Unacceptable Behavior (4 page)

* * *

Rafe just smiled at her retreating figure. One way or another Maxine would be getting a spanking this evening; it was up to her if it would be just his hand or something a little more intense.

Of course 5 p.m. came and went with no sign of Maxine. He went looking for her and found her work area tidy and obviously closed up for the night.

Rafe nearly laughed out loud when he saw the note on her desk; it simply read,

You aren’t the boss of me!

He was really looking forward to showing little Miss Maxine just how wrong about that she was as he intended to be the boss of her in every way possible. It was almost time to demonstrate that little fact to her in the most fundamental of ways, but unfortunately, before Rafe could take her to bed and conquer her in the way such things had been decided throughout history, he had to complete her discipline and get it behind them. But once that was out of the way, all bets were off and little Miss Maxine would find herself well and truly claimed.

* * *

Max was so keyed up by the time she got home, she decided to take a hot, relaxing bath. Soon she was surrounded by smooth jazz as the soft scent of lavender filled the air, enveloping her in its soothing smell as surely as the hot silky water cradled her in its embrace.

By the time she climbed out of the tub, she was as limp as a noodle. She smiled sleepily at her reflection and released her strawberry curls from their precarious perch on top of her head to fall around her flushed face.

Wrapped in her big fuzzy pink robe, Max opened the bathroom door and walked into her bedroom—only to jump and scream at a sudden pounding on the front door.

“Maxine, open this door!” Rafe yelled.

Max marched to the front door. “You go away, Rafe Jennings!”

“Open the door, Maxine, and accept your punishment,” he said commandingly.

“I will not!” she cried.

“Either open the door or I’ll open it myself,” he said softly.

“You will do no such thing!” Max yelled, only to gasp in shock when the door in question swung open as easily as if he’d had the key. “How did you get in here?” she demanded, outraged by his intrusion. She prudently ignored the large wooden paddle hairbrush he was holding.

Rafe snorted. “I’m a security expert, darlin’, getting in here was cake.”

“You have no right to barge into my apartment and threaten me!” she fumed. “I have a good mind to call the police.”

“I haven’t made any threats. I’m just following through on a promise. Now either call the police, or come here,” he said firmly as he sat down in the center of her couch.

“No!”

He sighed as if in resignation. “One…”

“Now, Rafe…”

“Two…”

She wanted to scream with frustration but her tummy was turning cartwheels and he was counting again.

“Three…”

Max did the most intelligent thing under the current set of circumstances; she threw herself face down across his lap. “Okay! You win!”

“Good girl, you just reduced your time with the hairbrush by about half,” Rafe said approvingly.

“How ‘bout no hairbrush at all?” Max asked hopefully.

“Nothing doin’, sweetheart; the minute you decided not to do as you were told, the hairbrush became necessary,” Rafe explained as he tossed the back of her fuzzy robe to her waist and pulled her in tight.

With no further preamble his broad palm connected smartly with her still damp bottom.

“Owwww!”

“When I tell you to present yourself for a punishment, young lady, I expect you to do exactly that.” His hand fell hard and fast as if to punctuate his words. “I don’t want to have to hunt you down to give you what you’ve asked for by your own behavior.”

At least twenty more hard smacks fell in quick succession. “If you don’t want a spanking, behave like the mature, responsible adult I know you are.”

The volley of swats following that salvo were lost to Max as the heat in her backside built to unbelievable proportions. Soon she didn’t even hear Rafe’s lecture, she was too busy wiggling her bottom in an effort to evade his hard hand.

Not that she was successful; the spanking went on for what seemed like hours, until Max was a limp sobbing mess across his thighs. She hiccupped loudly as he lifted her to stand in front of him.

Her robe remained tucked up into its belt and Rafe stayed her hand when she moved to pull it back down. “Leave it. I find corner time more effective when a young lady stands there with her bare bottom on display.”

“But Rafe…”

“The only butt in this situation is yours. Now get your nose in that corner and think about what you could have done differently today to prevent the taste of the hairbrush you’re about to get.”

