Valentine's Cowboy (9 page)

“Abby! Abby, shut up for a second!” She’d never yelled at her partners, very seldom yelled at anyone. But Abby was being impossible. Besides, she wanted to be with Sam.

Abby barely slowed down in her retelling of every problem at the office in the few days. Finally Valentine reached her breaking point. She’d vaguely heard the bathroom door opening and Sam walking out. Her body throbbed for sexual release; and her head pounded in a headache that Abby had caused. Her frustration came roaring out. “Handle the damn problems yourself!”

She went on to offer some colorful suggestions that she’d never ever expressed to anyone before. The comments would have had her grounded for a month as a teenager. She didn’t care. She was almost beyond being rational now and actually shook in fury.

The comments only elicited additional listings of her failings from Abby, which made her completely lose it. She stomped her foot in a fit, an action that hurt her foot. But the vision of kicking Abby’s behind was worth the pain. She stomped again for good measure, saying, “You can’t hear it, but I just kicked your butt, Abby Tarrington. And it felt damn good!”

She heard Sam’s barefoot padding coming closer across the tiled floor. A tingling of unease swept over her, but she was too upset with Abby to heed any silent warning. She snarled in the phone, “Do not call me again!” and then slammed the phone onto the cradle.

“That was quite a tantrum you just threw,” he stated in a disapproving tone.

When she faced him, she could tell he was not a happy man. Yet the towel knotted around his waist distracted her. “So? She deserved my anger.”

He did not appear impressed by her reasoning. “It sounded to me like you were pretty testy from the moment you picked up the phone.”

“My partners have been harassing me with email demands, which I’m tired of getting,” she snapped defensively. “Now Abby calls here and goes off on me. I had a right to be ‘testy.’”

“Acting testy toward your business partners wasn’t being professional. Nor was calling her names. Some very disgusting names.” A vein pulsed in his neck. “You’ve been in a snit ever since you talked to your ex earlier. You need some guidance concerning settling down. And a firm reminder about proper behavior.”

Nerves twisted in her stomach and lower. “You’re not suggesting…“

He strode toward her and snagged her hand to pull her with him to the bedroom. “Bet your soon-to-be-red bottom I’m talking about soundly spanking you.”

She tried to dig her heels into the carpet, but it did no good. He was determined to spank her. She knew she could stop him if she really wanted to, probably should do so. But as he sat on the edge of the bed and tugged her over his lap, she went down with only minor resistance.

His large hand swatted her bare bottom hard. She wished she’d put on her sleep shirt, but he would have just shoved it out of the way.

“Can’t we talk reasonably about this?” she asked, knowing the answer already.

His hand met her lower cheeks with enough force that she yelped. “Like you talked reasonably with your partner? Like you ended the conversation reasonably?” A dozen burning swats landed before she could even protest.

“I’m not entirely at fault here,” she gasped in between hissing at the rain of brisk spanks. “They are. They think I’m an evil deserter for leaving them to manage the office by themselves.”

“You didn’t desert them, but you did take off on a whim. Right? You left the same day you made the decision.” He had a steady rhythm going now, burning her bottom over every inch. “It sounds like you threw a small tantrum before you even left the office.”

It was hard to think from the fire he’d created, even harder to deny what he’d said. She had left on the spur of the moment. She had known that she pretty much handled the internal office decisions and the staff. Guilt budded within her. “I needed to get away.”

He went right on smacking her wriggling bottom. “You’ve been building up to a real pout for a while now, I suspect.”

“Nobody cares about me,” she whined, kicking up at a particularly hard swat on her lower cheeks. “My partners hate my new idea. Oooooowwww, stop!”

“I don’t think you’re done venting yet.” He settled her closer again and resumed the spanking. “I’m keeping this up until I think you’ve had enough.”

She squirmed, but his grip was a good one. This was seriously starting to hurt. She sniffed back a sob. “Fine, I’ll vent! I’m mad at my partners.”

Six hard, room echoing swats had her straightening her legs out and hissing. “I’m disappointed in Jonathan…ohhhhh….because he made me feel…uhhhh…like a failure.” She sobbed in misery.

