"Sometimes grown-ups break the rules and deserve to be punished."
"You said there was a no hitting rule," Matty said. "You hit Mommy! Can I hit Bonnie at school? I don't like her because she's mean to me."
Dalton gave up all pretense of trying to eat. "Matty, little boys do not hit little girls. You don't ever hit a girl with a fist, ever. You don't do it as a little boy and you don't do it as a grown man. If you do, I guarantee it will earn you a very severe punishment. There are different rules for children than there are for husbands and wives.
"Your mother is a grown-up, but she doesn't always think through problems before she acts. I'm a man and it is my job to make sure your momma doesn't do something that will get her hurt. You don't want to see your mother hurt, do you?"
Matty shook his head no.
"Good, because I am doing what I think is best. I have the responsibility to take care of both you and your momma. Sometimes mommas have to learn lessons, too."
"The rules are different for kids than for mommas and daddies," Matty repeated. "So, I don't get to hit Bonnie."
"Yes, the rules are different. You cannot hit Bonnie," Dalton clarified sternly.
"Okay," the boy said nodding acceptance of his father's explanation.
"Little boys also do not talk to anyone about their momma getting spanked," Dalton added. "It wouldn't be nice to tell stories."
"Okay," Matty said. "Can I go play in the tree house?'
"Yes," Dalton nodded. "Don't leave the backyard." He watched his son run from the room and out the door.
"You can come out, now," he said aiming his words toward the empty doorway. "Thanks a lot for all the help."
Nicole stepped into the kitchen. "He's your kid too. You're sending mixed messages to him."
Dalton shrugged. "My Dad explained it to me in very much the same way when I was about seven. I knew he spanked my mother occasionally."
Nicole put a frozen waffle in the toaster and poured herself a cup of coffee.
Dalton rose and walked up behind her. He raised her skirt to inspect his handiwork on her exposed bottom. "You're still wearing a thong, I see."
"As if I could wear anything else," she snorted. The toaster ejected a decidedly burned waffle, which she tossed into the trashcan. She turned still encased in his arms.
He lowered his head to kiss her deeply. "I would have preferred doing something else this morning."
"Me too," Nicole said laying her head against his chest. "I'm sorry for not listening. I wasn't thinking about much of anything beyond getting Matty to school. I'm so tired of running errands all the time. There is so much to do and not enough time to get everything done. I need more time for my work."
Dalton kissed her on the temple. "You don't have to work so hard, honey. The pressure and stress you are putting on yourself isn't necessary. I have already called Callie Mayler. She is the pastor's wife and is on more church and community committees than anyone else I know. She probably knows half a dozen women who would take on the job of housekeeper until Gran or Doris come home. She assured me help would be here bright and early Monday morning."
"What about Kim? She won't get into trouble with her husband, will she?" Nicole asked.
"No, I talked to Steve briefly this morning. Kim isn't lazy. She is pregnant. She's in her first trimester and has been exhausted. She spends most of her time sleeping."
"Oh, crap," mumbled Nicole. "I wish she'd told me. I thought she was the laziest person on the planet. Now, I feel awful."
"She didn't know," Dalton said. "She only told Steve two days ago. She thought she was sick and didn't want to worry him. I see a pattern here of women not telling their men what they should be telling them."
"I said I was sorry. I have a sore rump to prove it," Nicole gripped.
"You have been on the grumpy side, lately. Could you be pregnant?"
"No!" Nicole denied. "You use protection nearly every time. I've been overstressed."
"I'm only asking," Dalton said mildly. "We've had a few breaks in the condoms. I'm going out to round up Matty and take him with me. I have to check on the bull I tried to piece together last night. Why don't you go back to bed and sleep in? Get some extra rest."
"I should be painting."
Dalton moved his hands to her bottom and cupped a butt cheek in each hand. "It was meant as a suggestion, but the more I think about it, maybe you should take it as a strong recommendation. I'm not kidding about you being in a bad mood. Some extra shut-eye would do you good."
