My Ranch My Way

by Misty Malone

  Pete noticed his daughter's reaction to another lady trying to get Chase to fall in love with him, and had to hide a smile. She really had fallen in love with Chase. He noticed Chase's arm pulling her a bit tighter to him as she reacted to his story, and was pretty sure right then and there that he was looking at his future son-in-law.

  Cece was incensed. "Is she stupid or what? Did she really think that crazy idea would work?"

  "Honey, I think she was reaching out. She's scared."

  "Yeah, I guess I can see that," she conceded.

  "So now that everything's pointing back to Ralph, is the sheriff going to arrest him?"

  "He can't," Chase informed him. "Even though everything's pointing to him, he can't arrest him without concrete evidence. Everything we have is circumstantial at best."

  "So are you supposed to just sit and wait for him to do more damage to your ranch?"

  "I'm not sure what else I can do. The sheriff's working on it, but until he gets something, there isn't much I can do."

  "Maybe I can," Cece said softly.

  Both men turned to look at her. She was sitting beside Chase, but a million miles away. She was obviously lost in thought. Chase didn't think she'd even realized she'd said that last statement out loud. "I don't like that look on your face, Sugar. What are you thinking about?"

  She looked up and saw both men staring at her. "I'm sorry, what did you say?"

  "Whatever you're planning, don't do it."

  She plastered her most innocent look on her face. "How do you know I'm planning something?"

  Both men laughed. "Darlin', I know that look and it worries me. Whatever you're thinking of doing, don't."

  "But you don't even know what I was thinking."

  "I knew you were planning something. What is it?"

  "Well, nothing really. I was just thinking maybe I could talk to Ralph and—"

  "No," came Chase's quick response.

  "But you didn't even hear me out."

  "Okay, go ahead and tell me your plan and then I'll say no."

  "That's just being a bully."

  "No, it's protecting the woman I love," Chase said, not seeming to care if her father heard his declaration. "But go ahead, what was your plan?"

  "Well, maybe I could tell him you and I had a fight and I'm upset with you. Then if I offered to help him—"

  "No. He'd see right through it and know it was a trap," Chase said.

  Pete nodded his head in agreement. "Everyone around here knows you two are seriously dating, Honey. Chase is right, he'd see it as a trap."

  "And he wouldn't be happy about it. I don't think he'd do anything to hurt you, but I don't really know him well enough to say that for certain. There's no sense in upsetting him, though, so you keep your cute little bottom here where it belongs," Chase said.

  Pete tried to hide his smile, knowing those would be fighting words in Cece's mind. He didn't have to hide it long, though, as she exploded, much as he'd expected. "Chase McDermott, I can't believe you said that! Do you want to keep me barefoot and pregnant, too? You are such a sexist! Oh!"

  Pete watched Chase's eyes grow large, then narrow dramatically. These two obviously needed a little time alone. "I just remembered something I have to do in the barn," Pete said, jumping up and heading for the door. "I'll be back later. A lot later," he said as he saw both of them on their feet, hands on their hips, face to face. Well, actually, face to chest, but their eyes were locked.

  Chase and Cece had been under a lot of stress lately, and in Pete's mind it showed. Chase had been busy with his ranch, as all ranchers were this time of year. Add to that the added stress from this being his first year running a ranch, and all the problems he's had with vandalism, and Pete could easily understand the tension.

  Cece had been struggling with stress of her own. She'd allowed Ralph to talk her into doing a couple things Pete was sure she never would have done on her own, and she felt bad about them now, especially since things were still happening. He wasn't sure how, but somehow she was going to have to find a way to get over that. On top of that, Pete still didn't know what had happened with Cece and Tom, but he knew she'd had a hard time giving Chase a fair chance when she first met him, and as a result they'd started off on the wrong foot. He knew she fought with herself when it came to Chase, but somehow they seemed to have fallen in love anyhow, which was a good thing in his opinion.

