Not Really the Outdoor Type (6 page)

His big hand landed spanks on every conceivable part of her derriere. Some even connected with the upper part of her thighs, right where her shorts ended. Ouch, those smacks smarted something fierce.

She squirmed on his lap. “Jason, please! That really stings!”

“It’s supposed to,” he ground out.

She squealed as his hand came down on her ass again. “I’m sorry, okay? For the lying and the crickets and for—
owwww
—stepping on whatever those things are that I stepped on.”

“Those things are nightcrawlers.” He punctuated the words with a sharp smack. “And if you’re going to work here, you’re going to need to learn how to handle them.”

Was he kidding? Like she was going to work for him after he’d spanked her again.

Even though she knew it was useless, she wiggled around, hoping to get free, and felt a familiar tingle between her thighs. Her eyes went wide. That couldn’t mean what she thought it meant. She only felt that sensation when she was aroused. And she was most definitely
not
excited right now.

Her pussy spasmed, disagreeing with her.

Kendall’s face flamed. She had to put a stop to this spanking and get off Jason’s lap right now.

She opened her mouth to issue her demands, but the words ended on a startled gasp as Jason pulled her up and put her back on her feet. She reached back to cup her sore ass cheeks and glared at him.

“I can’t believe you spanked me again,” she said.

He got to his feet, a tower of rock-hard muscle that reminded her how easily it was for him to hold her down and redden her ass a minute ago. Her pussy quivered at the memory.

“And I’ll keep doing it until you do your job better,” he warned.

She lifted her chin. “You don’t have to worry about that anymore because I quit.”

Jason recoiled as if she’d slapped him. The stunned expression on his face floored her. He couldn’t really be surprised, could he?

Kendall didn’t know why she kept standing there. Was she waiting for an apology? Or hoping he’d beg her not to quit? Neither would make her change her mind.

Her face as red as she was sure her freshly spanked ass must be, she turned and walked down the dock with as much dignity as she could muster.

* * * * *

Jason swore as he watched Kendall go. What the hell was wrong with him? He’d promised himself he wasn’t going to spank her again, but between lying to a customer about being out of live bait and stepping on those damn nightcrawlers, he’d lost it. And now he’d lost her.

Shit
.

He’d never met anyone who could push his buttons like she could. At first, he’d been amused by the story of the crickets attacking her, but then she’d knocked over that damn bucket and not only sent nightcrawlers everywhere, but stepped on them, too. Before he knew it, he’d put her over his knee and was spanking that cute ass of hers. His cock went hard all over again.

He closed his eyes with a groan. He only hoped Kendall hadn’t felt his hard-on while he’d spanked her. No way. If she knew he got turned on by warming his ass, she probably would had more than a few choice words for him, then slapped his face for good measure before she took off.

Maybe he should go after her and apologize. Then again, he thought when he heard the sound of her car throwing gravel as it sped away, maybe not. She clearly wasn’t in the mood to listen right now. What would he say anyway?
Yeah, sorry about dragging you over my knee and spanking your ass, but I thought you really deserved it?
Like that’d go over well. As pissed off as she was, she’d probably say something bratty and he’d end up giving her another spanking.

Swearing again, he walked back to the hothouse and knelt down to pick up what was left of the nightcrawlers.

Chapter Five

Kendall didn’t sleep well. No surprise there. How could she sleep when all she could think about was the spanking and her body’s reaction to it?

She’d heard about women who got turned on by spanking, of course, but she’d never been one of them. How could any woman like getting manhandled like that? When Jason had held her down and spanked her, she’d felt helpless and submissive, like he could do anything he wanted to her and she’d be powerless to stop him. There was nothing sexually exciting about that.

Heat pooled between her thighs, making a liar out of her.

She ignored it and leaned back in the wooden Adirondack chair, propping her feet on the railing as she gazed out at the lake. It had been a mistake to come back to Copper Canyon. This wasn’t her home anymore. It was past time she stopped running away from her life and went back to Los Angeles.

