Love in the Rockies

by Thianna D

  “Please,” she begged helplessly. “I’m sorry. I was wrong and I will never do it again, just please stop.”

  Grant didn’t even pause. Instead, he moved down and began a rapid-fire assault on the tops of her thighs. Lainie shrieked, ending in choked sobs. Her world had narrowed to nothing more than the overpowering sting. It was some time before she realized that Grant had stopped. He was rubbing her back gently and murmuring quietly to her. She ran a hand over her face to wipe away the worst of the mess, drawing deep and shaky breaths. When the worst was finally over, she stood up carefully and, unable to help herself, put both hands back over her flaming behind and rubbed cautiously. Grant gave her a moment to get herself together then took her by the shoulders, turned her around, and drew her to him.

  Lainie collapsed against him, holding tight. “I’m sorry,” she repeated. “I’m so, so sorry.”

  Grant ran a gentle hand over her hair and down her back. “I know, sweetheart. I know.” Wrapping one arm around her, he used the other to turn the chair around so he could take a seat and draw her into his lap. “It’s over. We’re done. It’s time to let it go. Put it behind us and move on.” Shifting Lainie carefully over so that she was sitting mostly on one hip, he rocked gently. Lainie leaned against him, soaking up comfort and affection, and trying to order her raging emotions. It was hard to think when her bottom still felt like she had been attacked by a swarm of bees. It was official. That paddle was evil, and she never wanted to see it again. Somehow someway, it had to disappear. The sheer sting was horrible. She could say this much though. It had effectively burned away the horrible shame and guilt she was feeling over ruining Grant’s surprise. There was still some regret, but the wrenching tangle of overwhelming emotions had melted away.

  “Do you think you could eat now?” Grant asked sometime later when her breathing had finally returned to normal.

  “Yeah,” Lainie said wearily. “If you want to...”

  “Of course I do,” Grant said, smiling at her. “We still have to eat, don’t we?” He put her on her feet and carefully righted her clothes, easing them over her flaming skin with the utmost care. “Go wash up,” he continued, turning Lainie in the direction of the bathroom and sending her on her way with a gentle and affectionate pat. “I’ll take care of the food.”

  * * * * *

  Grant watched Lainie disappear into the bathroom. When the door clicked softly shut behind her, he exhaled heavily, running his hands through his hair. That was horrible. He knew it was what needed to be done. He wouldn’t hesitate to do it again if he needed to, but he hated making her cry like that. Even knowing that she deserved every bit of the spanking she got, it twisted him in knots to know that he was the source of her tears. He was beyond glad that it was over. Now he was going to do everything he could to salvage what was left of this night.

  He took the paddle back into the office and put it away. That part was over. He wanted it behind them, not still lying around where both of them would think of it every time their eyes fell on it. Coming back into the kitchen, he washed his hands and set the table back to rights. Then he took their food out of the oven, carefully unwrapped the carryout containers Matt had packaged them in and plated them up carefully, trying fervently to remember what Matt had told him about presentation. It probably wouldn’t matter at this point, but he still wanted to make it special if he could. He set them out carefully in their appropriate places on the table, taking special care with the delicate dishware. He added the wine he had left chilling, filling both their glasses. Heaven knew they both needed to relax and calm down. There had been quite enough emotional upheaval. Finally, he lit the candles in the center of the table and killed the overhead lights.

  The candles were flickering merrily, glinting off their wine glasses and Lainie’s grandmother’s good china. Lainie paused in the doorway. Her eyes were still bloodshot and swollen, and her face was blotchy, but she was mesmerized. “It’s beautiful,” she said softly.

  He crossed over to her and kissed her gently. “So are you.”

  Lainie snorted. “I’m a mess.”

  “Not to me,” Grant insisted. He tilted her chin up, dropping small kisses on both eyes and then her nose before claiming her mouth with his. It wasn’t a gentle kiss. He wasn’t sure he could’ve been gentle if he wanted to be. It was demanding, possessing. She was his, and he meant to make damn sure she knew it, marking her with his mouth every bit as much as the paddle had.

