Chapter Four
Cheyenne had finished gathering some wood for a fire but thought better of it and pulled out her camp stove.
She complained because she hadn’t been able to figure out how to work it for almost half an hour, and then miraculously it worked.
She laughed in delight before quickly pouring pancakes.
The stove cooked quickly and in five minutes, she already had four done.
Quinn had taught her a lot, but she hadn’t called to ask him how to work the stove for an obvious reason: he would have told her not to go.
She knew about forest fires. With the woods as dry and hot as it was, Quinn wouldn’t have let her go camping.
However, she was hypervigilant, so no fire was started by them, and she had a bucket of water from the nearby stream, just in case.
Camping was about the only thing that her old friends would do that didn’t involve drinking and doing risky things.
Except for Ashley and Richard, because they enjoyed playing at The Sting and had recently become full members.
Ashley was held to some of the same expectations as Cheyenne, only Quinn was Richard on steroids.
She was glad her friends had invited her to go camping with them because she was lonely without Quinn.
Since he had all but ended her once or twice- a -week nights out with the girls, Cheyenne looked for other ways to spend time with them.
Not that curtailing her bar hopping was a bad idea, and after the butt-scorcher she received for getting in the car with someone who had been intoxicated, she didn’t want to risk it, anyway.
It was still the worst spanking she had received from Quinn, and she intended for that to remain true.
She wasn’t sure if that was because it was her first and only real punishment from him or if it was really the worst. She wasn’t going to analyze it now, but she intended on never repeating that little error in judgment.
Now when she bar-hopped with the girls, Quinn dropped her at the first stop.
She allowed him to pick her up or took a cab home to eliminate the risk of a repeat performance.
Otherwise, he went with her, bringing along some of his friends and their ladies.
Sometimes it was with their friends from The Sting, but that group usually liked to go private due to the way they played and the conversations they had.
Cheyenne had to agree it was more fun on those nights.
Excited for the adventure two nights ago, she went off to Big Horn National Park for three days of camping without letting Quinn know.
He was gone and would still be gone until several days after she returned.
Cheyenne didn’t tell him when she went for the weekend to the rodeo either, but then, it was spending the night in a hotel and coming home the next day.
It would not have been such a big deal, but she didn’t tell her mother either.
All she told Jacquie was that she was going to have a few days off in the woods.
She regretted that choice, but it was done now.
Just as Cheyenne had flipped her eighth pancake and wondered if they would need any more, she watched a man, her man, walk out of the woods with a curiously anxious expression on his face.
Her stomach muscles clenched when she saw him.
He looked so powerful striding into camp as though he ruled it.
When he spied her surprised smile, his face relaxed.
A slow, lazy grin spread over it like syrup on their hot pancakes.
Cheyenne ran, wrapping her arms around him in a tight hold.
She clung to him, glad to see him after almost a month without his heartbeat under her cheek or his hand brushing her hair out of the way.
When she had had enough of her first taste of his lips and the scent of his maleness invaded her senses, she allowed him to let her go.
Looking up at him as she stepped back, she could tell something was wrong.
For one thing, how did he find her? Dread filled her tummy with churning acid, the fear of hand to rear contact becoming real as her bottom clenched and her pink parts tingled.
The thoughts floated away for a few moments while he pulled her to him again and held her tight, kissing her so thoroughly she was sure the soles of her feet were swooning.
He pulled back and sighed. He looked down into her eyes, his thumbs caressing her cheeks.
“I missed you. I was worried.” The sincerity in that statement sat heavy in the air until he continued. “Where is your cell phone, Cheyenne?” His voice was deceptively calm.
Cheyenne felt that familiar fanny fidget start up. “Um, it’s in the car glove box. I turned it off to save the battery in case I needed it. Maybe that wasn’t as smart of an idea as I thought it was,” she ended quietly. “I didn’t think I would need it, and I haven’t.”
She watched as Quinn took a slow, deliberate breath and let it out equally slowly. He usually did that to stop advancing from irritated to angry.
