Learning to Blush (16 page)

“Safety gear?” she coughed. “
You
do wiring without gloves all the time,” she reminded, and Thorton couldn’t argue with her. She was right, though since he’d gone to Earth, he had been trying to set a better example about that sort of thing. Eye gear? No problem. All he had to do was see a man’s eyes nearly get fried out of his head once. He wouldn’t have any trouble wearing goggles again. Gloves, however, were still a pain in the ass.

“This isn’t about Commander Hux. This is about you ignoring orders and rules, Eleanor. Bedroom,
now
.” Before Ellie could respond, Graham frowned. “And try not to touch anything on the way there,” he added.

“I was doing my job! Don’t be ridiculous! And I shouldn’t be punished just because he’s pissy that he was in the drop z—”

Graham held up his hand; a gesture that silenced her. “Keep arguing with me and you’re going to be a
very
sorry little girl all day tomorrow. You’d better have started going to the room by the count of three, Eleanor, or else Thorton’s getting himself a show.”

Her mouth dropped, and Thorton saw the little bit of skin he could see under her dirty face turn bright pink. “Graham!” she whined. “I just—”

“One.”

“It’s only a dumb safety rule that—”

“Two.”

She closed her mouth, glanced very briefly at Thorton, and then turned heel and scampered from the room.

When she was out of sight, Graham sighed, then sat back and looked cockily at Thorton. “What were we talking about? Something about them being so mature? Or how right I am? Something like that…?”

“Okay, it’s possible that they’re a little on the immature side. Could they live by themselves on their own? No. But adoption might take some of my awkwardness to another level—”

“I thought you didn’t think humans were attractive,” Graham suddenly cut in with a knowing glance.

Thorton’s mouth hung open. “When did I say that?”

“When I met Ellie,” he reminded.

“Ellie’s
particularly
pint-sized. Humans are normally small—in a weird way. I wasn’t used to that. Penny—Penny’s like… Penny’s
different
. She’s…”

“Got huge breasts, I get it,” Graham groaned, and shook his head.

“And little spots—!”

“
Freckles
,” he corrected, using some human word.

“Freckles! Red hair! Hips! And her bottom is like—
pow
.”

Graham gave him a chiding glance.

Okay, so maybe talking about her bouncy, sexy little bottom was going too far, and it was so eye-catching that there was no need to point it out.

“Are you trying to get some sort of approval from me to attempt her?” Graham asked dully.

“No. I
know
attempting her is a bad idea…” Thorton slouched wearily. “I just want to, anyway,” Thorton admitted. “I was telling the dust-monster out there as much. I know Penny’s probably too young. I know she’s a little nutty and way too flirty and opens her legs like she’s a stop-and-go, and that she’s about five inches too short.” And he knew he loved every minute being around her. He loved the smell of her hair, the bat of her long eyelashes, and that pink, drop-dead-sexy smile…

“Remember you have an invite back to the next mating festival,” Graham reminded. “You’ll probably meet someone there, and you’ll forget about Penny, and she’ll get some time to mature and act a little less like an Earthling. You’re probably not a match with her, anyway. Don’t kick yourself over it.”

Well, Graham definitely wasn’t Ellie—Graham had said no words of approval, no words of encouragement. He put his electronic tablet in his side satchel. “Did you want to keep talking about this?” he asked, even though he was already turning towards the door.

“Definitely no. I need more of your advice like I need a hole in the head—and I already have one of those…” He fingered the injury on his hairline.

Graham chuckled. “You don’t need my advice, Thorton. You’ve always known the best path. The hard part is getting you to walk down it.”

“You’re sounding like the Admiral again,” warned Thorton with a weary smirk.

Graham turned his head back before he stepped into the hallway, making a grimace. “I know. Well, he
is
my father. It’s not his fault he’s always right like me.” He grinned, winked, and left Thorton alone with his thoughts.

Chapter Seven

Penny paced down the hallway, putting her thumbs around the belt loops of her short-shorts. She was thinking about heading for Thorton’s room and seducing the hell out of him—but then, she realized that she might weary him from chasing him. No; men liked to feel like
they
were the hunters.

