Valentine's Cowboy (7 page)

“About that spanking…”

He looked a little surprised at her mentioning it, and then latched onto the idea. “Guess you realize you deserve one for interfering in our lives. For not understanding the boundaries of what’s not your business.”

“Not really, but I suppose you feel they need to be more defined.” She was the idiot here. She was all but challenging him to turn her over his knee. What she wouldn’t do for a client! For a client’s pigheaded brother.

She wasn’t sure what she’d expected, but it certainly wasn’t to be led across the parking lot and to a bench behind the church. Nor did she expect to have him reach down to undo her shorts, and then push them down to her knees. She was too stunned by it all to even react. For about two seconds.

“What do you think you’re doing?” she gasped in outrage, reaching to pull them back up.

He slapped her hands away and tugged her with him as he sat down on the bench. He pulled her over his lap so quickly all she could do was say, “Ooof.” Then, adding even more to her horror, he jerked her bikini panties down to join the shorts. It felt really odd to have the gentle breeze blow over her bare bottom.

“No! Being spanked is bad enough.” She tried to wriggle free. Her face flamed in embarrassment. “Pull them back up! What if someone else drives up here and stops to look around?” She wiggled some more.

His hand connected with her lower buttocks and moved her forward until she planted her hands on the ground. “Spankings are best given on a bare bottom. I warned you before.” He swatted her again, harder.

“I’ve changed my mind!” She tried to push up off his left knee but he held her firmly in place with an arm across her back. “I just thought you needed a way to release your frustration. But I’ve changed my mind.”

A dozen hard smacks landed on her cheeks, alternately. “So you were sacrificing yourself for my sake? How saintly of you. Too bad I’m not buying your innocence in all this.”

“I
am
innocent!” she protested, reaching a hand back to try and protect her stinging bottom. “Stop. It hurts. Sam, stop!” She shoved her hand between her bottom and his flying hand. Mistake.

He grabbed hold of her hand and held it out of the way. “You knew a spanking hurts. You should have thought about that before you decided to offer your bottom to me.” He went back to searing her wiggling buttocks.

The spanking went on for what felt like forever, but probably was only a few minutes. She had a difficult time judging reality when her thoughts were focused on the hard hand that kept falling. It was tough to catch her breath, too. He wasn’t wasting any time getting this lesson delivered. It hurt, really hurt.

“Stop! Please stop!” she begged, tears streaking down her face.

“No more interfering between Shelby and me?” he pressed, holding his hand to her bottom.

“I was
not
interfering!” she shouted on a sob. “I just wanted to help. Both of you.”

To her surprise, and her relief, he sighed and stopped. “Help by staying out of it from now on.”

Fire sparked off her poor bottom and she was reluctant to move.  She lay quietly sobbing another minute, knowing he was probably staring at her bottom. Oddly, she was getting turned on. So was he, if the size of his erection next to her hip was any indication.

Finally, he eased her panties up, slowly, gently. He helped her climb awkwardly to her feet. She stood in front of him, lower lip trembling. “I never meant to cause problems for you. Either of you.”

His expression was hard to read, except for the darkening of his eyes, the way his nostrils flared. His gaze focused on her mound and she felt the familiar warmth of arousal spreading through her.
Wrong time, wrong place
. She carefully pulled up her shorts, wincing at the tightness of the fabric over her tender bottom.

“I’m sorry, Sam. Really.” She held her breath and zipped the shorts. So not a pleasant experience.

His eyes searched hers, and he must have read the sincerity within them. “I should probably apologize for spanking you, now that I’ve calmed down. You only partly deserved it.”

“Only partly?” she asked, gently touching her bottom.

He stood, his arms sweeping around her and hugging her in such a way that she felt treasured. In truth, even when he spanked her, he made her feel cared for. How strange was that? Maybe she was the one who needed a therapist. No, she was totally sane. She just had this strange desire to be held, to be touched, to be anything by this man so unlike any other in her life.

“Partly I wanted to burn that sweet bottom of yours. Partly I wanted to kiss these pretty pink lips.” His head lowered until he was kissing them. Until he held her so tightly to him and kissed her with such passion that she never wanted him to let her go.

