Chapter 25
Chapter
Twenty-Five
EVIE
Of course, Evie had always suspected that her perfect little bubble would burst. No one got to be this happy without having to pay for it. So she already knew she’d have to fend off an attack from Victoria.
“You know he’s only with you so he can get his hands on your property,” she announced without so much as a greeting.
Of course, word had gotten out that the big house was hers, since her parents had started to renovate the cottage in preparation to move in. There were no secrets in a small place like Frostvale.
Evie chose to play dumb.
“Why would Asher want to get his hands on my property?” she asked, her eyes wide, even though her insides felt like they’d been cleaved in two. Once again, Victoria’s aim was deadly, hitting Evie right where she was most vulnerable.
“Don’t play coy with me,” Victoria spat, and Evie, her nerves taut with stress, breathed a small sigh of relief when she heard the back door open and close. Someone was here to save her.
“It’s no secret Gabe wants to expand the hotel. What better way to do that than to couple up with the owner of the matching property right next door?”
Evie felt the color drain from her face and gripped the countertop to steady herself. Could Victoria be right? Hadn’t Gabe told her himself he wanted to expand the hotel?
She sucked in a breath. No way was she showing her soft underbelly to this witch. “If that’s all he wanted, he could simply have asked me to sell.” Evie had never been more proud of how even her voice sounded.
“But why pay for what you’re putting out for free in return for a few orgasms?” Victoria asked with a mean smile. “And he is sooo good at those, isn’t he? I should know.”
For a moment, Evie’s mind was a blank. No witty comebacks, no wise retorts came to her rescue.
But Shepherd did.
“Get out of here, you vindictive bitch. You really are desperate, aren’t you? Gabe doesn’t want you. It’s about time you got the memo.”
Evie and Victoria both gasped. The latter’s face turned blood red, then a lethal rage twisted her features.
She opened her mouth, and Evie had no doubt more vitriol was about to be spewed, but Shepherd was having none of it.
He crossed the room, opened the door, and gestured for Victoria to leave.
“Why would any of us want a scrawny, spiteful woman like you when we can have someone soft, beautiful and caring? Get lost and don’t come back. ”
Obviously, no one had ever spoken to Victoria like that before. Her mouth gaped open, and for once in her life, she was lost for words. Shepherd took advantage of her shock to usher her out, then closed the door behind her.
“That was mean, Shepherd.” Evie tried to admonish him, but her voice was thready. Victoria’s words had hit too close, battering the self-esteem that was only just starting to be repaired.
“No, what she said was mean,” Shepherd growled, pulling her into his arms and enveloping her in his warmth. “It was deliberately malicious and cruel and specifically aimed to hurt you. What I said, on the other hand, was nothing but the truth.”
“Maybe Victoria was telling the truth, too,” Evie said in a small voice.
Shepherd growled, pulled his phone from his pocket and tapped out a message. Then he stalked back over to the door, locked it, and flipped over the closed sign.
“Wh-what are you doing?” Evie asked. “It’s not closing time yet.”
“Doing what needs to be done,” he replied gruffly, grasping her wrist and pulling her into the back room.
“Sh-Shepherd?”
Pulling up a stool, Shepherd deftly maneuvered Evie across his knee, and before she could get her head around what was going on, he’d yanked both her leggings and panties down to her knees, effectively trapping her legs.
Evie let out a howl, more from shock than pain, when the first spank landed on her upturned rear. But the way Shepherd immediately soothed the smarting area by stroking his big hand across the small pain stole whatever objections she might have voiced.
Until he spanked her again, that was.
“Shepherd!” she shrieked, but the man clearly had his own agenda.
“This is punishment, little girl. Don’t you ever put yourself down like that!”
“But I wasn’t!” Evie squealed as another slap seared her heated flesh.
“Yes, you were. You accepted the nasty things Victoria said as truth. You allowed her to undermine our relationship and throw doubt on Gabe’s feelings for you.
” He punctuated his words with more stinging slaps, and Evie’s eyes prickled, not from the pain but with remorse that she’d hurt him. She was just glad it wasn’t Gabe.
Except…
“Is this true, baby girl?”
Gabe’s voice pierced the misery Evie was feeling. “No! No no no…”
Fudge brownies! Had he heard what Shepherd said?
