by Megan McCoy
She wanted up. On his lap, being held and petted and comforted. But he didn’t seem inclined to do that. That was the rules though. Once he was done spanking her, he had to hold her and tell her it was over and she was forgiven and then pet her and love on her. Didn’t he read the contract? Surely that was in there.
“So, why didn’t you get your work done?”
Hadn’t she just been spanked for that? Wasn’t the other rule of spanking, ‘do it and the slate is clean’? She sure thought that was how it ought to work. He was breaking all the rules today and it wasn’t fair.
Giving a huge pitiful sob, she choked out, “Bad priorities.”
“Okay, I will give you that one.” He gave her another smack that made her jerk and jump. No fair again! She thought it was over!
“Logan!” she wailed, trying to get him to stop. Why did she put up with this? She hated it, every single bit of it. But for this part, finally. Sighing happily, she followed his lead as he pulled her up and onto his lap and cuddled her close. That wasn’t so bad? Maybe? This was worth it. She sobbed into his shirt, wishing she could just tell him and be done with it. She just couldn’t though, she knew she couldn’t. Yet. She’d get the schedule set up for her community service, get the fine paid and then she would tell him. Before the wedding, she promised herself as she clutched him tightly and held him as hard as she could.
Suddenly, she needed more. Leaning back, she kissed him as hard as she could, then pulled away and whispered, “Please?”
“Don’t you want to wait until we’re married?” he asked, and she heard how much he wanted her. Yes, she had wanted to, but no, she needed him more than she had needed anything. Right now. She needed his strength and his love and to be with him.
“Now. Please?” she begged.
“If you change your mind, tell me ‘red’ and I will stop immediately,” his voice was deeper than she’d ever heard and as she nodded into his chest, he picked her up and carried her toward the bedroom.
Nothing was going to be red today, she thought, except her sore butt. “Hurry,” she whispered.
“First time might be rushed, but then I’ll make it up to you,” he said, and kissed a tear from her eye.
She suddenly had no doubt that he would. This was what she’d waited for all her life.
Waking up at three in the morning, Ronnie froze, and then remembered. Logan was here. He was spending the night. She felt sore and happy and achingly content. This was the man she would marry. Yes, he would spank her, probably far too often, but then he would also take care of her, love on her and make sure she was safe and cared for. She would talk him out of the idea she needed to work, eventually, but for now, she had two goals. Create the wedding of her dreams, and get these community service hours behind her, somehow, but as quickly as possible. The old her needed gone, the one who got arrested. She wanted to embrace the future as Mrs. Veronica Fischer-Jones, owner of Fischer Shoe Stores, lady who lunches and grand lady, leader of and pillar of the community.
Quietly, she slipped out of bed, and looked down at her sleeping love, her heart exploding with happiness. He was right. The second time had been the thing dreams were made of, and she only wanted more. For the rest of her life. She would do everything she could to make him happy. Well, within reason. She wasn’t going to go all Stepford wife, but she was going to the bathroom and checking out her butt. Then, since she was wide awake and couldn’t sleep, she was going to go work on her class, and surprise him with her newly found zealousness. He would like that. He would like breakfast too, more than likely, but she wasn’t sure what to do about that. She could punch a button and make a cup of coffee but eggs and bacon? What did men eat in the morning? Her ex had always gone to a diner to meet his buddies every morning and talk shop and didn’t want anything from her. Breakfast was a foreign concept. Well, she would worry about that in a few hours. But right now, she lifted the ‘show’ robe as opposed to her favorite robe she’d thrown on and stared behind her. Yeah. A few lovely bruises and one deep, dark red mark. Her badges of pride. See what he did and how well she took it? Shaking her head, she dropped her robe and headed to her computer, refusing to think how weird it was to like the marks. She wasn’t a masochist. She hated being spanked. If there was a way to never be spanked again, she would take it. Well, other than reading that contract. What if there really was nothing about her accepting a spanking in that contract? Maybe she should read it? Did she really want to know if there was a spanking clause? What would she do if there wasn’t? Nothing. She loved Logan and accepted most everything about him, even the parts she didn’t really like, like being spanked. Or made to work. Ronnie thought, she was pretty sure, she could talk him out of both of those at some point. Perhaps. Probably.
