by Piper Stone
A Forever Man was her favorite and it was one she’d started before she’d ever left. She’d been a fool to fall for Tom’s charm and empty promises. It was Drake who was the forever man and she’d thrown him away.
Her mother smiled softly, her eyes filled with love. “Life’s funny sometimes, you know? Just when you think you’ve got it all figured out, it fools you.”
“It sure does,” she replied bitterly. Life had certainly made a fool out of her.
When Madison came down for breakfast the next morning, she was startled to find Drake sitting at the kitchen table chatting with her father. She watched him warily as he stood up, took Crista and seated her in the high chair.
The baby grinned up him with her toothy smile.
“What are you doing here?” Her heart skipped a beat at the smile he bestowed on her daughter, but his smile faded when he looked up at her. She’d always been physically attracted to Drake and she realized that time and distance hadn’t changed that. His brown wavy hair was combed neatly back and his lean hips and long legs in the jeans and boots were the same as they were three years ago. She felt the relentless pull on her senses and wondered if he still felt it too. He caught her by surprise with his reply.
“I came to see if you wanted to get a Christmas tree with me,” he replied somberly.
She eyed him suspiciously. He certainly didn’t look in the Christmas mood. Was this a ruse to get her alone and berate her for her stupidity? “Mom and Dad already have one,” she pointed out.
“I mean for my house.”
She looked at him in stunned amazement. “I didn’t know you had a house.”
“There are a lot of things you don’t know about me.”
Madison worried her bottom lip, her desire to go warring with her desire to say no. She deserved a tongue lashing, but she didn’t want to spend any time with Drake. He was playing havoc with her senses and she knew she was weak right now. And if she allowed herself the luxury of playing with him, if by some miracle he forgave her, she didn’t think she could survive another heartbreak. She had enough regrets for a lifetime as it was.
“We’ll watch Christa for you,” offered Sharon, beaming at both of them. “It might do you good to have a break, honey.” She directed her last comment to Madison.
“Sure, we can do that,” added Jason, throwing Drake a guarded look. “As long as Madison wants to go.”
Madison hesitated a moment longer, then finally nodded her head. “Yeah, okay. I can do that.” Might as well get this over with, she decided glumly. They had to talk sooner or later.
Drake watched Madison as she moved around the kitchen, her movements quick and efficient. That old feeling of arousal stirred in his loins and he gritted his teeth, trying to tamp it down. Yes, there were a lot of things Madison didn’t know about him, like the fact that he’d bought his house with her in mind. She’d pointed it out to him one day when they’d been four wheeling in the country and said how much she loved it. That she wanted one like it someday. When it had come on the market last year, he’d bought it.
Just because she’d liked it.
It hadn’t been the smartest thing he’d ever done, just like buying a ring for Roxie when he was thinking of Madison, and then planning on putting Roxie in the home he’d bought for someone else. And he called Tom the fool, he thought wryly.
Drake hadn’t slept very well the night before, his mind restless and disturbed at the thought of Madison so close, yet still so far away. What the hell had happened with Tom?
He’d finally gotten up and gone into his office to get on the computer. Maybe Google would have some answers. When he typed in Thomas Johnson, several articles and photos came up. Tom was more or less touted as a bright new star that had fizzled out quickly on the Nashville circuit. His one song, Give Me a Cowboy Any Day, had been picked up by another famous artist, Priss Parks. Priss had spotted Tom on the Grand Ole Spry singing it in a duet with another aspiring young girl. Drake had scrolled on down the article, frowning when he realized the young girl Tom had been singing with wasn’t Madison. It should have been, since that was the title to a song Madison had written when he was dating her back in high school. Next, he’d googled Madison and found one pic of her with Tom, but there were no articles about her other than the two of them had divorced. And from the date on the divorce it was obvious that Christa had been on her own for the last few years.
Alone, pregnant, and subsequently, with a baby to support. He wanted to bash Tom’s head in.
Coming back to the present, Drake escorted Madison to his pickup after she settled Christa with her parents. His hand grazed hers when he opened the door and he pulled back as if he’d been stung. The old spark was still there, no doubt about that. When he heard her small gasp he knew she’d felt it too.
They were both silent as he traveled the few miles from town to the country, and down the long drive until at last, they pulled up in front of Drake’s country home. Her face lit up when she saw it and she turned to him, a tentative smile on her face. It was the first smile Drake had seen from her and it warmed his heart.
“Do you like it?” he asked cautiously, and was encouraged with her response.
“I love it,” she replied, a trace of the old Madison returning. Her soft brown eyes sparkled as he lifted her down from the truck, his hands lingering on her waist as he set her on the ground. Her shoulder length honey blonde hair framed her piquant face and Drake thought again that she was too thin.
“I bought it last year when it came on the market. As I remember, you used to like it at one time.”
She looked as if he’d punched her in the stomach and tears sprang to her eyes as her smile faded. “Go ahead and say it,” she demanded. “Say ‘I told you so,’ Drake. Go ahead!”