She felt his heart pounding; felt his cock growing between their bodies. Her own body responded with eagerness. She moved against him, aching, wanting, and kissed him back with a fire of her own.

After a minute, he raised his head to grin down at her even as he pressed his cock to her stomach. “I’m thinking it’s about time we did something about these sparks that keep lighting when we’re together. Time I proved to you once and for all how much of a lesbian you aren’t.”

* * *

Valentine had done a lot of things in her life, but she’d never checked into a hotel for a quickie. As they drove further down the road to Hana, they’d tried snuggling in the Jeep. But it was impossible. They’d stopped at several isolated spots to do some serious kissing while pretending to enjoy the view at roadside. That had ignited a desperate need in each of them that had to be dealt with long before they would be able to drive all the way back to the Papakea Resort on the other side of the island. Actually, she’d been the one to spot the small hotel with individual cottages and suggest they “rest” for a while.

The cottage they rented was decorated island-style with lots of bamboo and bright colors. If she’d been able to think about anything but Sam, she would have enjoyed really studying the place. Instead the only piece of furniture that interested her right now was the king-sized bed she lie stomach down and naked across. The thick comforter beneath her bare body felt cool and seemed to heighten her awareness of him even more while he worked at tugging off his boots. He’d stripped her almost the second they’d entered the cottage. Not that she had resisted in any way.

She hugged a pillow, smiling back at him. “How long are you going to take, cowboy? I’m getting kind of lonely here.”

He kicked the boots aside and went to work unbuckling his belt. “Darlin’, it’ll be worth the wait, believe me.”

“Says you.” She knew he was watching her every move and she couldn’t resist reaching around to touch her barely stinging buttocks. He’d admitted to enjoying the sight of a woman’s freshly spanked bottom, especially hers. She felt kind of excited about the way her bottom enticed him. “Never in my life would I have guessed that I’d become attracted to a man who believes in spanking.”

He practically tore the rest of his clothes off and strutted all proud male to the bed. As she admired the long, thick cock waving in her direction, her hands stilled on her bottom. Moisture beaded on her mound. Her clit pulsed, and she watched anxiously as he rolled a condom onto that rod she wanted so badly. With the breeze of the paddle fan above them, she could smell the tempting scent of man, leather from his boots, and a musky, sexy aftershave. She heated all over with longing.

“Hurry up,” she whispered urgently.

“I love an impatient woman.” He grinned sexily and sauntered toward her.

She started to roll over but he stopped her, straddling her legs. He released her ponytail and threaded his fingers through her hair, and then pushed it aside. Slowly he leaned down to kiss the back of her neck and sink a finger into her at the same time.

She stilled, savored the experience.

“Like this, darlin’?” He added a second finger, moved them both in and out, around.

“Ohhhh, yes!” Her inner muscles tried to clamp around his fingers.

He continued working her and leaned back to smooth his other hand over her bottom. “So pretty and pink. Still warm.” He gave her bottom a light spank and she gasped, her bottom quivering. “I definitely believe in spanking when necessary.”

“I need… Sam, I need you.” His fingers were driving her crazy. She could barely think. “Please.”

His fingers tormented her a few more minutes. She was going wild beneath him, panting, aching.

“So responsive. I like that in a woman.”

“Please,” she begged, pushing back harder against his fingers. “I need you. Now. Deep.”

“Such sweet words.” He shifted back until he was on his knees. She hugged the pillow again as he lifted her hips enough to slide into her from behind. “Oh, darlin’,” he gritted out, pulling nearly out and driving in again.

“Ohhhhh, ohhhhh, so good.” She squeezed her eyes shut, moaning. He was big and thick, but he filled her perfectly. She pushed back to fully seat him and he groaned.

He held her hips and rammed in and out with deep strokes that she met with equal desperation. His strokes became faster, more intense. He breathed hard, grunted as he ground against her, inside her. “I wanted this to last a while,” he bit out. “Maybe next time.”

“Yes, next time,” she moaned. “Faster. Oh God, faster.”

Never had she enjoyed a man’s lovemaking this much. Her thoughts tumbled all over the place.
Wrong man for her. Right man. Impossible man. Perfect man
. He took her hard and fast, drove her over the edge into a wild release.

