Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
Casey gaped up at him.
He wasn’t serious right now, was he? She was constantly in trouble? He was the one that kept getting her into trouble. And there was no way that she would ever consent to him disciplining her.
And that wasn’t interest or arousal that she felt at the idea.
No. Nope. Not happening.
“I’m only in trouble because you keep getting me into trouble!” she cried.
“Me?” he asked. “I keep getting you into trouble, little girl?”
“How many times do I have to tell you that I am perfectly formed? I am not little.”
“Maybe I wasn’t talking about your size,” he murmured.
Before she could figure out what the heck he meant he drew her foot out from under the freezing cold water.
Casey breathed out a sigh of relief, that water was freezing cold.
“Then what were you talking about?” she snapped.
“That’s a conversation for another day. Keep still, stop wriggling around. I need to check your foot. It still looks red and sore. We’re going to the medical center.”
It was just a small burn. He was completely overreacting.
“I don’t need a doctor,” Casey told him.
Also, she couldn’t afford a doctor. But she definitely wasn’t going to tell him that. The last thing she wanted was a lecture about how much trouble she got into.
“I still think it’s your fault that I’ve gotten into so much trouble lately,” she said. “You got me arrested!”
“No, I called Happy to move you along. You got arrested because you were sleeping in your car in a public park. Something that we need to have a discussion about.”
No, they most certainly did not have to have a discussion about that.
“Wait . . . how did you know that I got arrested for sleeping in my car?”
“This is a small town and there isn’t much that I don’t know.”
Sheesh, arrogant much?
“Right, come on, enough procrastinating. I’m taking you to the medical center to get checked out.”
“I’m not going to see a doctor!”
He lifted her into his arms and she started to fight him until she felt a slap against her ass and froze.
He didn’t! He wouldn’t!
Jeb started walking out of the room.
“Did you just spank me?” she asked. “After our conversation about consent? Which I did not give?”
“I can’t believe you’re wearing shorts and sandals in this weather,” he grumbled. “You should be dressing in warmer clothes. You’ll get a cold.”
“Jeb Wilder! Are you listening to yourself? You spanked me!”
Suddenly, she realized that they were in the middle of the diner.
Holy heck.
She didn’t know it was possible for her cheeks to get this hot.
“Jeb!” someone called out. “You spanked the poor little thing? Doesn’t look like she could hurt a fly.”
“He didn’t say she hurt no one, Eb,” someone else said. “Maybe she got all sassy. Or put herself in danger.”
“Ahh, if she put herself in danger, then he was right to turn her over his knee,” another person added.
Her humiliation was complete.
Tonight, she was calling one of her brothers, then she was getting the hell out of this town. She didn’t care how she did it. She’d leave her car and take the bus.
What she couldn’t do was stay.
With a groan, she turned her face into Jeb’s chest. “Run! Now!”
His chest moved up and down as he made a strange noise.
Casey drew her head back to glare up at him. “Are you laughing?”
Jeb grinned down at her and the sight took her breath away. How could someone so annoying be so freaking gorgeous?
It was as annoying as hell.
For a moment she just stared up at him, unable to say anything. This Jeb, the one who smiled and was relaxed, this Jeb, she might just let spank her.
Holy heck. Had she really just thought that?
“Thank god I didn’t say that out loud.”
“Thank god you didn’t say what out loud?” he asked.
“None of your business,” she replied. “Let’s get out of here. You’ve humiliated me enough for one day.”
“Hey, you’re the one who brought up spanking in the middle of the diner,” he told her as they left the building.
She squinted up at him and she shivered with cold. The truth was, she would’ve put on warmer clothes today but they were all in the wash. Casey hated doing the laundry and she always put it off to the last moment.
“You’re cold!”
It sounded like an accusation rather than an observation. But she was starting to think that was just the way he spoke. It was like his default setting.
“I’m fine,” she replied. “My embarrassment is keeping me warm.”
“And that’s my fault, is it?”
“Well, it’s certainly not mine.”
“You’re the one that said it,” he pointed out.
“And you’re the one that did it! You spanked me!”
This time she managed to say that right as he stepped into the medical center.
Would the humiliation never end? People stopped talking and turned to stare at them.
Again, she groaned and buried her face into his chest. “Kill me. Just kill me now.”
And, yep, he was laughing once more. Great. She was so glad that he found this amusing.
“Jeb?” a sweet voice asked. “Is everything all right?”
“Hey, Asta. Can you fit Casey in to see Doc? She burned her foot.”
“Um, oh, let me see what I can do. Why don’t you both take a seat.”
She felt him move. He sat and arranged her on his lap. Casey knew she should protest. That she should get off his lap and sit in her own chair. However, she didn’t want to move her face away from his chest.
“I don’t need to see a doctor. My foot is fine.”
Then get off his lap.
“Your foot is very red. Someone is going to check it.”
“I don’t need that.” She drew back, glaring up at him.
He raised his eyebrow. “You do. And you need to stop telling people that I spanked you. All I did was go give your ass a small slap. I’m going to get a reputation.”
Was he for real right now?
“Maybe you deserve a reputation. And a slap on the ass is basically the definition of a spanking.”
Jeb snorted. “Then you’ve never had a proper spanking, little girl.”
“Stop calling me a little girl.”
Why did she keep protesting? What did she care what he called her?
Except being called a little girl by a hot cowboy was one of her dreams. One that she really thought would never come true.
Jeb stared down at her for a long moment. “Let me help you. I feel guilty because it was my coffee that burned your foot. I’ll pay for the fee. Please.”
She stared up at him in shock. “Did you say please?”
“Don’t make me say it again. I might burst into flames.”
“And you made a joke. Is there something going on? Am I being filmed?” She gazed around.
“Haha,” he said.
“I wasn’t joking,” she said. “What is going on? Why are you being nice to me?”
That question hit him hard. She sounded so confused.
Fuck.
He couldn’t blame her. He had been an asshole to her.
Several times.
And now he realized he needed to make things up to her. He should never have messaged Tex. And when he’d heard that her car had broken down and she’d been reduced to sleeping in it, well, he probably should have gone and checked on her. That would have been the decent thing to do.
Instead, he’d let himself get preoccupied with the ranch and Wyatt.
“Look, I owe you an apology for the way I acted the other day. Guess I was a bit of an asshole. But I didn’t know you, and you were acting oddly and giving my kid candy. I was . . . concerned about his safety.”
“He was by himself. In a public space. I could have just left him alone but I was worried about him.”
“I understand that now. Are you going to accept my apology?”