Page 31 of Ranch Rules

Lora’s lip was quivering and he hadn’t even started spanking her yet. “I know. I’m so sorry, Nate! I didn’t mean to make you mad at me, or ruin your trust in me!”

Natalie looked away, unable to watch anymore. This was a private moment and she felt guilty being a casual observer.

“Well? Do you have anything to say for yourself?”

She turned toward his voice, wincing as she saw the stern mask Thomas wore. “I... I’m sorry.”

“Are you?”

“I... what?” She couldn’t help but feel confused. Wasn’t that what he’d wanted to hear?

“I’m asking if you’re actually sorry. Or are you only sorry that you got caught?”

Natalie wasn’t sure how to answer that. She was sorry that she had ruined their earlier easy camaraderie. She had enjoyed their time together—in more ways than one—but she knew that she had destroyed any chance of a repeat performance. It wasn’t just the sex, though it had been amazing. She was comfortable around Thomas, and had felt like he enjoyed her company, too. She had been excited to see where things might go between them, but now with the hard flint of his gaze on her, she knew exactly how the next few days would play out until her stay was over. He would be cold and angry toward her, while she found any excuse to hide out in her room until she was free to leave.

“Natalie?”

She cringed at the growing impatience in his tone. “I never should have done it. I broke the rules, and no matter what my reasons were, it doesn’t change that.” She couldn’t bear to look at him so she stared miserably at the carpet instead.

There was a long pause, then, “Good girl.”

Her eyes flew to his face, desperately searching to see if he was teasing her, though she couldn’t imagine why he would. Though he still looked stern, some of the hardness had gone from his face.

“I’m glad to see that you are accepting responsibility for your actions. Now, if you truly want to put this behind us, then you need to submit to the spanking you’ve got comin’.”

She swallowed hard. Admitting her wrongdoing had been hard enough, but agreeing to being spanked for it sounded impossible, especially now that she knew exactly what it felt like. He’d said they could put it behind them, but what did that mean, exactly? And was she willing to be spanked to get it?

“I trust you realize that breaking the rules is never acceptable,” Nate spoke up.

“Of course,” she answered quickly.

“Sir. When you’re in trouble, you always answer with ‘sir,’ young lady.” This from Thomas, making her flush.

“Of course I do, sir,” she amended. “And I really am sorry.”

“Good.” Nate stood up and began rolling back the sleeve of his shirt, revealing a muscly, tanned arm.

Natalie’s eyes widened. What was happening here? She looked back and forth between the two equally imposing men, her heart pounding in her ears. She tried to open her mouth and ask, but her mouth was drier than Mississippi in the middle of a drought. All she could do was watch helplessly as Nate walked around the desk and turned one of the chairs to face her.

He looked Natalie up and down, his eyes cool and stern, unmoved by her nervous fidgeting. Then, after a pause that seemed to last forever, he turned toward his fiancée. “Lora. Come here.”

Lora’s eyes had been watching the carpet remorsefully, but at this sudden summons her head shot up. She looked like a deer caught in headlights with her wide doe eyes. “Wh-what?”

Nate tsked his tongue at her. “You heard what I said. Lying is never acceptable. And you know better than to think you can lie to me and get away with it.”

Her eyes shot to Natalie, whose heart panged seeing her widened and worried stare. “I... I know, b-but I thought...”

“I don’t know what you thought, young lady, but you thought wrong.” His voice cut across the room like a shot, and Natalie began to tremble. She imagined that Lora was doing the same where she stood. “Now, come here.”

Lora began to move out of the corner, taking small baby steps toward him.

Thomas moved around Natalie and she watched as he walked toward the other chair, turning it around before dragging it a few yards from Nate’s. When he faced her, his expression was unreadable. That made her more uncomfortable than anything that had transpired so far. “Are you goin’ to lie willingly over my knee, or do I need to put you over Nate’s desk again?”

Natalie gave a little shudder at the thought of that cold, hard piece of wood. In comparison, his lap sounded pretty good. “I... I’ll go over your lap.” At a hard look from him, she added a hasty, “sir.”

“All right then.” Without another word he sat, patting his knee menacingly.

Though there could be no doubt what he intended for her to do, Natalie hesitated. She glanced to her left, stunned to see that Lora was already face-down over Nate’s lap. She swallowed hard. “I... I don’t think I can.”

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