“Yes. What are you going to do about it?”

“Oh baby, you don’t need to try to pick a fight with me to give me a reason to spank you. If this is what you want, then I can do this for you… for us. It’s just for fun though, so we’ll stop as soon as you’ve had enough. Just tell me to stop, okay?”

She looks conflicted. “Troy, I know myself. I’m going to tell you to stop right away. Aren’t you supposed to give me a safeword or something? I mean that’s what happens in some of the books I’ve read.”

Troy can’t help but laugh. “Great. First my sister and now you. Both of you being corrupted by naughty romance novels.”

“Hey, you should be glad I read those. The good ones really get me going, if you know what I mean.”

“Oh, I can imagine. Never fear. I’m not going to take your naughty books away from you, unless you’re naughty yourself. Maybe that could be one of your punishments.”

“Evil man.”

“Safewords are used in more BDSM type scenes. We won’t use a safeword with our domestic discipline, Hallie. You won’t be able to just get out of a punishment with a word or by saying to stop. That’s why it’s so important you know what you’re signing up for in advance so you can give me your consent because I won’t be asking if you agree before every spanking. It’s way too late by then.”

“What about the non-punishment spankings? What if I want to stop one of those?”

“Well in that case, I guess a safeword would be fine. There are actually several couples in

Eagle’s Pass pretty heavy into the BDSM scene. We can talk about that more later.”

She looks settled. “Fine. I choose butterfly.”

“You have a thing for butterflies, eh? I love the tattoo on your hip. I think I’m going enjoy inspecting it often as I have you turned over my knee.”

He detects the shiver that runs through her body at the thought of being over his knee. “Okay, young lady. One funishment coming up. Let’s get cleaned up first.”

Troy spends the next ten minutes spoiling Hallie, selfishly scrubbing her from head to toe, inspecting every inch of her body intimately with his soapy fingers, being careful to bring her close to a climax, but stopping short of allowing her to come. He finishes up washing her hair, massaging her scalp until she’s moaning with pleasure.

When she opens her eyes, he can see her passion shining. He prays he’s reading her right and what he’s about to do only flames her fire and doesn’t douse it. She wants to push the envelope, so he’s going to push.

“You feel nice and clean, baby?”

“I’ve never felt so relaxed in all my life. That was amazing.”

“I’m glad. I’m going to finish up in here. I want you to get out and dry yourself off. Then I want you to go into the bedroom and wait for me.” He sees she’s about to argue to stay with him in the shower, but he holds up his fingers to shush her. He then reaches down to the bench to grab the now wet spoon.

“Take this with you. When you’re dry, I want you to bend over the end of the bed with this gorgeous ass of yours on display for me. Lay the spoon on the bed next to you where you can see it and I want you to wait for me. I’ll be in when I’m ready.”

Her passion is replaced with panic. “Take a deep breath, Hallie. I’m not going to punish you. Remember, this is just going to be a funishment. I’m layering in some of the other things you can expect when it’s a real punishment. I want you to see how it makes you feel so we can talk about it later. Are you okay or did you change your mind? It’s okay if you did because I never expected to go this far this weekend anyway.”

He’s relieved the panic is gone, but she is undecided. He watches her steel herself. “So, I

can use my safeword, right?”

“Absolutely.”

She slowly reaches out to take the spoon from his hand. She stands under the water, looking down at that spoon for a torturously long thirty seconds. Troy knows he should put a stop to this. She’s not ready. Then she looks up and he sees the passion is back. She almost unmans him with her quiet. “Yes, sir.”

Chapter Thirteen

Hallie is shivering as she lays across the end of the king bed, naked and waiting for Troy. She’d love to blame it on the room being too cold, but she knows it’s a mix of anticipation and fear at the heart of her tremble.

She opens her eyes again to take in the sight of the hard wooden spoon only a few inches from her face. She had tested smacking her hand with the spoon before getting into the awkward position. The lightest taps had barely registered, but she had used enough force on her last test to know that Troy could really light up her ass if he wants to.

The fact that she can stop him at any time should make her feel better, but it doesn’t. She just wants to get it over with. To know once and for all that she has what it takes to live in Eagle’s Pass, at the minimum to be near her aunt and uncle but more importantly, she prays to make it her home with Troy.

Her brain knows it’s way too fast. That they barely know each other, but it doesn’t matter. She knows with every ounce of her being that she is in love with Troy. She has never met a man like him and she’s not willing to throw it away by letting a pesky thing like domestic discipline get in the way. To be truthful, the concept of DD actually sits well with her. It’s just the actual practice when the rubber hits the road that she’s just not convinced she can handle.