Even though the decision was the right one, she felt a pang of regret. Not at the thought of leaving Copper Canyon, but at the idea of leaving Jason. She’d only been on the one date with him, and yet for some ridiculous reason, breaking up with him was even more painful than breaking up with Keith had been. Maybe because she knew what she could have had with Jason would have better than anything she’d ever had with Keith.

She gulped her coffee, not caring that it was still too hot. God, she sounded stupid. Jason had spanked her not once, but twice because she’d done something he didn’t like. But he was also sweet and funny and gorgeous a sin. Not to mention one hell of a good kisser.

She groaned. No doubt about it, she was definitely making an appointment with a therapist when she got back to LA.

The sound of footsteps on the wooden deck made her jump, and she quickly sat up to see Jason standing there. He was wearing jeans and an Outdoor Outfitters T-shirt today, and she bit her lip to keep from moaning at the way the material stretched across his muscular chest. Dammit, why did her body always betray her every time she was around him?

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you,” he said. “I knocked on the front door, but I guess you didn’t hear me. I saw your car out front and figured you might be back here.”

Kendall got to her feet, tightening the belt on her robe with suddenly trembling hands. “What do you want?”

“About last night. I wanted to—”

“If you’re going to say you wanted to apologize for spanking me, forget it. I don’t want to hear it.”

A hurt look crossed his handsome face, but disappeared just as quickly. “For what it’s worth, I really am sorry.”

She folded her arms. “Fine. You said it. Now you can go.”

But he didn’t. Instead, he ran his hand through his hair and looked out at the lake as if he wanted to say something else, but couldn’t figure out how. After a moment, he turned his gaze back to her.

“I know the last thing you want to do is work for me, but do you think you could at least come in tomorrow for a few hours?” he asked. “I’m taking a group of tourists up into the mountains to do some fly-fishing, and I was wondering if you would mind watching the store until Nicole and Darren come in.”

She blinked. Was he serious?

“I won’t be there, so it’s not like you’re going to have to talk to me,” he added.

Kendall didn’t answer. Working at the store—even for a day—would mean having to see Jason again, and that would only make things more uncomfortable for them both. But for some reason, she found herself nodding.

“Okay. I suppose I could do that.”

He sighed. “Thanks, I really appreciate it.”

“No problem.”

Jason gazed at her for a long moment, his blue eyes filled with something that looked like regret mixed with a touch of sadness. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Kendall waited until he’d left to sink down on the Adirondack chair. What had she been thinking, agreeing to mind the store for him? It was like she was looking for an excuse to be around him. Which was just plain stupid on her part because he’d be out fly-fishing and wouldn’t be there anyway. And when he returned, she was walking out on him and his damn store and not looking back. Then she was packing her bags and leaving for Los Angeles.

* * * * *

When Kendall got to Outdoor Outfitters the next morning, there were more than a dozen very eager fishermen milling around the front entrance. Giving them a smile, she worked her way through the crowd to the door and let herself in. Jason was behind the counter, and he looked up when she walked in.

“You’re here. Good.” He grabbed his keys from the counter. “I’ll be back before closing, but Nicole and Darren will be in this afternoon, so you won’t have to hang around.”

Even though she knew that would be for the best, she shook her head. “I don’t mind staying.”

Jason looked taken aback by that, but he shrugged. “I’ll see you this afternoon then.”

The urge to tell him to be careful on the tip of her tongue, and Kendall bit back the words as he left. Jason wasn’t her boyfriend. And after today, he’d be nothing more than a memory.

That should make her happy, but for some reason, it only made her heart ache.

The store was quiet most of the day, which sucked. Without a steady stream of customers to occupy her time, her mind kept wandering to Jason. When she was at the counter, she was reminded of that first day at Outdoor Outfitters when he’d taught her how to work the cash register. When she went in the back to get something, she’d walk by his office and picture Jason seated at the desk. When she passed by the rack of red and white fishing floats, all she could think about was the day she’d knocked it over and what had happened afterward.

