So Not a Cowgirl

by Starla Kaye

  It didn’t take him two seconds to cross the room, stop beside her, and plant one butt-burning Swat! on that tempting backside.

  “What are you doing?” she snapped, bolting upright and turning to glare at him.

  He stood rigidly, anger threading through him. “What did I tell you before?”

  She rolled her eyes. “You’re being unreasonable about this.”

  “My choice.” He pinned her with a steely gaze. “I repeat. What did I tell you before?”

  Pink tinged her cheeks, but she raised that stubborn chin. “I had time to kill. The bookkeeping is already caught up. You can’t pay me for just sitting around.”

  “Trust me, sweetheart,” he said, walking toward the closet and the paddle he’d warned her about. “You won’t feel like sitting around when I get done here tonight.”

  “Spanking me is just silly. I’m helping you here. Why can’t you see that?”

  When he faced her again, he noted how her gaze had locked onto the worn foot-long paddle. Her stance had stiffened. He could see her chest rapidly rising and falling. She knew what he planned to do, and yet she wasn’t running screaming from the room. Once again, he admired her strength of character.

  He walked back and took her arm, pulling her with him to the desk. She had hesitated only an instant.

  “Drew…” She saw the determined look in his expression and gave up.

  “I specifically told you not to work on this audit stuff.” He blew out a breath and added, “Even though I admit that was a pigheaded decision on my part. Although I had my reasons.”

  “Had?”

  “I may have changed my mind about your working on this matter.” When she looked relieved, he lifted the paddle. “That doesn’t mean I’m not going to toast your butt. You purposely defied me.”

  “But—“ She paled at the sight of the raised paddle.

  “You disobeyed me, didn’t you?”

  He could see that she wanted to object, but then she gave a small nod without voicing admission.

  “Let’s get this over with then. I’m tired. You’re tired.” He turned her toward the desk.

  She looked at him over her shoulder. “Tomorrow…”

  Drew shook his head. “Tonight.”

  Without direction, she leaned over until her forearms rested on the desktop. Her skirt-covered bottom faced him. For a second, Drew was caught up in the sweet view of that heart-shaped bottom, those trim legs on killer heels. Instincts for a completely different activity threatened to take over, but he resisted. Another time he’d act on those instincts.

  His hands shook just a little as he lifted the flippy hem of the skirt and shoved the fabric up onto her back. Then he sucked in a surprised breath when he gaped at the sweat-inducing sight of her firm bottom and the wisp of lace thong she wore. He nearly dropped the paddle.

  “I’m not sorry,” she stated quietly. “Even if you’re going to punish me for what I did.”

  Defiant to the end. His heart pounded and his determination returned.

  She tensed. He centered the paddle over her taut buttocks, and then lifted it shoulder-high only to bring it swiftly down.

  She yelped at the force and vigor, arching up.

  He pushed her down, and kept his left hand there to ensure she stayed in place. “I’m going to make it painfully clear what happens when you blatantly disobey me.”

  Proving his intent, Drew spanked her methodically, powerfully, giving her no break to recuperate between each firm stroke of the paddle. His wrist hurt after the first couple dozen swats. Her blazing butt had to hurt even more, although she’d done little more than squirm on occasion and hiss out once in a while.

  “Are you going to defy me again?” he questioned, holding the paddle up and waiting for her response.

  Stubborn female that she was, she glanced back and countered on a sniff, “Are you going to give a stupid order again?”

  He couldn’t believe she’d said such a thing. And yet he could. “Don’t you know when to quit?”

  Seeing him begin to lower the paddle again, she quickly faced away, dropping her head to the desktop. “Not really.”

  The Swat! he gave her this time sent her pressing even further against the desk. Had her grunting, “Ohhhhhhhhhh!”

  He concentrated on impressing her with what would happen each and every time she chose to go against his orders. The sharp popping sound the paddle made as it connected fiercely over and over with her fleshy bottom filled the room. He’d paddled Mandy a half dozen times in her life, but she thrown a hissy fit through every paddling. Tanya yelped and gave involuntary short screeches on particularly hard whacks, but she took her punishment otherwise. Which was probably why he paddled her long and harder than he’d originally intended.