But his love and his care and his strength and confidence and the fact she could go to him with anything, almost anything, she thought guiltily, made him worth it. And his money and prestige. Despite the fact he looked like a college kid, he could go anywhere and fit in. He walked in and commanded a room. He could dance all night and loved her quirks.
It was going to break his heart when he heard about her court thing. He’d be hurt she didn’t tell him and more disappointed it happened at all. Had any of the rich Jones boys ever been arrested? Somehow she doubted that seriously. Maybe she could keep it from him? At least until after the wedding? You didn’t have to declare being arrested before you got a wedding license in this state, did you? Surely not. Ronnie fluffed her hair and frowned. She needed to decide on a color before tomorrow’s appointment.
Slipping into some high heeled pumps with fluff and fur on them, she felt like a Hollywood star as she walked into the TV room where the laptop was. Fancy robe, high heels and well loved. Yeah, she was all that and a bag of chips and she was going to ace this class. Wincing as she sat in the hard chair, she got up and grabbed a pillow from the loveseat. That would help. Her brain needed to concentrate on the computer, not her bottom.
Mind racing, she tried to shake off the glow of being well loved on. She had so much to do in the next two months. All of her wedding planning and her community service would be over in the next couple months. Finished, over, forever. She also needed to finish these classes as soon as she could because Logan said he wouldn’t assign any more until after their honeymoon. She had to shop for the honeymoon, do the wedding details. Pack up her house and move to Logan’s house. Suddenly she felt much better about moving to Logan’s house. She had been so nervous about the first sexual encounter, but it had just happened and was wonderful. The rest of her life would be also. Right? The only thing she could do in the middle of the night was her class, so she squirmed on her sore bottom and focused. He would be amazed.
Chapter 5
Katrina Nelson sighed and looked across the table at her latest bridezilla. If she ever got married, she was so eloping. She used to have dreams of a big fancy, fairy tale wedding, but five years as a wedding planner had pushed that thought out of her head. Maybe Vegas, baby, in a drive through chapel. Yeah, she might look like a prim and proper schoolmarm, but she could party to Elvis with the best of them! Not that there was any wedding in her future but Veronica’s right now. There was a bit of lull in her business and after the craziness all summer, she was just as grateful for it. It would be picking up soon as brides realized, shockingly, their summer weddings were getting closer and they needed some help. She looked over at Veronica. She needed help in more ways than one. Had she ever seen her without outlandish hair and those asinine heels? How did she even walk in them and did the woman own a pair of jeans? Did she never go for a walk or to the gym or do anything other than totter around? Well, she wasn’t here to judge, she was here to create her wedding out of, apparently, thin air because the woman didn’t seem to do anything, then suddenly she wanted to micromanage everything. Pick a lane, Katrina thought, plastering on a fake smile. Today was what she called vendor appreciation day. They would be going over the lists of vendors and she’d be making sure tha
t they all would be paid, and who was writing the checks, and getting them their deposits and locking in the time lines. So many decisions to be made and The Sensible One, aka the groom-to-be, and his smoking hot brother were nowhere to be found. She hoped there was really just tea in that glass Veronica held.
Okay, make nice with the lady paying you, she reminded herself and flipped the laptop open, swiveling it so they could both see the screen.
“Have you picked out the flowers yet?” she began.
Her bride shook her head, leaning forward confidentially, “Hon, I just haven’t had time. Logan’s got me working my tush off.”
“That needs done this week,” Katrina reminded her.
“I know, and so does the cake and the decisions on the dresses, and the band, and forty other things and I’m going crazy!” Her fingers raked through her short spiky hair and her well-oiled lips took a long sip from the straw. How did they get that glossy? Biting her own lips not to inform her that the crazy train left her station long ago, Katrina forced a laugh.
