“See ye tomorrow.” I leaned forward and let go of her hand.
I didn’t want to go to bed alone, but taking things slow seemed like the best choice. I wasn’t sure where things were going to lead—and that scared me a little bit. We both had a need, but was that need strong enough to push past all the complications that giving in to it would bring? I liked spending time with her. I liked our conversations—the similar interests we shared—and I felt something when we were close. My thoughts couldn’t escape the kiss—and if her lips found mine again, I was almost certain I would struggle to avoid giving in completely. Conflict continued to resonate as I laid in bed and stared at the ceiling.
I wonder if she feels conflicted too or if I’m the only one torturing myself…
Seven
Madie
I thought I was going to have to fight my urges when I was around Declan, and I did to some degree, but—it seemed like something else was happening. It was more than just attraction for a guy I had a crush on when I was younger. I was starting to see who he was beneath the incredible physique and gorgeous ink. Those bluish-gray eyes hid so much pain—pain that was even harder to endure than the weight on my soul. That weight faded when I was with Declan, and it seemed like the pain in his eyes did too. It made me want to be close to him—and when he took my hand in his, it just felt so natural. I wanted to kiss him—and do more than that—but the desire started to fall in line behind the connection. I just hoped the connection wasn’t broken once he woke up the next morning and had time to really think about what it would mean.
I know this could lead us down a path that is paved with problems, but I want to walk it hand-in-hand with him. I don’t want Anna’s hatred to be a mirror image of the disdain my parents have for me, but Declan is a risk I want to take.
The next morning
“If ye don’t want to be woken up by a saw or a drill, ye might want to wake up now.” Declan’s voice was followed by a gentle knock.
“I’m awake.” I sat up in bed and put my cell phone down.
“Breakfast is ready if ye want some.” Declan’s footsteps echoed down the hallway.
My knee didn’t hurt when I put my weight on it. There was some bruising, and I didn’t feel like I could break out in a sprint or anything, but walking wasn’t going to be an issue. I ate breakfast, took a quick shower, and then walked into the room where Declan was working, once I was dressed. He was already hard at work—and his shirt was already clinging to his muscles in the sexiest way possible. He didn’t say much when I walked into the room, but I wanted to help. I was tired of sitting around all day with a bum knee keeping me from doing the job that he had already started paying me to do.
“What can I do?” I put my hands on my hips. “I think my knee is in good shape.”
“If ye were going to start working today, ye shouldn’t have started with a shower.” He chuckled under his breath. “If ye feel up to it, you can bring some of the paint in here. We’ll start on that tomorrow.”
“I should be able to do that.” I nodded.
“One can at a time—don’t try to be She-Ra or anything.” He turned back towards the wall he was working on.
My knee was tender, but I was able to move all of the paint into the room without any problems—and I did it one can at a time, like he said. He gave me a few more odd jobs to do until lunchtime and then I helped him set everything up so we could paint the room the next day. I trusted my knee to carry paint, but moving furniture was out of the question, so I returned to the den while he took care of that. The room had previously been a bedroom and I was pretty sure that it would make an awesome office once he was done with it.
“Alright, I just got a call from the mechanic. He said yer car will be ready to pick up tomorrow morning.” Declan walked to the door of the den.
“I guess I’ll be out of your hair after that.” I looked up at him and smiled.
“For a little bit I guess.” He grinned. “Then I expect you here bright and early the next day—just like I said.”
“I’ll set an alarm.” I rolled my eyes. “Bright and early…”
Spending time with Declan had been fun. I didn’t really want to leave—but, it wasn’t like I could just move in. He had offered me a job, not room and board. His generosity was already more than I felt like I deserved, although I wasn’t sure how I would have managed on my own if he didn’t come along when he did. We hadn’t discussed anything that happened the previous night. I wasn’t sure if that was good or bad. Relationships were still kind of a mystery to me. I had never been in a real one, so I wasn’t sure if I could call what I had with Declan the beginnings of one or not.