  They were both breathless when he broke away. He ran his tongue over his lips, tasting the mint of her mouth wash, the slightly fruity tang of the lipgloss she favored, the slightest hint of salt from the tears that had dried on her face, and underneath it all, the unique and indescribable flavor that was simply Lainie. “Even like this you’re beautiful to me,” he went on when they had both caught their breath. He ran a finger gently down her cheek, tracing the path where the tears had been. “There’s so much trust in this, knowing that you’ll submit to me even when it’s something neither of us really want to do, even when you know it’s going to hurt. The fact that you give me that, it’s amazing. There’s nothing ugly about these tears.”

  Lainie lowered her eyes, blushing like a schoolgirl. It was so cute he wanted to gather her up in his arms and cuddle her. Knowing where that was likely to lead, he resisted the temptation. Instead, he guided her over to the table and pulled out her chair for her. Lainie hesitated, clearly not at all keen to sit on an unforgiving wooden chair only minutes after a close encounter with a paddle. Grant sympathized, he really did, but to his way of thinking that was part of the consequences. He wasn’t yet prepared to alleviate them. In might not be pleasant, but it would be a pointed and poignant reminder. If that meant they didn’t have to go through this again anytime soon, he was all for it.

  Lainie cast him one long pleading look. When he didn’t grant her a reprieve, she sighed heavily and lowered herself gingerly into the chair. She whimpered, drawing one leg up under her to help keep her backside off the seat. Not without sympathy, Grant let that go without comment and carefully pushed her chair in for her.

  “This looks wonderful,” Lainie said, indicating the food.

  “I’m sure it will be,” Grant said. “I’ve never had anything Matt made that wasn’t. At any rate, it will be worlds away from anything I could’ve done. I figure that’s one of the perks of having a good friend who is a chef.” He glanced over at her with a wry grin.

  “It does have its advantages,” Lainie agreed, tasting her wine. “I happen to know you can cook though. I remember when you still did it regularly.”

  “I can grill,” Grant corrected. “That’s different. If it had been in the summer I would have been glad to demonstrate my skill, but grilling isn’t exactly compatible with February in Colorado.” That was one of the things he missed about living in North Carolina. There he had been able to grill nearly year-round except for during a few scattered cold and snowy periods. That one regret paled in comparison to what they had found in Corbin’s Bend, however. He wouldn’t trade it for anything.

  The conversation lulled as they both turned their attention to their food. He had gotten Lainie’s favorite.

  “Are you disappointed that we didn’t go out?” Grant asked after a while. “I thought about taking you to Denver, but with the quality of our restaurants here in our own community, I didn’t really see the point. I know we could have still gone out here, but I thought it would be better to have time to ourselves.” Granted, the night he had envisioned had been far different than the way this one had gone, but that just made him value the privacy even more.

  “I don’t mind being at home,” Lainie assured him. “This is nice. I can tell you really put a lot of work into it.”

  “The girls helped,” Grant told her.

  “They were in on this too?” Lainie asked, surprised.

  Grant nodded. “Most of the decorating was Kathleen’s idea, and Natalie helped me locate your good china. Of course, they joked
and giggled and carried on about me being all romantic, but I think they really wanted to help.”

  Lainie smiled, but tears welled in her eyes. “Hey, none of that,” Grant said gently. “What’s wrong?”

  Lainie dabbed at her eyes with her napkin. “All of you worked so hard to surprise me,” she said shakily, “and I nearly ruined it. I can’t believe I blew you off for a middle school dance.”

  “You haven’t ruined anything,” Grant insisted, “and don’t think I don’t know that this was about a lot more than a middle school dance. You like to help people, and you’re loyal to a fault. I don’t think you were so much trying to blow me off as you were trying not to let anybody down.” However angry and frustrated Grant had been, he had never mistaken her actions as being an attempt to hurt him, not really anyway. He knew there might’ve been a little bit of it that had to do with things not going her way, but mostly it was about feeling committed.