Max wailed as he guided her nose into the appointed corner with a slap to her already flaming backside. She’d thought the spanking last night was bad, but this one had been way worse. Max had a feeling she would still feel it plenty come morning this time.

“I don’t want a taste of the hairbrush,” she said miserably.

“Then you should have been in my office at the appointed time.” Not a hint of softness was in his tone.

“Yes, sir.”

“If you’d done as you were told, I would have delivered a mild hand spanking much like the one you received last night. Apparently I did you no favors by tempering myself last night. If I’d given you a real licking with that belt, you’d have still felt it this morning and wouldn’t have been so quick to disregard my instructions. I won’t be making the same mistake tonight.”

Her shoulders slumped as the last bit of defiance eked out of her; his words felt like a death knell for her backside. First thing in the morning Max would burn that brush, but that wouldn’t do anything to spare her bottom tonight.

“Let’s get this over with, Maxine,” Rafe said firmly, calling her from the corner.

Max went meekly back over his knee and gasped in alarm when he tipped her further across his left thigh and scissored his right leg over hers. This was going to be bad!

Rafe didn’t leave her in suspense; the brush cracked down almost immediately. Soon the room was filled with the sounds of the brush smacking her bottom and her squeals of dismay.

He covered every inch of her cheeks in a methodical manner, then covered every area a second and a third time. Max felt as if every feeling and emotion centered in her throbbing behind. Finally Rafe tilted her over just a little further to finish with a flurry of smacks to her sit spots, leaving Max howling.

“Is this a lesson that will need to be repeated, Maxine?”

“No!!” she wailed.

“Good.” Rafe sat her up on his lap, holding her close and rocking her as she calmed.

When her sobs had gentled to the occasional sniffle, he tilted her face up to his. “This spanking was for disobeying me. You still have to deal with your behavior at work.”

“I don’t want another spanking!” she cried, ready to burst into tears again at the thought of even a feather falling on her bottom.

“Nevertheless, I will expect you in my office promptly at 5 o’clock tomorrow.” His tone brooked no argument.

“Please, my bottom already hurts,” Max begged.

“As well it should. I’ll expect you at 5 o’clock, Maxine. Understood?”

“Rafe…”

“Understood?”

Max heaved a shuddering sigh of defeat and sank back against his big chest as if seeking comfort. “Yes, sir.”

“Good girl. Now climb into bed.” Rafe held the covers up for her as Max climbed beneath them; she immediately opted to roll onto her tummy and hissed in her breath when the covers fell across her bottom. It seemed the most natural thing in the world for Rafe to lean across her and press a gentle kiss to her brow before turning out the light and leaving the room.

Max knew she had to be a masochist because more than anything, she wished he’d shed his own clothing, climbed in bed next to her, and held her through the night.

Like that will ever happen… dream on, Maxine!

Chapter Four

“You’ve got to be kidding!” Max screeched incredulously at Rafe across the truck cab.

“I am perfectly serious, young lady,” Rafe stated firmly.

“I will
not
give you my panties!” she yelled.

“You will either take them off yourself and hand them to me or I will take them. If I have to take them, I’ll spank you while I’m in the area,” he promised with an arch of his brow.

“I cannot go all day at work without panties! I just can’t do it! And I don’t understand why you would want me to!” Max felt her face turn bright red and realized she’d blushed more around this man in the last week than the entire rest of her life combined.

“Consider it more of your punishment; every time you feel your skirt slide across your bottom, you’ll remember where that bottom is going to be when it’s five-oh-two,” Rafe said with far too much enthusiasm for her peace of mind.

“It’s indecent!”

“No one will know unless you tell them, Maxine. No one but me and one very naughty young lady.”

Max felt her bottom clench at those words. “I won’t do it!”

“One…”

Max closed her eyes and hissed with frustration—she hated the counting!

“Two…”

“Stop that right now, Rafe Jennings!” she yelled with false bravado.

“Three… stop stalling, Maxine,” he said softly.

