Page 134 of Dirty Discipline, Vol. 2

Stryker was no fool. “Deal. When can you come? We’re working on keeping Seamus’ girl, Kai, safe so we could use all the extra help we can get.”

They had dealt with the asshole who had been after Kai soon after he arrived. That crisis was averted, and Seamus and Kai were back in Hawaii to visit and bring her things back to the ranch. That was wedding number three when Richard and Kayleigh returned from Ireland.

Jacob loved his family, and any awkwardness was eliminated when, upon his arrival, he was immediately enlisted to help in the crisis. With his mother living with her sister, and his father dead from a heart attack, Jacob settled back into the ranch with the feeling of coming home.

And so here he was. Walking the land he’d learned to love in his younger years and allowing the memories to flood his mind. To go forward, he needed to address his personal history. The part that involved his leaving Sage, his Sageapple, behind when he went to college. He didn’t regret that entirely. What he regretted was not coming back to reclaim her. He needed to address that issue sooner rather than later. That meant finding where Sage was in town and finding out if they had anything left worth salvaging.

Jacob walked further through the forested landscape. There were two reasons he didn’t stay at the ranch after high school: college and Sage Appleton. Actually, Winona Sage Appleton. She was the most beautiful, intelligent, free spirit he’d ever known, in both the friend and biblical sense. He’d fallen madly in love with her when she was a freshman, and he was a junior.

Jacob fell into his memories as he walked.

It was junior year, after the last soccer game of the regular season, and his team had done well. Sage met him after the game by his truck, as was their typical meet-up place, and he’d kissed her deeply in his seventeen-year-old way. He didn’t have any experience, but he didn’t need any with Sage. She accepted every attempt with longing and contentment. Things had got a little hot and heavy on the lesser-used road to her house that night.

Richard’s words rang in his ear. “If this is real, it will wait until you’re ready. Don’t disrespect her.”

Jacob pulled back. Sage advanced. “Sageapple, baby, we are not going further than this. We aren’t ready. Our day will come soon enough.”

“I’m ready, I promise. See.”

She pulled her tee shirt off and revealed not a pretty lacy bra but bare, perky breasts. Even now, the memory of those beautiful breasts, barely a handful, made him react like it was a horny teen’s wet dream. It was. All Jacob could do was stare. He stared until she leaned forward and kissed him, bringing her bare upper body to lean against his tee shirt.

“Hell and damnation, Sage. Put your shirt back on, and where the hell is your bra? Did other guys see your tits through this thin shirt? I said we weren’t ready, and I meant it.”

“You might not be, but I am.”

Sage shoved her arms back into her twisted shirt, somehow getting it on correctly. She sat, arms crossed, fuming and mortified. As Jacob relived this event for the millionth time, he still cringed at his inept teenage approach to the whole situation.He’d rejected her advances and embarrassed her. Angered her.

“Sage, we have to talk about this.”

“The hell we do. I never want to talk to you again, Jacob Running Red Eagle. Living up to your name, I see. Running from what we want because you have some false sense of honor. I hope it keeps you warm at night.”

Sage was furious, and Jacob knew from his own life that other things like frustration, embarrassment, disappointment, and simple fury were behind his girl’s rage. Jacob let her cool down as he took her home slowly. They could talk about it when they were closer to her house.

Twelve miles wasn’t long, but if done at a slower speed, he could give her time to work through some of her embarrassment. Jacob had to address the issue tonight. If left, it would fester. He knew all about festering wounds and wasn’t helping to create any.

“Ready?” he’d asked.

When she didn’t respond, he put the truck in gear and prepared to pull out onto the road. That foolish young lady unlocked the doors, opened her side, and jumped out, scaring Jacob nearly to death. He threw the truck back out of gear, turned it off, yanked his keys from the ignition, shoved them in his front pocket, and barreled out of the front seat.

Her door was still open because she’d found herself in a little trench. Not a deep one, but the truck had rolled enough to have repositioned next to the drainage ditch.

“Fuck. Baby, are you okay? Are you hurt?”

He reached down and saw the tears streaming down her face. She shook her head.

“Talk to me, Sage. I need to hear you’re okay,” he said as he pulled her up to the more level ground.

She jerked her hand back. “I’m fine. I’m walking home.”

“The hell you are.” He ran his hand over her, and she pushed him away. It was all he needed to continue. “If you aren’t hurt, expect some hurt to come your way.”

He lifted Sage and leaned her over the hood of his truck, putting her backside at just the right height for him to light her ass on fire with his hand. He hadn’t truly spanked Sage before. A swat here and there, more for fun and teasing than anything. An occasional yet substantial smack to her ass to ensure she understood he disagreed with her choice, but that was it. He couldn’t dismiss this one as one of those.

This spanking was fueled by Jacob’s fear and frustration at Sage’s actions since they’d stopped on the side of the road.His authority and decisions in things so important as her safety needed to be heeded. Their relationship depended on Sage listening to him. What he didn’t understand was the need for him to listen to her, too. He loved her and thought that was enough. Their future would be defined by moments like this.

“Now, I have to take some blame for possibly giving you the idea that tonight was the night I intended to claim your body.” The rhythmic spanks on her backside seemed to have a calming effect on her. “Now you know it isn’t. I want you so badly. I dream day and night about what that’s going to be like. Heaven, I imagine, but when we are ready. That isn’t going to be this year, and maybe not next. Trust me.”

Tears were evident in her voice. “But I don’t understand. Everyone else does it.”

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