  But his daughter had a mind of her own and wasn't good at taking orders. He knew she was upset about Chase telling her flat out not to talk to Ralph. But when he told her to keep her cute little bottom home where it belongs, he was pretty sure there would be fireworks going off. With the stress he'd been under lately, Pete doubted Chase took the fireworks display as patiently as he normally would.

  He was wise enough to know they needed to work through these things themselves, though, without him pointing out how much stress they'd both been under, or how good they were for each other, so he left.

  Neither of the younger couple actually saw Pete leave, they were so tuned into each other. "Watch your attitude, young lady," Chase warned. "We can sit back down and talk, but don't let your temper get away from you."

  "Maybe you need to watch your attitude, young man," she returned. "Who do you think you are, telling me to watch my attitude? You not only told me not to talk to Ralph without even listening to my side of it, but you had the nerve to tell me to keep my cute little bottom home where I belong. Where I belong? Are you kidding? What the hell!"

  "Who am I? I'll tell you who I am, little girl."

  When he took a breath she broke in. "Oh, now I've been demoted from young lady to little girl?"

  Chase sighed as he took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Cece, you're not acting like an adult at the moment." She started to object, but he held his hand up and quickly continued. "Look, I know we're both tired and stressed out right now, but listen to me before we start saying things we don't mean."

  The calm manner he was using, although she could tell he was struggling to remain calm, and the rather quiet voice got her attention much better than if he'd returned her tantrum with one of his own. She took a deep breath as well. "Okay, go ahead."

  "Thank you. Cece, you're right, I didn't listen to your side of the Ralph issue, and for that I'm sorry. I think I know what you're suggesting, and it goes against too many of my beliefs. But you're right, I should have let you have your say." She had a smug look on her face until he continued. "But two wrongs don't make a right, Sugar. I told you I will be protecting you and protecting our relationship, and I'm serious about that. That's why I won't allow you to approach Ralph and try to trick him into admitting he's behind this vandalism. I don't want you getting hurt. You're too important to me.

  "I also don't want our relationship getting hurt. That's also important to me. Therefore, I don't care how upset you are—I will not allow you to destroy our relationship by having a temper tantrum and screaming and cursing at me."

  Listening to his words, still spoken in a calm manner, Cece suddenly had a bad feeling she knew where this was heading. "Wait. Chase, what are you saying?"

  "I've told you before that when you earn a spanking you will receive one. What I'm telling you is you've earned a spanking, and you're about to get one."

  Chapter 15

  She immediately took a step backwards, but he was right there with her, backing up as she did. She had no idea how or when he'd managed to get his hand around her upper arm, but he had, and was now using it to guide her to the couch.

  She'd never yet been able to talk Chase out of a spanking once he declared one was imminent, but it just wasn't in her to accept the inevitable gracefully, either. He got to the couch and sat down, and before she could react she found herself over his knees. Once there, though, she reacted quickly and used her hands on the couch to try to push up and off his lap.

  A sharp whack on her butt did nothing to slow her down, and she wriggled to the side in an attempt to roll off. He tigh
tened his arm around her waist and delivered two solid swats to her upper thighs. "Settle down, Cece. What has gotten into you?"

  To both their surprise, she broke out in tears, crying uncontrollably. She hated crying in front of anyone, and certainly didn't want to give Chase the satisfaction of seeing her cry this quickly.

  Chase wasn't quite as surprised as she was. He was pretty sure her quick temper was more a reaction to stress than anger. She felt guilty for the vandalism that was happening at his ranch. She said if she wouldn't have agreed to help Ralph this wouldn't be happening now. She was sure that either Ralph was behind all this, or someone saw what she'd done and was now copying it. Either way, she felt responsible. Try as he might, he hadn't been able to convince her otherwise. The guilt she'd been carrying with her was the triggering force behind this temper tantrum, he was sure. And the only way to solve the problem was to eliminate the guilt. He was sure a good spanking would do just that.