  Finally she reached her breaking point. She arched upward, back stiff, burned bottom trembling and cried out, “Ohhhhhh pleaseeee! Please stop!”

  The paddle fell to the floor as he looked almost regretfully down at the fire engine red bottom. He’d gotten carried away, but she hadn’t attempted to really resist. He liked the pinkness of a spanked woman’s bottom. He liked the heat from it. But this was a red, red bottom. One that had to be blazing like hell.

  Then he did something he’d never done before. He leaned down and ever so gently kissed one fiery cheek.

  She tensed.

  He dared to move a hand to carefully caress those hot cheeks he’d just lit on fire. Slowly. Gently.

  The moan she gave now was far from the pain-filled ones of only moments ago. The quivering of her body was far different from when she’d squirmed at each strike of the unrelenting paddle.

  “Drew,” she gasped as he massaged her again.

  Her need snared his attention. He felt an equal, probably greater need. If he didn’t pull away now, grasp onto the last of his shreds of sanity, he would take her right here. Right now. And he’d take her hard.

  He forced his hand away from that tempting flesh. Forced his feet to step away from the woman he wanted more than his next breath. His voice was gruff with arousal as he backed toward the doorway. “Go to bed. We’ll talk tomorrow.”

  “Drew?” she questioned, standing awkwardly. She looked at him through tear-filled eyes, gingerly rubbing her bottom.

  “No,” he gritted out and hurried from the room.

  Chapter Five

  Tanya decided to take the day off, even if it was Monday and would normally be the start of another work week. She hadn’t had a real day off since she’d started working for Drew ten days ago. Besides, she wasn’t all that happy with him at the moment. He had paddled her, after all, for “blatantly disobeying him.”

  She eased out of bed, mumbling to herself about some men just being… well, men! What she needed was time away from the too handsome rancher with the wicked right arm. Boy, could he swing a paddle or what! She’d ended up sleeping on her stomach, which she didn’t like to do.

  Rubbing the sleep out of her eyes and ignoring the clock which told her she was over an hour late for work, she headed for the bathroom. A nice long shower sounded good. Then she’d go into town, if she could talk Greg into letting her use his truck. It hadn’t occurred to her until now that she didn’t have her own transportation. She’d just been too busy working to even think about it, and she’d no real reason to leave the ranch before today.

  Almost an hour later she finally emerged from her little house. The shower had helped wake her up and improve her mood. However, her more upbeat mood dimmed as she spotted Greg working with Drew in the corral. Greg was riding a very skittish looking mare that had arrived the other day. Drew seemed to be offering words of wisdom, or something. Darn it all, she really hadn’t wanted to run into her boss. She’d called and left a message on his cell phone earlier about taking the day off, and he hadn’t called her back…which she’d considered a good thing.

  She sucked in a breath, raised her chin in determination, and headed toward the corral. Her stomach knotted tighter with e
ach step closer. Both Drew, now more or less glowering at her approach, and the nervous mare made her uneasy.

  Drew faced her as she stopped a good twenty feet away. “Greg’s got her under control. You don’t have to worry about SallyAnne.”

  “SallyAnne?” Then she remembered seeing the papers that had come with the too-thin buckskin—Drew had told her—when she’d been delivered to the ranch. “Oh, the horse.” Still, Tanya was hesitant to go any closer. Her idea of “under control” and Drew’s were completely different.

  Below the brim of his wide-brimmed hat, Drew’s eyebrows were drawn together in annoyance. “What do you want? I thought you were taking the day off. Not that I’m all that happy about it,” he added sourly.

  “And it’s all about keeping you happy isn’t it!” The words were out of her mouth before she could censor them. His jaw tightened. “Okay, I’m sorry about that. It’s just that I’m caught up on the bookkeeping. I haven’t had a day to myself since I came here. You don’t want me—“

  He cut her off, “All right! Take the day off.”

