Oh So Nice...And Naughty

by Starla Kaye

  "In all honesty, I think it would be for the best. I just get in the way. Todd and the others can run everything on the ranch without me." But, oddly, it rubbed him wrong to give up so easily...even if it made sense.

  "I disagree, but you're the only one who can make the decision." Chad watched Sean stand and added, "This is your home now. I know you've been fighting that for some reason, but the people around here are glad to have you back."

  Sean stood, noted the sincerity in Chad's expression and felt humbled. "I'll think more about it. But I'm feeling pressured about the offer on the table in New York. It holds a lot of appeal, would keep me close to the game I've spent a lot of years around."

  "You would undoubtedly be great at announcing or whatever other public relations stuff they're offering." Chad met his gaze and held it. "But is that really the kind of lifestyle you want? More traveling around? Living out of hotel rooms? When you've got a real home here."

  "Like I said, I'll do some more thinking on it all." He walked out, feeling the heaviness of the decisions weighing him down.

  * * *

  It was a deja vu moment, complete with nervous stomach and tumbling nerves. Just over a month ago Kandee had driven this same route and into this same driveway to try and talk Sean into coming to the Halloween party. She'd gotten her way. But he'd also spanked her Halloween night for flirting so much. A couple of weeks later he'd spanked her again for manipulating him. Was she setting herself up for yet another spanking?

  Her buttocks clenched on the car seat. He had an awful hard hand and a definite tendency toward warming her bottom when they disagreed on something. Was it enough to make her turn her Mustang around and forget about her mission? No!

  Darkness had already fallen by the time she'd worked up the courage to drive out here. Lights were on in some of the downstairs rooms and in his bedroom. She shivered. Could she actually get out of this car? After spending much of her life being fairly introverted, this new aggressive side still took some getting used to. But she'd learned that if she didn't fight for what she wanted, she would miss out. She'd been goal-oriented enough to finally be rid of her virginity. She'd been introduced into the delights of making love with a sexy cowboy. Focusing on sex and pleasuring someone--or being pleasured, could definitely take your mind off the other problems in your life. She wanted that. And she knew Sean needed it...at least for tonight. Aimee had relayed to her much of the conversation Chad had shared with her about his distressing talk with Sean.

  The thought of that was enough to have her climbing out of her car. She walked with determination toward the porch, up the steps. Her hand shook slightly as she reached for the doorbell. Stay focused. You are not leaving. She rang it again, and then again.

  Finally she heard footsteps on the tiled entry on the other side of the door and tensed. An instant later Sean pulled the door open, frowning just as she'd expected.

  "What the hell are you doing here?" He didn't look at all happy to see her, except for that brief flash of warmth in his blue eyes.

  She pushed the door further open and squeezed by him. "You're always such a delight to visit."

  "I'm not fond of unannounced visitors, especially at night." He stood facing her, his gaze slowly moving from her face, over her belted coat, down to her stilettos. He gulped and said warily, "Stocking net hose? Fuck-me shoes?"

  Her face heated, but the heat in his eyes gave her confidence. She had his attention. Soon she hoped to have a lot more of it. Her gaze moved just as slowly over him from his long bare feet, up his faded jeans with the unbuttoned top, to his haphazardly buttoned shirt. Clearly he'd dressed quickly before dashing down the stairs. Was he commando underneath the jeans?

  He blinked at her. "Yes, not that it's any of your business."

  "What?" she asked in confusion.

  "You asked if I was commando underneath my jeans," he grumbled.

  Her face heated even more. She hadn't known she'd spoken the thought out loud. Still, his answer was interesting. And now the front of his jeans was beginning to tent out. Definitely interesting.

  Feeling bold and anxious to move this whole scene forward, she unbelted her coat.

  "No," he protested. "Don't take your coat off. You need to leave. Now."

  Kandee went right on removing her coat. It had taken some courage to get in her car dressed as skimpily as this. What if she'd had a car accident? What if... She forced those thoughts aside and opened the coat.