  "Cece, this spanking is going to happen, so stop fighting it. The more you fight it the longer it will last. It won't end until I feel you've accepted it, and as long as you're fighting me like that you haven't even begun to accept it."

  "Accept what?"

  "Accept this spanking."

  "You expect me to just lay here and accept it?"

  "Yes, as a matter of fact, I do."

  "Get real. Chase, it hurts. I can't possibly just lay here silently."

  "I didn't say you couldn't squirm or move or yell. But I know you, Cece. As long as you're fighting the spanking you're denying you deserve it. When I talk to you while I'm spanking I can tell when you've actually heard what I'm saying. Then I can tell when you've admitted to yourself that you have in fact earned the spanking you're getting. When you've accepted that fact you stop fighting it so much. So you may as well get it through your head that it's going to happen. Then you can start listening to what I'm telling you right from the start. Maybe if you listen to me from the start you'll take responsibility for your temper tantrum and accept the spanking quicker."

  Cece was still angry, and getting angrier. "Oh, you can't be serious!"

  He gave her two more swats. "Or we can do like usual and I can heat your pretty little bottom up good first, and then you can start listening to me. Of course, that way takes longer and it will sting more and hurt longer, but ultimately it's your decision."

  "Ha, ha, ha, very cute. Now let me up!"

  "Okay, then, we'll take the long way, again. Usually by the time your sweet little bottom's a nice dark pink, you're ready to start listening, but it's bright red by the time you've stopped fighting. Like I said, I'll do it however you want. The quicker we start the quicker we'll be done, so let's get started." He handed her a pillow and said, "You can yell into this if you're afraid your dad will come back into the house and hear you."

  "But, but—"

  "Yep, that's the part I'm talking about. It'll be red in a little bit here. Time to get started." He unfastened and pulled her jeans down, followed quickly by her panties. Tightening his hold on her, he started the spanking. He also started the lecture, hoping she listened sooner this time. "Sweetheart, I love you to death, but this temper of yours is going to get you into trouble some day. It's hurtful to whoever you're taking your temper out on."

  She groaned, and he wondered if it was a groan of pain or a groan that she acknowledged his words. He wasn't sure, but didn't plan on stopping to ask, either. He kept both the spanking and the talking going.

  "When I warn you to watch your attitude, you should do exactly that. It's meant as a warning to you that you're getting close to a trip across my knee. If you stop and take a deep breath and talk to me at that point, this could be avoided. I've told you before and I'll tell you again, I will talk to you about anything you disagree with, as long as you do it respectfully. I may not agree, but I will explain why I don't. You may have something to tell me I hadn't thought of and I may agree with you. But if you approach it in a rude and disrespectful way we'll never know, because instead of us discussing it you'll be over my knee and we'll be discussing it much like we are now. Do you understand me, Cecelia?"

  She nodded and managed to get out a quietly spoken, "Yes."

  He was happy with her answer. It meant she was listening to what he said, and she wasn't still yelling. He hoped that meant they were making progress already. She was still doing too much squirming and trying to get loose, so he knew they weren't there yet, but at least the yelling had stopped.

  "I'm trying to watch out for you and protect you. That includes warning you when you're nearing a spanking, so you can avoid it. That is not the time to have an attitude or curse. If you won't heed my warnings then, what should make me think you'll listen to me when I warn you not to do something that's dangerous?" His hand kept up the physical attack on her bottom, while he continued to talk to her, trying to reason with her and get her to understand the lesson he was attempting to teach her.

  He knew she was listening to his words now, and decided to try a different angle. "Cece, I'm not sure what you want me to do, or think I should do when you have an attitude or temper tantrum like that. Do you want me to just sit there and let you embarrass yourself in front of your father or whoever else is present? Do you want me to just cringe at the hurtful things you say to me, but let you go on and say more things, maybe until you say something so hurtful I get up and leave?"

  That question stopped her struggling and wriggling. She froze. He continued to spank her, but she didn't even react to it. After a couple moments she looked back at him and cried even harder. "No, please don't do that."