Strong fingers flexed in her hair, forcing her head up. “Did you believe Victoria when she said I only wanted you for the house? Do you really think so little of me?”
“I-I…” What could she say? “I didn’t mean to, she just…”
Sugared doughnuts!
She’d hurt him. His words might be deceptively soft, but Evie could see it in the dullness of his eyes and the way his mouth was bracketed with lines.
Behind him, Asher looked at her with clear disappointment, and her shame was complete.
The fact she’d hurt these wonderful men, however inadvertently, caused more pain than any spanking ever could.
“I’m sorry,” Evie whispered, desperate to hang her head. Of course, they weren’t letting her off that lightly.
“Well, you know the best thing about punishment, sugarplum?” Asher asked as he crouched in front of her. “Once it’s over, the slate is wiped clean.”
“P-punishment?”
“Yup, and it seems Shepherd here has already started.”
Her eyes grew round as his words dawned on her. But even as they made her squirm in Shepherd’s lap, Evie found it comforting that she could be absolved that way.
Asher placed his hand between her shoulder blades and took over the spanking. Even though she remained on Shepherd’s knee, and Asher was using his left hand, the swats were still hard and precise.
Evie accepted the correction. She’d earned it. But she couldn’t help wriggling around on Shepherd’s lap, and neither could she avoid the erection that dug into her belly and caused an answering arousal in her lady garden.
Asher paused mid-swat, his palm warm against her burning skin. "Well, well. Looks like someone's enjoying her punishment a little too much."
Heat flooded Evie's face - and not just from the spanking. She could feel the slickness between her thighs, the way her body had betrayed her desire. The sting of each slap had somehow transformed into something else entirely, something that made her core clench with need.
"I think," Gabe said, his voice dropping to that dangerous register that made her insides quiver, "we need to make sure our girl knows exactly how we feel about her."
Shepherd's hand traced lazy circles on the small of her back. "Agreed. No more room for doubt."
“But not before she tastes my belt.”
Evie’s body went haywire as conflicting emotions warred with each other.
She heard the slide of leather through belt loops, and it sent frissons of both anticipation and apprehension through her.
Her breath hitched as Asher straightened, and she tipped her head up to catch sight of the leather belt folded in Gabe’s hand. The sight sent a jolt straight to her core, even as her bottom still throbbed from the spanking.
Before Evie could process what was happening, strong hands lifted her from Shepherd's lap. "Up you get, sugarplum." Asher's voice was gentle despite the threat.
Shepherd helped her stand, steadying her when her legs wobbled. Her clothing was still bunched around her knees, and she felt utterly exposed and utterly aroused. The wetness between her thighs was impossible to hide now.
Then, her leggings and panties were pulled completely off, leaving her lower half bare. Gabe settled onto the stool where Shepherd had been sitting and pulled her into his lap, this time facing him, her legs straddling his thighs.
"Look at me, baby girl." His fingers tilted her chin up when she tried to look away. Those green eyes were darker than she'd ever seen them, pupils blown wide with desire and something else - something that looked almost vulnerable.
"Do you really think I'd go through all this trouble for a piece of property?" His voice was rough, raw in a way that made her chest ache. “You know, I considered asking your parents if they’d sell, but I came up with the idea of cabins, because I knew how much the house meant to you, and I didn’t want the choice to live there taken away from you. You know why?”
She shook her head, her chest tight.
“Because I love you, Evie. Don’t ever doubt that.”
Evie hiccupped a small sob. What had she been thinking? Gabe hadn’t even known the property belonged to her and not her parents when they’d started this relationship. How could she have allowed Victoria to undermine her like that?
“And what about Shepherd and Asher? Do you think they have ulterior motives as well?"
Evie's throat tightened, and she shook her head. She was such a fool.
“Good,” Shepherd grumbled. “Because I love you too, and believe me, it wasn’t something I planned.”
If things hadn’t been so serious, Evie might have laughed at how disgruntled he sounded at the admission.
“And that goes for me, too,” Asher added, his usually cheerful countenance unusually somber.
Evie wanted to cry already. Knowing she’d hurt them wounded her far more than any spanking ever would.
Gabe shifted, and Evie could feel every inch of him beneath her, the hard planes of his chest, the rigid length of his arousal pressing against her bare center. There was no denying how he felt about her. “Now, you’ll take my belt like a good girl, and that will be the end of it.”