“I want answers more than you can imagine, but we aren’t going back to the city. I’m taking you to my apartment where we can have this conversation in private.”
“Oh,” she added softly. A full minute went by before she added, “Why?”
“I’m guessing that you have a pretty good idea.” He turned the radio to a light jazz station to continue calming his temper. Dealing with Victoria Bradford tonight would require a large amount of his patience and he had about a half an hour to fully control himself.
Chapter Eight
He let them into his apartment with a jangle of keys, entering a small living area with gleaming hardwood floors and tones of maroons and deep chocolate browns. The surprisingly elegant, but very masculine space was clean, inviting, and frightening as the depths of hell under her current circumstances. Unbuckling the hidden holster from his calf, he secured the weapon in a small box on a heavy wooden console table and spoke with an alarming calmness. “Have a seat in the living room and make yourself comfortable. Would you like another cup of coffee? Something to eat?”
Shaking her head, she chewed nervously on the end of her fingernail and sat on an oversized leather sofa in front of a massive flat screen and an expansive open wall unit. Dark ebony statues, cloisonné vases, and other treasures from around the world stared back at her in another surprising window to Cruz’s personal world while he moved a basket of folded laundry to a back bedroom and opened the balcony slider to let the cool fall breeze blow against her overheated skin. He was actually whistling some jazzy-sounding tune when he moved into the kitchen.
Everything about him screamed that they’d just stopped by his place for a casual after-dinner cocktail, but she knew where this was going. He was going to spank her naked ass, and the imaginary sting migrated across her skin in a futile attempt to duplicate what she’d never experienced. Tugging the borrowed black cocktail dress a little further down her thighs, she silently cursed herself for her choice of panties, a pair of boy shorts instead of something lacy and sexy.
She considered running to the bathroom to dump her panties in a wastebasket when the combined images of spanking and sexuality spiked her core temperature even further, forcing her to find some reason. This was just his job, she reminded herself sternly. There was no sexuality, and despite the initial rush of innocent fun when she’d jumped in Amanda’s car, she’d completely understood that he’d be ticked off when he finally tracked her down.
Anger and discipline wasn’t the same thing as sex. She knew that, but then why in the hell did she struggle to keep her hands away from her pussy, already dripping with an achy need? The more she thought about Cruz spanking her, the more she wanted to rub her clit across his erection tickling and teasing her channel until he’d filled her wet pussy once and for all. Her nipples grew tight with anticipation, and she shifted her weight nervously, wishing she’d asked for a gin and tonic just to get through the evening. Actually, more gin than tonic sounded pretty damn good right about then.
But sex was impossible. Period. He was her bodyguard, and he’d made that role clear over the incident with the photographer. She’d screwed up and now she had a slightly unorthodox penalty to pay and that would mark the end of their evening. Drawing on her courage, she was about as prepared to meet his anger as she would ever be, steeling herself to the inevitable and hoping to get this over with as quickly as possible, but after fifteen minutes of nail-biting anxiety, he still hadn’t returned.
Moving to the doorway of the kitchen, she crossed her arms and tried to sound calm. “What the hell are we doing here, Cruz? How long are you going to make me wait for this? It’s getting ridiculous.”
He hesitated, but never turned around before continuing to wash a large ceramic frying pan. “Well, I was waiting until I was calmer so that we could have a non-emotional conversation, but this attitude isn’t helping. Would you like to rephrase your question?”
“No, actually I wouldn’t,” she responded incredulously. “Let’s get this whole spanking thing over with so I can move on with my life.”
He set the frying pan in the sink and carefully dried his hands on a kitchen towel before turning around. Leaning his back against the counter with his arms crossed, his tone remained deadly calm. “Why, Victoria? What do you think is going to change tonight? Do you think that this is going to be a life-altering experience for you, or is this something you want to get over and done with until the next time you decide to ditch your security detail? I’m just wondering what I’m up against.”
“I... I don’t know,” she stuttered. “But this waiting is crazy. I can’t stay here all night.”
“The last time I spanked your sorry little ass, I told you that we’d do it differently if we ever found ourselves in the same boat. We were going to have a conversation and when that conversation was over, you were going to ask me to punish you. So, converse. Tell me what you did wrong. What do you plan to do to keep it from happening again? And then, ask me to spank you.”
She’d be a lot less shaken if he’d yelled or screamed, but this eerie calmness and the ease at which he spoke of spankings and punishments twisted together with the crazy, confused messages her body continued to send. The result was so unsettling that she had no choice except to draw her thighs together and snap, “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me? You think that I’m going to ask you to beat my ass?”
He seriously pondered her question before adding, “Yep. That’s exactly what I think. And stand away from my glasses there, would you? That’s nice Polish glassware I bought in Europe when I was in the Air Force, and I don’t want to lose any of them when your temper takes off.”
Throwing something at his stubborn, one-track, thick head sounded like a great idea. “Well then, my friend,” she snipped, “if you’re saying I have a choice, you’re gonna wait a long time. But don’t you worry your pretty little head. I’ll admit to everybody that tonight was all my fault. Maybe they’ll even give you a nice big promotion because you handled the infamous Victoria Bradford with only a single incident in almost a month. That has to be some sort of record for the skanky bitch, right?”
