Chapter 45
Lily woke up to something tapping on her arm. Opening her eyes, she stared at the side of the bed. For a moment, her brain couldn’t quite compute why there would be a little pig staring at her, and then she realized who it was.
“Crackling,” she said with a small laugh. She sat up, then reached down and pulled him up onto the bed. “What are you doing in here? Harvey isn’t going to be happy if he finds you in the bedroom.”
Harvey had plans to make Crackling a home outside, but she was worried that he was going to be lonely and cold. So she created a little spot for him in the garage. It had meant that Harvey had to move out his car, but his car would be fine.
She’d put in hay and bought a dog kennel for him to sleep inside. And she had put up a pen around it, but somehow he seemed to have gotten out and into the house.
The door opened, and Harvey stepped in, carrying a tray filled with food and, most importantly, coffee.
He stilled and looked at her. Then he sighed. “What the hell is that pig doing in our bedroom?”
“He must have gotten lonely,” she said.
“How did he even get into the house?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. He’s probably an escape artist, like the rest of the animals on Clem’s ranch.”
Harvey started muttering to himself. “How did he get up the stairs? Surely he has no concept of what stairs are.”
It seemed that he did, and she gave Crackling another cuddle before Harvey put down the tray and picked the pig up. “Right, pig, back to the garage. You know where you live.”
“Couldn’t we set up a little area in the living room for him?” she asked. “I mean, he could go outside during the day to do his business and then come back in at night.”
“Baby, he’s a farm animal, not a dog. He has to live outside once we get him the proper housing.”
“But he’s house trained. And why don’t we just wait until we’ve got a forever home?”
“He’ll need a spot here and at our new home, when we find it. So we can move him with us between places.”
That was actually a really good idea, and one she liked.
“Now go wash your hands so you can eat some breakfast. We’ve got to go find a new house today. Oh, and later on we need to have a chat.”
Okay, she didn’t like the sound of a chat. Because he’d put a special emphasis on chat, as though he meant something else.
He was still talking about spanking her, both for running off on him, but mainly for telling him leave when that guy was threatening her.
Yeah, he still seemed a bit mad about that.
Maybe a spanking was a good idea. At least then he might not be upset with her about it anymore, and it might alleviate some of the guilt inside her.
She didn’t feel guilty about sending him away. No, she’d done that to save him, but she did feel bad about running away.
When he returned, she’d already washed her hands and was nibbling on a piece of toast. “I want at least half of that plate gone, Lily.”
She sighed, shaking her head. “So bossy.”
“When it comes to you, I am.”
“Do you think your sister’s ever going to like me?” she asked.
They’d gotten home late last night and just fell into bed.
So far, they hadn’t taken things any further than some cuddling and kissing.
Not that they could really have sex at her sister’s house, that would have been weird.
But she’d felt sure that during the trip back here and the last few nights that he’d make a move.
But there had been nothing more than some heated kissing.
It was extremely hard for her. Especially since he seemed fond of wearing just a pair of cutoff gray sweatpants and nothing else.
The man was gorgeous. She wasn’t sure which part of him she liked better.
His firm shoulders, that flat stomach, his hips with those little notches.
Oh, Lord, she had to stop thinking about this.
“Why are you staring at me like you’re starving and I’m a piece of steak?”
“Because you’re my piece of meat,” she said.
Holy moly, where had that come from? She could feel her face growing bright red.
He just threw back his head and laughed.
Then he leaned over her, kissing her. Oh boy. That kiss.
It was amazing. It was mind-blowing. And she was ready for more.
And then he pulled back.
Damn it. The man was trying to kill her.
They headed home after attending four open houses. None of them had been quite right, unfortunately.
Harvey parked his car outside the cabin and came around to open her door, leading her inside. She checked in on Crackling first, giving him a big cuddle, and then walked into the kitchen.
She sat down at the kitchen island while he prepared them some coffee.
“Do you think what we want is out there?” she asked. “Maybe I’m being too fussy.”
He took hold of her chin. “You’re not being too fussy to want what you want. It’s out there. We’ll find it. Don’t worry.”
His confidence eased something inside her.
“I just don’t want you to have to do long commutes all the time.”
“It’s not that far, baby. And I can work from home sometimes. I don’t want to leave you too long by yourself. You’ll get into trouble.”
“I don’t get into trouble,” she protested.
“Sure you don’t,” he replied. “That’s why you’re not owed a spanking, because you never get into trouble.”
“You keep talking about these spankings,” she said. “But you never actually do them. I don’t think you’re ever going to.”
Well, that was a stupid thing to say, wasn’t it?
Getting off the stool, he stared down at her, crossing his arms over his chest. “Oh, no? You think I’m full of hot air, do you?”
She gulped. “No, no, not at all. Not you. You could never be full of hot air. You’re full of cold air, absolutely pure cold air.”
He tilted his head to the side. “I’m not actually sure that’s better.”
No, neither was she when she thought about it. She was simply trying to defuse the situation, and maybe distract him from thinking about the spanking that he owed her.
“In fact, I think it’s time to get that over and done with, so the next time you break any of the rules you know what will happen.”