His hand slowed down to soft spanks, but she was in full vent mode now. Her buttocks quivered at each swat as she said forlornly, “I’m confused…oooooohhhhh…I…oh, Sam! uugghhh…Sam, I’m sorry for being so bitchy.”

“That’s better. I think we’re almost done now.” He picked up speed again, the swats stinging harder.

“Almost!” she bit out and jerked around on his lap, “It hurts! It hurts a lot!”

“A good spanking is supposed to hurt, darlin’. You needed this one real bad.” Then he spent the next ten minutes giving her a spanking she wouldn’t soon forget.

She was a sobbing mess by the time he finished with what he’d deemed necessary. She felt certain it would be weeks, months, years before she could sit comfortably again. She was almost afraid to climb off his lap knowing it would be painful to move. But this time he only allowed her to lie there for a couple of minutes while she caught her breath.

He helped her up, stood himself, and then again took her hand. Too miserable to pay much attention, she followed after him until they reached one of the corners in the living room. Her heart raced in distress as he firmly guided her into it.

“You’re going to stand here for a spell.”

She looked at the corner, and then back at him. “I don’t want to do this. It’s humiliating,” she said, dabbing at the tears on her cheek.

“But you’re going to, or you’re going back over my knee. You need to finish settling down.” He guided her forward and she didn’t resist, even though part of her wanted badly to do so. “You need to think about why you just got your butt burned.”

She hated it, but she stood there while the fierce stinging eased down to a steady throb, and while the sobs finally quieted. She heard him in the bedroom getting dressed. And here she stood, naked and with a red bottom on display for the man who’d soundly spanked it. Why was she doing this? Why had she meekly protested and then given in to stand here to be further punished? This was all so new to her. So very odd…and painful. Yet she didn’t hate the man for treating her this way. Because even though he took her over his knee and spanked her, she also knew that he cared about her. Maybe he hadn’t said the words, but she knew it. And, although she had mixed emotions about getting involved with another man right now, she liked Sam Thompson. Liked him very much, even if he spanked the devil out of her poor bottom.

* * *

As they sat at one of the long tables several hours later at the luau, Sam watched Valentine squirm uncomfortably on the hard wooden chair. He’d only left her in the corner about a half hour, but she’d done her time without a protest. Afterward he’d led her back to bed and laid her down on her stomach to sleep for a while. He’d returned to his condo and spent the time mulling over Jake’s proposal. He’d also spent a lot of that time thinking about her. She’d definitely wormed her way into his heart. He just didn’t know what to do about that, if anything.

“Are you all right?” Shelby asked Valentine, concern pinching her brow. She’d come to stand next to Valentine before sitting down to eat her own meal. “You are awfully quiet tonight, and fidgety. Did you get burned today?”

Although it was nearly dusk, he saw the quick blink of Valentine’s eyes and the way color stained her cheeks. His sister might have been talking about sunburn, but Valentine had immediately thought about a whole different burn she’d gotten today. He started to intercede, but she studied the plate full of Hawaiian specialties and said quietly, “I’m just tired. I had a tough day. Don’t worry about me.”

Shelby looked across the table at him with annoyance in her eyes. “Has my brother been arguing with you again?”

He felt protective about Valentine and didn’t want his sister pressing her, especially when he wasn’t even sure how she felt about him right now. “We haven’t been arguing, Shelby. Now leave her be.”

To his surprise, Valentine raised her eyes to meet his gaze and smiled. He felt that gentle smile clear down to his bones. “We have our differences now and then, but your brother is a good man. I misjudged him before I got to know him.”

Shelby glanced from Valentine to her brother, then got up and walked back to her place at the other end of the table, smiling as if she knew a secret.

He tuned out the others around them, speaking only to Valentine. “Thank you for that. I misjudged you too.” He leaned closer and she did as well. “I’m not sorry for what happened earlier, though.”

“I’m actually okay with that, even if a certain part of me is not quite as okay as my reasoning.” Then she licked her lips, slowly, and teased, “What happened between us earlier in the day…well, that was very, very nice.”

Even though they’d only started eating and hadn’t even seen the hula show yet, he shoved his chair back and stood. “I’m pretty tired. You want to go back to the resort with me?”