And so she went to go bother Graham. She didn’t have any interest in him; Penny was a lot of things, but she wasn’t the type to attempt to steal a man from her own cousin. Still, Graham was fun to bother and offered something she most loved in the world very freely—attention and affection. It was more fatherly than brotherly, certainly not anything like a lover, but she liked that. He was different. And perhaps if she paid attention to Graham and less to Thorton, Thorton was the type that would come around to her out of jealousy.

She came to their room and was about to knock on the door, since it was rolled open about an inch, anyway, but then she saw through that crack Graham, fully clothed, pulling his completely naked and wet wife out of the shower-room and towards the bed.

“Graham!” Ellie was whining in the Swarii language. “You’re being dumb! It’s a stupid rule! I was
working
!”

“Calling me
dumb
does not help your case. I am your husband and your captain. Respect is something you need to learn, Eleanor. Now bend over the bed.” He released her wrist, which he had been dragging her by, and pointed towards the bed’s edge.

“Why?” Eleanor asked, looking awkward and worried. “What’re you gonna do?”

He crossed his arms, his face firm. “
Besides
spank you?” he asked, causing Penny to gasp and her eyes go wide. “Because the way you’re acting right now makes me think you need the kit as well.”

Penny had no idea what ‘the kit’ was, but it was clear that it was no mystery to Ellie. Ellie immediately jumped up to Graham and desperately wrung both of her arms around one of his forearms. “No… Graham!
Please
no? I’ll wear safety gear next time, okay?”

“Woman, this isn’t just about safety gear. You don’t follow commands because you think you know better. That’s why we’re here. That’s why we’re
all
here. That’s why our ship is broken. That’s why I’ve lived on a ship with only half-day on land for the last three and a half
months
. I’d say it’s because you can’t learn from your mistakes, but that’s not the case because you’re constantly doing more and more complicated things with your job. So you can learn…”

“I don’t mean to break rules!” she cried, burying her head in Graham’s torso. Her head barely came up past his ribs. “I just need
some
leniency!”

“And when you married me, leniency’s what I gave you. Now look at where we are.”

She jerked her head away from him. “When did I ever get leniency? I only stole the ship because you were strangling me with all your regulations! My modification is more important than any stupid rules you can…” She stopped there, and Penny assumed that was because the look he was giving her was frying her brain a little bit. “What do you want me to say, Graham?” she asked, surrendering.

He didn’t respond to her at first; he looked at her like she was a problem that needed fixing, like a leaky bucket or an engine that wouldn’t start. Finally coming to some conclusion, he put up his finger in a silent order for her to stay where she was, and then he walked into the bathroom.

Ellie looked after him, chewing her lip. “Graham?” she called quietly. “Graham?”

He came back out with a wooden hairbrush in his hand. He pointed at the bed once again. “Lie down.”

Ellie looked at the bed like it was made of needles, but made no other movements.

Penny thought that the argument between them would continue, but this time Graham, looking completely exasperated, put his foot up against the bed and effortlessly pulled her over his raised knee. He was tall enough that Ellie just hung there, trying to find the ground with her toes and struggling with her arms to right herself to no avail.

Graham, with the flat side of the hairbrush, began to spank Ellie’s upturned bottom with all the fury of an angry parent. The cracks of the hairbrush were deafening, and Penny could only watch Ellie take it.

Her parents did not believe in spanking; although she had found herself getting smacked across the face a few times by her own father after particularly heated arguments while she was growing up. She hadn't seen a spanking done outside of the movies!

Especially to Ellie! Ellie, who was so spoiled growing up, who her parents had always said was so much better than Penny ever was! Now, Ellie was getting taken down several notches as she got her bottom walloped by her own husband, who was treating her like she was a bratty toddler rather than his bratty
wife
.

Penny's feet felt like they were glued to the ground, and she was unable to blink. She just stared in awe as Graham gritted his teeth and gritted out, “When-I-give-you-a-command-you-will-learn-to-do-it!”