Looking truly agitated, he stood a little taller. “Is that what you think all of this has been about? Do you really think that all of these rules and consequences are to further my career? Because I was pretty sure my career ended the first time I paddled your ass.”
“Of course that’s what this is all about.” The hurt was still too strong, and she had to look away. “You made that clear when you chased me away from that asshole photographer.”
“I chased you away because I needed to keep you safe,” he said slowly. “And yes, that is my job. But my job is getting harder and harder to perform because I need to keep you safe beyond my job. I know that doesn’t make sense, but that’s my reality.”
“You said to me exactly what you said to Amanda,” she said with a jealous pout. “Do you feel the same way about her?”
“My god,” said Cruz incredulously. “You don’t listen. No, I don’t even trust Amanda. I’m struggling because I need all of my senses to keep you safe, but I can’t do that if I’m paying too much attention to you, and that’s hard because, well, because you’re stinking adorable, even when you’re being a brat.”
The words slowed her temper like a warm coating of sunshine. He thought she was adorable. She had no idea what that meant or where that adjective would take them, but it was enough for tonight. She stopped eying his nice Polish glassware and started digging for an unlikely miracle to end this showdown. “I’m really sorry about all of this,” she said, adorably batting her eyes and hoping that his relative calmness was a good sign. “I... I just didn’t understand what was happening. I shouldn’t have taken off on your guys, and I won’t do it again. I promise.”
Without responding, he moved to the living room and slid the balcony door shut with an ominous finality before closing the heavy curtains. “So, this is all settled, then?” she added nervously. “I ap
ologize, and we chalk this up to a big misunderstanding?”
“Nope,” he said. “In this relationship, I’m your bodyguard, but I’m also a man of my word. I promised you a spanking if you disobeyed me and sneaking off with Amanda the moment I walked out the door was a pretty big violation of our trust, so it’s going to happen.”
“But you said that I have to ask you for a spanking and that means I have a choice,” she whined, backing into the wall to put her ass against something solid.
“I said that I’d give you the opportunity to ask for your punishment, but you’re the only person who understands whether or not you have a choice. You do have the option of calling the Montgomery County police right now, and they’ll escort you to the White House with a spanked-free ass. But if you don’t accept the consequences that were very clearly defined for you, you’ll feel exactly like this tomorrow, and the next day, and next week. Before you decide, how do you feel right now? Are you ready to go on like this? You not only put yourself in danger tonight, you put a whole lot of other people in harm’s way as well.”
That little self-evaluation didn’t take long. She hadn’t felt this level of unhappiness since he’d come into her life. Tonight had been a disaster of epic proportions, and she’d been responsible for all of it. The close call over the date rape drugs. The ugly brawl when her bodyguards were forced to protect her and even that jerk’s strange hands all over her body, turning her stomach with relentless, acid nausea. But the scariest of all was the shouting when the local cops showed up and everybody threatened to shoot each other until the identifications could be made.
Just like she’d done with a thousand bad decisions, all of those incidents needed to be pushed aside, but the anxiety never really did go away. Cruz had grounded her emotions these last few weeks, keeping her safe, not only from the dangers facing her at every corner, but also from her own bad judgment. And he thought she was adorable.
But no matter how much salvation he promised lay ahead, moving even a step in his direction wasn’t going to happen; her brain and her feet would never come to an agreement. Sliding her back a little further down the wall away from him, she asked tentatively, “And... and if it hurts too much, will you stop if I ask?”
“Nope. That’s not how a punishment works,” he said, standing his position like some sort of a cement tree.
“But will it hurt?” she asked, moving to the kitchen to gain even more distance. “I don’t want it to hurt too much.”
“Yep. That’s how this works,” he said with a snap of his fingers.
Damn. He needed to work on longer sentences that would effectively stall this whole crazy process. Putting herself voluntarily over his knee couldn’t, wouldn’t, shouldn’t happen. She was strong and since meeting him, she understood the benefits that came from discipline and a respectful relationship, but there was no way she could do this.
“And what happens if I call 911?” she asked without a hint of an attitude.
“Then I guess that I wasn’t the right person for this assignment, was I?” he responded sadly. That one was hard. The last few weeks had shown her how perfect he was. but choosing between the proverbial forks in the road representing ‘yes’ and ‘no’ was impossible. She needed time... and a load of distance between herself and Special Agent Cruz.
Rubbing the random tear from her cheek, abject panic took over as she rushed the front door without any clear plan, but she didn’t have a chance. Before she could take three steps, he wrapped his arms around her waist and twirled her back to the kitchen, the overall emotional uncertainty igniting a tantrum that even she didn’t see coming. Hitting and punching at his chest, she screamed, “Let me go, you ogre-beast!”
“You can scream if you want, little girl. My neighbors are either out of town, work nights, or have hearing aids they turn off for senior citizen bedtimes, so we have this building to ourselves, but I think it’s time we get started. Are you going to ask me like a good little girl for your spanking, or do we have to do this the hard way?”