  He stopped the spanking and let his hand rest on her bare bottom. "I don't want to do that, either, Sugar. But I can't just watch you have a tantrum and let it go, listen to the things you say without being affected by them."

  "I'm sorry, Chase. I really am."

  "I believe you, Darlin'. But you've been like a pressure cooker about to explode, and that's why you lost your temper tonight. Now, I want you to listen to me carefully for a minute here, because I want you to release that pressure right here, right now, because you're going to keep losing your temper and finding yourself back here in this same spot over and over if you don't. These things that have been happening on my ranch are not your fault."

  She started crying harder. "But Chase, I started them all."

  "And when you stopped, they should have stopped. Your part of it was over as soon as you stopped participating. You've paid for your part and it's done. It's over with and you need to forget it. Whatever happens now falls onto Ralph, or whoever is doing them. You have no part in it."

  He could tell she was giving his words meaningful thought, so he continued. "If you're sorry for your temper tantrum tonight, think about what I'm saying. As long as you blame yourself you're carrying guilt around with you. That's what's causing you to be tense, and caused your temper tantrum tonight. It's not your fault, and you need to let go of that fault, so you can let go of the guilt."

  He gave her several moments to think. He had to listen carefully to hear her quiet, "I'm sorry."

  "I'm going to finish this spanking now, Cece. If you're sorry, show me that by not fighting me so much while I give you these last ten whacks. They're going to be on your sit spot, and they're going to hurt. But once they're done you will have paid for everything; for feeling guilty for something that wasn't your fault and allowing that guilt to keep you feeling knotted up inside, and for having your temper tantrum this evening and cursing. If you're truly sorry, I'll be able to tell it."

  He didn't say anything else as he gave her ten crisp swats exactly where he said he would. It was obvious they hurt, and she cried out with each one, but stayed on his lap. She jumped a bit, but moved right back into position, and never once asked him to stop.

  As soon as the tenth one landed on her red, sore-looking bottom, he helped her up onto his lap and had her cocooned in his arms. He offered her his handkerchief to dry her eyes and blow her nose. With h
er head against his chest, he moved his mouth against her ear and quietly said, "I love you, Cecelia Louise Anderson."

  Crying even harder, she said, "Thank you. I love you too, Chase."

  "I know," he whispered back to her. "I still don't know how I got to be lucky enough to find such a special little lady, and to have her return my love, but I realize what a wonderful gift it is. I plan on never taking that gift for granted."

  She looked up at him with red, swollen eyes and tried unsuccessfully to control her sobs long enough to speak. All that she could get out was, "You, you, I can – I can't – b, b, but how – I—"

  He chuckled. "I know, Sweetheart. I love you, too." He guided her head back to his chest and held her tight while she finished crying. Once she'd calmed and gotten her breathing back under control they talked. Once again, they talked about everything they thought of at that moment, but nothing in particular. And most of all, nothing important or life changing. This was their special time to cuddle with her on his lap. It had become a very important part of a spanking to them, and helped them reconnect and simply enjoy the closeness they both felt.

  * * * * *

  The following Saturday evening they went to town for dinner and a little dancing. They went to a place neither one had ever been to before. They ordered dinner and decided to enjoy one dance while they waited for their food.

  Chase was leading her over the dance floor, when they both saw Ben Hurley. Cece leaned closer to Chase and asked, "Did you see Ben sitting over there?"

  "I did. I didn't see Cindy there, though."

  "I didn't, either, but the napkin's laying on the table in front of the other chair and there's a drink there. She's probably just in the ladies' room."

  Chase nodded his head in agreement. "I saw that, too. You're probably right." The song ended and Chase led her back to their table. "We should go talk to them when she comes back. If they're alone we can see if they want to join us."

  Cece leaned up to kiss his cheek to show her agreement. "Maybe we can set up a date to go try that restaurant with them, too."