  His eyes widened; his nostrils flared. "Well, damn," he said huskily.

  Confident again, she completely removed the coat . Then she shivered standing there in a red corset, black net stockings, high heels and nothing else. "Think you could close the door now?"

  Scowling, he slammed the door shut. "You drove all the way from town like that?"

  She nodded. "Don't lecture me on what could have happened and about anyone else seeing me like this. Maybe it was a tad on the stupid side." She shrugged. "But I had a goal in mind."

  His broad chest rose and fell in a deep, frustrated breath. "Goal. Something to do with me again. You're trying to manipulate me into..." He bit down on the rest of what he might have said. "No. Not happening."

  She tossed her coat on an antique halltree and stepped toward him. He stiffened but didn't move. "Are you sure about that?" She reached for his blue chambray shirt and started undoing it.

  "You're impossible." Yet he didn't move, didn't stop her. "You know I don't like when you play these games."

  His shirt fell open and she ran her hand lightly over his bare chest. His muscles rippled. His breath caught. "I think you protest too much, cowboy."

  He cupped her face and held it so they looked directly at one another. "I'm going to burn your butt so you won't sit for a week."

  That didn't sound good, but she didn't back down. "You're going to fuck me like crazy, too," she countered.

  He reached around and swatted her bottom, the sound echoing around the small room. She yelped and gave him an annoyed look. "Right...the 'f' word." She put her hand over his thick erection. "You're going to put this wonderful rod inside me, though. Use it well, aren't you?"

  "That's definitely going to happen," he groaned and tried to pull her hand away. "But I'm spanking you first. This time I'm going to drive between a pair of very hot butt cheeks."

  Hmmm, maybe she needed to reconsider. Before she could, he grabbed her hand and dragged her with him into the living room.

  As he stopped to sit down on the brown leather sofa, she tugged her hand free. "Couldn't we just skip this unpleasant part? I'll admit that I have wicked plans for you. That I fully intend to have my way. Yada, yada, yada. But is it really necessary to spank me?" She shook her head. "I don't think so."

  He didn't reach for her, but his gaze was grim. "If you want to have your way with me...eventually...you're going to have to take this spanking."

  "Seriously?"

  "Seriously."

  They frowned at each other for several seconds. The stubborn cowboy wasn't going to give an inch on his demand. He'd mentioned that she would have her way with him, eventually--whatever that meant. She really wanted that. A sore bottom wasn't enough to turn her from her goal.

  She stepped to his side. "Fine. I'm not going to be happy about this, but I can live with it." She slid over his lap.

  As soon as she was settled in place, he trailed a finger over the thin strap of her thong. She trembled. He did it again, trailing his finger between her legs. She was already moist and ready. Did he feel it?

  "Nice and wet. Hopefully you'll still be that way after I blister your ass." He pulled his hand back just as he'd touched her throbbing clit.

  "I came here because we both need this and you know it." She resented that he'd not actually played with her clit. But she felt the firmness of his erection next to her hip and knew he had to be suffering as well. Good.

  He tucked her tight against him. "This is just lust."

  "I'm okay with that." She blew her
hair out of her face. "Get this over with so we can get to that lusty part."

  Several minutes and a burning bottom later she realized her mistake in agreeing to this spanking. "Aren't you done yet?" she gasped, bucking and wriggling under his steadily applied hand.

  "Don't think so." He pulled her tight again, settled his left arm over her back.

  "Why not?" She hissed and blinked back tears. "This hurts. I've had enough."

  "Spankings are supposed to hurt." His hand landed briskly at the undercurves to her bottom.

  "Foreplay ones don't," she muttered. "Or so I've read about."

  Two more stinging swats landed and made her arch upward. "This isn't foreplay. This spanking is because you're a brat who wants everything her way."

  Okay, she did want things her way. And she would get that, eventually. She focused on what she wanted to do to him, some things she'd read about. But it was getting harder to think about anything except how much her bottom hurt.