Ellie was already crying and gasping by the time he put his leg down and she found herself on the floor once again, pressing her small white hands against her reddened, sore bottom as he repeated, “Now
lay down
.”

Ellie slowly obeyed, but laid down on her stomach. Penny got a good look at her bottom, already splattered with red, oval-shaped marks. For once, Penny certainly was glad she was NOT Ellie!

“On your back,” he ordered firmly, and Ellie immediately looked back at him unsurely before she slowly turned onto her back. As soon as she did so, Graham grabbed her legs, lifted them high in the air and dragged her body to him. “Do you know what
some
husbands do with their ridiculously childish wives?” he asked her.

Ellie shook her head.

“We’re told to
treat them
like children.” That threat sounded duly ominous.

“You
do
treat me like a child,” she pouted angrily.

“You have no idea. I have spared you more than you realize, far more than is common for a wife with
half
of your bad behavior! I have tried not to take advantage of your small size, thinking that you might already feel self-conscious about it. I didn’t want to have to dominate you in that way. I didn’t want you to feel that level of humiliation; I thought it wasn’t necessary. I made a mistake, there. I should have started doing that right away! By now you might have started acting like a wife or, at the least, like a responsible
adult
, not like a surly school child.”

Penny frowned, for in that moment, she realized that Ellie wasn’t anywhere as bright as she thought she was. Graham was seven feet tall—nearly
two feet
taller than Ellie. He was stronger, faster, and older. It was clear that Ellie was in a horrible position to say, “I don’t act like a surly school child!
You’re
the one calling me names and bullying me!” but Ellie said it nonetheless, and when she said it, she did, in fact, sound like a surly school child.

Graham began spanking Ellie more with the hairbrush, landing firm swats on her thighs as well as her bottom. He was leaning partially over her, and her legs were locked under the shoulder of his non-spanking arm. He had pulled her legs up and back far enough that her knees were almost touching her bare breasts. In this position, she was bent nearly double at the waist, with her bottom fully spread and on display. “Please! Please stop it!” Ellie sobbed and begged, unable to reach down to block him, unable to even squirm away. She looked so
exposed
, like a baby being diapered.

And Penny still didn’t say anything. She didn’t
want to
. She was fascinated by what she was seeing. Her own heart was beating in rhythm to Graham’s spanks; her tummy fluttered.

“This is not a competition, Eleanor!” Graham snapped. “I am the head of this household; I am the leader in this relationship. This is not a democracy. Are you prepared to listen now, or are you bottling up any more comments I need to spank out of your argumentative little bottom?”

Ellie was panting and crying at the same time. “
I’m
listening
,” she promised.

“Good. Now, if these childish arguments don’t stop, you are opening yourself to something that I will call
punishment days
. I promise you that you will rue every moment of them. Enemas, nap-times, suppositories, diapers, bottles. You name it, I will do it. And do you know
why
?”

Except for her sobbing, Ellie stayed silent. Finally, a smart move.

“Because I want you to learn to listen. I want the attitude to stop. I want you to stop embarrassing me with your behavior. I love you
so much
—you’re kind, you’re funny, you’re beautiful, you’re loyal, you’re a good friend. But I’m going to start laying down the law with you. I will take you down as many pegs as I must to get you to be a good girl. Do you understand?”

She sniffled and nodded, saying “Yeah…” with a small, pathetic squeak.

“Good. Now let’s get this done. My original plan was to only give you ten smacks with the hairbrush when I came in here. That’s how much worse you’ve made this.” There was almost a trace of sympathy in his voice as he said that, which Penny could hardly believe. But he sounded tired, as if he had done this before, as if they had had this same argument numerous in the past and he was becoming frustrated with her lack of progress.

“Please, please!” Ellie pleaded again sharply, trying to sit up, but Graham pulled on her legs, and she was flat on her back again. “No, no! It hurts!”

Penny believed her. The sound of the flat of that hairbrush smacking against Ellie’s bare skin made her own skin jump. The smacking was far louder than it was when she'd only been across the knee. Ellie’s shrill cry following each smack made Penny's stomach lurch.