Sweet Surrender (22 page)

“Be still and take your punishment.” Relentlessly, the belt rained down thwack after thwack, only now it was concentrating on the tender flesh of her upper thighs. “What is it going to take to get you to think before you act?”

“I did stop and think before I acted. I listened too, you big jerk, and if I had to do it over, I would in a heartbeat.” She kicked furiously. With her ankles still bound in lace, she only managed to slide forward, shifting herself off balance. He easily corralled her legs with his larger one, pinning her in place.

“You’re the son of a bitch—and I mean that quite literally—who needs a belt taken to his traitorous ass. Let me go.”

“We’ll discuss whatever you think I’ve done after I’m finished. Keep fighting me and you won’t sit for a week. Keep cursing me and I’ll add a soaping for that potty mouth of yours.”

Suddenly, the fight went out of her. Unable to resist anymore, Jessie surrendered, collapsing limply over his legs as she gave in emotionally as well. “I want to go home,” she whispered tearfully.

“You are home, Jess.”

“No,” she wailed, releasing her pent-up frustration and anger in a heart-wrenching series of shuddering sobs. “I want to go to my mother and most of all I want to get away from you.”

Suddenly, she was upright in his lap, staring into his bewildered face, and that made her cry all the harder.

* * *

Marc searched her reddened, tear-stained face. It was a portrait of misery. He was speechless as a torrent of tears tracked down her flushed cheeks. His heart twisted. After confronting his mother and sisters and learning of the spiteful things they’d said to Jessie, his plan was to get her home, cuddle her into his arms, comfort her, and apologize for being so stern with her and completely shortsighted with his family.

Never in a million years would he imagine she would abandon him. She’d scared him to death when he found his truck gone. He’d arrived in the front yard to see her taking the corner much too fast, driving like a terror on the icy road, putting herself and others at risk. He borrowed his dad’s SUV and on the way home planned a bare bottom spanking for her recklessness, but after a calm, in-depth discussion. That had gone out the window when he’d found himself locked out and her refusing to open the door, all while hurling insults at him with that biting tongue of hers. Then she ran from him. That had been the final straw; he’d seen red and pursued her, unable to let the succession of more outrageous and unacceptable behavior to go unaddressed for another second.

The spanking hadn’t been that harsh, surely. His old belt was well broken in, the leather soft and supple. It had taken considerable effort to get it to fall with a snap and couldn’t have borne half the impact of the spatula she’d asked him to use the week prior. Her response to it, to want to leave him, was a disproportionate reaction and didn’t make sense. Something was going on in her head and he intended to find out what.

As she sobbed against his chest, his hand reflexively came up to stroke slowly up and down her spine. “Shh,
cara
.”

She stiffened at his words, as if she’d forgotten his presence, so lost in her misery. With a shuddering sigh, she scrubbed at her cheeks with her sleeve. The look she gave him was filled with hurt and anger. “I’d l-like to g-go to bed, p-please—alone.”

“That is not happening, baby.” Did she really think he’d let her go without an explanation? “For the second time today, I’m giving you a choice—face-to-face or over my knee?”

“Choice?” Between hiccups and shudders, her voice quavered. “F-funny you should u-use that w-word.”

He had no idea what that cryptic remark meant. She avoided meeting his eyes, turning her head away and exposing the rapidly fluttering pulse in her throat. He noticed the erratic rise and fall of her chest, her respirations shallow and rough. As though trying to collect herself, she squeezed her eyes shut and her hands fisted tightly in her sweater, but her breathing became more irregular and slightly labored.

“Take some slow breaths before you start hyperventilating.”

Instead, she panted, which only made things worse.

“Pursed lips, baby. Focus!”

He watched as she puckered her lips and blew out, then inhaled through her nose. “Good girl, in through your nose and out through your mouth—concentrate on slow and deep.”

Gathering her in his arms, he rocked her gently, stroking her hair while murmuring occasional directions or soft assurances in a soothing, calm tone into her ear. At last, she was able to take several deep breaths in and out. She stayed focused until her respirations had returned to normal.