  “It was,” Lainie confirmed. “Mostly anyway. Truthfully, a lot of it was embarrassment too. I just couldn’t face going to Beau and telling him my husband said no, like I had to get permission from a parent to go to the dance.”

  “Do you honestly not think he would’ve understood?” Grant asked. “I’d be willing to bet he has probably made similar decisions himself in the past. That’s the good part about living here. You don’t have to make up excuses. You can be honest, and people will understand. They get how this dynamic works.”

  “I know,” Lainie admitted, though there was still a good bit of reluctance in her tone. “I realize that now, but put yourself in my shoes for a minute. Imagine having to go to your CO and have a similar conversation.”

  “My CO doesn’t live here,” Grant persisted. “He doesn’t get the lifestyle.”

  “Can’t you see how it would be embarrassing though?” Lainie pressed.

  Reluctant though he was to admit it, he could see her point. The thought of having to have such a conversation with a superior in a work environment was a pretty uncomfortable one. “Okay, I can see that,” he told her. “There are going to be times I’m going to insist though. I’m not trying to embarrass you. I’m trying to help you. Sweetheart, we both know you have a tendency to spread yourself too thin trying to be everything for everybody. It’s my job to try to help you rein that in. It’s not something I intend to stop. So what do you want to do about it? How can we handle situations like this in a way we can both live with?”

  Lainie looked thoughtful. She leaned back, laying down her fork and picking up her wine. “I can’t go back on commitments I’ve made,” she told him. “I understand what you’re saying, but I just can’t.”

  “Could we discuss it before you committed to anything?” Grant suggested. “I’m not saying you have to tell anybody you have to discuss it with me or anything. Maybe you could just say you’ll get back to them later. Do you think that would work?”

  “Maybe,” Lainie said slowly. “It wouldn’t hurt to try. Could you do the same thing? That way we could coordinate things together, and it would be both of us rather than just me. That might make it feel less like I’m having to ask for permission. I know that’s kind of how it works, but it is not as embarrassing if it’s something we both do.”

  “I can,” Grant confirmed, happy that Lainie was actually making an effort to communicate with him and negotiate rather than just going on and doing things her own way. That was an ongoing struggle for them, one that he knew was that much his fault as hers. For years, she hadn’t had any choice but to make decisions independently since he had barely been around for her to ask. Not to mention that Lainie was just an extremely independent person to begin with. He never wanted to deny that part of her. He loved it about her. He just wanted to temper it a little bit so that they could work together and she didn’t get in over her head. “I think that’s a good suggestion. That way we can be sure that we don’t plan conflicting things.” Seeing that Lainie had stopped eating, he asked, “Are you done?”

  “Yes,” Lainie told him with an indolent sigh. “I’m stuffed.”

  “I take it you don’t want this then?” He went to the refrigerator and took out a container holding a triple layer chocolate torte.

  * * * * *

  Lainie’s eyes widened at the sight of the decadent chocolate confection. It was a specialty of Amore, and one of her absolute favorite things in the world. “Wow!” she breathed. “You really went all out.” Just a moment earlier she would have sworn she couldn’t eat another bite. Her ass was killing her, and all she really wanted to do was to go and lie down, preferably face down, but no amount of soreness could entice her to turn that down. The meal had been wonderful, and the desert was the perfect way to top it off.

  Grant set the desert on the table in front of her. Moving over to the counter, he pulled open a drawer and took out two forks.

  “Coffee?” he asked. He gestured to the single serve coffee machine Lainie had gotten as a Christmas gift.

  “Please,” Lainie said, smiling in spite of her discomfort. She was really touched by the effort Grant was going to and had already gone to, to make this evening special. It had been an unexpected surprise in a number of unexpected surprises about this night, some more pleasant than others.