She tried not to wince as he ran his hands over her tender spots. "Are you making it an order?"
"Nope, a strong recommendation. I do want to see a new and improved attitude. One way or another, Nic, we're going to get on the same page." He winked and with a slight squeeze of her bottom and a nudge against her front, she felt his erection. He let her go, donning his Stetson on his way out the door.
"Damned cowboy," Nicole whispered to herself as she watched him chase after Matty, turn the boy upside down, and then settle the giggling child on his shoulders. Tears came to her eyes suddenly as she watched father and son laughing. She wished her relationship with Dalton could be so easy.
* * *
Nicole went to her studio where for some reason she had no motivation to pick up a brush. She was tired. She looked up to a nearly finished large painting. It was a nude, but it was more. The woman's expression, her body language—it was pure sexual enticement. She had painted the portrait from a photograph and was intimate with every stroke of the brush. Sometimes, she felt like a voyeur. It was a good thing the painting was to be displayed in a private home.
She absentmindedly leaned against her stool and then straightened quickly. Her bottom was very sore. Still, all she could think about was Dalton deep inside her. She could feel her core thumping a heartbeat of passion building. She wanted him.
Giving the painting one last look, Nicole carefully lowered the canvas covering it and returned to the main house. She wasn't going to get any work done today. She didn't know how long Dalton would be gone. The house was silent, empty, and lonely as she trudged upstairs to their bedroom. She wiggled out of her skirt and top, and crawled between the sheets, pulling Dalton's pillow over, and hugging it to her. Smelling his scent, she drifted off to sleep.
Dalton returned several hours later. The bull would live. How much he would be worth was questionable both to him as a vet and to the owner. He was still angry with the weekend rancher who hadn't considered the pain of the animal, only his worth for breeding.
Kay's Jeep was parked in front of the house. He met her and another girl coming out of the house with several boxes.
"Hi, kiddo," he said kissing her on the cheek. "Miss me?"
"Of course, but I missed this handsome fellow more," Kay teased as she plucked Matty off his feet and gave him a smoochy kiss. "I came by to pick up more of my stuff and to show Melanie a real working ranch. She's from New Jersey and is getting an education in our Western culture."
Dalton smiled at the girl. "It's a lot different, isn't it?"
"Yes sir, it is," Melanie exclaimed.
"Where's Nicole?" Dalton asked.
"Asleep," Kay said. "I was looking for her and peeked into your room. She's totally zonked. I left her to sleep. We've been trying to be quiet."
"Good, she's had a couple of stressful weeks."
"I'm taking Melanie to Hawthorne for a burger and shake at Maggie's and to see our little town. I invited her to stay the night, so can we take Matty with us?" Kay suggested. She leaned over and whispered in his ear. "I think you have some making up to do."
Dalton did not hesitate. "I'll take you up on the offer, but I'd rather you took my truck. I want you to be extra careful. Nothing's happened for a while, but we're still playing it safe."
"Will do."
He watched them drive off before going upstairs and opening his bedroom door quietly. Nicole was curled around a pillow, practically naked. Her bottom was exposed. If this
was what Kay had seen, Dalton understood why she thought he needed to make up with Nicole. Her buttocks were red with traces of his handprint still visible.
His eyes darkened. He stripped, moved to the edge of the bed, and climbed in. He fingered those two little strings, pulled them, and tossed them aside. He replaced the flimsy little crotch covering with his hand as he cupped her heat.
"Hmmm," Nicole opened her eyes. He held her in place stroking her core. "Where's…"
"With Kay. They'll be gone for hours."
"Good."
It was only one word, but all-inclusive.
"What do you want, Nic?"
"Everything."
"We're on the same page, again," Dalton said pulling her to her hands and knees. He positioned her the way he wanted her and invaded her body in one long stroke. She gasped and he pulled nearly out before giving a sharp smack on her buttock.
"Oh!" Nicole squealed. "I'm already sore!"