  “I intend to.” The conversation was frustrating. He was frustrating. Added to the awkwardness of the situation, Greg appeared to be watching their exchange even as he carefully controlled the mare, who clearly wanted him off her back now.

  Tanya switched her focus to him, smiling pleasantly, she hoped. “Can I borrow your pickup today?”

  Before Greg had a chance to answer, Drew pressed, “Do you even know how to drive one?”

  “If it’s automatic, I’m sure I could drive it. Unless there’s some unwritten law about women not being able to drive a pickup truck.” Why was he being so annoying this morning? You’d have thought he’d be glad to see her off the ranch and out of his sight today!

  “It’s fine with—“ Greg started only to have Drew interrupt him.

  “If you’re going to Dodge City, you can ride in with me. I can drop you off wherever,” Drew stated and shifted away from the corral fence. “I’ve got to go talk to my lawyer again.”

  His offer seemed to surprise Greg, who gave a helpless shrug in her direction. She’d really wanted to have time away from him. This was so not what she’d wanted. But how could she refuse? She nodded, wondering if she should just stay here and work after all.

  The truck hit a rut that had Tanya bouncing around on the seat. Although most of the tenderness had disappeared overnight, she still winced on occasion when he hit a particularly deep rut. Her mood had been growing testy ever since about the twentieth bounce. She ground her teeth and finally snapped, “I’m beginning to think you’re aiming for every pothole you can find.”

  “Road needs a bit of fixing up after the winter.” He shot her a sideways glance, and to her disgust gave a slip of a cocky smile. “Butt still hurts a mite, huh?”

  She curled her hands into fists and refused to comment on the state of her butt. Instead she focused on his reluctant admission last night about his having been pigheaded about refusing her assistance on the audit. If he was going to try and push her buttons, well, turn about was fair play. “So you’ve decided to let me work on the audit?”

  His hands tightened on the steering wheel. “Only because I’m finding myself drawn in too many directions.” He gave her another sideways glance. “I’ve got some legal issues going on concerning the foundation right now. If I don’t deal with them, the foundation could fold before it really even has a chance to get up and running.”

  Now she felt petty for pushing him about the audit stuff. She hadn’t known matters had gotten so serious with the foundation’s problems. Occasionally she saw some of the foundation’s paperwork as it came through, but evidently she’d missed anything problematic.

  “I really can help you with the audit. That should free up your time for focusing on these legal matters, whatever they are.”

  Although it really wasn’t any of her business, she wished he’d confide in her what the matters were. Maybe it would help if he talked them out with someone who wasn’t legally or financially interested in the foundation. But she doubted he would open up to her about any of it. Baby steps, she reminded herself. Everything with him involved baby steps. The man simply didn’t like relying on anyone else, except maybe Greg, and then only in connection with the day-to-day running of the ranch.

  The rest of the ride to Dodge City was quiet. Drew was lost somewhere in his problems, and Tanya took the time to really look at the area. It wasn’t as barren and unappealing as she’d first thought, or as she’d told Mandy. In a way, she liked the openness. You could see forever it seemed. And with spring only a week away, the prairie was almost completely back to life and out of hibernation from the sometimes harsh western Kansas winters that she’d heard the men talk about. In truth, she didn’t even miss stopping in at a Starbucks every morning on her way to work. She certainly didn’t miss the constant traffic issues she’d had to deal with every day. No, she felt oddly content…except for butting heads with the stubborn rancher, that is. And sometimes she kind of enjoyed their minor skirmishes.

  “I could use a cup of coffee, maybe some eggs, too. You hungry?” Drew asked, breaking the silence. They were on the outskirts of town now and he pulled into the parking lot of a small diner.

  “I haven’t eaten yet, so, yes, I’m hungry.” Now that he brought it up, she was famished.

  With a nod, he parked in one of the few open spots out front of the 50’s-looking diner. She wasn’t quite sure what to make of their eating together; usually she ate something simple back in her little house. Their relationship pretty much revolved around business. They’d shared some heated moments, too, mainly involving spankings. But he’d also kissed her…

  “You coming?” he asked, opening the passenger door of his big Suburban.