“Oh, Sam!” She shoved back at him until she finally froze, until her release surrounded him as he continued to drive deep.

Her brain cells tried to function again.
So good.So very, very good
. She was content to remain held by him as he strained to find his own release. Finally he came on a wild roar and she smiled at it.

A few minutes later Valentine lie absolutely boneless with Sam’s big, warm body nestled against her. One of his hands was draped around her and gently massaged her breast. “So, darlin’, still think you’re a woman lover?” he asked in amusement.

“Probably not,” she teased, swiveling her head to look at him. “But I might need a little more convincing.”

“Give me a few minutes and I’ll—”  He was interrupted by the sound of her cell phone ringing.

She tried to ignore it, but when the phone went to voice mail, and then rang again with persistence, she gave up. She scooted off the bed and grabbed the phone from her tote bag. “Dr. Hart.”

Five minutes later she’d finished arguing with her partners and faced a scowling, fully dressed Sam. “Sounds like you’re considering giving up on your dream and staying with the status quo. But I think that would be foolish.”

She grabbed her scattered clothes and went to the bathroom to dress. “Sometimes dreams just don’t work out.”

“Are you really going to give up so easily?” he countered, sounding annoyed. “Maybe I ought to have a talk with those partners of yours.”

She stuck her head the door. “Now who is interfering in someone else’s business?” He didn’t look the least bit interested in taking back his offer. Although she would handle her partners and her dream by herself, she felt warmed by his concern for her. And it seemed that she would have to go right back to butting into the ranch matter as well, because she had started to care for him, too.

Chapter Four

The sun was finally creeping up high enough that the lights nestled amongst the towering palm trees started going off for the new day. Sam stood, barefoot, shirtless, and exhausted with his hands braced on the balcony railing. Birds chirped noisily in the massively spread out weeping fig tree beside the small bridge spanning the fish pond in the courtyard below the half circle of condominium apartment buildings. A resort worker had already cleaned the pool and was now hosing down the surrounding cemented area sprinkled with chaise lounges. The day had definitely begun. But Sam wondered where the night had gone.

He took another deep drink of the coffee he’d made sometime in the middle of the night. Being here on “vacation” was nearly as exhausting as working on the ranch. He’d flown what had seemed endlessly to get here, and then gone to a mai tai party his first night on the island. The time zone thing had still been bothering him and he would have liked to stay at the resort that next day. But Shelby had insisted on him going on that whale-watching cruise. Then somehow Valentine had coerced him into driving almost around the whole island to go see Hana the day after that. Granted the drive had been a pretty one, but tiring. Even more so after first taking some time to burn her butt, then spend more time at the cottage they’d rented heating the sheets, and then the even hotter playtime after they got back here.

Valentine
. He hadn’t seen her in two days and damn he missed her. He’d much rather have spent these last couple of days with her than at Dale’s family’s place over in Wailea. Making idle chitchat with strangers—particularly strangers who were put out with him for the ranch situation—hadn’t been a good time. He’d felt stressed by the time he drove back here late last night. He’d just wanted to crash and sleep for a good solid eight hours. That hadn’t worked out because Jake had called him around one this morning. They’d talked until well after three.

He yawned. Shelby had a family and friends get-together planned at the Old Lahaina Luau tonight. If he were going this evening, then he needed to hang out in his rooms today and rest up. Maybe he’d take a dip in the pool later. Other than that, he wanted to be alone.

He needed to think carefully about Jake’s surprising proposition. He’d known how much his friend liked working on the Thompson Ranch. He’d never suspected that Jake might be interested in owning it. And Jake probably wouldn’t have come forward with this offer if he hadn’t run into the veterinary from Crowley, who’d evidently told Jake about his plan to retire, and his desire to pass on the practice to Sam.

His gaze shifted to the waves crashing into the shoreline. The sound was peaceful, even if almost as loud as the birds in the tree having some kind of intense morning discussion. Across the blue, blue water he could barely make out the long shadow that was the island of Molokai. Shelby had mentioned something about wanting him to take a helicopter ride with her over there to go see the tallest sea cliffs on the planet. She’d claimed the sight was spectacular. Maybe so, but no way in hell would she get him up in one of those tiny helicopters. Let her drag Valentine along on that little adventure.