by Jenny Plumb
Of course, it had started sleeting again between the time she walked to the back of the store and came out again. He stood by the door, welcoming customers as they came in, but as soon as he saw her, Ben gave her a quick smile. Maybe he had forgotten about her mess up this morning or that she hadn’t sent him a lunch text because she hadn’t eaten lunch.
Heather knew that she wanted more from him than a boss-employee relationship. She was smart enough to know, though, that she really should do nothing about that until she worked elsewhere. She’d been putting in ten hour days, and sometimes more, but still had a goal of applying to three jobs a night when she got home. Sometimes that worked out and sometimes it didn’t, but she needed a permanent job and she needed to feel free to date – him, somewhere, someone.
Last night all her work had caught up with her. She’d dropped her bags and fallen across her bed while trying to work up the energy to change and do a few chores. But that hadn’t happened. Oh, well, like spending too much on these clothes, what was done was done. All she could do now was listen to Christmas music, inhale the artificial pine scent in the store, and wait for him to motion her to come to him.
Yes.
Why did she crave that? Hunger? Maybe, as good a reason as any, she decided.
Then he did, and gave her that smile that made her knees weak and woke up the butterflies that hibernated in her belly until he showed up.
Smiling back, she walked toward him. Heather realized she didn’t care one little bit what he wanted to do tonight, as long as he wanted to do it with her.
Five minutes later, tucked into his comfortable car, listening to the sleet hitting the windshield like small stones, while the leather seats heated her bottom and back, she said, “You seriously want to take me to an elementary school Christmas concert?” This was not what she expected, far from it.
“I’ll feed you first,” Ben said, concentrating on the road.
“As if that helps,” Heather said, sarcastically, but inside she was almost excited. She hadn’t been to a kid concert since she was a kid. “What kind of food?”
“What kind do you want?”
“I’m easy,” she said, settling back to enjoy the ride.
“Are you now?” He glanced over at her with an eyebrow lift that made her squirm.
“Hey,” she protested. “Don’t go there.”
“Yeah, we have other places to go after I feed you, and we go to this concert.”
“You scared of going alone?” she asked, curiously and not meanly, she hoped.
“Not scared, just don’t want to and thought you might like to see Jenny again,” he said.
“Because she has everything I don’t?” Heather slapped her hand over her mouth. “Sorry.” she mumbled and turned the radio up. Hopefully there was something Christmasy on. She seemed obsessed with Christmas now – his fault.
“Don’t be stupid,” he said shortly and sharply. “We all get different things at different times. You’ve supported yourself for years. She has always relied on Dad or her husband. She says she’d like a career.”
Heather couldn’t suppress a giggle. “I don’t think Santa Wrangler counts as a career.”
“Any job worth doing is worth doing well,” he said and her stomach flipped at the thought of oversleeping this morning, messing up, not doing her job properly.
Tears pricked her eyes, but then he pulled into a parking lot and smiled at her. “I thought about taking you back to the café, but a woman who looks as gorgeous as you do tonight, deserves something special.”
Heather sat there stunned. What had he actually said to her? She had never thought she was gorgeous. Was he just trying to get in her pants? Guys did that, she knew. Before she could think more, he’d opened her door and had his hand on her arm.
“Hurry up, it’s nasty out here,” he urged.
Heather opened her mouth, but shut it for once and grabbed his hand as he pulled her out of the car and they ran laughing to the door.
Once inside, a dark-suited man sat them in at a lovely corner table. “Drink?” he asked.
Heather giggled. “We’re going to an elementary school concert. What wine goes with that?”
Ben shook his head and ordered them both an eggnog. “It’s got good stuff in it. We’ll only have one and then eat and head to the school.”
“Then we might need a few more.” She tried to say it seriously, but her giggle escaped again. Nerves, that’s all it was.
“Maybe,” he seemed to agree. Heather didn’t even bother to look at the menu. He would order for her anyway. She knew him by now, and really, she didn’t care. She wasn’t really craving anything. Whatever he wanted would be fine, and she was content and happy just being with him. Sipping her eggnog was lovely enough. Staring at him was just as good. Food? Who cared about food? Not her.
Then they placed a steaming plate of lobster ravioli in front of her. Inhaling the luscious scent of seafood, pasta, basil and garlic, she shut her eyes and tried not to drool. Opening her eyes, she looked into his and said, “Perfect.”
“Thank you,” he replied. “Eat.”
Not long later they were heading out to the concert. Heather felt sated. She had a little buzz and she had a full stomach. Her tongue hadn’t had such a treat in ages. She had the guy she was… infatuated with… next to her. Her boss, she reminded herself, that was all. Sure, she might have a bit of a girly crush on him, but that was okay – as long as she knew that’s all it was.
Too quickly, they pulled up in front of a big brick building. The parking lot was almost filled with mom vans and huge truck things with lots of stick figures in the back window.
“You ready to get in the holiday mood?” Ben asked.
“I thought I was.” She tried not to grumble.
A few seconds later, he was once again pulling her out of the car into a drizzly, cold wet something. Sleet? Freezing rain? What was the difference? Both were miserable – that was all she knew.
