Page 35 of Ranch Rules

Thomas delivered them slowly, each one as hard as the one before. Three more landed.

Natalie drummed her toes on the carpet, tears streaming down her face as her bottom throbbed. She had never known such pain in her life. If she had to guess, she’d imagine her cheeks had grown to twice their normal size, every inch scorched by the leather of his belt. She was crying while she gasped for breath, concentrating so hard on keeping her hands from moving that she didn’t even beg him to stop.

The belt smacked her again, just above her thighs. Natalie howled at the top of her lungs in protest and the tears came so hot and fast that drenched pieces of hair stuck to her wet cheeks.

When Thomas walked in front of her, he was no more than a blur in front of her swimming eyes. She made out the sight of him buckling his belt. “You’ll be still now, won’t you, honey?”

Her heart twisted in her chest at the endearment, but a moment later she fully registered what he’d said. “Does that mean you’re... you’re not done?”

“No, I’m not done. I had to teach you a lesson on being still. But you learn quickly, don’t you, Natalie?”

She wanted to plead with him, to beg him to reconsider, to promise that she’d do better from now on. But she had a feeling that he wouldn’t believe her, that he would know them for what they were—promises of a little girl who wanted to be out of trouble. Besides, she wanted this over as soon as possible. “Yes, sir.”

“That’s my good girl. I’m going to give you a paddling, you’re going to find Nate and apologize, and then we’re going to be all done.”

There wasn’t one thing he’d just said that made her happy, but again, she knew arguing wouldn’t change it. “Y-yes, sir.”

The epitome of gentleness, Thomas took Natalie by the shoulders, moved her a bit to the right, and sat back down. She waited, expecting him to take her over his lap, but apparently he wasn’t going to make this easy.

She wasn’t naturally submissive. Natalie knew this about herself, it came with the territory as a woman in a predominantly male field. But in this moment, she had to ask herself if maybe she had been waiting on the right man and hadn’t even known it. As she lowered herself over Thomas’s lap, she felt trepidation, yes. She knew she was going to hate this spanking. But there was also something else that surprised her: she wanted to make him proud.

Suddenly, she felt his mouth on her ear. “No scratching,” he said, the slightest bit of amusement in his voice.

Natalie nodded her agreement and no sooner than she had, the hard crack of the ruler fell across her bottom. Her cheeks had cooled off a bit, but as quick, sharp smacks of the ruler landed, the fire surged back to life with more intensity than before. The smacks started at the top of her bottom and the ruler worked its way down, inch by inch. She hadn’t gotten many spanks before she was whimpering in pain.

As the smacks of the ruler came, beating a steady tattoo on her poor rear, fresh tears streamed down her cheeks. It was all she could do not to try to escape, although the weight of his arm across her waist made it seem unlikely she would succeed, the desire to try was unbearable.

Think of something else, she commanded her brain. Anything else! But any attempts to distract herself were feeble and quickly faded from her mind as the horrible ache in her rear grew. She tried to count the strokes, listening to the smacks of the ruler, but even that was short-lived. Her mind was consumed with the pain and drove out everything else. Her eyes were full of tears that began to slide down her cheeks—funny, she had been so sure she had none left to cry.

I broke the rules. This is what I deserve.

As soon as the thought crossed her mind, Natalie went limp over his lap, sobbing contritely and willing to endure until he decided she’d had enough.

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