by Kira Barcelo
As for Alex, he couldn’t have been sweeter, greeting her that morning wholeheartedly, as if nothing had happened the night before. He’d even playfully teased her about being on time, though she could tell he was pleased.
She’d never been spanked before, other than a couple of swats from her dad here and there when she misbehaved as a little kid. But as a grown woman? And spanked by a man? That had been a first for her. She still couldn’t sit without squirming, her bottom still tender, so she’d spent most of the morning on her feet. If anyone had noticed the couple of times she’d given the seat of her jeans a long rub, they’d been too polite to say anything.
And she didn’t dare tell her brother like she’d threatened to do last night. After all the frustration her free-spirited attitude had given Cliff, he probably would’ve had a good chuckle at hearing how Alex had gotten to the bottom of her little tardiness problem by reddening her bottom.
“You two. You, um…” She interrupted Jamie and Hailey at the bar, where they sat perched on two high stools, checking out the menu. “You like the new dishes?”
Jamie smiled, clearly jazzed. “We don’t know yet, but we can’t wait to try them.”
“No offense to your brother, Carolyn,” Hailey said, “but Alex is good for you. It looks like he’s going to be here a lot more than Cliff ever was.”
“Oh, well. That’s—that’s true.”
“It was a smart move for you to bring him aboard,” Jamie agreed.
Impishly, she smiled. “Hmmm. Glad you think so.”
“The man really knows what he’s doing. Oh, I know he’s really strict and stuff…”
“Y-y-yeah. He’s strict.” She folded her hands primly behind her back. Her bottom was tingling again. “He’s…real strict.”
“Strict, but he’s fair, too. He might be a little rough around the edges, but he has a good heart.”
Jamie was confirming what she’d suspected about Alex. Excitedly, she asked, “You’ve seen that in him, too?”
“Sure! I like Alex.”
“I do, too. And he’s very hands-on, you know?” Hailey sounded impressed.
“Oh, absolutely. Hands-on, yep.” She rolled her eyes at the ceiling fan above them.
That was an understatement. He’s been pretty adept with his big, strong hands the night before. She’d winced when she’d seen his handiwork in her bedroom the night before, when she’d inspected her stinging bottom in her dresser mirror.
“And…I hope you don’t mind my saying so, Carolyn, but…” Jamie took a deep breath before going on. “You know he’s right about Marta.”
That again. She shuffled her weight from one foot to the other. “I—oh, I guess so.”
“So what are you going to do about that?”
“I don’t—I don’t know yet. Marta’s my friend. She’s done a lot for this restaurant. She’s been here longer than any of you, even longer than Rhonda. I can’t just throw her out on the street.”
Jamie nodded. Hesitantly, he asked, “You’ve never fired anybody before. Have you?”
“No. No, I haven’t.” She was truthful with him, but also uncomfortable. “I don’t want to have to do that. I’m hoping Marta will be reasonable.”
“Do you think you and Alex will be able to turn this place around?” Hailey asked. “I really hope so.”
“I do, too. We’ll see. We’re trying, Hailey,” Carolyn promised her.
Suddenly the door to the kitchen swung open. Alex appeared, swinging a dish rag over his shoulder, his other arm curled around the rough draft of the new menu and some manila folders. Spotting Carolyn, his face brightened with a broad smile.
“Hey, cowgirl. Can I interrupt this meeting of yours long enough for you to join me?” The invitation came with a swarthy wink.
“Ah. You must have more work for me to do,” she countered teasingly.
Carolyn turned in time to see Jamie and the waitress exchanging knowing glances, both of them looking like they were trying not to laugh. She knew what that must have looked like to those two, but nothing could have been further from the truth. There was nothing romantic going on between her and her new business partner. Nothing, that is, other than business.
Or at least…that was the case where Alex was concerned. The man was giving rise to emotions in her that she hadn’t felt in some time, making her feel completely alive. Yet she couldn’t allow her attraction to him to jeopardize their working relationship.