“I know it seems overwhelming, but that is why I gave you a checklist. Just go down it and do one or two things at a time. All these vendors we’ve tentatively picked have worked with me before; they are good and reliable and know what I like.”
“But it isn’t about what you like, now is it, hon? It's all about me and what I like. And what I’d like right now is a trip to the little girls’ room.” With that, she stood up and tottered her way to the restrooms while Katrina wished she drank on the job.
Suddenly Mr. Smoking Hot came in the door to the small bar or whatever this place was. What were the odds of that? Maybe he and The Sensible One were coming to this meeting? Now that would make her day better. Sure enough, he was making his way over here. “Hello,” she said, suddenly feeling shy. That was absurd. She was never shy, had no reason to be. No one really ever saw her anyway. She blended into a crowd or even a small group. No one knew the real her.
“Hi, mind if I sit?” he asked, and smiled in a way that made her heart not flutter, not one little bit. Because she did not believe in that.
“Please,” she said.
“Where is my soon to be sister? Fashionably late as usual?”
“In the ladies’ room,” she said.
“She being any help at all?” He smiled again, as if he already knew.
Katrina paused, trying to figure out how to answer that, and he laughed. “Well, that tells me a lot. Logan is tied up in a meeting, but he and I think alike, I know the budget and I came to help.” He leaned closer to her and said, “And I get to see you again, so it’s worth going over to-do lists.”
“And dealing with the bridezilla?” Katrina asked and then slapped her hand over her mouth in horror. She was nothing if not professional! That was uncalled for. “I’m so sorry!” she whispered, totally appalled with herself. She blamed it on his good looks and charm. It made her filter drop. Carefully, she picked it back up, installed it properly, and flipped her braid over her shoulder.
“Hey, I’ve known her longer than you; I know what she’s like.”
As if on cue, they heard the gentle warbling of, “Hon! Refill my drink, would you? Lucas! What are you doing here?”
“Logan sent me to help. Seems your future groom is very busy and needs a stand in,” Lucas said. “But we are identical, you aren’t supposed to notice.”
Katrina refreshed her screen while thinking, to her, they looked nothing alike. Logan was handsome yes, in a young scruffy sort of way, but Lucas had this charm and charisma and was most certainly the more handsome brother. She felt a bit of a school girl crush on him, but that was all it was, she kept telling herself. The last thing she needed was a man in her life. She had too much she wanted to do. Travel. Build her business. Write a book about bridezillas and have it be a best seller and maybe they would make a movie out of it and she could quit dealing with them. Forever. But in the meantime, she needed this job.
Fighting the smile, she declined a refill of her soda, and said, “Well, since the gang is all here, let’s get started, shall we? We were still discussing flowers.”
“I don’t want to do the flowers,” Ronnie said, and then in that way of leaning close and being all confidential that she had, added, “I had a real bad experience working for a flower shop once. I just want them to arrive and be gorgeous. Can’t you do that for me, hon?”
Hon nodded, as Lucas pointed at the screen and said, “I know where that is. How about I take you down after the meeting, Katrina, and we pick out some flowers for this little shindig?”
“Oh, I love that idea!” Veronica beamed at them both and Katrina felt like the step-sister who was there to only serve. Which she was, but usually she felt like she was providing an essential service, not there to respond to finger snap commands. “Logan and I are doing cake tastings later so if you will handle the flowers, that would be perfect. Make sure my bouquet is amazing, mostly white with some rich lavender accents and some greenery and tied with a rich lavender ribbon that matches the accents on my dress.”
“Rich lavender?” Lucas asked.
“It’s the name of the color! Women will understand,” Veronica waved her hand dramatically and took a sip of her second probably not just tea.
“Oh, I thought that it meant you wanted expensive purple,” Lucas teased.
“That too,” Veronica nodded. “Don’t go cheap. You know the budget. Tell Logan how much the deposit is, and he will handle it.”