For several long minutes, she rested in his arms, before she opened her eyes. Marc took in her more composed demeanor and relaxed a fraction. His fingers slid across her cheek and down to her throat where he checked her pulse rate. Measured, steady… crisis averted.

“Better now?” At her nod, he continued. Although he wanted to throttle her for the way she’d been acting, he wanted answers more. “Do you think you can stay calm and explain what this is all been about?”

She dipped her chin, not meeting his eyes.

“How did I betray you, Jessie?”

“I heard everything.” Raspy and low, she spoke in a hint above a whisper.

He bent his head closer so as not to miss a word. “What exactly did you hear?”

“That I’m one in a long line of nurses, a gold digger, and that I’m somehow trapping you into marriage with my easy piece of ass and big tits.” Trying to pull out of his arms only made them hold tighter.

“I never said any such thing.” He was stunned that she would think he would say anything of the kind.

“No, that was your mother and sisters. Can I get up, please? It’s humiliating to have to discuss this while sitting half-naked on your lap.” Jessie tried to jerk free, but his will as much as the unbreakable hold of his strong arms was like iron, unyielding and indomitable.

“Be still,” he insisted, the warmth of his breath brushing her face as he huffed a growl of frustration. “You aren’t going anywhere until we straighten this out. Something’s not right.”

“You were there a-and you didn’t say a thing.”

He heard the slight break in her voice, felt the tension in her body as she pushed against him. Her hurt was palpable and he wanted desperately to ease it, take it away completely, but he needed answers and pressed on.

“I don’t know what conversation you overheard, but I damn sure wouldn’t have stood calmly by while they trash-talked you.”

“I heard you say you wouldn’t have chosen me. Poor man, I guess my huge rack and round ass suckered you in and robbed you of free will, huh?”

He ignored her goading remark and focused on the former. “What do you mean I wouldn’t have chosen you? I believe I was the man in the hot tub who asked you to marry me.”

“Those were your words, not mine. I heard you say you didn’t choose to love me, as if I had used some magic spell or hypnotized you, like loving me was such a horrible thing.”

It all clicked, at last. “Jessie, mom and the girls were going on and on about Christina Barlow. She’s a doctor I dated a long time ago, well before you came into my life. They were all over the moon for her; I didn’t agree. I broke it off after a few dates because she was full of herself and standoffish, and not at all my type. I told mom exactly that and they said I should have chosen to love her, which is ludicrous. I said—”

“You don’t get to choose who you love.” She swallowed audibly. “That’s where I came in. Oh, my God! I thought you were talking about me, that if given a choice you wouldn’t have chosen me.”

An onerous weight lifted. Thank God! It was a case of an innocent remark taken out of context. He cupped her chin in his big hand and lifted her face until their eyes met. “See what happens to eavesdroppers? And when you don’t trust me or talk to me about what’s bothering you?”

Lips trembling, her face crumpled. Overwhelmed by emotion, the tears spilled over.

“
Mio tesoro,
I love you and I chose you because you are everything that she was not: charming, funny, sexy, and so much more. Do you understand? I don’t care what others think. I know who you are. God knows if you were marrying me for my money, I wouldn’t have had to spank you for all the overtime you work. If you were a gold digger, you’d have quit that damn job long ago.”

He noticed a slight give in her body, no longer pulling away from him. However, she didn’t appear ready to forgive and forget, not just yet. “How about all the other hateful things they said? You didn’t stick up for me once. That hurt.”

“I imagine the ladies of my family used you as target practice after dad and I went out back to discuss some business. We weren’t out there for more than a few minutes, before I heard my truck. Imagine my surprise when I ran to the front of the house and saw you taking the turn at the bottom of the drive on two wheels. We’ll address that in a bit. For now, do you believe me or do you still think I’m a traitor?”

Marc felt her stiffen as he spoke. The color drained from her face and she swallowed with difficulty, her throat no doubt dry from all the crying. “What is it?”

“When exactly did you leave? I remember you and your mom talking about a pre-nup…”

“Then you heard me nip that in the bud. I left right after that. Dad needed some fresh air and went out back. I followed and found him ready to cut a few switches of his own and take a few butts to task over bad behavior.”

