Sweet Salvation (12 page)

“I promise.”

The look she gave him was watery, her lashes spikey and her eyes slightly red. He doubted any of it was from his spanking.

“How does your bottom feel?”

She blushed and shook her head. “As Nana would say, ‘It’s hotter than a goat’s butt in a pepper patch.’”

“It sounds like Nana could really turn a phrase, but I’d rather hear it in your own words, not Nana’s. It was your first real spanking and I need to know how you feel.”

“It’s tingling, but okay.”

“Don’t make me do it again. I’d rather swat your behind while we’re playing than for discipline. Understand?”

“Yes, Jared.”

“Good. Let’s get you cleaned up and head out. I think we’ve had enough heavy discussion for one morning, don’t you?”

“But they’ll know.” Her voice was filled with concern as he helped her to her feet, her shorts and panties now around her ankles.

“Turn and let me see.”

“No.” Her hands went protectively to her bottom as if that would stop him from looking.

“Baby, what do you think I’ve been looking at for the last twenty minutes? I’ve seen you plenty, now turn around.” When she did, he pressed between her shoulder blades until she was bent over her dresser and her bottom was presented nicely for his appraisal. “As I thought, Stacy, you’re barely pink. I didn’t spank you very hard.”

“It felt hard to me.”

“I didn’t spank you any harder than when we’ve played. You just weren’t aroused so it felt more intense.”

She frowned at him, but ignored his comment.

“What about my legs? In shorts and a bathing suit, they’ll be able to see everything.”

“The heat is almost gone and any pinkness will have faded within the hour. They won’t see a thing.” He let her up and held her to him, his hands rubbing and massaging her full cheeks.

Her hands rose to his chest and she smoothed his shirt, raising them to straighten his collar, the whole time avoiding his eyes. “You don’t plan on doing this often, do you, darlin’?”

“Only when necessary. It took three months for you to earn one, so I doubt it will be frequent. A word of warning though, little girl, telling me to ‘get out’ or ‘f-off’ again will earn you the paddle.”

She glanced up at him in surprise, before looking away and finding his buttons all of a sudden extremely interesting. Toying with one, she asked curiously, while sidestepping his point totally, “You own a paddle?”

“Look at me, Stace.” He waited until her eyes met his before saying, “No more f-bombs or pushing me away, okay?”

Shame-faced, she nodded. “I still can’t believe I said that, Jared. My daddy would have been horrified. You knew I didn’t mean it though, didn’t you? That’s why you stayed.”

“Yes, or at least I hoped so at the time. You’ll find I don’t give up so easily, baby. We’ll work through this together and while we do, you’ll learn you can always come to me and feel safe, no matter what.” Jared bent and gave her one more sizzling kiss. When he pulled back, she groaned softly, following his lips with her own, but he patted her bottom softly and set her away. “Don’t tempt me, honey, or we’ll never get to the boat. Let’s go.”

* * *

Twenty minutes later, they were standing in front of ‘The Reliance,’ Marc’s catamaran.

“Holy crap!”

“Impressive, huh?”

“I thought only millionaires had yachts, not surgeons.”

Jared laughed. “Honey, Marc is Marc Trent.”

“I know his last name, Jared.”

“Marc Trent, of Trent Industries.”

She shook her head, her hand on her floppy hat to keep it in place as she looked up at the towering mast. “I’m not getting it. What’s Trent Industries?”

“A huge plastics manufacturer. Marc’s family is loaded, which makes him a millionaire who owns a yacht.”

“You’re kidding me?”

“Nope.”

“But he’s a working surgeon.”

“He doesn’t work in the family business, just reaps the profits, I guess. He’s always told me that he likes being his own man, despite his family fortune. That he could stand on his own two feet if the business closed tomorrow. Plus, he enjoys it, as do I, most days.”

“You’re not swimming in it like he is?”

“No, but I do fairly well. You see the profit and loss statements for the business. I won’t have to feed you bologna sandwiches for dinner anytime soon.”

She turned to him and smiled. “I like bologna sandwiches, with mayo and a fresh garden tomato…” She put her fingers to her lips and made a smacking noise. “
Delicioso
.”

A voice from overhead hollered, “Hey, who’s butchering my ancestral tongue down there?”

