Accepting His Ways (The O'Connors 8)

Chapter One

She was getting married! She was really, really marrying Quinlan O’Connor.

He just proposed. Her heart almost exploded with the enormity of her feelings whenever she thought of him, which was all the time.

Cheyenne was so in love with this man that he didn’t scare her even at his scariest. She now understood Jocelyn when she said Liam didn’t scare her when he had the rest of the women practically peeing their pants when he was not pleased with them.

Cheyenne had strong indications that living with any O’Connor would be a wild ride, but she was up for the challenge of being Quinn’s wife.

Cheyenne’s excitement demanded she call her soon to be sister-in-law and tell her.

Katie had come down from Montana to get used to her new family after marrying Quinn’s brother, Ciarán.

Cheyenne and Quinn had been dating for almost eighteen months before he proposed, and she was beginning to think he never would.

His brothers, if the stories were accurate, took less than a few months to commit and less than a year to marry.

Well, that wasn’t entirely accurate. The story of Liam and Jocelyn took over ten years technically, but they were so in love, she supposed it didn’t matter to them now.

She, however, was not waiting that long.

Now that they’d committed, she needed to finish this soon before he changed his mind and decided she was too much work.

Cheyenne curled up on the sofa and let her mind wander after she spoke to Katie.

Falling in love with a man like Quinlan O’Connor was something she had never expected.

She couldn’t help but fall in lust with him.

He was one of those men who women typically looked at as they crossed paths and drooled.

He was tall enough to make you look up, but not break your neck trying to see into his eyes, which spoke volumes.

He exuded sensuality and masculinity that she was the sole beneficiary of now.

He was healthy and trained often. He worked out in the gym three times a week and on the ranch most days off from the sheriff’s department.

Later, it was a natural progression to fall in love with the man who was so into her that she felt like royalty when she was with him.

She was addicted to his care of her, and that was something about which she had to be careful.

He was interested in everything she did.

In the club they frequented, he was obviously dominant in their play, making sure he was gentle in his training, firm in his discipline, but ensuring her needs were all met.

He made sure she received most of what she wanted—if what she wanted was safe.

If it wasn’t, well, Quinn was an O’Connor, and she found out fast, those men spanked for safety issues.

Quinn’s job put him in dangerous situations.

Something could happen on the job that would take him away from her forever.

She was learning to accept that reality.

Unfortunately, Quinn gave no indication of accepting that she wasn’t always safe.

He pointed out that it wasn’t her job that put her in jeopardy.

Her safety concerns were the direct cause of the choices she made.

She’d already experienced his response to those choices and sometimes wondered why she hadn’t run far and fast. That was the bigger surprise.

Why she stayed. But she would never leave his loving arms.

Cheyenne got up to get ready for bed as she smiled at the bumps in the road they’d encountered on their way to today.

Cheyenne had never had to think of the consequences of her choices in her private life.

In her business life, she was tenacious, but privately, she wanted to have fun.

Most of the time, Quinn was indulgent, and she was able to “cute” her way out of it.

However, there was a limit, and when she stepped too far out of the boundaries or engaged in risky behaviors, the Dom appeared, sometimes as a Daddy, and sometimes just as her Dominant.

Just thinking about it made her bottom clench and her sex become slick.

He had given her one serious punishment because she got in the car with a friend who had had too much to drink. As a result, her limit was placed officially at two drinks. She had never had such a spanking before in her life.

What she had learned others called domestic discipline is the place where all the O’Connors met in the middle.

She knew the life they now shared was more than she could have ever hoped for, even with the O’Connor propensity to run the show.

She smiled. Quinn was a true dominant in every sense of the word.

Taking charge of the hard stuff was only the tip of the iceberg.

So the urge to slide her hand down her belly to her pussy where he claimed hidden treasures were kept brought up the image of her man, frowning and calling her piscín dána, naughty kitten, before swatting her ass and denying her any orgasm. So mean.