Oh, no. Here it came.
He held out his hand to her. He didn’t seriously expect that she was just going to take his hand and let him lead her toward a spanking, right? Because that would be nuts.
He couldn’t have sex with her, but he could spank her?
Not. Cool.
“What color are you at?”
Drat.
“Yellow, I think.” She couldn’t lie and say red. As much as she wanted to. Besides, she had a feeling she’d just be putting off the inevitable.
“Why yellow? What are you worried about?”
“That I won’t like it, that it’ll be painful, that I’ll be embarrassed.”
“Well, to be honest, painful and embarrassing are part of the punishment. And not liking it, that’s also kind of part of it. If you liked it, then it wouldn’t be a punishment, would it? The question is do you deserve it? Were you naughty?”
Yes, she had been. And she knew it.
“Will it make me feel less guilty afterward?” she asked.
“It should,” he told her. “Because after a punishment, everything is forgiven. And it won’t be brought up again. Unless, of course, you’re naughty again and earn yourself another punishment.”
“All right.” She slid her hand into his, letting him help her down off the stool and lead her into the living room. “Don’t you think it’s a bit open out here? What if somebody walked past the window and looked in?”
Harvey shot her a look.
Right. She guessed the only one to walk past would be Crackling.
Havery sat on the sofa and drew her between his open legs. He reached for the top of her pants, undoing them and pulling them down her legs. Then he helped her step out of them, leaving her in just a white satin shirt and black lacy underwear.
He moved so she was lying over him with her stomach on his thighs, and her legs and torso resting on the sofa on either side of him.
Yep. This was even more embarrassing than she’d actually imagined, especially when he pulled her shirt up her back and then drew her underwear down, baring her bottom.
Holy moly.
That felt so weird.
She tensed, waiting for the first smack of his hand. But it never came. Instead, he just rubbed her bottom with gentle, slow movements of his hand.
“Just relax, baby. You’ll make it worse if you tense up.”
“This isn’t exactly a relaxing position,” she said.
“It isn’t? Then maybe I should put you into this position more often, so you start to get used to it.”
Urgh, that sounded terrible. She didn’t want that, so she forced herself to relax, and his hand moved away from her bottom.
Smack!
His hand landed on her bottom cheek.
Ouch, that damn well hurt.
But he didn’t stop. She wasn’t getting just one smack, apparently. Several more landed in quick succession.
Then he paused to rub her bottom again.
“Wow, that was painful,” she said, even though it wasn’t as bad as she thought it would be. “I’ll make sure I never do anything naughty again. I don’t want anything like that to happen again.”
She attempted to get off his lap, but he held her still.
“Where do you think you’re going?” he asked.
“The spanking is over, so I thought I’d just go get dressed and then take Crackling for a walk.”
“The spanking isn’t finished,” he told her.
“It’s not? Then why did you stop?”
“I wanted to just pause for a moment to give you a chance to say anything if you needed to, but that wasn’t much of a spanking, baby. So lay yourself back down.”
Hell, that wasn’t cool. She slumped back down over his lap, and he rubbed her bottom again. “Just relax.”
She took in a deep breath and let it out slowly, because she wanted to get this over and done with as quickly as possible.
He slapped his hand down on her ass again.
Smack, smack, smack.
Holy heck, that was really starting to burn. Her bottom was hot and throbbing. She started wriggling around, wanting to find some relief, but his hand kept laying smack after smack on her poor bottom.
Tears dripped down her face, and she finally just lay there, accepting that the spanking was going to continue for as long as he wanted it to.
“That’s a good girl,” he told her as he stopped and rubbed her bottom again. “You’re being such a good girl. You’re taking your spanking so well. I’m so proud of you.”
He was proud of her for taking her spanking well? That was a little bit weird. But even stranger still was the fact that she liked hearing those words of praise from him. It wasn’t like she’d done anything amazing. She just laid here and let herself be walloped.
He moved her so she was sitting on his lap, facing him, with her legs spread over his. She buried her face in his chest, and he just held her, rubbing his hand up and down her back.
Lily sunk into his touch, letting the safety of his arms surround her. He always had a way of making her feel protected and cherished.
“You did so well. I’m so proud of you. Do you feel better now?”
No, she didn’t feel better. Her bottom was damn sore.
But then she realized he might not mean physically. He might mean on the inside. Lily paused and took note of where her feelings were at. She suddenly realized that some of that guilt was gone, and she did feel a lot more free. She felt lighter.
Leaning back, she stared at him. “I do feel better. I feel lighter, like something’s been lifted off me.”
He smiled and pushed her hair back behind her ears. “Good. Don’t ever do that to me again, Lily. You’re my everything, my entire world. All right? And I never want to live without you.”
“I never want to live without you either.”
He cupped her face between his hands, kissing her lightly. Then she parted her lips, hoping he’d deepen the kiss. He slid his tongue between her lips as his hand reached up to lightly cup her breast.
This was it.
He was finally going to have sex with her. Excitement rushed through her.
And then he drew back. “I’m going to make us some dinner. Why don’t you go walk Crackling?”
God damn it.
So. Close.