“He’s such a good boy,” Lucas laughed while Katrina hid her smile by tapping on her keyboard.
“Caterers. Now, the ball room has their own staff and chef, and I suggest we use them. Have you decided on the entrees yet?”
“Steak and lobster, with garlic mashed potatoes, almond green beans and yeast rolls,” Veronica said promptly. “Plus I want a champagne fountain as well as a chocolate fountain,” she added.
Was a champagne fountain a thing? Katrina wondered as she put in the requests. For a woman she had never seen eat, that was a decisive sounding menu. She liked it. “Place cards, I assume? Have we chosen linens yet?”
“White with rich lavender napkins and rich lavender vases for the centerpieces, with white roses,” she said.
For someone who didn’t care about flowers, she sure was ordering a lot of those. Where would she get rich lavender vases? If she heard the words ‘rich lavender’ one more time, she was going to scream. Probably not, but she would sure want to. Instead she went to the next item on her list.
“Have you met with a photographer yet? Do you need some recommendations? Are you planning to do engagement photos? Because if you are, they will need to be done in the next few weeks.” Katrina looked up expectantly, but Veronica was busily texting. Of course.
“Veronica,” she said as gently as she could manage with her rising irritation.
“Oh, photographers. Just pick one and when you get the engagement shoot set up, let me know and I’ll see if we can work it in.”
“It might be easier on everyone if you just made the appointment yourself,” she suggested. “I don’t know your schedules, after all.”
“Oh, hon, there is nothing more important than my wedding! We will make it happen!”
Sure. Katrina saw weeks of being the go between for so many vendors ahead of her. She couldn’t wait until The Sensible One got the bill for all her time. And then paid her. A lot. Maybe she could pay her car off with this wedding.
“Well, I think we’ve done all the damage we can do for one day,” Katrina announced half an hour later. She’d lost Veronica’s focus and she wanted, oddly enough, to go to the florist with The Hot One. Why not? When was the last time she’d been escorted anywhere by a handsome man? College mixer? Maybe? When her brother came to town a few months ago? She snapped her laptop shut. “I’ll get ahold of Logan as soon I get some of the details worked out, and confirmed.”
“Oh, hon, just call me. I’m here for you anytime. There is nothing more important than
my wedding.”
Yeah. She believed that. Maybe the wedding, but not the wedding planning. “I’ll see you soon,” she said, and couldn’t believe Veronica got up to air kiss both her and Lucas.
“I have some more work to do,” she announced. “Send me pictures of the flowers!” And then her head was back in her phone, and Katrina shook hers. She followed Lucas up to the hostess stand where she handed her a twenty and told her to give the change to her waitress. As they left, she could hear behind her, “Hon!”
Luckily she made it out the door before she broke into a peal of laughter. Then she looked at Lucas and informed him, “My name is not Hon, and I doubt seriously the waitress’ is either.”
“That’s just Ronnie being Ronnie,” he said, and took her laptop to carry it for her. Who did that? “We’re all used to it. She’s a little spoiled and my brother seems to indulge her too much.”
“She needs her butt paddled,” Katrina said, and once again, was appalled. This was the brother of her clients. What happened to her professionalism?
“I’m pretty sure that’s being handled too, for all the good it seems to do,” he said, and opened the passenger door on his truck that she didn’t realize they had walked toward. What was with this guy that made her lose focus? He smiled at her and she just simply didn’t care. She felt freer with him than she felt with anyone she knew and she’d only seen him twice. “How about we go order flowers and then I’ll take you out to a real lunch?”
“Sounds good, but you don’t have to,” she started.
Lucas helped her into the truck, and put her bag on her lap and said, “I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t want to.” As he walked around to his side of the truck she wondered what he’d meant about Logan spanking Ronnie. She’d never met anyone more deserving of a spanking, but still. That just wasn’t right, was it? Was Ronnie okay? Stifling a giggle, she knew there were few people as okay as Miss Veronica, at least in her own mind.