“Oh, shut up!” Max wailed as she reached quickly beneath her ankle-length skirt and removed her panties. Thankfully, the length of the skirt preserved her modesty but the thought of not having any panties on all day at work was almost enough to make her expire on the spot! With a murderous glare she threw the offending garment at Rafe’s head.

She growled with frustration as the wispy bit of fluff came to rest rather inelegantly on the gear shift. Rafe chuckled. She glared at him; the man knew very well she’d been aiming for his face. He smiled as he tucked the panties into his jacket pocket; Max crossed her arms over her chest and turned to frown moodily out the window.

“That wasn’t so hard, was it?” he asked.

Max refused to answer or look up from the window she was busy glaring holes in. He smiled again as he pulled away from the curb.

The drive to work was quick if silent; the minute Rafe parked, Max hopped out of the truck intent on getting away from him to her safe little cubicle.

“Maxine?” Her back stiffened at the demanding way he said her name.

Max turned to face him warily. “Yes?”

“I want you in my office at five o’clock sharp, understand?”

“Yes, sir!” she bit out tightly before spinning away to run into the building.

The day brought a mix of emotions for Max; on the one hand, every time her skirt rubbed against her skin, she was reminded of the spanking coming her way—but she also thought of naughty things. Things she had no business thinking about regarding one Rafe Jennings.

But she knew there was absolutely no point in pinning any fantasies on him. They would never come true.

Maxine needed to find a guy who was really attainable for someone like her, a guy who might not be the stuff of fantasies but would have real arms to hold her when the fantasies grew old and cold in her bed.

Which was probably why, when Max, sans panties, ran into Ted from the mailroom on her lunch and he asked her out, she said yes. Ted was not terribly attractive, but he was a real man and he was asking.

Maybe after dinner, she’d tell him she wasn’t wearing any panties, Max thought rather daringly, then sighed, knowing she wouldn’t.

Max arranged to meet Ted at 5:45 in front of the building; surely forty-five minutes was long enough to allot for a spanking. Lord, she hoped so, or dinner would be decidedly unpleasant!

* * *

Max took a deep breath and knocked on Rafe’s office door.

“Come in,” his deep voice came from the other side of the door.

She opened it and closed it behind her as she entered the lion’s den.

“I’m glad to see you made it here on time today, Maxine.”

“Like I had a choice,” she muttered under her breath.

Rafe raised a brow as he walked to stand in front of her. “Still have a bit of an attitude, I see. I’d hoped the day without panties would help with that.”

He took her arm firmly and led her to the corner. “Can’t we just get this over with?” she asked.

Rafe’s left brow shot up. “In a hurry? I think a little corner time with your bottom on display will help get you in a better frame of mind to deal with your discipline, young lady.”

Max sighed loudly but allowed him to place her in the corner with her skirt rucked up around her waist. She stood there fidgeting and worrying how long all this would take. She glanced nervously over her shoulder at the clock on the wall.

“Somewhere pressing to be, Maxine?”

“I kind of have a date,” she said softly, embarrassed to be discussing her love life while standing bare-bottomed in the corner with the man who planned to spank said bottom thoroughly.

“You have a what?” Rafe growled.

Max jumped, totally unprepared for the volatile reaction. She dropped her skirt and spun to face him, where he stood angrily a few feet behind her.

“A date,” she whispered, almost afraid to say it out loud again.

“With another man?”

Max blinked. “Well… umm… we aren’t…”

“The hell we aren’t!”

Inexplicably, tears began to gather in her eyes. “But you never said we were anything and I didn’t think the possibility even existed and Ted seemed nice enough and I didn’t want to be alone anymore and… and…” To her horror Max was suddenly sobbing.

The anger seemed to drain from Rafe’s face as he scooped her up and carried her with him back to his big desk chair where he sat cuddling her close as she sobbed into his chest. “Honey, I’m so sorry. I should have made myself clear. I always meant to claim you for my own.”

Max sniffed and leaned back to glare up at him. “Claim me? That’s a tad nineteenth century, don’t you think!”