I guess I’ll see what happens tonight…
“I’m definitely going to miss this…” I pushed my plate away once I was finished eating. “I usually live off Raman Noodles.”
“I’ve been there.” He chuckled under his breath. “Hard to live off that when ye spend all day working on this house though.”
“True…” I nodded. “I might actually have to learn to cook.”
“Aye, a good skill to have.” He nodded. “If ye want to have dinner with me when yer working, I wouldn’t mind the company—I might teach ye a few things too.”
“I would love that.” I blinked in surprise. “I definitely don’t mind helping with the clean-up either.”
“We can do it together.” He stood and reached for my plate. “The walk to the dishwasher isn’t that bad.”
“I’m guessing that’s part of the remodeling?” I tilted my head inquisitively.
“Aye, I tried to focus on the stuff I would use first.” He chuckled and nodded.
We cleaned up the kitchen together—and I noticed that his hand brushed against mine a few times when it wasn’t necessary. I let myself believe that was a good sign, and that things were moving in the direction I hoped they would. Every time I felt the gentle brush of his hand, my heart thumped a little harder in my chest and my stomach fluttered. That was a little more than just attraction. I wanted to be close to him, but I really didn’t want to spend the last night we had together before I returned to my apartment to be spent in front of the television, so I asked him to give me an actual tour of the house. My knee finally felt like it could endure a trip up the stairs.
“You’ve seen the library.” He motioned to the room we passed. “Living room—den—what will be the office.”
“And my bedroom.” I nodded and turned to a door that was closed. “Where does this go?”
“Ah, that’s the basement. Ye don’t want to go down there.” He stopped and leaned forward to open the door. “I may just leave it unfinished. I think it’ll be too expensive to bother with, and most buyers won’t care.”
“If you put the washer and dryer down there, you could free up more space—maybe even knock down a wall and expand the kitchen.” I looked back towards the kitchen.
“Perhaps.” He shrugged. “Ye sure about going upstairs?”
“Yeah, I think it’ll be okay.” I nodded.
I followed Declan up the stairs and my knee held up pretty well. There was a hint of protest, but nothing that gave me pause. The upstairs seemed to be neglected more than the downstairs. Declan described how his great aunt spent most of her later years downstairs, and while she had a housekeeper that stopped by weekly, the repairs weren’t that important to her. He had done a lot of work on the upstairs bathroom. It was fully modernized with a large whirlpool tub, a spacious shower that could easily hold two, and beautiful countertops. I kind of regretted not trying to come upstairs to shower when I saw it—because it was a lot better than the one downstairs.
“This is my bedroom.” Declan led me to the last door and pushed it open.
“Where the magic happens?” I gave him a quick wink.
“No magic happening in there.” He chuckled under his breath.
I’d certainly like to make some happen right now—but I don’t want to rush if he’s still testing the wat
er.
“It definitely looks like we’ve got our work cut out for us.” I put my hands on my hips and looked around the upstairs. “How long do you think it’ll take you to finish?”
“I haven’t really set a timetable.” He shrugged. “I want to stay here until Anna graduates from college, so I’ll just keep working at my own pace—it’ll probably go faster with ye here to help.”
“Hopefully so.” I smiled and nodded. “Otherwise, why are you paying me?”
We made a few more jokes, then headed back downstairs. I sat next to him on the couch and we talked for the rest of the night. There was some casual touching—maybe a little flirting, but he didn’t hold my hand. I kept hoping he would give me a real sign—possibly even a kiss, but he didn’t. I couldn’t risk making that move on him again after the way he reacted the first time. His pace would work for me—as long as he wasn’t shutting me down. If there was a chance something could flourish and blossom, then I wanted it to be right. The conversation continued until we were both tired and decided to call it a night. He walked me to my bedroom door—and I hoped for a kissed—prayed for it even though I didn’t do that much, but all he did was walk away after saying goodnight.
I guess he’ll be in my dreams—I’m sure he’ll kiss me there.
