Page 74 of Don't Bet On It
She clapped her hands, delighted. “Because there are rackets. They’re begging to be used as a spanking device.”
I was so completely thrown I had to take a few moments to regroup. “Is that your kink?” I asked finally.
She’d been looking at the crowd, which was the opposite of distinguished this evening, but swung her eyes back to me. “Do you want that to be my kink?”
“Do you realize you answered a question with a question? My therapist says that’s a no-no.”
“All of my therapists have said that too,” Tallulah acknowledged. “That’s why I still do it.”
I laughed, and she relaxed a bit. “What were we talking about again?”
“Whether or not I want you to spank me,” Tallulah replied without a moment’s hesitation.
I was halfway through a swig of beer and choked, the liquid sputtering out on the table.
“Oh, gross.” Tallulah grabbed a handful of napkins and cleaned up my mess as I suffered through a series of coughs that made my eyes water. “You need to relax a little bit,” she said to me. “You’re being ridiculous.”
“You just caught me off guard,” I complained.
She didn’t look convinced, but she nodded. “Sorry.”
“I wasn’t asking that,” I insisted, refusing to let it go. “That’s not the sort of thing I ask.”
“Of course not,” she replied amiably. “You would never.”
Her tone was impossible to ignore. “Spanking isn’t my thing,” I announced. “I don’t get the appeal of hurting somebody when it’s time to bring them pleasure.”
Her lips curved. “You know, I didn’t think you would actually say that,” she admitted.
“You thought I was a spanker?”
“No, I didn’t think you would say the pleasure part. I knew you weren’t a spanker.”
“Is that your thing?” Why I felt the need to pressure her on this particular topic was beyond me. I couldn’t help myself.
“I am not a spanker,” she replied. “I wouldn’t say I’m boring in bed?—”
“I wouldn’t either,” I muttered under my breath.
“I am a big proponent of ‘if it’s not broke, don’t fix it,’” she continued with a grin. “Spanking is weird to me. Not that I want to yuck anybody’s yum,” she added hurriedly. “As long as it’s two consenting adults and nobody has been groomed or coerced, I’m a big fan of everybody doing whatever it is they want to do.”
“I would fall into the same category,” I agreed. “I don’t understand why people get up in each other’s business so much when it comes to that stuff.”
“Me either.” She took another sip of her beer. “Obviously, it’s different when we’re dealing with minors or coercion. Otherwise, I don’t care who spanks who and with what if it’s what they want.”
“Yeah.” I fell into a bout of silence, then I frowned. “You know, it never occurred to me that my parents might be doing that out on the court,” I said darkly.
Tallulah’s eyes twinkled. “Sorry.”
“I knew they were doing something freaky because the staff kept talking about it in whispered tones. I just didn’t know it was that.”
She took pity on me and reached over to pat my hand. “If it’s any consolation, I think it’s kind of nice that they clearly still like to get their freak on together.”
I rolled my eyes. “They fight otherwise. My mother is a free spirit, and my father has never met a rule he doesn’t want to follow three times over.”
“Maybe that’s their thing. Some people get off on fighting.”
“I can understand bantering as a form of flirting,” I replied.