“Who did you tell where you were?” Yep, he was annoyed. He used that interrogation tactic when he was cross. Cheyenne began clenching her ass cheeks rhythmically, and she felt her womanly bits release their juices as they danced the familiar and well-practiced jig.
“No one?” Cheyenne could feel the perspiration gathering. She tried to take a step back to create some space between them. She was stopped from further retreat by Quinn’s hand, sliding down to grasp her upper arm.
He seemed to have decided something as he gave his head a quick nod. “Right.” He looked over to her companions and said, “We’re going for a walk.”
“Oh, great, I’ll save batter for hot pancakes after you come back,” offered Ashley.
“Thanks. Oh, and Ashley? Richard would like you to call him. I sent him a text that I found you, but he would still like to hear from you.” Her friend’s smile froze on her face momentarily before it slid away, but she acknowledged his request. “And Ashley,” he said casually, “I wouldn’t make him wait. ”
Oblivious to the undercurrents, Megan, one of the other campers, said, “Go on you two. Quinn has been gone a while. It’s nice that he came up to see you. Go on.” Cheyenne knew, and now Ashley knew, it was more than a walk.
“Let’s go, beag amháin.” The rumbling and yet calm voice he was using, and the authority with which he used it told her that bottom play was not what was going to happen to her sitting end.
And beag amháin was little one but not piscín, indicating the seriousness of this walk.
However, she loved his voice, his tone, and it did insane things to her body.
Her gusset was sure to be slippery wet now.
All her friends thought his authoritative voice was as sexy as his well-honed body, but Cheyenne knew that today it was rooted in barely restrained irritation. He had things to say or do that he was offering to give her some privacy while he expressed himself, if she wanted it.
“Um, can we stay here? I was cooking and can make you some breakfast first. It isn’t right that I don’t finish what I started.” Cheyenne tried to step out of his hold again.
Evidently, Quinn knew the tactic. She had often tried to deviate from his end goal, and he whispered in her ear.
Cheyenne screeched then whispered in pressured speech, “What? Here?” His answer was another whisper in her ear, and he straightened, waiting for her response.
“Quinn, honey, right now?” she asked in a hushed voice after giving him a pleading look.
She felt his hand on the waistband of her shorts, and she screeched again, quickly turning to her companions and saying they were going for a walk.
Megan watched with interest while Ashley tried to call Richard.
Cheyenne had often heard from Megan and her friend that they would love to know what a slap and tickle would be like with her Quinn.
Cheyenne knew it would be just the slap part on this trip.
Unfortunately, the tickle would come much later.
They walked a way back amongst the trees, and Quinn stopped next to a good-sized willow. He pulled out his knife and held it out to her. She stood and stared at it, uncomprehending its meaning.
“Five,” Quinn said.
“What? “Cheyenne asked confused.
“Cut five willow branches.”
The shock was replaced by dread and then anger as his full meaning sank in. “Oh, please,” she demanded. “I’m not a child that I have to give everyone my locations and wait for permission to go where I want to go. And you were not even here to tell.”
“Cheyenne there were at least five people you could have told and even left me a message, but you chose not to do that. You’ll think of it next time.
I’m not going to give you the lecture that something could have happened to you, a forest fire, an emergency at home, or other things.
” He shook his head. “You know all that. Our agreement to always let the other know if something out of the ordinary is happening easily applies here.” He shook the knife in his hand, “I want you to know that this isn’t about you being lonely or needing me to dominate you by bratting.
It’s about common, already discussed, courtesy. It’s about safety.”
“So, you aren’t mad I didn’t check with you or get your permission, or even that I went.
You’re upset because I didn’t tell anyone that I was going or where I went.
” She shook her head in disbelief. “I’m twenty-six years old, and I refuse to feel bad about not telling you.
You were gone. Did you tell me once where you were going and what you were doing while you were gone for a month?
No. And you were not supposed to be home until several days after I arrived back. ”
“Answer me this; did we agree on always being available in some way for the other to reach us when needed?”
“Sure but...” Quinn held his hand up to still her tongue. “Did you make it so I could find you if I needed to?”