Page 46 of Hold a Candle

In the air she could smell the woodfire smoke that drifted lazily out of the chimney from the homestead. The massive fireplace in the living room provided a lot of heat in the cold, frozen winters, as well as these late days of autumn. Especially once the sun started setting.

“It’s so beautiful here,” Pauley commented. “I love the Highlands in the fall. I think it’s my first favorite time of year.” She lifted her wrist and glanced once more at her watch.

“How many times are ye going to look at yer watch?” Jamie asked, leading her towards a pasture where horses were grazing on the tidbits of green that they could still pluck out of the soil.

Pauley chuckled. “Ye noticed, did ye?”

He stopped in front of the wooden fence and lifted his thumb to brush across her cheek. “I notice everything about ye,” he said softly. “And I know ye are anxious, waiting to hear something. Ye aren’t used to playing on the sidelines are ye, little firebrand?”

She shrugged. “We could cover so much more ground if I were helping Mica,” she admitted. “I’d love to find out how Florence is involved in this.”

“Or if she even is.”

“Oh, she is, trust me. Florence and Brodie are a lot alike in their dispositions, and I don’t trust either one of them.” She frowned. “Florence was written up a few years back because of a complaint from a mother whose kid she arrested. She did admit to handling the kid roughly, but she said he was high on methamphetamines and she didn’t have a choice.”

“Aren’t people stronger when they are under the influence of certain drugs?”

She nodded. “Aye, they can be. Some big, strong men are barely affected by even a taser. Not that we all have tasers. But some do.”

“How do ye think Florence might be involved?”

Pauley shrugged. “She might be feeding Macalister inside information about the department for one thing. They were thick as thieves when he still worked there. Quinn would never partner them together because they were too much alike and would cover each other’s arse if necessary.”

“Ye don’t think she’s involved with the drug ring?”

Her eyes narrowed. “Why would ye think that?”

He leaned up against the fence and hung his elbow over it. “Because Angus said she came out to the hatchery and had a realtor with her. Sounds to me like she was scouting for somebody.”

Pauley’s eyes lit up. “And if she was scouting, then she might be a mole in the office. Which might also be why we never seem to catch any big fish when we do have a drug raid.” She brought up her phone and quickly texted Mica. When her phone dinged with a reply she gasped. “Cripes, I must be slow on the uptake tonight.” She turned the phone so Jamie could see Mica’s response.

‘Good thinking, but I’m already on it.’

Jamie chuckled. “Things look differently when ye have a family member involved. Yer main focus is on Luca, as it should be.”

Pauley slipped her arms around Jamie’s waist, needing to feel his strength around her again. “Ye should have been a detective, Mr. MacNamara,” she mocked, her eyes glinting in the moonlight. “I like the way ye think.”

He ran his hand over the swell of her rear and squeezed one cheek. “And I like everything about ye, Detective MacBride.” Lifting her chin with his other hand, he tenderly dropped a kiss on her lips.

The kiss only ignited the fire already simmering in Pauley’s blood. When a sharp spank landed on her backside, she couldn’t help the squeak that escaped her lips as she grabbed her cheek in protest. “Cripes!”

Jamie simply pinned both of her hands above her waist and murmured in her ear. “Naughty, lass. It’s Jamie. We’ve been over that before, so take yer punishment stubborn firebrand.”

His firm hand spanked three sets of his previously established one-two-three rhythm on her shrinking buttocks while she cursed softly into his chest, completely loving it the entire time.

Was this man too good to be true? It seemed he liked to have a reason to spank, and she didn’t have to necessarily instigate one for him. How shocking...and refreshing. Trying to get Peter to land spanks on her backside had been like trying to push a Galapagos turtle across the sand. And she’d tried to push his buttons. Given what she knew now, it was probably a good thing that he never picked up on it. Peter had lacked real self-control, and that eroded trust in a relationship.

“And one to behave on,” he chuckled, with one last heavy spank across the middle of both globes. Then he rubbed her entire backside with both broad palms.

Pauley slipped her arms up and around his neck, thoroughly enjoying the after-care massage as the sting from his sharp spanks melted into the soothing heat of a warm blanket. Her lady parts throbbed and hummed with pleasure as she sighed into his neck and nibbled the bottom of his ear. “Ye pick the strangest places to heat a girl up,” she whispered.

“I prefer punishment immediately meted out upon infraction,” he replied, his palms sliding up beneath her jacket and shirt to caress the warm skin beneath.

She tensed and leaned back slightly to gaze up into his face, her eyes questioning. “Does this mean ye would spank me in public or in front of yer friends and family?”

He shook his head. “Nay, I’m not an exhibitionist if that’s what ye mean. Why? Are ye?”

She shook her head adamantly. “Absolutely not. I’ve hidden this part of myself my entire life; it’s not something I’d want to share with everyone around me, that’s for sure.”

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