“Actually, I’m just looking for an excuse to get out for a while,” Alex whispered loud enough for Jamie and Hailey to hear.
“If you’re inviting me to go out and play hooky with you,” she said, “when we have so much here to do, when we have a schedule to follow, then…count me in!”
* * *
“Carolyn, baby, look at this!”
Shopping at a farmer’s market had never been quite that exhilarating. She’d been preoccupied with selecting mangoes, which would be sliced up and used in a fabulous salad that would be offered in the new menu, when Alex excitedly waved her over to the tomato section.
And he’d called her baby. Had he meant to do that? Should she have corrected him?
No way was she correcting him. The word had sounded too yummy rolling off his tongue. Too natural. She made her way over to his side, maneuvering around an older woman checking out the fresh blueberries.
“These are amazing, aren’t they? Smell that.” He held it up to her nose for her to take a whiff of its scent. “That’ll taste delicious. Make a great, fresh sauce, too.”
“Hmmmm. Excellent.” She smiled. “Everybody’s excited about tasting dishes from the new menu. I think they’re excited about tasting your cooking, too.”
“Yeah? How about you? You excited about me cooking for you?”
Carolyn looked up shyly at him. He’d been like that all afternoon. Sorta flirty, though flirtation didn’t come easily to Alex. Not surprisingly, being bossy came a lot easier to him, which made his efforts at flirtation even more endearing.
“May-be,” she drawled.
“Maybe?” He smirked. “Everybody else has to wait. I’ll be cooking for you first. And then, of course, we’ve gotta work on promotion. How we’re going to get people back into the Beachside Bistro.”
She smiled up at him. “You are really excited by that.”
“Why, sure.” He placed the tomatoes carefully into the small cart. “Aren’t you? You do care about the restaurant. Don’t you, Carolyn?”
“Well, of course, I care. It’s just that—”
“Alex? Alex Stanton?”
Carolyn watched Alex turn around at the sound of his name. She leaned to the side, seeing a slim brunette—one who was younger than them both, probably around thirty—smiling coyly up at him.
“Pam! Hey, good to see you!” he greeted her.
“Good to see you, too, stranger!” The woman giggled. “And is this your new…um…”
Pretty, Carolyn thought. She caught the way the woman was looking at Alex, like her sweet tooth was aching and he was the biggest, hunkiest Milky Way bar she’d ever laid eyes on. She also noticed how casually he touched her, resting a hand on that slender waist of hers.
Inside her, something tore at her heart. Nevertheless, she forced a smile at the flighty little brunette.
“This is my—my business partner, Carolyn Hammond,” he introduced the two women. “We’re co-owners of the Beachwood Bistro in town.”
“Oh, how cool!” the woman purred.
“Carolyn, this is Pam Berryhill. She’s my—uh—a friend of mine.”
A friend of yours, my ass! That woman had been more than a friend. Carolyn accepted the woman’s hand and spoke graciously to her. “It’s great to meet you.”
“The pleasure’s mine,” Pam said, then turned promptly to Alex. “Congratulations on your new restaurant! I’ll have to drop by some evening. I’ve missed seeing you. Oh—I’ve missed your cooking, honey!”
Quickly, before anybody could catch
her making a face, Carolyn feigned interest in a nearby table offering plump, scrumptious strawberries. Spindly Pam didn’t look like she allowed herself to consume more than yogurt and salad, yet there she was gushing over Alex’s cooking. Which, albeit, Carolyn hadn’t had the chance yet to taste. The brunette was also laying it on thick—snuggling up close to Alex, eyeing him through the thick veils of her lashes and smiling, and worst of all, excluding Carolyn from their conversation.
Who the hell did she think she was?
Ultimately, however, it didn’t matter who Pam thought she was. What mattered was that Alex had introduced her as his business partner. That didn’t place her on the same level with a former girlfriend…and lover.
“Well, we have to get back to work, Carolyn and I,” she overheard Alex telling her.
