looked helplessly at him. And he thought she couldn't look more miserable than she had been twenty minutes ago!

“Go find some clothes, Sweetie,” he told her softly.

She looked at him like he was nuts, but he didn’t want her to walk around outside with him without being properly dressed in something other than his dirty jacket. “Please do as I ask,” he eventually added when he saw that she hadn’t moved.

“But my brothers—”

“We’ll find them,” he assured her, and pointed to Ellie and Graham’s room, where she was most likely to be able to find some of Ellie’s over-sized clothes that might fit her. Despite their heights, the girls had very similar body-types. She pursed her lips and then noisily stomped away.

He turned back to his gun and started to load it.

He had a terrible feeling that Graham had never made it back from Alamar’s. He also had a feeling that Alamar had sent his goons to grab whoever Graham had on his ship. Humans were expensive slaves. Most could get a good price for selling them, and even more if they somehow could realize that they had half-breeds on their hands. The Frians would pay a hefty sum to get one under a microscope. Frians still didn't know that half-breeds even existed!

“Penny!” Thorton said, suddenly uneasy from not being in the same room as her.

“All the guns are gone!” Penny cried.

“I asked you to dress, not look at the guns!” Thorton snapped, incredulous. “You have two minutes. Clock’s ticking.” He was mentally congratulating himself about how firm he sounded when he heard a shuffling sound from behind him.

“God…” a familiar voice said. “What the hell happened here, Son?”

Thorton’s head snapped around towards the familiar voice, knowing who it was even at the sound of his footfalls. “Admiral?” Thorton couldn’t believe that that man was here. He had to be imagining things. Why in the wild universe would Jack Masterson even be in this galaxy?

“You look surprisingly happy to see me. I half expected you to be dead.” The admiral looked him over judgmentally. “I don’t know if you’re aware, but Graham was taken prisoner by some Pirate Lord about three days ago now.”

It was clear now—Admiral Jack Masterson had been given intelligence on Graham. More than likely, Alamar Lee was contacting Frian planets to locate the highest bidder for his prize. There was a reward on both Graham and Thorton’s heads on Frian planets, and although the pirate havens like this one were not known to hold alliances to any federation, they were quite loyal to
money
.

“And Ellie, her brother, and her two cousins are gone, too. I just walked in the door for the first time in three days myself—” Thorton began to explain, but then the look on the admiral’s face reminded him that they had been out of radio contact for a long time, now.

The admiral still thought Ellie was dead. He had probably been mourning her and the loss of his son, who wasn’t the type who would continue living after verifying the death of his mate, for the last two months. “Ellie?” Jack gasped. “My… My Ellie’s
alive
?”

“And
missing
, Admiral,” Thorton reminded firmly. “It’s one thing or another! This whole trip has been the odyssey from hell.” He snapped his neck towards the back hallway. “PENNY! TIME’S UP!”

Penny scrambled out of the back of the ship, in a very tight shirt and a very short skirt, pulling her hair back into a ponytail. “I was hurrying!” she was saying defensively. “Two minutes is barely any time to—”

Her eyes settled on Jack, and they looked at each other with equal amounts of astonishment. Penny was the only one who reacted—she squeaked shrilly and ran behind Thorton to use him as a human shield. “Who is that?” she demanded.

“Graham’s father,” Thorton said, reaching for her hand and pulling her out from behind his back. He wanted more than anything to present her to his uncle—the closest thing to a father he'd had since he was five-years-old.

The man looked both shocked and confused… And then Thorton saw his eyes move downwards, resting on Penny’s breasts like the man had never seen breasts before. Thorton was sure Jack had never lusted after Ellie, but it was obvious that Penny was having that automatic effect! “My
mate,
Penny,” he introduced, trying to keep the protective growl from his voice. “Ellie’s
cousin
.”