Holding her hand firmly, he led her into the gym or concert hall full of folding chairs. They settled in, and she kept waiting tensely to get invaded by his sister and her family.
It didn’t take long.
“Jenny!” His voice was soft and low and hers dropped into her stomach as she stood up with Ben. Could she look any better? Jenny didn’t look anything like the raggedy college student she knew. Her well-coiffed hair enhanced her high-end clothes. She did a quick air kiss to her brother and didn’t even glance in Heather’s direction.
“Thank you for coming. Must go, parent in charge, you know,” she said and slipped away as fast as she’d shown up. Heather sat, feeling deflated and unimportant. So much for holding Jenny’s hair while she puked ten plus times, making excuses for her, taking a spanking for her! Yeah, she wouldn’t do that again.
Ben didn’t seem bothered by her rudeness and sat down. “Concert’s starting,” he whispered.
Yeah, she could tell. Little kids in red and green shuffled onto a small stage and soon the sounds of childish voices filled the auditorium. Dang, they were cute. She smiled at Ben and he pointed to a small blonde girl in a red glittery dress in the middle. “That’s my niece,” he said, his voice filled with pride.
This was a side of him she hadn’t seen before, all beaming family man. About half an hour later, the program was over and Heather’s head was filled with old songs and some new catchy tunes she hadn’t heard before. Whoever taught those little ones did a good job. They’d all done a Silent Night sing along at the end. She did have more of a Christmas spirit than she had going in.
Hanging behind a bit, she followed Ben as he walked up to his niece and solemnly shook her hand, before an older couple turned her around to hug her. “Her other grandparents,” Ben told Heather.
A flurry of introductions followed, and Jenny didn’t act as if she remembered her at all, Heather thought. Oh well. She and Ben were back out in the car within a few more minutes.
“It’s warm in here,” she marvel
ed.
“I started it before we came out,” he said. “It’s a magic car.”
“I guess so. Where is your magic car taking us now?” she asked him, fastening her seatbelt.
“Back to my apartment. We have some things to talk about it,” he said.
That did not sound good, and Heather thought about demanding to be taken home. Then decided, why? They did have some things to discuss. She’d messed up this morning. She knew it. Most bosses would dock her pay and move on. This one didn’t seem inclined in that direction.
Changing the subject, she asked, “Why did you take me to the concert with you?”
“Because I wanted your company,” he said.
Oh. Well then. What could she say to that? She couldn’t think of a thing, so said nothing for a change, and watched the lights out of the window as they sped down the street. “Everything is so pretty this time of year,” she said. “Why can’t we leave the lights up till February and March when it’s so cold and dreary and boring?”
“Maybe because then we wouldn’t appreciate them or be anticipating spring so much?” Ben suggested.
“Maybe,” she agreed. A few minutes later they whisked down into an underground parking garage then up the elevator to his apartment.
“This is nice,” she said, very masculine, but very nice. His tree was bigger than the one at the office and there were a few professionally wrapped gifts under it. It was a big room that opened into a gleamingly clean kitchen. Uneasily, she thought about her leftover coffee cups and cereal bowls littering her counters, and put it out of her mind. He probably had a cleaning lady. Yeah, that was it.
“Have a seat,” he said, and poured them both a glass of wine.
Sitting gingerly on the edge of the couch, she accepted the glass. Did wine and spiked eggnog go together? She didn’t know, but she sipped anyway.
“So tell me, how do you think things are going?”
“Overall, I think I’ve done pretty well.” She’d rehearsed this in her head. “I’ve had a few mishaps here and there, but with all the coordination between the people and the stores and the vendors, it’s gone pretty smoothly. What do you think?” That, of course, was the important question.
“I think I’ll ask the questions.” He smiled at her.
She sipped her wine and tried to relax. It was harder than she thought it would be. He just made her nervous. “So ask me one then,” she said.
He raised an eyebrow at her and she put her wine down as her stomach flipped. She really needed to keep her mouth shut. How hard could it be?
“So where were my lunch pictures?”
Okay, too much wine on top of her eggnog. Heather rolled her eyes. “You can’t make me send you pictures of my lunch. You just can’t. It has to be illegal or something.”
“That was a dodge.” He put his wine down too. “Now answer my question.”
“Seriously?”
“Yes, Heather. I told you I needed you to stop for a lunch break. I’m not having you clock in and out, although that can start happening if you can’t follow directions. I needed proof you were taking your breaks.”
She looked at him as if he were out of his mind. Was that a smile on the corner of his mouth?
She opened hers. “I’m working! I don’t always have time to stop. I’m trying to do a good job for you! There is nothing you can do to make me!”
“You are required by law to take a break,” he said, and in one quick movement she was over his lap.
She’d been expecting this, pushing for it, she realized in the back of her mind. Suddenly, she didn’t want it, though.
His hand slapped down on her bottom while her hands scrambled to keep her head from banging the floor. Dang, his carpets were clean. How did he keep them that way? Then she forgot about it as his hand slammed down again.
“Ow!” she screeched. “That hurt!”
“Was the idea,” he said, and she heard the clap of his hand on her bottom before it registered to her brain.
