Page 20 of Everything Christmas

She didn’t want to say and get another grunt, so she stayed silent.

“Dammit, Merry.” He didn’t utter another word while he cleaned her cuts and scrapes, applied a thin layer of antibiotic ointment to all the open areas, and bandaged them up. Most only required a Band-Aid, but he applied a Telfa pad to the cut on her palm and held it in place with a self-adhering bandage.

“All set. Do they feel better?”

“Yes,” she whispered, embarrassed by her stubborn antics outside. “I guess you rescued me again, huh?”

“Yep, so you know what that means, don’t you?”

“I should be more careful.”

“That’s a given. I had something else in mind,” he replied as he gathered up the wrappers and put the first aid kit back under the sink.

“I don’t understand.”

“Yeah, you do. I warned you what would happen.”

It suddenly dawned on her what he meant. The night of the assault, he told her the next time he found her acting recklessly... Uh-oh!

Before she could mount a protest, she was in his arms again, his long legs carrying them quickly to the dining room. He pulled out a chair from the table and the next instant, she found herself draped over his lap.

“Wait. You said your girlfriend would know what to expect—”

“Don’t you?”

“But...I’m not your girlfriend.”

“Not now. But after this, you will be.”

“What?” she screeched because that would be wonderful, but even more so if he’d asked her, but also because his hand smacked hard against her bottom. She was wearing fleece-lined leggings, which diminished the impact of his blows. After about four swats, he must have realized it. He slipped his fingers into her waistband and started to peel them down.

Her hand flew back and caught his. “Reese, you can’t pull my pants down.”

“Watch me.”

Before she could utter another word, her pants were around her knees, and he resumed spanking. Now that only a thin layer of nylon separated his hand and her bottom, she felt every square inch of the fire he ignited as he set a blistering pace. She lay stiffly across his lap in a state of shock; her breath frozen in her chest. She’d fantasized about Reese hundreds of times, but never in this way with her in this position.

Her tongue was paralyzed and she couldn’t even manage a whimper as each stunning blow connected with her backside. The only noise was the hum of the refrigerator and the slapping sound of skin against skin as it echoed off the ceramic tile floor.

He delivered at least a dozen swats before he stopped and flipped her upright on his thigh. When he tipped her face up, his searching gray eyes held a hint of sternness, but his touch was surprisingly gentle as his thumb brushed along her lower lip, tender from where she’d been biting it.

“You can make all the noise you want, baby. In fact, it helps me know how you’re doing, so I prefer it. Just watch the name-calling. That will earn you more.”

“That’s not really my style, although lately I’ve been tempted.” She looked down at her hands, recalling all the names she called him in her head—Sergeant Sourpuss was one of the better ones.

“Do you know why I punished you, elf?”

She nodded, her teeth capturing her tender flesh. Reese stopped further damage with his broad thumb once again.

“I need to hear you say it, honey. Nodding is unacceptable.”

“I climbed up on that dilapidated old ladder, which wasn’t smart. If you hadn’t been there when I fell, I could have ended up with a lot worse than a few cuts and scratches.”

“Anything else?”

She hesitated, thinking through their dispute outside. “I suppose I was rude.”

“You suppose? I believe I told you to get off the ladder, and you willfully ignored me, climbing right back up that rickety, splinter-ridden death trap. You were also dismissive and disrespectful.”

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