  In a matter of minutes, Grant brought two steaming cups of coffee over. He handed Lainie a cup and then offered her a fork. She took both forks from him, putting one to the side. Grant raised a curious eyebrow but didn’t comment. She cut off a bite of the desert and offered it to him. He reached up to take the fork from her, but she shooed him away, feeding it to him instead.

  With an expression that was equal parts amusement and interest, Grant swallowed the bite she had given him and watched as she took the next bite for herself. Knowing he was watching her, Lainie drew the fork out of her mouth with deliberate slowness. Grant’s eyes widened and flared, the green turning nearly black as his arousal heightened. Encouraged by his response, Lainie continued working her way through the desert, alternating feeding her husband bites and eating her own, all the while trying to play up the eroticism of each motion. Grant was breathing hard long before the desert was finished, and Lainie with more than a little excited herself, though admittedly the lingering soreness put a bit of a damper on proceedings. There was perhaps a quarter of the chocolate confection left when Grant suddenly grabbed her wrist, stilling her in mid-motion. He took the fork out of her hand and tossed it down on the table then pulled her bodily across the table toward him to kiss her hard, pillaging her mouth with his tongue. When he broke away, they were both breathless. He let her go and got to his feet, holding out a hand to her. Lainie scrambled to stand up and take his hand.

  To her absolute shock, Grant pulled her to him and then scooped her up in his arms. Lainie squealed in surprise at the sudden movement, but Grant silenced her with another consuming kiss. When he broke away and put her on her feet again, they were in their bedroom. Grant pushed the door closed with one foot and began undoing the buttons of his shirt. Lainie lifted his hands away and undid them herself, trailing small kisses down his chest in her path. He stood still and let her strip the shirt off of him, but when she reached for the button of his pants, he stopped her, reaching instead for the ends of her shirt and stripping it over her head. Lainie reached automatically to un-clasp her bra, dropping it to the floor.

  Grant apparently took that as an invitation to turn his attention to her breasts. He took first one and then the other in his mouth, teasing and circling them in much the same way as she had teased him with the fork. Need shot through Lainie, sharp and hot. “Oh God, please,” she said helplessly, though she couldn’t have specified exactly what it was she was begging for if she’d had to.

  “Please what?” Grant teased, “stop?”

  “Oh hell no,” Lainie said desperately. “Whatever you do, don’t stop.”

  Grant reached around her, cupping and squeezing her backside through her jeans. The rough denim pressed against her still warm and sensitive ski
n, but the soreness only added fuel to the fire. She bucked against him, arching into his very obvious erection. She reached again for the button of his pants, and this time he let her undo them. He let go of her long enough to strip his clothes and shoes away, leaving her to do the same with her own.

  Then he grabbed her again, drawing her close, pressing them skin to skin while he devoured her mouth and nipped his way down her neck, all the while guiding them toward the bed. When Lainie’s legs bumped into the edge of the bed, he pushed her down into the mattress, crawling up with her so that he knelt between her legs with her legs up over his shoulders, and entered her in one swift thrust.

  All of the soft romance of the candlelight dinner disappeared in a mad whirlwind of desire and need. Their coupling was frantic and edging on rough, not that either of them minded in the slightest, least of all Lainie. Grant slammed into her, and each thrust scraped her sore skin across the sheets. The sparking pain exploded in her blood like fireworks, spurring her on further and further. She was beyond coherence, whimpering, moaning, and gasping. Finally, Grant wedged his hand between them, capturing her clit between his fingers and twisting. She exploded with Grant following her only moments behind.

  When they came back to themselves sometime later, Grant gathered her in his arms and whispered in her ear, “Happy Valentine’s Day.”

  “Happy Valentine’s Day,” Lainie replied, a smile spreading across her face. This Valentine’s Day may have been filled with all sorts of unexpected surprises, but it had been the best Valentine’s Day ever.