“Madison—”
“No, you were right, okay? Tom and I weren’t meant for each other.” She spoke angrily, the pain in her voice tearing at his heart. “He was only interested in my voice and my music. He never loved me, only I didn’t realize that. So he left me for another woman less than a year after we were married. Does that make you happy? Now that you know, go ahead and gloat, you’ve earned the right.”
He studied her unhappy profile; the question eating at him. “Why didn’t you come home?”
“Isn’t that obvious? Because I didn’t want everyone to know what a miserable failure I was, that’s why. And because I didn’t want to face you. I didn’t want to admit that I had married a man who wasn’t even interested in his own daughter, much less his wife. And I didn’t want to admit you’d been right all along. It just hurt too damn much to come home.”
Her chin trembled as she fought for control and he badly wanted to take her in his arms, but there was too much unresolved between them. He was quiet for a moment and then he asked, “Did you care for me at all, Madison?
Madison took a deep breath. “I can’t take any more hurt right now, Drake. I’m not sure what I feel.”
“Okay, I can understand that, but did you ever care for me?” He asked the question painfully, needing to know that he hadn’t suffered for three years alone in a love that hadn’t been returned at all.
Madison looked up at him, searching his face. His handsome features seemed vulnerable at that moment and she realized he was very serious. “I… I did care for you, Drake.” She couldn’t admit that she’d loved him. She hadn’t even known it herself at the time. “But… I was also… afraid.”
“Afraid? Of me?” He looked incredulous. “I would never hurt you, surely you knew that!”
“You were always… threatening me,” she finished vaguely, flushing.
“Threatening you? In what way?” He looked genuinely puzzled and Madison shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other.
“You know… always threatening to… to…”
It finally dawned on him what she was getting at and he barked a short surprised laugh. “You mean threatening to spank you?”
She nodded as she felt th
e flush of embarrassment steal into her cheeks. How dare he laugh at her? Turning away, she walked up the sidewalk towards the white wooden house neatly painted and trimmed with holiday garland on the tall front pillars. She was headed up the first step when a hand on her arm swung her back around to face him.
“I only threatened you because you deserved it. You were a spoiled, selfish little brat that needed a good paddling more than once. I should have just done it instead of talking about it. Believe me, next time I will.”
“You’d better not,” she yelped, bringing her hand up to slap him instinctively. What was it about this man that had always made her so angry that she wanted to strike out at him – to wipe the smug smile off his handsome face? She’d always felt compelled to defy his dominant nature and today was no different. Even Tom had not engendered these deep feelings within her.
Grabbing her hand, Drake pinned it behind her back and grabbed her hair with his other hand, much like he had before she’d left. “I figured the little spitfire was still in there somewhere,” he muttered as his mouth lowered to hers. “There’s only one way to deal with the likes of her.” His mouth landed on hers in a punishing kiss. He ravaged her soft mouth ruthlessly until she was trembling in his arms and her senses swimming.
He might be stronger than she was, but there was no way she was letting him get away with this. If she didn’t break their clinch, she’d give herself away and she had no intention of being the jilted lover when he was through with her. Maybe she deserved it after what she’d done to him, but she couldn’t bring herself to believe he might ever care for her again. She’d made a big enough fool out of herself already, she had no intention of making it worse.
Finding the instep of his boot, she stamped down hard with the heel of her boot making him curse loudly in frustration.
“Damn! You need the full course this time, don’t you?”
He sat on the steps and swiftly pulled her face down over his long hard thighs. “You’ve been asking for this for a long time, and I’m going to give it to you.”
“No, let me go,” she demanded, panicking at the results of her rash actions. Madison knew her worst fears were about to be realized when her glove covered palms met the snow on the wooden steps on the left side of his lap. She’d finally riled him enough that he was actually going to spank her.
It was a humiliating position to be in and she felt intensely vulnerable and exposed with her rump in the air. Kicking out behind her, she struggled, trying to roll off his lap, but it was no use. His long arm had her pinned and his hand gripped her hip, forcing her in close to his body. When his hard hand suddenly connected with her right cheek, she jumped and yelped, the sharp pain catching her by surprise. Even through her jeans and his gloves she’d felt that!
“Damn you,” she cried furiously. When his hand landed on her other cheek, she began to fight harder and was surprised when he suddenly stopped.
“I can see the little spitfire needs a stronger lesson,” he grunted, taking off his right glove and deftly reaching under her waist to unsnap her jeans. It turned into quite a tussle, but in spite of her rigorous protests he soon had them down to her knees, her panties right down with them.
Madison was completely mortified. All her strength and determination hadn’t prevented her jeans and panties from sliding down her hips, leaving her bare stinging buttocks open to the cold Texas air. A new grudging respect was born for this cowboy that was putting her across his knee like a little girl and she resolved to be more careful about slapping him in the future. But right now it was the present and his hard right hand began landing slap after punishing slap on her shrinking bare flesh. Madison thought she would surely die from the burning heat and pain. Flesh on flesh was a whole lot sharper than glove to jeans and it took her breath away.