“Ouch!” she yelled again, and began to struggle. He began a steady rhythm of smacks and she could have sworn she heard him hum Jingle Bells and was spanking her in time with the song. Despite the suddenly searing pain in her bottom, she almost smiled. What’s with that?
She cried out as he got to the end of ‘all the way’ as his hand doubled down on the word ‘way’.
Suddenly his fingers caught on the edge of her new black pants and he started to yank.
“Don’t rip my pants!” she shrieked.
“Then stand up and take them off,” he said. “Bad girls get spanked on their bare bottom.”
Well, duh, she knew that. He’d spanked her before. Despite not wanting to take her pants off, she scrambled off his lap, grateful for the reprieve, and unbuttoned and unzipped quickly. She couldn’t afford to have these pants ruined before she made the first payment on them. Not looking at his face, she tried hard to pull them down, but just couldn’t. It seemed physically impossible.
Luckily, he didn’t make her stand there and angst forever. He yanked them down to her thighs as if he’d done it before and pulled her down again so quickly she didn’t have time to be mortified.
Amazingly, two light layers of pants had kept the worst of the hurt from her – hard to imagine till she couldn’t anymore.
He waled away on her poor bottom like he’d waited for years to do it. She wiggled hard, and he simply tipped her over further and trapped her with one leg.
She did not like this position one little bit. Howling, she threw her hand back to block the worst of the smacks. “No more!” That was original.
He grabbed her hand and said, “You aren’t in any position to be giving orders.” He smacked her hard on her thigh, which made her shriek even louder.
She hoped his apartment was soundproofed or someone would think he was killing her. Her bottom felt like it was burning. This wasn’t a nice warmth like his car seat. No, this really hurt.
He wouldn’t stop. It seemed he was trying to make some kind of point.
Well, she could, too – make a point. She wriggled and kicked as much as she could with him trapping her legs. Magic car, magic words. What were the magic words to get him to stop?
“Please!” Please was always good. “I’ll be good! Please stop!” She’d started to feel panicked. This hurt more than she could handle. She simply could not deal with this anymore! “No, no, no!” She didn’t want to cry. She wasn’t sure what else to do, though. She couldn’t wiggle off his lap; she couldn’t make it to stop. So she wailed, “Ben, please, please.”
Before she could get to the third please, he stopped and pulled her up, off his lap. He held her close to him, and then shifted her so her bare bottom was on his lap. Whimpering and sniffling, she snuggled against him, letting the strong arms that had caused her pain comfort her. He rubbed her back and let her calm down, then asked, “So what were you saying about lunch?”
What? Oh, lunch, yeah. “That I’m taking one?” she asked gingerly.
“Unless you want another one of those,” he said.
“No, sir!” she said quickly. Then thought, well, at least not very soon. Her bottom already felt better and she liked sitting on him, but realized she didn’t have any pants on as his hand brushed the outside of her thigh.
“Oh.” She scrambled up and pulled up her pants quickly, hoping her panties weren’t still waded at her thighs, but didn’t want to take the time to adjust them. “I should go.”
“I’ll take you,” he said.
“No.” Heather whirled and glared at him. “No, I’ll take a cab.”
“No,” he said flatly. “And if you have a tantrum, I’ll blister your butt again. If you really want to go, put your coat on, and I’ll drive you.”
Hesitating just a second, she decided he would spank her again, and that she didn’t really want to catch a cab and that he would make sure she got home safely in the sleet.
Just then, the lights went out.
�
�Or maybe you should just spend the night?” he said. Asked? She wasn’t sure.
Chapter 5
“Ben, I’m sorry. There is no one else. All three of the temp Santas are working, and I’ve called the agency and this flu has hit them hard. Between the fact that people are sick and it’s the Sunday before Christmas, they have no Santas to send. I’ve got all the stores covered, but this one and you know it’s pet night. They’ve had people calling all day asking if they can bring rats and snakes. I don’t fit in the Santa suit or I’d do it myself.” Heather’s voice shook. “Believe me, I wouldn’t be asking if there were anyone else. I’ve called everywhere.”
Ben sighed. He always said there was no job in the store he wouldn’t do. “I’ll be there in fifteen minutes,” he told her. Two hours of puppy pictures in a red suit – ho, ho, ho. He could do this.
He arrived at the store, to be meet by Heather and Robyn, the almost hysterical store manager. “I have the aisle to Santa blocked off, but people are having fits anyway. Plus there’s a line, and a half a dozen furious cats. Why would people think their cats want their pictures taken?” Robyn’s voice rose with each word.
Huh. She must not like animals, Ben figured. He’d set up the pet pictures because of access to a side door, and availability, not if the store manager was cat phobic.
“How’s the other store doing?” he asked Heather as he walked to the back room to change.
“Fine. The two elves are vet techs and their mom is Mrs. Claus and she grew up on a farm. I’m in close contact and they seem to be handling things.” She sounded only slightly calmer than Robyn.
Ben sighed and walked to the back room stripping off his shirt. Heather had followed him and he grinned, hearing her gasp. Nice ego stroke. “Where’s the suit?” He looked around and she pointed to a corner.