  Finally she reached a point where she lost control. She cried out, sobbing, "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

  To her surprise, he stopped. He sat quietly as she lay limply over his lap, sobbing, catching her breath.

  When she finally was able to think beyond how much her bottom burned, he gently smoothed a hand over her tender buttocks. "Now to the lusty part," he said huskily.

  * * *

  Sean carefully helped Kandee off his lap and while she dashed at her tears, he removed his jeans. He gripped his thick shaft and stroked it. "Pull off that thong."

  She didn't move for a second and he wondered if he'd taken this too far. Yes, he'd been upset about her coming here and being determined to manipulate him again. He didn't see any other way to make his feelings clear, so he'd spanked her. He wouldn't have if she'd resisted, but she evidently wanted his cock badly enough to go over his knee for a butt burning. So he'd given her one, a hard, long spanking. Her ass was crimson and hot. He desperately wanted to slide between those warm cheeks.

  He stroked his rod again as she watched him. Finally she reached to tug off the thong, wincing with the movement. "Lean over the back of the sofa." He knew he'd never make it up to his bedroom. And his knee wouldn't let him take her to the floor here doggie style.

  Without a word, she walked around the sofa and did as he asked. He followed her, almost salivating at the tempting sight of her red ass thrust out for him. He was pretty sure she didn't know what to expect next, other than what she might have read. Yet she waited quietly for him.

  "I'm not going to take your ass, so you can relax about that." He should go get a condom, but she'd told him she was on the Pill. He'd have to trust in that. If somehow she ended up pregnant, he'd deal with it.

  She looked back at him through her mass of blond hair. "But you need to take me this way. Some additional kind of control thing. I'm okay with it."

  He held his cock with one hand and felt between her legs. Smiling, he put his dickhead to her entrance. "You won't be able to understand, but there is nothing quite as arousing as driving into a woman who has just been spanked."

  "Right, I can't understand." She turned her head away and sucked in a breath as he shoved deep. "Ohhhh, uhhhh."

  That was enough encouragement to make him lose control. It was the last sane thought he had all night.

  Chapter Seven

  Sean sat in the mud just outside the barn, glowering up at the cantankerous quarter horse that had just managed to dump him. He could almost swear the chestnut was secretly snickering at him. This was his own damn fault, but it sure didn't help his ego. As usual, his thoughts had been anywhere but on what he was doing. His agent had called him bright and early with yet another plea for him to come to New York. Danielle had called not two seconds after he'd hung up with his agent. Then he'd walked out of the house into a blustery, gray-sky day that seemed to depress him even more. For the next few hours his day had slowly gotten worse...this moment being the worst.

  Todd walked over and offered him a hand-up. At least he had the good sense not to laugh, although his eyes mirrored amusement. "Okay, boss?"

  "I've had better days." Sean attempted to brush off the mud, glad that it wasn't really too bad. "Sampson here likes to test me every time I ride him."

  "He's always been a sneaky one. Most of the men choose any other horse to ride." Todd gathered Sampson's reins. "I'll take him back around to the corral and saddle you another horse."

  Sean looked eye-to-eye with the current bane of his existence. "No. The challenge is on." He stepped toward the big horse as he shook his head and snorted, as if accepting the challenge.

  As he reached for the reins, his cell phone rang. He let it ring several times, certain it was either his agent or Danielle again. He wasn't interested in arguing with either of them anymore today. But finally he pulled it off the belt clip, then recognized Chad's number and quickly answered. "Sean."

  "Now don't get alarmed. I just wanted to let you know I'm at the Emergency Center in town."

  Sean stiffened. "Don't get alarmed? What happened? Are you all right?"

  He heard voices around Chad, including Aimee who was complaining to him about calling Sean. Something about Kandee...something about her not wanting to be a bother. His stomach knotted. "Kandee? Does this have to do with Kandee?"

  Chad hesitated to answer, but finally said, "She'll be fine. The doctor said it's a concussion, a minor concussion."

  Sean didn't even bother explaining to Todd, just turned and jogged to his pickup parked in his driveway. "What happened?" He could barely get the words out. Had she been in a car accident? He'd had concussions before and even a minor one could be dangerous if not treated right.