I struggled to get to sleep because my thoughts were still on Declan, but I finally did manage to keep my eyes closed long enough to drift into my dreams. He wasn’t there—despite wanting him to be. It was just a peaceful slumber with nonsense in my head. The next morning, I woke up early and drank coffee while he ate breakfast. We ate, cleaned things up in the kitchen, and then it was time to get started on the painting. Declan suggested that we work most of the day, and then he would drop me off at the repair shop so I could go home. It meant we wouldn’t have dinner together, but I did want to get my car before the mechanic was closed for the day.
“Alright, lass.” Declan poured some paint into a pan. “Ye can use the roller on that wall—ye know how to paint, right?”
“Yeah, I think I can manage.” I picked up one of the rollers and nodded.
My attempt at painting wasn’t the best, so I studied how he was applying it and tried to mimic his motions. That worked a lot better. The room was pretty big, and the walls needed several coats, so it took us a few hours to get it done. He was also a little more playful when we were working together. He nudged me a few times, and I returned the favor. We got the walls done, but we laughed a lot in the process. After that, Declan got two rollers that had a little more length on the poles, and we started working on the ceiling. That definitely took longer and a little more precision. I was hot and a little sweaty when we were done, but proud of the work we did. I was finally earning my paycheck at least.
“I guess that’s all we can do with these.” Declan put down his roller brush. “I’ll need to touch up a few spots with a paintbrush though.”
“Point me at them.” I picked up one of the other paintbrushes.
“Right here.” He dipped his brush and walked to the wall. “Along the edges, just to make sure it’s perfect.”
“Then I can paint something else.” I smiled and waved the brush at him. “Maybe give you a little more color…”
“I’ve got plenty of ink, lass.” He shook his head and smiled.
“I don’t know, your other arm needs some…” I jabbed at him with the brush and laughed.
“The goal is not to get the paint on ourselves.” He pulled his arm away. “No more than necessary at least…”
“I’ll try to color in the lines.” I narrowed my eyes and wiggled the brush at one of his tattoos.
“If you paint me lass, I might have to paint you—ain’t talking about using a brush.” He held up his hand and pointed at me. “I’ll put a little color on your bottom.”
“You wouldn’t dare!” My mouth fell open in shock.
“Aye, I would. Don’t ye know? Scottish men have no problem turning a naughty lass over their knee and tanning her hide.” He chuckled under his breath, but the look on his face suggested that he might not be kidding.
Maybe I shouldn’t push this, but the thought of that is kind of turning me on.
“Prove it.” I leaned forward and tapped his arm with the brush, leaving a smear of paint across one of his tattoos.
“Ye did it now, lass.” He grabbed my wrist and took the paintbrush out of my hand. “Looks like yer getting a little color too.”
“You’re not going to hurt me, right?” I felt a twinge of panic as he pulled me towards the only chair in the room and sat down.
“I told ye what was going to happen. Ye painted me anyway, so across my knee ye go.” He gave me a firm tug, and I fell forward against his leg.
SMACK! SMACK! SMACK!
“Hey!” I squirmed on his leg and he lifted his knee to get me in a better position.
“Ye asked for it lass, just be glad these aren’t coming down too.” He snapped the waistband of my shorts against my back and lifted his hand.
SMACK! SMACK! SMACK!
“Okay! I’m sorry!” I pulled against him and tried to stand.
“Yer not going anywhere yet—yer going to have a little color before I’m done with ye.” He kept me in position.
SMACK! SMACK! SMACK! SMACK!
Being held in position—completely overpowered by him—it made body churn with desire. That was the kind of dominant man I thought he would be instead of one that hesitated every time we got close. The spanking was making my ass sting a little bit, but I didn’t even care. I liked the way it felt. Every time his hand came down there was a vibration that made my pussy tingle. It was starting to get wet—that made me want him even more. I wondered if the spanking would lead to something else—I certainly hoped it would. So much so that I wanted to push things further, even if it hurt a little more than what he was doing.
SMACK! SMACK! SMACK! SMACK!