  Blushing, she realized she’d been sitting there pondering the man who’d not only paddled her yesterday but also turned her on with just his normal grouchy expression. How bizarre was that?

  Avoiding looking directly at him, she climbed out of the cab only to find herself standing extremely close to him. She breathed in his outdoorsy/leathery scent, so incredibly masculine, so enticing. She felt the warmth of his big body only inches away. Even in her four-inch heels he towered over her.

  “Sorry,” she finally managed to mumble as she stepped slightly away from his personal space.

  When she looked up, there was an odd look in his eyes. Arousal? No, she had to be imagining that.

  Then he put a hand on her elbow and led her into the building. Her heart fluttered the entire time he escorted her through the semi-full diner to a booth at the far corner. At least a dozen people had looked at them curiously, well, looked at her curiously. Several men of various ages, mostly ranch hands or ranchers—from the way they dressed similar to Drew—had greeted him with a ‘Hey!’ or a friendly nod. But he’d not stopped to chat with any of them. Getting her to the booth seemed to be of utmost importance to him.

  Tanya scooted onto the worn, red vinyl bench opposite him. She was curious about his attitude but leery of asking him about it. Still, she was relieved to no longer feel his hand on her arm. His touch had made her quiver inside, made her feel warm in a place that she wasn’t sure she wanted to feel that way with him.

  Watching him settle onto the other bench and carefully set his hat brim up on the seat beside him, she took a second to try and calm down. Not happening. She’d spent too many nights dreaming about what his hard muscled body would look like naked. A lot of time thinking about him sliding into bed with her…or her sliding into his king-sized bed with him. She’d also spent considerable time wondering how it would feel having him moving deep inside her. So not calming down here, she thought, her body all too interested in Drew Weatherford.

  “So wrong,” she muttered under her breath, grabbing for one of the menus propped next to the napkin box to focus on something else.

  “What?” Drew asked.

  She looked up, feeling her cheeks heat from her wandering
thoughts. “Nothing.”

  He started to press her about what she’d said…maybe about her flaming cheeks, but, thankfully, a white-haired, pleasantly plump waitress in her 60’s or 70’s approached their table.

  “Your usual, handsome?” the waitress asked, smiling down at them. She was already pouring him a cup of coffee.

  With his nod, she looked at Tanya. “You must be Drew’s new bookkeeper.” She glanced down at Tanya’s gauzy, low-cut top. “Love that, the skirt, too. Oh, and I noticed those high-heeled sandals as you walked by. Wish I could wear something like them, instead of these thick-soled, old-lady sensible shoes.” She stuck out a foot and pursed her lips in disgust.

  “Thank you,” Tanya said. She’d caught Drew studying her top, too, apparently very interested in the way it teased with a look at a lacy, red camisole underneath the white gauze top. He hadn’t said anything, of course. But his eyes had shown definite male interest. She’d also seen him frown —as usual—at her choice of footwear earlier.

  He was frowning again and the waitress noticed and laughed. “Ain’t nothing proper except boots and the like, in this here cowboy’s opinion.”

  When he scowled even more, she rolled her eyes and held up her notepad. “Anyway, pretty lady, what you want for breakfast? Eggs? Pancakes? Ham? We can pretty much fix anything.”

  “Vegetarian.” The way Drew made the announcement it was clear how disgusting he thought that food choice was.

  The waitress laughed again, which greatly pleased Tanya and lightened her mood. “Ain’t nothing wrong with not being a meat-eater. Why, there was a time when I considered…” She laughed once more. “Didn’t consider the idea long, though. I like the taste of beef too much. Still, ain’t nothing at all wrong with being a vegetarian.”

  If the subject didn’t change soon, Tanya thought that vein pulsing in the side of Drew’s neck might explode. “I’d just like some oatmeal and fresh fruit, if you have any. And some coffee.”