Marc was fluent in Italian, a requirement of his grandmother who had come from ‘the old country’ as a young woman, determined to teach her children and grandchildren the ways of her culture.

“Ex-coo-see, Sig-nore.” Stacy purposely butchered it and laughed as Marc complained.

“Stop, Stacy, my ears are bleeding.”

“Oh, pooh.”

“Permission to come aboard?” Jared called and without waiting for an answer helped Stacy onto the sailboat.

“You’re late.”

“Sorry, bud. Something came up.”

Marc’s intelligent eyes flickered between them and judiciously kept silent. “Not a problem. Jess is below changing into her suit. She’ll be up in a minute.”

“So you finally asked her out. What happened to swearing off all work romances?”

“She’s gorgeous. I caved. Sue me.”

Just then, a head full of coppery red and gold hair appeared at the top of the stairs. A second later, the rest of the stunningly curvaceous woman appeared, walking out on the deck in a bright yellow, barely-there bikini. She sported dark glasses and nothing else but a bottle of beer and water in her hands.

“Our company’s here,
bella mia
,” Marc said as he climbed down from where he was tightening some of the rigging.

She turned to greet them, the next instant screaming as recognition dawned. “Stacy! I didn’t know you were coming!”

“Jessie! Good heavens, girl, this is flippin’ fantastic!”

The two women ran up to each other, hugging and chattering a mile a minute. Jared looked over at Marc and grinned. “I take it they know each other.”

Stacy heard and turned in Jessie’s arms, beaming. “Jessie is the first friend I made when I moved north from Georgia. We met while volunteering at a hospital fundraiser for juvenile diabetes. We were assigned to the same booth and hit it off right away.”

Jessie nodded, smiling as brightly. “We had so much fun that day and learned we had a lot in common. We were the same age.”

“Grew up in similar working class neighborhoods,” Stacy added.

“We both love Elvis.”

“And shopping.”

“Especially shoe shopping,” Jessie said, grinning.

“We even have the same middle name.” They both burst into gales of laughter as they said this last bit in perfect sync.

“After that,” Stacy continued when she caught her breath, “I looked her up at the hospital. I used to have to go by the surgical floor each day to pick up the billing information on the surgeons’ hospital cases. We started having coffee together when we could.”

“Then lunch.”

“And girls’ night out.”

Jessie, who was a few inches taller, put her arm around Stacy as they turned to the guys. “The rest as they say is history. We’re now BFFs.”

Marc laughed cheerily, rescuing the unopened beer from Jessie’s hand. Passing it to Jared, he said, “That’s something you have in common with me and Jared.”

“I swear, Trent. If you call us BFFs, I’m tossing you in the lake.”

The girls giggled at Jared’s threatening tone, but Marc laughed. It was all in good fun and Jared proved it when he sent them both a playful wink.

“I’m getting another beer,” Marc stated as he headed for the stairs leading below deck. “How ‘bout you, Stace?”

“Sure, I’ll take one.”

“It’s kind of choppy today. Beer and waves don’t always mix well.” Jared’s warning had Stacy reconsidering.

“Hm, you’re right, Jared, better make that two.” She cracked up at her own joke. “No, but really, I love sailing. I used to go with a friend’s family to Florida every summer. They sailed. On the Atlantic side, nothing wimpy like the Gulf or the Great Lakes.”

Jared and Marc laughed at her chutzpah. “You heard the lady, Captain. She’ll have two.”

“Just water for you,
cara
?”

“Yeah, this is my first time so I’m taking it slow and easy.”

“Ha! That’s what she said,” Marc called with a laugh as he disappeared below.

“You walked right into that one, Jess.” Jared laughed.

Both girls rolled their eyes and said in unison, “What a goofball,” and then laughed at their uncanny connection.

They spent a leisurely day on the water. At one point, weighing anchor and swimming in the cold water. Stacy was the first to wimp out, climbing out of the frigid water shivering with cold. “It’s freezing. I’m expecting penguins and polar bears to swim by any second. Does it ever warm up?”

The three Michigan natives looked at each other and laughed. “Usually by August it’s warmer,” was Jared’s discouraging answer.

“What’s your definition of warmer, seventy? I need at least eighty degrees, better yet, call me when it hits eighty-two. Until then, I’ll be the one lounging over there on the deck—in a parka!”