She added kicking to her repertoire, but nothing slowed the bastard down. Using brute strength, he moved her through the kitchen where she grabbed one of his Polish glasses and hurled it against the wall. Glass shattered across the tile floor, shutting both of them up for a dramatic few seconds.
“You’ll pay for that one too, you little shit,” he mumbled, lifting her completely off her feet and throwing her over his shoulder, putting her head at his waist and sending the blood rushing through her ears. Her black dress slid a little further up her thighs, but no amount of tugging pulled it back.
Stopping to examine a few spatulas next to his sink, he settled on one that looked wide enough to cover her entire ass with a single smack and moved her to the living room. “Put that back,” she hissed, balancing her hands on his back in a weak attempt to gain some vertical height. “You’re not going to use that on me.”
“It’s not the best choice,” he agreed amiably, settling on the leather couch with her across his lap. “I should find that old leather belt of mine. It would deliver the message much more efficiently, but I’d have to put you down for that, and I don’t want to chase you across the parking lot, so this’ll have to do. But don’t worry, I’ll put a little more whack into this one, and it should do the job just fine.”
Sliding his hand between her legs to gain the necessary leverage, he adjusted her a little higher across his lap, leaving her head dangerously close to his calves and her bottom at an equally dangerous angle toward the ceiling. With way too much strength, he trapped her still kicking legs between this thighs, pinning her hands behind her back and effectively gluing her into place. Her stomach ground into his rock-hard thighs to add another layer of discomfort to her overall misery.
“Now that we’ve established a few ground rules,” he said calmly, “let’s continue.” His spare hand lifted the too-small dress over her ass and tangled her panties around her knees, his fingertip grazing across her skin to leave in its wake a shivering sensation that made no sense. “I’m going to give you some time to think about this. Are you going to ask me to spank you? Or do you need your cell to call 911 and walk out of here with the Montgomery County cops? Pick, or I’ll choose for you.”
“Go to hell, Agent What-the-Fuck,” she spit venomously.
“I guess that’s my answer then,” he responded, delivering the full force of black plastic across her sensitive skin.
After her first experience with his discipline in the Oval Office, she’d been prepared for some level of discomfort but nothing had equipped her for the firestorm of stinging pain from one spank across her naked ass. “Ow! Fuck that,” she shrieked, her flailing legs kicking her panties to the floor. “Stop. Please.”
“You know that’s not going to happen,” he said calmly. One after the other, he layered her bottom with a sparking heat that burned all the way to her core, each spank building upon the previous until they blended together to create a single, arching, painful reminder of her misdeeds while his lecture continued. “You’re going to mind what I say, and you aren’t going to ever, ever take off from your detail again. And I sure as fuck had better never find you in a bar with a bunch of assholes, no matter what the circumstances are.”
The spatula was big enough to cover large portions of her bottom, but he moved it freely around her ass to make sure nothing was left untouched, overlapping his previous correction when he ran out of room and reaching all the way to the place where her thighs met her cheeks. No amount of wiggling or shouting deterred his actions, and no amount of daydreaming had prepared her for the physical and emotional intensity that fired her ass to a hot, red mess.
By his ninth or tenth smack, she’d crossed a line without even realizing it. Her futile attempts to fight him slowed until she stopped wiggling, giving herself to his control and taking what he deemed necessary. Without any options, her entire focus settled on her burning bottom, and the tears came from a deep, hidden place to feed all of the emoti
ons she’d tried hard to hide; guilt, remorse, sadness, all fighting for their rightful place, but nothing could form with any depth past the pain.
She’d long since lost count of his total number of spanks, but it took her a second or two to realize that he’d stopped. Despite the lessening of his grip, she stayed where she was, and the damned tears continued no matter how hard she tried to fight them. Lifting her slowly, he settled her over-sensitized ass on the rough fabric of his pants and pulled her into his embrace. Too mortified to even look at him, she lowered her chin, desperately wanting to run to the bathroom and lock the door, hiding her snotty, tear-filled face from the world.
She made a weak attempt to pull away from him, but he didn’t allow the move, snuggling her closer to his chest. “You’re okay, little bit,” he said calmly. “It’s all over. Things could have gone a little smoother if you’d followed a few basic rules, but you did a great job. Sit here for a minute and cry it out.”
He moved her head to his shoulder and gently rocked her like she was a sad toddler, humming a familiar, decade-old pop music song about a man and a woman who were going through a rocky relationship. It was all so perfectly comforting that she stopped trying to fight the emotions. Sobbing uncontrollably, she threw her arms around his neck, grabbing the strong shoulders that she trusted to keep her safe. Her sad tears continued to flood across his white dress shirt, but she was content to be in his arms, his warmth returning her to a little girl state whose world only existed for that moment.
Chapter Nine
After some magical oxidation following her spanking, it had become impossible to separate the stinging heat on her bottom from the burgeoning ache in her pussy. Her swollen labia rubbed against the waist of his pants to leave a small damp spot, and she hoped that the shadows in his apartment would provide enough darkness to hide the embarrassing evidence.
Under His Protection Page 9