“Sure, sure. I loved seeing you again, Alex. Don’t be a stranger, okay?” Then she reached up, wrapped an arm around Alex’s neck, and kissed him, right smack on the mouth.
Carolyn nearly dropped the container of strawberries in her hand in her hurry to twirl around. She kissed him—right in front of you! Like you weren’t even here!
And Alex had let his old girlfriend get away with it.
She was seething inside. Maybe she didn’t have a right to be totally pissed at him, but she was. She was angrier at him than she was at that woman for throwing herself at him, for letting him know without a word that she was available to pick things right up wherever they’d left off, and she’d done it in front of her, Alex’s—his—his business partner!
“We’re about done here, aren’t we?” he asked, slipping his arm through hers.
Somehow she managed not to shake him off her. Coolly, she said, “Uh, I’m pretty much done here.”
“Good. It’s been fun, but we need to get back to work.” He smiled at her. “We can continue our conversation about you. You were telling me basically about what made you go into this business.”
“It’s not important.” Carolyn walked faster, making him catch up with her.
“It’s important to me. I want to hear about it,” he insisted.
“Your cooking must be out of this world. I can’t wait to taste it.” She looked around to see if Pam was anywhere in the vicinity. “You must’ve…cooked a lot for her, huh? Is she in the business, too?”
“Pam? Pam can’t boil water.” Alex laughed. “I did cook for her a lot, though.”
“So you were together a long time.”
“We saw each other for a while. A couple years.” He shrugged. “Okay, uh, we talked about getting married.”
Carolyn felt like the crushing weight of a wall of bricks had fallen on top of her. What was wrong with her? At first she hadn’t even wanted Alex around. She’d been livid with her brother for selling out to him. Then he’d gone about throwing his weight around the restaurant, demanding the kitchen be cleaned, food be thrown out, and her executive chef be fired.
Now she was dealing with a thunderstorm of emotions whirling around in her after seeing the woman that he’d almost called his bride.
“Hey, you okay?” he asked after paying the cashier for their purchases.
“I’m fine. I just want to get back to the restaurant.”
“Carolyn, honey…Pam wasn’t faithful to me. She loved me, I guess. I loved her. But she wanted an open relationship. And later, an open marriage. I don’t see any point in getting married and spending the rest of your life with somebody unless you’re going to be each other’s one and only.”
She walked with him out the door and in the direction of the parking lot. “I don’t, either. But you don’t have to tell me any of that. It’s none of my business.”
“Maybe not. I just want you to know I—I care for Pam, you know. I like her okay and all. But she doesn’t mean anything to me anymore. Okay?”
Oh, no. He could tell she was struggling with jealousy after bumping into his ex-almost-fiancée? That was embarrassing. Plus, it made her feel vulnerable. Who was she kidding? Everything about this man made her feel vulnerable.
But interestingly, he also made her feel protected when he was with her.
“Carolyn…okay?” he pressed her.
“Yes, okay, okay.”
“Good.” Alex unlocked the back of his SUV and began placing the bags into the cargo area. “Anybody, uh…that you’ve cooked for? Who you thought you wanted to keep?”
“Not recently. I’d say about four months ago. I didn’t necessarily want to keep him. But he was cute. Lots of fun. And we’re still friends.”
“Oh, that’s great.” For some reason, he didn’t sound all that convincing.
And that was heartening. Carolyn grinned, adding, “Jim really loved my cooking, too.”
“Cool. And how long were you two together?” Alex’s voice sounded terse.
“A little over six months. It was an intense six months, though. And then he took a job in Chicago. He wanted me to come with him, but I had the restaurant. That was my dream. I couldn’t leave.” She licked her lips and shrugged. “That’s what I was going to say before. That I have a lot of memories of that restaurant. Of going there some summer nights after our family went to the beach. This place smells like summer. I wanted to work at something that would give other people great memories. I wanted to be my own boss. I’ve worked for other people for so long. And…I love food. Everything about food. I’m a foodie, I guess you’d say.”
