by Maren Smith
She stared at him. He took her breath away. His dark hair was disheveled, and stubble appeared prominently along his jaw and neck. He wore only boxers, so every inch of his muscled arms and chest was naked for her viewing pleasure.
“You’re so fucking hot, Clay,” she said.
His eyebrows rose in surprise before he chuckled and stood to his feet. “You don’t need to sweettalk me, I’m getting up already.”
“No seriously,” she said, sidling up to him. “You’re so handsome, Daddy.”
He grinned and pulled her to him for a quick kiss. “And you’re gorgeous, baby. Merry Christmas.”
Abby made them pancakes and eggs. When she walked into the living room carrying their plates piled high with food, she noticed Clay had separated her gifts into three piles.
“Why’d you arrange my presents like that?” she asked, handing him his plate.
They sat down together on the couch and tucked into their breakfast. Ever since putting up the tree, they’d indulged often in eating in the living room, where they could relax and enjoy the lights on the tree.
“Because there are three main themes to your presents,” Clay explained. “You’ll understand better when you open them.”
“I can’t wait,” she said, taking a giant bite of pancakes.
“Don’t get so excited you choke on your food,” Clay admonished.
Abby rolled her eyes, which wasn’t the smartest idea. He normally would have smacked her bottom for that, but luckily, he had a plate in his lap and a fork in his hand, so she got away with it.
When they finished breakfast, not a moment too soon for Abby, she sat down cross-legged on the floor next to her three stacks of presents. “Which should I open first, Daddy?” she asked, clasping her hands together.
He smiled. “Well, since you called me Daddy, why don’t you start with those?” He pointed at the pile that had the most gifts.
Excited, she opened her first present. She could hardly believe her eyes. It was a Lite-Brite, something she’d desperately wanted when she was a child but was never able to have. This version was more modern with an LED screen that required batteries as opposed to a bulb that was lit via electricity. She searched her memory and recalled a time when she’d casually mentioned to Clay while they were in a store that she’d always wanted this toy as a child.
She jumped up and tackled him with a hug. “Thank you!”
He hugged her back. “You like it, baby?”
“Yes, I love it,” she said. “You are the most wonderful daddy in the whole world.”
He loosened his hold on her and reached over pick up the batteries that were still sitting on the side table. “Now you see why I got these? I thought you might want to play with it right away.”
She nodded. “You think of everything.”
By the time she’d finished opening all the presents in the first pile, she was near tears. Clay knew her so well and loved her enough to heal all the pain of neglect in her childhood. Being noticed meant more to her than he would likely ever understand.
“The second stack of presents is for my beautiful grown-up woman,” Clay explained.
Abby opened up her grown-up presents, which consisted of diamond earrings, a jade necklace, and pink lingerie. She held up the last present. “Should I put this on now?” she asked flirtatiously.
He laughed. “That’s mighty tempting, but actually I want you to put on something that’s in your last pile of gifts.”
As she opened them, she saw the theme. They were supplies to help her with ranch work, including a brand-new pair of sturdy chaps. She climbed into Clay’s lap and tried to keep the happy tears at bay long enough to tell him how he’d made her feel. “You know all those lessons you’ve given me about setting aside my pride and asking for what I want?”
Clay ran a hand along her back. “Yes?”
“I did that in a big way when I told you how much I wanted to participate in ranching work.”
He nodded. “You did, and I’m so very proud of you. I know it wasn’t easy for you, darlin’.”
“I think I’ll have an easier time of it from now on. Thank you for hearing me, Clay.”
“You should hold your thanks. I’m a tough boss and I’m not gonna go easy on you,” he responded, giving her a wink. “What do you say you join me today? Get into some jeans and those chaps and we can ride out to the range.”
“You got it!” she exclaimed. She grabbed the chaps and ran upstairs to get dressed. She couldn’t wait for her first ranching lesson.
Later, they walked toward the barn hand in hand. “I have one more present for you, baby,” Clay told her.
“Oh, no, really? It’s too much! You’ve gotten me more than enough already, and it makes my presents look so paltry in comparison.
He patted the new belt she’d bought him with a hawk’s eye gemstone buckle. “Nonsense, I love my presents. And I like to spoil my girl.” He tugged her along inside the barn all the way to the last stall, where he stopped and looked pointedly at the horse inside. “This is Penny, the newest horse in the herd. And she’s yours.”
“You bought me a horse,” she said, shaking her head in disbelief.
“Yeah,” Clay confirmed. “Timing was good, it seems, since you want to get involved with ranching. She’s well suited for that, being a young quarter horse.”
Abby opened the stall door and walked inside. “She’s beautiful,” she said, holding her hand under Penny’s nose for a moment before gently stroking it.
“She likes you,” Clay said with a smile in his voice. “Not that I’m surprised.” He reached inside his pocket and pulled out a couple candy canes. He gave one to Abby who fed it to the horse and bit off a piece for himself before feeding Penny the rest.