  "She's been wanting Christmas lights up on her house." Chad took a second to tell Aimee to go back to the examining room with Kandee. "Evidently she decided to try putting them up herself instead of hiring someone like her folks usually did. She fell off the ladder..."

  "Shit! You can explain the rest when I get there." Fell off the ladder! Damn, crazy woman.

  "I'm not sure you really need to come here. I just thought you might want to know, since the two of you have some weird kind of thing going on."

  Weird kind of thing? He guessed that summed up whatever was happening between them. There was some strange attraction neither of them could ignore even though they tried to--okay, he tried to ignore it more than she did. But when he let his guard down and weakened, they came together and...

  He didn't want to think about any of that right now. All he knew was that he was headed to the emergency center. He reached his truck and pulled open the driver's door. "I'm leaving right now."

  * * *

  Kandee lie on the gurney and kept her eyes closed, wishing the throbbing at the back of her head would stop. At least she'd quit vomiting and felt only slightly nauseous now. She'd been so embarrassed to heave up her breakfast in front of Aimee and Chad right there on her front lawn. They'd stopped to check on her not long after she'd told Aimee on the phone that she was getting ready to hang lights on the house. Aimee had panicked, called Chad and insisted they drive over to her house. Even though it had been humiliating to be found lying dazed in the flowerbed, she was grateful they'd shown up. But she had wanted to just go into her house and lie down. Chad would have none of that. So here she was with her friends and medical staff fluttering around her.

  "Are you okay?" Aimee asked, sounding worried as she lightly touched Kandee's arm. "Shouldn't she be awake?" Clearly she'd asked this of one of the medical people.

  "As long as she wakes up when prodded to, resting is good for her." A man calmly explained, probably the youngish doctor, Kandee thought.

  "I'm fine. I just want to go home." Kandee opened one eye, holding the ice pack they'd given her on the back of her head. She started to sit up but the room began spinning again and she grimaced against the pain, lying back down.

  A middle-aged nurse gave her a sympathetic smile. "It might be best if you don't move around too much qui
te yet."

  "But I..."

  Heavy footsteps pounded in the hallway outside the small examine room, distracting everyone. A deep, familiar voice demanded, "Kandee O'Connor, where is she?"

  Kandee turned her head enough to glower at Chad, who had the grace to look chagrined. "You called Sean? Why?" She so did not want him to see her like this. Yet her stomach quivered in anticipation. She hadn't seen or talked to him in eleven days. Not because she hadn't wanted to, but she'd decided to let him make the next move. Which he hadn't.

  Sean stormed into the already crowded space, looking big, tough, and determined. Slightly muddy, too. Mud or not, he looked good. Headache and embarrassed or not, she wanted him.

  His expression as he ignored everyone else and met her gaze had nothing to do with desire. The man was furious. "What the hell were you thinking? You could have killed yourself."

  She winced at his bellowing. "I was thinking I wanted my lights up."

  He swore under his breath and made Aimee's eyes widen. Chad frowned at him but didn't say a word.

  "She's not really up to you yelling at her," the protective nurse chastised.

  Kandee watched a vein pulse in his neck, noticed his hands clenching at his sides, and then she noted the worry in his eyes. The idea that he'd dropped whatever he was doing to check on her touched her. Clearly he wasn't quite as resistant to her as she'd believed. "It's okay," she said quietly.

  The nurse didn't seem so sure, but she backed away when he moved by her to stop next to the gurney. His expression was tight as he said, "You could have hired someone to do it. You could have asked Chad for help."

  "It seemed like a simple enough job. Besides, Chad is busy. He didn't need me bothering him with this matter."

  He heaved a sigh and grumbled, "You could have asked me."

  She blinked at him. "You? We haven't even talked in eleven days. Why would I have called you?"

  Sean's face beneath the day's worth of beard reddened. "I've been busy." He met her eye to eye. "But I would have helped you."