Alex chuckled. “A foodie. I like that. I guess that’s what I am, too. I like everything about food. I like buying it, I like preparing it, I love the presentation of it, I love the pleasure it gives me and those I cook for.”
And maybe it’s not wise for us to get involved with each other. Maybe our relationship should stay a business partnership. All business—that’s us. Carolyn knew she should say that, but words failed her at that moment.
Mostly because, standing there so close to Alex, his hand poised to close the SUV’s rear door, his eyes meeting hers from behind his sunglasses, she couldn’t say those words. She also didn’t realize that she’d been holding her breath.
“We have to get back,” he said hoarsely.
“Yeah, we do,” she agreed.
He brought down the door and then turned to her again. This time Alex didn’t speak, instead taking her by the arm and pulling her against him, the warmth of her body mingling with his. Then he lowered his face to hers, his mouth parting hers in a moist, possessive kiss. A kiss that had her wishing would never end.
That had answered the question she’d wondered about. Alex’s kisses were blazing hot. One kiss and he had her body electrified for even more.
She forgave him for that little episode with Pam before. It hadn’t been his fault anyway. Really, she couldn’t stay mad at his old girlfriend, either. If she hadn’t flirted with him right in front of Carolyn, then those feelings she had inside her—some of which were confused, albeit—might not have surfaced so clearly.
“We really need to go back.” Even to herself, she sounded breathless.
“I know, baby.” He breathed a ragged sigh. “Let’s go.”
Carolyn didn’t see it until they were in the car. She had just fastened her seatbelt and Alex had started the engine when she’d tossed her purse into the backseat and spotted the unusual object lying on the seat.
“What’s that back there?” she asked.
“What’s what?”
“This…”
She was able to reach it, instantly aware of what it was even before Alex realized what they were talking about.
“Oh, that. That’s a, uh…” There was definitely a smile in his voice. “A paddle.”
“I figured that.” Carolyn’s voice went up a nervous octave. She was almost afraid to ask that next question. “What’s it for?”
“Well, I don’t think I’ll be needing it. So soon, anyway. But it would’ve come in handy last night.” He paused before telling her, “And that spanking did you some good yesterday.”
Yikes! H
adn’t last night been a one-shot deal? What exactly was she getting herself into? There was a tiny gasp caught in the back of her throat as she looked over the paddle. Tough-looking thing, fashioned of leather, with a sturdy handle. Without a doubt, she dreaded being on the receiving end of that thing. Her head waiter’s comment about Alex being strict came back to her.
“Like I said, I don’t think you’ll give me a reason to use it,” Alex said. “At least not so soon after last night. But getting your bottom spanked last night, well, that did you a lot of good, Carolyn.”
“Well—well, we won’t have time for this thing to be used anyway.” She slipped the paddle back onto the back seat, hoping if it was out of sight, it’d also be out of Alex’s mind.
“Yeah, you’re right. We should be busy for the next couple of days. But that’s not a problem, baby. Because if I think you need a good paddling, then I’ll make the time to take that paddle to your behind. There’s a lot at stake here. A lot is riding on these next few days. And I’m not talking about money or even about my own part in this. I’m expecting your best for the sake of this business. And that’s what you’ll be giving me—your best. That’s what you’re getting from me, Carolyn. Nothing but my personal best. Now you be a grownup, and we’ll do fine. But you act like an irresponsible teenager, and I won’t hesitate to take that paddle to your behind.”
He was lecturing her. The thing with Alex Stanton, too, was that when he lectured, that stern, bossy side of him came right out. It was the same demeanor that he took when he ordered the cooks to clean the kitchen. He’d had to scold Jamie once or twice as well, though he’d been more gentle with Hailey, probably because she was young and she tried her best to please.
Carolyn found herself trying to tamp down on her temper. Something inside her rebelled at being lectured at her age. But then again, no one but her, perhaps with the exception of her brother, knew that she’d needed direction. That when it came to the restaurant, especially at its worst stages, she’d behaved in a flighty manner and with a lack of self-discipline.