Page 9 of Trick or Trouble
GIVEN HIS OCCUPATION, Logan could read the snarky young woman well enough to know she was hiding behind a bravado as sharp as delicate glass, and just as fragile.Like a stray cat spitting to mask its trembling, he could see the fear flickering beneath the defiant sparkle in her eyes.
“Your room or mine?”She laughed, her lip quirking up in a derisive grin.“Or do you want to just get it on right here on the kitchen floor?”
Her chin lifted in a mock challenge, but her body betrayed her—shoulders tight, breath quick, pupils dilating—all mouth and no follow-through.
“You don’t listen well, do you?”His voice was calm, deliberate.When he closed his hand around her arm and marched her toward the hall, she gasped—soft and startled.
“W-where are we going?Let go of me.”
That flicker of uncertainty—the way her pupils widened—was a symptom of someone testing their limits and writing checks their courage wouldn’t be able to cash.He was right in his assessment: all mouthy bluster and no follow-through.
“I’m taking you to your room,” he replied in an even tone, his insistent pressure guiding her down the hallway.His other hand slid to her hip, steady and unyielding.
“B-but,” she stuttered.The kitten-squeak was genuine, her brain scrambling for a way to stop him without surrendering the façade.
“I-I didn’t mean it,” she protested, digging her heels in.
Her breath was coming faster now, her pulse beating hard enough for him to feel it through his grip.She tried to shake his hand off her arm and pull away.
“You should never say things you don’t mean,” he chided firmly, opening the bedroom door and guiding her inside.“Someone might take you up on them one day.”
She looked small in the soft lamplight, but her gaze was still darting for escape routes as he drew her towards the bed.His voice was firm but not unkind.“When I say enough, that means enough, Darcy.Keep that in mind in the future.”
“W-what are you going to do?”Her voice quivered as he sat down on the bed and pulled her between his knees.
“Something you’ll remember next time you think mouthing off is a good idea.Acting like a fractious child earns you a child’s punishment.I’m going to give you a spanking and put you to bed.You can spend the rest of the evening thinking about your choices...instead of cocoa and cards, like I’d planned.It’s getting late anyway.”
Pulling her across his left knee, Logan swiftly pushed down the pajama bottoms Holly had supplied and admired the outline of Darcy’s wiggling cheeks in the daring bikini underwear.Desire shot straight to his loins and distracted him.Pulling the panties up between her cheeks, his fingers trembled slightly as he ran his palm across their warm, satiny softness.
“No...please...I’m sorry,” Darcy pleaded, trying to put her hand back.“I’m so sore already, please don’t, Logan.”
Logan noted some deep red spots here and there, intermixed with a few small welts from his hand earlier.She probably was sore.Still...she needed to understand where he was coming from.
His voice was stern this time.“I don’t know why you choose to disparage yourself in this manner, but it won’t fly with me, Darcy.”He tipped her slightly forward and landed six spanks on the undercurve of her bottom cheeks, three on each side.On bare skin and in such a sensitive spot, that brought the tears.
“I-I’m sorry, it’s just a habit,” Darcy squealed with a breathy sob.
He pulled her upright and sat her on his knee, unable to bring himself to spank her anymore.He’d made his point anyway—and she’d apologized sincerely.The tears were trickling down her face, making her look defeated and forlorn.His thumb gently brushed away a tear.
“Why, sweetheart?”His voice was soft, concerned.
She shrugged her shoulders and dropped her gaze to her hands in her lap.“A defensive mechanism when I get uncomfortable.It just sort of...happens.”
He chuckled.“So, you know what you’re doing.”
Her eyes shot defiantly back to his.“It works.People usually leave me alone and don’t pester me for answers or explanations that I don’t want to give.”
His eyebrow shot up.“I didn’t realize I was pestering you for anything.As I remember, I was complimenting you on your natural beauty.”
A blush oozed up her throat and into her face.“I’m not beautiful,” she protested.
“Ah, you don’t like compliments;theymake you uncomfortable.”Expressive, distrustful eyes stared back at him, then slid away to stare at the wall.She’d been hurt before.
Finally, she huffed.“Good guess.Read a lot of psycho-babble, do you?”
“I am a therapist, if that’s what you mean.”
The expression on her face as she whipped towards him could only be categorized as shock with a side of homicidal terror thrown in.She jumped to her feet and pointed towards the door, her finger shaking like a leaf on a tree.The wild eyes of a cornered animal stared back at him as she demanded, “Get out.”