"This will be a different kind of sore," he promised rubbing the spot he had smacked and thrusting all the way back inside her.
Hands, fingers, even the palm of his hand applied to her already tender parts inflamed Nicole's need for him. They had the luxury of the house to themselves, so they didn't have to stifle their voices or their moans of pleasure.
Much later in the afternoon, Nicole stretched making a mewing sound of contentment.
"Tired?"
She turned to Dalton as he easily slid between her legs again, inserting himself while she shook her head. She was connected to him, filled by him, a part of him, as she wanted to be. He went deeper becoming rock hard as he stretched her body. The heat and the movement aroused her again to the point where she was panting. When he took one of her nipples and swirled his tongue around it, the vibrations echoed clear to her vagina. Her muscles tightened and clamped around him as she took him with her into orgasm.
She wrung him dry, as Dalton fought his body's release and tried to stay with her, in her, as she writhed in the exquisite sensations. When he was limp, damn-it, useless, he took over with his fingers stroking her clitoris. She cried out as her body shook repeatedly. He captured her mouth swallowing her cries of passion until at last she lay still and spent.
When it was over, he rubbed his thumb over her nipple, but she didn't stir.
"This can't be normal," she whispered.
"Who says we have to be normal?"
She glanced at the clock and back at him with lazy, sated eyes. "We've been having sex for five hours."
"It wasn't a record-breaking session," Dalton said with a proud glint in his eyes. "If I recall correctly, there was a time we spent eight hours going at it."
"You had to leave for a chemistry test," she accused remembering and laughing. "Did we have more stamina when we were younger?"
"Probably," he groaned lying with his head between her breasts. He glanced at the clock. "As much as I dislike it, we have to get up. Kay and her friend, and Matty should be back soon. We shouldn't smell of sex and more sex." He smacked her on the bottom and she winced.
"We seem to have a love-hate relationship going on," Nicole said attempting to roll out of bed. He stopped her, genuinely shocked by the word she had used.
"What do you mean, hate?"
"I hate it when you spank me, Dalton. It's humiliating."
"It isn't meant to be. I love you, but I will not allow you to do something crazy. Either you or Matty could have been hurt. There are consequences to actions. Yours are that I'll set your ass on fire. You are an intelligent woman, Nic. You know better than to challenge or disobey me. Don't do those things and there won't be a reason for me to spank you."
"So, I'm supposed to be compliant and meek?"
Dalton threw back his head and laughed. "You'll never be meek. No, I don't expect it of you. If you were meek and malleable, I'd think you had a stroke or something. Your compliance is only a hopeful wish. I only spank you to help you understand you can't let your temperament and emotions overrule your good sense. I counter the spankings by making love to you until you scream with orgasms."
She laughed. "I'm sooo sorry; I didn't realize you were so self-sacrificing."
"Brat!"
With another light smack aimed at her bottom, which she dodged, he propelled her out of bed and towards the bathroom. "You take the shower in here; I'll take the one down the hall."
Nicole examined her buttocks again in the mirror. Dalton had probably landed half as many spanks on her bottom during the previous hours of lovemaking as he had during the horrible spanking earlier in the morning. Her ass was beet red, again. It could probably glow in the dark. She soaped herself in the shower and applied lotion. She caressed and rubbed her sore bottom, but the strange thing was her mind wasn't thinking of the spanking he had given her in anger, but of those he gave her while filling her and arousing her.
She heard him back in their room, rummaging through his dresser drawers. The familiar thrumming began between her legs. Four hours of his full attention still wasn't enough. She wanted him, again, but their time was running out. They would have tonight and probably time for many more mini-orgies, but later.
She went into the bedroom pulling on a thong only to have Dalton step behind her to finger the strings and run his hand over her red bottom. "God, I love these things. Although, if you ever flash my men accidently, your ass is mine!"
Nicole nodded taking the warning seriously, but she did not change underwear. She was sore!
"We need to be quieter in the bedroom," she added.