When Jessie frowned, he could tell she was trying to sort through all the facts. He hadn’t heard all their comments, but considering his mother’s attitude tonight and Jessie’s extreme reaction, they must have been brutal. Damn! It made him wonder what else she had been subjected to over the past few months. He made a mental note to ask her about that later. For now, since she had all the pieces to the puzzle, he was going to wait until she put them all together.

“I only heard your dad leave. I thought—” She stopped, curling into him.

“You thought I was sitting there listening to their crap.” That stung. “I can’t think what I’ve possibly done to make you believe I would do such a thing—ever.”

She shook her head, pressing her face into his neck. “I’m sorry. I was upset and my head was pounding terribly. All I could think about was getting out of there, away from their animosity and spitefulness.”

“Yes, but you ran away from me too.” Sadly, he rested his face against her head, her soft, fragrant hair brushing his cheek and jaw. He inhaled. His Jessie always smelled fantastic; tonight it was strawberries and cream.

“How is your headache now?”

“Better. You were quite helpful in diverting the ache to other parts.” She shifted on his lap, moving closer. “I’m sorry, handsome. I really messed up this time, jumping to conclusions, very wrong conclusions at that.”

Although laced with guilt, the familiar endearment, told him his sweet Jessie was back.

“We obviously have to work on trust and communication,
bella
. For now, I’d like to know about all that other naughty behavior. And what were all those nasty remarks about my mother?”

“Uh, most of them were directed at you. You know—the, uh, half a man comment, and how she keeps your, um—balls in her purse. Those are mom jokes that really insult the man.”

“Hmm… I won’t even ask where you heard them.” She didn’t reply, but he guessed Stacy was instrumental in a few of them. “Why didn’t you come to me before things spiraled out of control? In particular, before you took off like a speed demon in my truck? That scared the hell out of me, Jess. The entire way home I watched the side of the road, afraid you’d popped the clutch and slid into a ditch somewhere.”

“The clutch was a bit tricky, though the hardest part was finding reverse and first gear. I had second thoughts while searching for both in the driveway.”

“Yeah, I heard you grinding the gears from all the way in the backyard.” He’d be amazed if she hadn’t burned up his clutch and transmission, but the important thing was she was safe. Hands firmly on her shoulders, he moved her away, enough that he could see her face for this next question.

“Sorry.”

“I’m sorry too, especially that you don’t think you can come to me, to talk about things that are bothering you, or anything for that matter, in particular something you think I’ve done. We’ve discussed this before. What is it going to take for you to trust in me?”

“I don’t know.” She shook her head when he narrowed his eyes in irritation. “Really. I don’t.”

“Then I know a perfect place where you can go to spend some time figuring it out.”

He lifted her off his lap, helping her to stand on shaky legs. With her two steps below him, his hands resting comfortably on her hips, his eyes level with hers, he took in her flushed face and tousled hair. Her lower lip was plumped up more than usual, from biting it, he guessed. As he watched, her tongue came out and swept over it, leaving a glistening trail of moisture along her pink, slightly swollen flesh. His body tightened in response.

As natural as breathing, his hands moved to cup her heated skin, caressing gently as he pulled her into his chest. He loved the way her smaller frame fit against him, her curves molding perfectly to him, the top of her head tucking snugly beneath his chin. Marc’s hands gently rubbed her blazing cheeks, spreading the warmth evenly across her skin.

She appeared contrite as she stood within the circle of his arms, he knew she was regretting her childish outburst of bad behavior. Her quickened response told him she was feeling something else too. His curious fingers slipped between her thighs. As suspected, the attention to her bottom had created a molten response between her thighs. Her body’s response to him lightened his mood, but his needs would have to wait until the matter between them was settled.

“Let’s get off these stairs.” Standing, he grabbed her hand, pulling her up to the landing next to him. “You go on up and get in the corner.”

As he gave her a little nudge to move her along, she hesitated. Jessie would much rather have another spanking then spend time in the corner soul-searching and reflecting on her thoughts and behavior.