She eased her chair back, winced a little, and then stood. She waved down the table at Shelby. “Sorry, but I have to go now.” She glanced at him. There was a hint of challenge in her look. “Your brother has a problem he wants my help with. We’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Oh? Okay. I’ll call you after breakfast.”

He walked around the table and took her arm to guide her away, interrupting, “No. We’re going horseback riding tomorrow. We’ll probably be gone all day.”

As he led Valentine through the maze of tables and toward the exit, he leaned down to whisper, “By morning that sweet spanked bottom of yours should be much better.” He grinned when she looked up. “’Course after the night ahead I’ve in mind, you’ll still probably be a bit sore. Pleasantly sore.”

Chapter Five

Valentine awoke to the alarm going off at 5:30 a.m., as she’d set it for the night before. She stretched and missed her pillow top mattress. Her back was slightly sore, but otherwise she liked her temporary condo.

She sat up, testing her body even more. Yesterday had been rather rough, but she felt back to normal now. Sam had no sooner left late the night of the luau than she’d gotten sick. Not food poisoning and not really a virus. More like an overload of frustration from the many problems she’d been dealing with. Her body had just rebelled.

She smiled thoughtfully. From the moment he had shown up at her doorway the next morning and learned about her not feeling well, he had taken charge. Even if she’d been a lot better and thought she could handle the horseback riding, he’d refused to consider it. He’d insisted that she would stay in and take it easy. Actually, she’d been relieved because she really wasn’t a hundred percent yet. A day of simply lounging around hadn’t sounded all that bad. But he hadn’t left her alone. He’d checked on her every few hours.

 Warmth spread through her. Her cowboy continually surprised her. Gruff and stubborn at times, pigheaded about certain issues, he also had a gentle, caring side. Even that side of him could be a bit bossy, but she hadn’t really minded. Her ex hadn’t had patience with someone around him being under the weather. If she’d even complained of a minor headache or sniffled once, Jonathan had made himself scarce. Sam was different, in so many ways.

Speaking of Sam, he’d be showing up at her door any minute now. He’d managed to postpone the horseback riding reservations until today and he was unbelievably excited about it. Of course, he lived on a ranch and this would be familiar territory to him. She, though, had some concerns about getting on a horse. Call her city girl, she was okay with that. Still, she’d give it a try for his sake.

Ten minutes later as she came rushing out of the bathroom, hair pulled up into a ponytail again and wearing jeans and tennis shoes, he knocked on her door. “About ready to—” He stopped in mid-sentence when she opened the door.

His gaze swept slowly from her shoes up to her hair. He evidently liked what he saw because his eyes darkened with appreciation. “Those jeans look painted on, darlin’, not that I mind the fit. But will you be able to bend in them?”

She crouched down to rest her bottom on her heels. “Stretch fabric. I’m good.”

He tugged her to her feet and pulled her into his embrace. His mouth settled against hers, in a gentle greeting at first, and then in demand. His tongue slid along her lips until she eagerly accepted what he wanted. He took charge, even in this, and she submitted without hesitance. Boy, could this man kiss!

She was breathless, heart pounding, aching all over by the time he stepped back. His chest rose and fell in ragged breaths as he attempted to calm down. But it was the extremely pleased with himself look that made her smile.

“We could…” He glanced toward her bedroom. “I’m sure I could change the reservations again.”

She rolled her eyes and shoved him out the door, frowning at seeing that it was still dark outside. “We’re going.”

He moved beside her and put his hands on her shoulders until she looked up at him, serious now. “You sure you’re feeling up to this today?”

“Up to climbing atop a huge animal and trusting him with my life? Sure, I’m game.” Had that sounded positive? She hoped it had, even if she doubted she’d ever be ready for this adventure. City girls were meant to ride in cabs, on buses, on airplanes. Not on animals.

He stepped closer and every nerve ending in her body went on full alert. He did amazing things to her without really doing anything. She trembled and inhaled the scent of him, felt the sizzle of his raw energy.
Kiss me. Kiss me. Kiss me.
She really was tempted to turn around and drag him to her bed.