Cheyenne moaned and rolled over, trying to forget the need ratcheting higher. She knew what she had to do, or sleep would not come. Grabbing her phone and her bullet buddy, she called Quinn.

“Honey, what’s wrong?” His voice was immediately on alert.

“I’m sorry. Nothing’s wrong, I just, I mean... never mind. Good night.”

“No, wait. Cheyenne? Honey, what’s wrong?” His voice gentled now that he didn’t have to worry about her safety. “Tell me.”

“I need... relief.”

Quinn sighed in relief. He could hear her biting her lip as she spoke. He smiled, swallowing his laugh. “Okay, darling, do you want me to talk to you over the phone or do you want permission to bring out your buddy?”

She hesitated in her embarrassment. “Both?”

Quinn did laugh, this time, a deep, earthy laugh that had Cheyenne even more desperate for relief.

He shifted his voice into low gear and settled back onto his bed as he directed play from miles away.

“Take your sleep tee off. Now your panties but don’t touch your pussy.

Those treasures are mine.” Quinn slid his hand down to grasp his already freed cock as he leaned back against the headboard, legs splayed.

“Now run your hands over your breasts for me as you spread your legs, wider...”

The next morning Cheyenne turned on her coffee pot and sauntered into the bathroom for a long, hot shower.

Her thoughts turned to last night, and she wondered if the rest of the siblings were living this hot of an existence.

Cheyenne had met every one of this loud, opinionated, hard-working and hard-playing Irish clan, and it was a rather intense but loving group.

When she began her initiation into this family, more than a year and a half ago, the only one she knew was the patriarch of the family, Sean O’Connor.

Sean owned and operated his Wyoming family ranch, The Emerald Isle Ranch Enterprises. EIRE or Ireland. It was cleverly named.

Along with his wife Siobhan, he had raised seven wildly independent, strong-willed children who were all successes in their own right.

Tomorrow, they will all hear the news Quinn would share about the engagement.

Some would lose their family bets that had undoubtedly been placed against Quinn and marriage quite a while ago.

The next day they would also tell Cheyenne’s mother.

She had a moment’s sorrow that her father was not still alive to see her marry one of the O’Connor men.

He would have loved it. As long as she could remember, her father had praised the young men growing up on the Emerald Isle for their steadfast integrity.

She wondered if he would approve if he knew Quinn was a spanker.

She rather thought that he would. He probably knew.

The sneak probably orchestrated this whole thing from heaven. Cheyenne smiled at the thought.

The next afternoon, Cheyenne was just perusing her closet for what she would wear for the announcement at the O’Connors when she answered the insistent knock at the door.

She was surprised when she opened it to see Quinn.

Just gazing at his tanned and muscular body and no-nonsense demeanor always sent tremors of excitement from her core to all associated cells in her body.

“I thought we were going to meet at your parents’ house.”

His grim stare further weakened her already trembling legs as she watched her man give her the look she had become accustomed to when he was intent on getting to the bottom of a mess.

His investigative face was usually not a good sign.

She tentatively kept her gaze on him until she couldn’t take it any longer and dropped her eyes to study her bare feet.

He walked in, picking her up and sweeping her further into her apartment with unbelievable ease of motion.

Setting her back down on now very trembling legs, he began, “What did you tell Katherine about the trail today?”

His tone was firm and intense. Cheyenne backed away from him and turned to walk into the living room when she felt the flat of his hand land stingingly on her bottom.

It was a very, very hard landing. Her hands immediately went to soothe her smarting backside before twirling around to meet his gaze with surprise and annoyance.

“What the... what was that for? I didn’t do anything or say anything about the trail. Did she walk it? What are you so damned upset about?” Irritation pushed past surprise on the emotional scale of responses.

“You told her something last night or this morning, and I want to know what it was.”

Eyes flashing, she used the language she knew he hated but felt so right here. She took a step toward him, assuming the offensive. “What the hell, Quinn? We talked last night about the engagement that I’m now reconsidering in light of how you’re treating me.”