“I love her,” Abby said. She spun to face Clay and launched herself into his arms. “I love you most of all.” When their lips met in a passionate whirlwind of emotion and lust, Abby twined her fingers in his tousled hair. He pulled her close. Desire shot through her when his tongue merged with hers in a sweet tangle of desire. The taste of peppermint was still on his lips and filled her senses.
His hands felt like heaven. They traveled south from her hair down to the hem of her blouse and slipped underneath. As his warm hands fingers the hollows of her back, his kisses fluttered from her mouth down to around her neck, then seared a path up to her ear.
“I’ve got to have you, baby girl,” he whispered.
Heat suffused her cheeks as her breathing became ragged and her belly quivered with excitement. They’d never made love outside before and she dimly wondered if they were at all in danger of being caught, but in the midst of her lust she couldn’t fathom returning to the house to finish what they had started. She needed Clay now.
Penny nickered at them when Clay dragged Abby out of the stall and latched the door behind him. He kissed her all the way to the hitching post and located the zipper on her jeans. When he slid the material down over her hips along with her panties, they bunched up near her knees. “I’ll take the chaps off,” she said breathlessly.
“Leave ‘em,” Clay said, his voice rough and gravelly. He unbuttoned his own jeans, freeing his erect cock. “I want to ride my cowgirl.”
Abby moaned as he bent her over the hitching post and entered her pussy from behind, inch by inch. Her hobbled legs made the fit feel even tighter than usual, bringing groans from both of them as he pushed himself into her.
Her mound was pinned against the smooth wood of the horizontal post as his cock plundered her pussy. When his throbbing dick was balls deep inside of her, he flicked the nape of her neck with his tongue, causing vibrations to travel clear to her toes. An excruciatingly slow thrust further ignited her desire. Her soft flesh wrapped around his hardness squeezed in matching rhythm to his movements.
An erotic fog replaced all thoughts in her mind as Clay coaxed her toward ecstasy. There was no greater feeling than being the object of her hot-blooded man’s desire. His appetite for
her was ravenous, apparent as his thrusts became erratic and wild. Her stomach muscles coiled, and when he growled her name, she came undone. Losing herself in the sensations of her orgasm, she rode the wave of pleasure, prolonged with every drive of his cock inside of her.
A sound emerging from deep and low in his throat broke free as his body stiffened against her. He came inside of her just as she was growing limp and heavy against the hitching post.
When they’d both caught their breath, they resituated their clothes and grinned at each other. “I can’t keep my hands off of you,” Clay said.
Abby wrapped her arms around his neck. “Thank you, Daddy Clay, for giving me the best Christmas of my life.”
As they rode to the range together, Abby breathed in the cool air and watched the long, thin shadows of the two horses. The rhythm of the horses’ hooves clipping against the dirt ground provided comfort and a steady reminder that she was exactly where she wanted to be. Not only did Clay love her enough to determine her desires, he also listened to her when she asked for something that had escaped his notice. She didn’t know how she got so lucky, but she knew she would spend the rest of her life being grateful Clay was part of it.
The End
To learn more about Clay and Abby, check out Cowboy Daddies: Two Western Romances on Amazon.
AMELIA SMARTS
Amelia Smarts is a #1 Amazon bestselling author who was named Best New Spanking Romance Author in the 2016 Spanking Romance Reviews Reader's Poll. She writes kinky romance novels containing domestic discipline, spanking, and Dominance/submission. Usually her stories involve a cowboy, and they always involve a man's firm hand connecting with a woman's naughty backside. She believes it's important to tell a good story in addition to portraying hot sex and discipline scenes. For each book, she endeavors to write complex, flawed heroes and heroines who struggle, but eventually succeed, in their journey to love and happiness. A longtime lover of the written word, Amelia holds graduate and undergraduate degrees in creative writing and English. She loves to read, which allows her writing to be influenced by many different genres in addition to romance, including mystery, adventure, history, and suspense.
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ALL WORK AND NO PLAY
Gracie Malling
CHAPTER ONE
Okay, I’ll admit it: I wasn’t paying attention.
But come on, it’s the last team meeting of the year. No one gets anything done in December: no one. I mean, it’s basically an unwritten rule.
“Mia, what exactly do you think you’re doing?”
I jump. It’s the tone of his voice that does it. Will doesn’t speak to me like that when we’re at work.
Or should I say, Sir doesn’t speak to me like that when we’re at work?
It’s one of the things I’ve missed most since we stopped being two people running a business together out of our front room in Hertfordshire and became these proper grown up people in an actual office (well, Will’s a proper grown up person; I think the jury’s still out on me...). Back when it was only the two of us, he could just toss me over his knee without a thought. We might have been debating logo ideas, arguing over menu choices or checking out potential premises online one minute, and then dragging each other down onto the floor in a primal frenzy the next.
I mean, don’t get me wrong, I love the office and I’m so proud of how well our business is doing and it’s amazing that we have actual staff but... well... the office environment just isn’t conducive to living a 24/7 kinky lifestyle. Even holding hands would be inappropriate at work. He’s the boss, after all.
“Oh, I was...” I look down into my lap where—shit—there’s really no getting away from the tell-tale signs of red fabric, thread and needles. “I was making reindeer bunting.”