“Are ye gonna paint me again or have ye learned yer lesson?” He let his hand rest on my ass.
“I don’t know…” I bit down on my lip and looked back at him. “If that’s all I’m going to get, then I might be tempted.”
“Ah, ye are a naughty lass aren’t ye?” He shook his head and chuckled. “Maybe a little more color before I’m done with ye.”
SMACK! SMACK! SMACK! SMACK! SMACK!
“Ow…” I squirmed on his knee, but the desire was too strong for me to ask him to stop. “How are you going to tell if I have the right amount of color—if you can’t see what you’ve done to me?”
“I figured this would be an easy lesson.” He grabbed the waistband of my shorts. “I didn’t think they’d need to come down.”
“I’m a slow learner…” I exhaled sharply, and my head spun as the desire got stronger. “You might have to pull them down and really teach me a lesson.”
What am I saying? I’ve never been this bold before—and if he pulls them down, he’s going to see how turned on I am.
“Aye, I think I might.” He tightened his grip and pulled them down to my thighs before I felt his hand on my panties. “These will be next if ye don’t learn yer lesson quickly.”
SMACK! SMACK! SMACK! SMACK! SMACK!
“Oh god…” I felt the tingle in my pussy get stronger and my wetness spread even more.
“This seems to be working better.” He chuckled under his breath.
SMACK! SMACK! SMACK! SMACK! SMACK!
Except that’s not why I had the reaction I did…
“Ow.” I whimpered and shifted my hips when the last one landed a little harder in the middle of my ass.
“Lesson learned then?” He let his hand rest in the middle of my ass where the last smack still resonated with a lingering sting.
I should say yes, but it’s turning me on so much—what would it be like if he pulled my panties down too?
“I’m still feeling a little naughty…” I exhaled sharply as my lips said the words bouncing around in my head before I had a moment to think about them.
/>
“I think I can fix that.” He wrapped his fingers around my panties, and I felt them coming down. “Oh, I see—somebody likes being a naughty lass.”
“Maybe…” I blushed, and a little embarrassment lingered in my veins, but I had taken it too far for that to stop him.
SMACK! SMACK! SMACK! SMACK! SMACK! SMACK! SMACK! SMACK! SMACK! SMACK!
“Ouch!” I bounced on his knee, but I still didn’t want him to stop—my body was boiling over with desire.
“Yer definitely getting a little color now.” He rubbed his hand against my ass. “I think ye need a little more—you like it too much to have learned yer lesson already.”
SMACK! SMACK! SMACK! SMACK! SMACK! SMACK! SMACK! SMACK! SMACK! SMACK!
“Oh god…” A whimper followed my words.
“Do I have to send ye to yer room now or will ye behave?” He let his hand rest on my ass.
“I’ll behave,” I exhaled sharply.
Declan lifted me off his knee and stood. I was so turned on that my lust began to drip down my thighs once I was upright. Declan reached down and pulled my panties up first, followed by my shorts. They rubbed against my ass and I could feel heat resonating from the spots where his hand had fallen. I thought the spanking would be playful. I had no idea how much it would turn me on. It felt like every nerve in my body was standing on end—begging for his touch—begging for anything that would get his hands on my body again.
I just have to figure out how to make that happen…
Eight
Madie
“You saw what that did to me.” I looked up at Declan. “You’re not going to leave me like that are you?”
“No, lass.” He put his hand under my chin. “I’m not.”
Declan pulled me into his arms and crushed my lips beneath his kiss. There was no hesitation—no pause once his lips found mine. He pushed his tongue into my mouth and started to ravage it. I melted into his arms with the fire inside me getting stronger by the second. I was scared of what I was going to tell him if he was going to take things further than a kiss. I had never been with a man before. I wanted him to be my first, but I was afraid he would push me away once he found out. I didn’t want my innocence to become a barrier between us—yet, I couldn’t keep that part a secret. That was clear once his hands started exploring my body, and I felt his cock bulging his pants.
Once Upon a Daddy: A Romance Anthology Page 21