“Stop it, Drake,” she demanded, trying to catch her breath and stop the sobs from escaping her throat.
He paused for a moment, his palm resting on her trembling buttocks. She could feel herself shaking and she was thankful for the reprieve; but if she thought it was over, his next words took that hope away. “I’ll stop when I think you’ve gotten what you deserve,” he ground out.
“No, please,” she gasped, her bottom cheeks throbbing. She couldn’t complain of the cold because her backside could sizzle snow right now. She glanced behind her and his implacable hazel eyes met hers, the promise of more to come shining in their depths. “Drake, no,” she shrieked as his arm went up. Nothing she said made any difference, not her pleading, not her cursing, not her promises to behave.
Still he continued, until from somewhere, deep down inside her, a gate was breached and a hoarse sob was wrenched from her chest. All the sorrow and regret for the way she had treated him, and the pain of the last three years flooded her being and she began to cry. That was when she realized she hadn’t yet apologized. “I’m s-sorry, Drake,” she sobbed brokenly, the hot cleansing tears dripping down her cheeks and melting into the snow. “I’m sorry I hurt you. I’m sorry for everything. I’m s-sorry,” She was so lost in misery that she didn’t even know when he stopped spanking her.
She gradually became aware of his hand rubbing gently across her burning rear in soothing strokes while she cried out her heartbreak and regret. Finally, he gently lifted her and turned her into his broad chest, just holding her.
As her sobs wound down, Madison felt an incredible sense of peace steal over her and she sat quietly, savoring the moments in his strong arms. Would he forgive her now?
“I’m sorry too, Madison.”
Drake’s voice was hoarse and she could hear the regret in his deep tones.
“Why are you sorry? I’m the one who never gave us a chance because of my selfishness and fears. I hurt you and I regret that more than you will ever know.” Her voice faltered.
“I’m sorry that I didn’t come looking for you or ask about you,” he replied awkwardly. “I’m sorry you had to struggle for so long on your own with a baby to take care of. And most of all, I’m sorry for the way we parted. I made you feel like you couldn’t come home when you needed your family and friends the most.”
Madison wasn’t quite sure what to say. “Does that mean you forgive me?” she asked tentatively.
His eyes burned into hers. “Of course I forgive you. You were just following your dreams and I should have tried harder to keep you here, but I was stubborn too.” He leaned in and kissed her gently on the forehead. “But I’m not sorry for spanking you,” he added. “You had that coming.”
Madison blushed and attempted to pull her pants back up. He stood her up and helped her, grinning when she reached back to rub her still burning buttocks just before he slipped the jeans up over them.
“Nice and red, just like they ought to be,” he pronounced, a twinkle in his eye.
She huffed. “I don’t like to be spanked. You better never do that again.”
His eyes went dark and a warning brow slashed upwards at her audacity. “If you need a good butt warming, little girl, I’ll make sure you get it from now on. I’m not making that mistake again.”
“You’re doing it again,” fumed Madison, glaring back at him. It was true that she hadn’t enjoyed the spanking, but the residual warmth was spreading to other areas and the desire to be close to him was growing. There was no denying she was aroused. She felt it in her panties and the thought humiliated her. He didn’t care for her in that way anymore. Just because he’d punished with a hard kiss and a spanking didn’t mean he wanted her in his life again. That part of their relationship was over and she didn’t dare hope he might still care. That would be expecting too much and life wasn’t that good to her.
“Doing what?”
“Threatening me all the time!”
He grinned suddenly and it made her feel like the sun had come out from behind a cloud. “Baby, that’s not a threat, that’s a promise.”
“You’re impossible,” she muttered, turning and stalking up the steps. “Where are you going to
want this stupid tree to sit?”
Chapter 3
Drake followed Madison up the stairs, admiring the view of her luscious backside swaying back and forth in front of him. Okay, so they had cleared the air somewhat and were on speaking terms, but she hadn’t confessed a secret love for him or anything. But she did admit she’d cared about him once. He’d take that for now. And if she was writing him off because she was afraid of being spanked, then he had a cure for that too. One way or the other, Madison Delaney was going to be his. No one could possibly love her like he did and he was going to prove it to her. It was still two weeks before Christmas and when they finished getting a tree and putting it up, he had some phone calls to make.
He unlocked the front door and stepped back to let her inside, waiting for her reaction. He wasn’t disappointed.
“Wow, this is beautiful.”
He watched as she twirled around in the sparsely furnished foyer and made her way into the living room where a giant fireplace graced almost the whole side of one wall. He was proud of that fireplace. He’d repaired all the chipped bricks himself and polished the oak timber that ran along the top until it gleamed. A plush brown wrap around sofa sat on creamy carpeting that only lay in the conversation area. The rest of the flooring was the original hardwood of the home. He’d refinished that too. There was still a lot of work to be done on the house, but he’d put in a new furnace to include central heat and air conditioning. He’d also replaced the old water heater with a new tankless one.
“You like it?” he asked, thinking how beautiful she looked in spite of the tear stains on her lovely cheeks. He regretted being the cause for them, but her spanking had been long overdue.