Dalton nodded. "I know. Matty heard us this morning because I hadn't closed the door completely. If he heard me spanking you, he might be hearing us doing other things. It was hard enough explaining a spanking. I can't imagine explaining the sounds of passion to a five-year-old. Maybe it's time for us to build or renovate."
"I thought this was your home," Nicole protested.
"I was raised here. Five generations of Calloways have lived in this house. Each generation has added on or changed it to fit their needs." He looked around at a room he'd taken for granted most of his life. "Four generations back was when the house doubled in size, Angus Calloway had nine children. If we decide to live here permanently, we should have some work done, mainly soundproofing. We are a loud couple."
"We could tone it down."
Dalton fisted his hand in her hair and bent to kiss her. "Never! I love you, Nic. I want more of you, not less."
When he released her, Nicole felt strangely abandoned. He picked up her dress, held it out and she stepped into it, turning around so he could zip it. The motions were as natural as if they had been doing them for years. Tears came to her eyes.
"What's wrong?"
She shook her head. "It's not what's wrong, but what is right. I love you. Pick a date, I'm ready."
Dalton sucked in his breath and held it. "A date?"
She nodded yes.
"A date to get your engagement ring?"
She shook her head no. "A date to get married."
"Thank you!" Dalton breathed. "When?"
"It's up to you when you have time," Nicole said. "Pick a date, but I don't want a fancy affair, only you and me, Matty, and our families. I want our wedding private and special to us."
"I haven't given you an engagement ring, yet."
"You gave it to me a long time ago," Nicole said pulling out the chain hanging between her breasts. "I would prefer to use your mother's ring. It represents you and Matty, all I have to do is switch it to the other hand."
"I understand why you don't wear the mother's ring when you are painting, but once I give you a wedding band, I don't want you to take it off, ever."
"A simple gold band will do the job a lot better than a fancy one."
* * *
They had barely returned downstairs when Kay and her group trooped in through the kitchen door.
"I brought dinner!" Kay exclaimed setting a bag on the kitchen table while Matty followed carrying a smaller bag.
"I stopped at Barley's and bought barbecue sandwiches," Kay exclaimed. "He packaged everything separate, so we have to assemble them." She set a six-pack of beer on the table and grinned as her surrogate brother gave her a hard stare. "Settle down, I didn't buy it. John was there so I had him buy it for you. Relax, would you? If I'd tried to buy alcohol in town, you would have known about it before I got home."
"I probably would," Dalton agreed.
* * *
"How are you adjusting to life in the West," Nicole asked Melanie over a dinner of some of the best barbecue brisket she had ever tasted.
"It's really different from living in New Jersey," the girl said shyly. "I wanted to go to a college out of state, to try something different. My folks wanted me to stay in Jersey City and live at home. I wanted to get away. I still can't believe the size of the mountains out here. Kay promised to take me skiing as soon as it snows."
"Tomorrow, I'm putting Melanie on horseback for the first time," Kay said.
"I'm scared to death, but I'm trying it," Melanie declared with a smile.
"I can ride a horse," Matty boasted.
"You can ride a pony," Dalton corrected. "You have to stay away from the horses until you get bigger."
"What's that?" Matty demanded as they all heard a loud whopping sound outside.
"It sounds like a…"
"Helicopter," Nicole and Dalton said together. Everyone ran to see, following the lights and noise to the edge of the fence line where a helicopter was lowering for a landing in the pasture. Nicole grabbed the back of Matty's shirt so he would not get away from her while Dalton climbed over the fence to move closer as the helicopter settled on the ground.
A man in a suit got out lowering his head as he swiftly moved out of the path of the swirling blades. He waved at the pilot and the helicopter lifted off the ground and flew back into the air.
"Uncle Phillip!" Matty yelled.
Phillip O'Cleary walked toward the tall man he assumed was Nicole's significant other. He had been out of town when Dalton Calloway had appeared and whisked away his adopted family. His mother and Nicole had briefed him on the man in detail. He had investigated Dalton Calloway's background personally.
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