Jess chimed in from where she was being towed around on Marc’s back, “Quit being such a wimp, Stace, and come back in. We’ll only have two or three weeks of warm before it starts snowing again. So you got to suck it up if you want to swim.”

“You gotta toughen up, Stace.”

“Sorry, Marc, no amount of toughening will get me to stand that. I’ll just lounge around topside and read, thank you very much. Now where did I put my parka?”

They all laughed at her retreat, Jared hollering after her. “Put on sunscreen, baby. I’ll be up to get your back in a sec.” Stacy grumbled as she wrapped up in her beach towel, shivering in the light breeze, teeth chattering the whole while. He’d been on her all day about sunscreen, her being so fair and all. He said he was concerned about her burning, but she thought it was equal parts sunburn and the fact he enjoyed slathering the stuff all over her skin. He paid special attention to her chest, belly, and thighs, which she told him she could easily reach herself. He had smiled and said he wanted to make sure they didn’t miss an inch. Then when she turned over, well, the ten minutes he spent on the back of her thighs made her reach for a cold beverage every time.

In a few minutes, Jared joined her and applied another coat of SPF 45 to her fair-skinned back and shoulders. Before long, Jessie came out to sun, with Marc doing the same for her. A blonde and a redhead with fair skin and blue eyes were just asking for sunburns. Marc with his Italian heritage turned brown before their eyes, having applied only a thin layer early in the day. Jared, although not as dark, also tanned easily and required minimal coverage.

“Your nose is pink, so are your shoulders. You need to move under the awning.”

“Jared, I’m still freezing. I’ll just dry off and warm up first, and then I’ll move. Okay?”

“Be careful, I don’t want you hurting tonight, sweetheart.” He leaned in for a smokin’ hot kiss and then moved off with Marc, who’d just given Jessie the same lecture.

“You know them both, Jess. Have they always been this bossy?”

“Yes.”

When she didn’t elaborate, Stacy laughed. “Well, that was to the point.”

“They’re doctors, used to being in charge and giving orders. They expect people to obey without question because people’s lives are in their hands. That it spills over into their private lives is hardly unexpected, you know?”

“You’re right. It’s annoying sometimes, but mostly really sexy.”

Jessie sighed. “Don’t I know it.”

“Okay, spill. What’s going on with you and Marc? When did you start dating? Is it serious? What do people at the hospital say? Is it serious?”

“You asked that last one twice.”

“That’s because it’s the most important.” Stacy smiled at her, so happy that her best friend was dating Jared’s best friend. It couldn’t be any more perfect. “Spill!”

“All right already! Sheesh. We met at work, obviously. Where else would I meet a filthy rich doctor? We were attracted right away, but we both resisted the pull. He’d had some bad relationships. As for me, I thought we were just too different. I actually thought he was a player for a long time, but then something changed.”

“What?”

“He kissed me.”

“Do tell.” Stacy waited. “No, seriously, do tell. Don’t stop at the good part.”

“It was better than good,” Jessie said with a dreamy smile. “It was phenomenal. I thought I was going to, well—you know, from just a kiss. It made me senseless and fuzzy, as if he’d blown a fuse in my brain or something. Still does it every time too.”

“I know what you mean. How did this come about if you were both staying away from each other?”

“He was fussing at me about something. To everybody else he was sweet and patient, but if I didn’t get his instruments set up just right and I mean perfect, like if I had a scalpel at one o’clock instead of three o’clock, or if I had an extra swab on the tray, it was like I’d killed someone. He was being a real ass.”

“He liked you.”

“Yeah, like a kid in second grade who punches his crush in the arm really hard every time he sees her. I’m glad he figured it out ‘cause the bruises were adding up.”

“Huh, how did you go from that to almost ‘you knowing’ in your pants when he kissed you?”

“He followed me into the locker room one day, to fuss at me more. I had just pulled off my scrub top when he just barged on in. There I was in my bra, not my prettiest one either, because it was past laundry day. He just stood there staring for a minute, then wham! I was plastered against the lockers and he was kissing me like in the movies. That’s when I almost ‘you knowed’ in my pants.”

“Heavens, that’s romantic,” Stacy sighed. “So when did this happen?”

“About a month ago.”

“Jessica Lynn Swanson! You’ve been dating Dr. Bossy Hunk Millionaire for a month and you didn’t tell your best friend? I’m crushed.”