The thought of Jason spanking her brought a rush of color to her cheeks, and she fidgeted on the stool where she sat behind the counter. Why did she keep thinking about him spanking her? The more she tried not to think about it, the more vivid the images became until she swore she felt her ass cheeks tingling.

Thank God Nicole and Darren showed up for work when they did, or she might actually have locked herself in the restroom and fingered herself to orgasm.

UPS brought a delivery shortly before closing, and after Kendall signed for it, she brought it back to Jason’s office. As she turned to leave, her arm brushed against a pile of folders and knocked the whole stack on the floor.

As she knelt down to pick them up, she couldn’t help but imagine what Jason would say if he walked in on her right then. She could just picture his scowl as he surveyed the mess she made. His brows would draw together and he’d fold his arms across his broad chest, demanding to know why she was so clumsy. He might even accuse her of doing it on purpose, just to distract him from his work.

Of course, Kendall would deny such a thing. But maybe, just maybe, somewhere in the back of her mind, she’d wonder if he was right and she had done it deliberately. She’d never own up to it, though. Which would only make Jason even more determined to take his wayward employee in hand.

He’d stride across the room and take her arm, hauling her to her feet. Her breath caught as she pictured those gorgeous blue eyes of his clashing with hers before he bent her over the desk to give her the spanking she so richly deserved.

Kendall’s hands tightened on the papers. Why in heaven’s name was she having such thoughts? But even as she tried to figure it out, her imagination kicked into gear again and she was back in her fantasy world.

She wouldn’t struggle to free herself, or even attempt to push herself upright, but Jason would put one hand on her back to hold her in place anyway. He’d then rest his other hand on the curve of her jean-clad ass warningly while he explained to her why she was getting this spanking.

Then finally, after he was satisfied he’d lectured her enough, he’d begin.

At first, the jeans she wore would be sufficient protection against the barrage of smacks he gave her, but as his hand came down harder and harder, she’d feel them more and more. But she knew that would be nothing compared to what it would be like when he pulled down her jeans.

Kneeling on the floor beside the desk, Kendall blushed as the fantasy played out. Pussy tingling, she imagined Jason reaching around to undo the buttons on her jeans. He’d slide them down with almost agonizing slowness, and then, once they were bunched around her knees, he’d run his hands back up her thighs to caress her panty-covered ass.

Kendall closed her eyes, her breath coming faster and faster at the thought. If she concentrated, she could almost feel his strong hands on her, imagine him squeezing he stinging ass through the thin material of her panties. She let out a purr.

Would he let her keep her panties on as he continued to spank her? Or would he take them down and start right in on her bare bottom? Liking the idea of keeping her panties on for a little while, she pictured him giving her another round of hard smacks before he finally decided it was time to administer a sound spanking to her bare ass.

Never having gotten spanked before the other day, Kendall could only dream about what a spanking on the bare would feel like, but as she imagined Jason’s hand connecting with her upturned ass, it was all she could do not to unbutton her jeans right then and there and touch herself.

The scene in her head abruptly changed. In it, Jason was unbuttoning his jeans so he could slide his hard length into her wetness as he gripped her freshly-spanked ass.

“Kendall?”

Startled, she jerked her head up to find Nicole standing in the doorway. Face hot, Kendall reached up with a trembling hand to tuck her hair behind her ear. “What is it?”

“Everything’s locked up,” Nicole said. “I just wanted to make sure it was okay if Darren and I go ahead and leave.”

Kendall glanced down at her watch and was surprised to see it was already ten minutes past closing time. “Yeah, of course.” Straightening the folders into a neat stack, she got to her feet and set them on the desk. “Is Jason back?”

“I haven’t seen him.”

Kendall frowned. Jason said he and the fishermen would be back before closing time. Had the fishing been so good they’d decided to stay in the mountains a little longer? She didn’t know much about fishing, but she supposed that sounded reasonable.

Wanting to be sure that he got back safely, Kendall waited at the store for another two hours. Damn. It was past dark and Jason still wasn’t back. He might know these mountains like the back of his hand, but that didn’t mean something hadn’t happened to him. For all she knew, he could be lying in a ditch somewhere.