Will crosses his arms and leans back in his chair with a sigh. “You do realise that this is a manager’s meeting, don’t you Mia?”
“Yes, I—”
“And that—as Marketing Manager—you are expected to contribute?”
“But Will, it’s nearly Christmas!”
“Yes. Christmas. Our busiest time of the year. Which is why Eddie has taken time out to come in today to discuss the plans for the London restaurant. And I’m pretty sure he doesn’t want to waste it watching you... making crafts.”
The urge to stick out my tongue is nearly overpowering—oh God, especially when he’s leaning back in his chair like that and glaring at me—but I resist. I can almost hear him saying ‘behave yourself, you little brat, we’re at work!’ So instead, I catch the eye of our new Finance Manager Annie McCarthy (yes, we have a Finance Manager now. I told you shit had got real), and roll my eyes in as theatrical a manner as I think I can get away with. Annie holds up a copy of the agenda to her face so that she can giggle behind it.
Annie is awesome.
As the meeting carries on around me, I sneak little glances down at my bunting, and even add the odd stitch here and there when I’m sure Will isn’t looking at me. I don’t mind meetings where I have a contribution to make but, seriously, don’t they know how marketing works? I’ve had all our Christmas messaging sewn up since late summer. Hell, I’ve already started work on Valentine’s Day. They really don’t need me sitting here mute while they drone on and on about the rotas and food orders and environmental health inspections.
In fact, the only interest I have in this meeting at all is at the very bottom of the agenda in Any Other Business.
“Right,” says Will, looking around the shiny wooden table at the team. “Everyone clear on that?”
All the others nod and I do too so that it won’t be obvious that I actually have no idea what they’re all supposedly clear about.
“Great. Well, before we go on to Any Other Business, I just wanted to say a big thank you to you all for your hard work and dedication these past ten months. As you know, this time last year, this whole company was just the one restaurant and my old catering van, with me and Mia running the rest of it from our living room at home. To have gone from that to this,” he looks around the table again, “well, it’s pretty incredible and I want to thank you all for being part of that.”
“Does this mean we’re getting a Christmas bonus?” pipes up Jason (HR Manager—yes, we totally have an HR Manager too) and everyone laughs because yeah, right!
Will just smiles and says, “Nice try. So... any other business?”
I notice that Jason and Eddie are starting to stand up. Whoa!
“Um, yes,” I say, raising my eyebrows at the pair of them like excuse me. “We need to confirm arrangements for the office Christmas party.”
Jason laughs as he sits back down; Eddie groans. Annie looks over at me and grins.
“We discussed this Mia,” says Will, and his voice is edging ever-so-subtly back into Sir territory again. “We’re too busy and there are only six of us based in this office in any case. This idea of yours—”
Eyes wide with outrage, I slap my reindeer bunting down on the table. “Dude, you promised me—”
“Mia—”
“You promised that once we had an actual office, we could have an office Christmas party!”
Will is giving me his properly stern look now but I choose to ignore it.
“Danny and Felicia are totally up for it, I was only talking to them about it this morning, and Annie is too; aren’t you, Annie?”
Annie—bless her—doesn’t let me down. “I think a party sounds nice,” she says, with a slightly mischievous glance in Will’s direction. “It needn’t cost much. We could do it here and get some drinks and goodies in at cost pric
e. And, after all, Mia is already taking care of the decorations...”
Will’s gaze drops to the bunting on the table and his mouth twitches a little.
“Fine,” he says, after a moment’s pause. “You two can arrange it. Just let us know the date and time. Agreed?”
I clap my hands together as the others begin to pack away their paperwork and stand up.
Just as I’m getting to my feet and reaching out for the bunting, Will says, “Wait behind a second, Mia. There’s something I need to have a chat with you about.”
Now his voice is betraying nothing. Anyone else in the meeting would just assume he needed to bring me up to speed on something work-related, but I know what he means when he says he wants to ‘have a chat with me about something’ and that kind of ‘chatting’ really isn’t appropriate for work.
The moment the door has closed behind Eddie, Will once again folds his arms and leans back in his chair. His expression is distinctly unimpressed.
“Right then, you little brat. Is this how you’re meant to behave at work?” His voice is soft but firm, and it makes me shiver in ways which are also not appropriate at work.
I glance at the closed door. “Someone might hear...”
He raises his eyebrows at that. “Well, quite a few people witnessed you bratting throughout the meeting, young lady, so I’d say the damage is done. Now: answer the question. Is this how you’re meant to behave at work?”
I swallow. “No, Sir.”
“No. Sir.” He leans forward, resting his elbows on the shiny table and glaring at me hard. “You are in big trouble when we get home, young lady. Do you understand me?”
I clench my thighs together, feeling myself getting wet and yet also experiencing intense mortification at having such feelings when surrounded by oblivious vanilla colleagues. Oh God, what if one of them walks in right now? There’s no way I could set my face right in time.
“Yes, Sir. But—”
“No buts, Mia! Now go and stand in the corner.” He points at the corner to the right of the door as my mouth falls open.