by Starla Kaye
She couldn’t sit still another second. She slid from the bed and straight into his arms. She was sobbing but she had to kiss him before she took another breath. “You’re all I’ve ever wanted.”
He didn’t let her kiss him, nudged her back, lifting his hand that still held the ring. “First things first, darlin’. I need the words, too. Yes? No? You’ll weigh your options?”
She thrust her hand at him. “Yes.” Then she lightly punched him in the stomach. “Weigh my options? Did I have some?”
“Nope, not really.” Then he glanced toward the dresser. “We’re wasting time here. I’ve got a sweet ass to paddle. Some legs to spread.”
“I’m for skipping ahead to the kissing and legs spreading thing.”
He stood, pulled her up, and kissed her. In the next instant, he tossed her on the bed. “Time to peal you out of that little get-up.” He waggled his eyebrows. “Then…”
She watched him strip, savoring every wonderful inch of him. Mine. All mine. At last.
A Special Gift for Her Cowboy
“Maybe we could get away for a few days? Take a four-day weekend.” Christina stepped out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around her and glanced toward the bed where Joshua was pulling on his work boots. “I’m sure I could get the time off, especially with it being so close to Christmas.”
The man she still craved every time she looked at him even after five years of marriage barely glanced at her. Once he would have walked to her with heat in his eyes and torn the towel off her and then… Today he just went back to what he was doing. Her heart sank, feeling pinched and heavy. Her stomach tightened. Tears threatened, as they had been doing a lot lately. She was sick to death of feeling so much frustration. She turned back into the bathroom to finish getting ready for work.
“Can’t, darlin’, and you know it.” He sounded as if he were chastising a child for begging for a new toy. “This has been a crazy month with half my men taking time off to go be with their families for the holiday. I’m needed here more than ever.”
Christina leaned against the vanity, bracing her hands and squeezing her eyes shut. Disappointment curled through her. She wasn’t a child wanting something she didn’t really need. She wanted something a woman had every right to desire: time and attention from her husband. She battled down the urge to stomp her foot in anger, to snap back at him in protest.
Instead she swallowed her hurt and said, “I understand.”
There had been a time when she’d felt as important to him as his ranch. Over the last few months she’d begun to feel as if she were only another burden for him to bear. The ranch had suffered from the bad economic times like every other business. He’d had to lay off three good men and she knew he struggled to keep the remaining six ranch hands. She’d gone back to being a secretary, a job she’d never liked, but she’d wanted to help out. She didn’t resent having to do it, but she missed being a stay-at-home wife and doing more around the ranch.
She knew Joshua didn’t like her going off to work every day in Colorado Springs, either. His ego had taken some bruising when it had become necessary. Somewhere along the line he’d stopped being the easy-going, good-humored man she’d married. His smiles were a rare thing anymore. The long hours he’d spent loving her late into the night were not much more than a fond memory now.
“I’ll be going into the city this afternoon to get some supplies.” He stepped into the doorway, frowned at her as their reflections met in the mirror. “Are you pouting about us not being able to get away?”
She raised her chin. “Not really, but I am disappointed.” She waited for him to respond to her lie, they both knew she had been pouting.
He looked at her for several long seconds, but finally heaved a sigh and backed away. “Life’s full of frustrations and sometimes we just have to deal with them.”
He didn’t even give her a goodbye kiss before he planted his worn Stetson on top of his in-need-of-a-trim blond hair. “I’ll be late getting back. I’m meeting some old friends at Pete’s Bar tonight.”
“You’ve got time for them…but not me.” The bitter words came out before she could stop them. She knew they weren’t fair. He worked hard. He worked from before sun-up to long after sundown most of the time. But she missed him.
Still bent over the vanity and looking at him in the mirror, she blinked in surprise as he walked into the bathroom. He shoved the towel up over her bare bottom with one hand and smacked her hard once with his other hand. Then he strode away without another word.
The single swat stung, but she savored it. He hadn’t taken the time to warm her bottom in months. Not that she liked getting spanked, but at least when he did spank her, she had his undivided attention for that short amount of time.
In truth, he’d hardly touched her for more than a quick kiss in a good three weeks. She hadn’t gotten a kiss this morning either, but at least he’d touched her. She’d have to do some thinking, some planning, but one way or another she was going to get her husband’s fully focused attention on her by Christmas, which was only a week away.
* * * *
Joshua jerked his sheepskin coat on and scowled as he went out the back door. A cold wind out of the north hit him square in the face. Small flakes of snow swirled around him. The day promised to be a trial. The snow would make the normal chores a bear. Most days recently had been a trial to get through, but financially things were getting better for the ranch. He was damn glad about that.
He stared out across the ranch yard, knowing he should get moving, but reluctant to do so. He’d swatted his wife’s butt and not for a good reason. She’d been disappointed by his refusal to consider taking time away from the ranch to be with her. He knew he’d hurt her further by announcing he would be spending time tonight with some neighboring ranchers instead of with her. No doubt she was frustrated by their not having made love in…in too damn long. Hell! What kind of husband had he become lately? She deserved far better than a worn out rancher who came dragging in every night only to eat in a rush so he could go drop into bed. He crashed in exhaustion long before she even came up to join him. Hell!
He’d lifted that towel, seen her delectable bare butt, and his dick had gone rock hard. Had he yanked down his jeans and done what his body had wanted? No. Idiot man that he was, he’d swatted that creamy skin instead. He liked spanking Christina, liked the feel of her soft skin beneath his calloused hand, and liked watching the flesh turn pink. He also liked flipping her to her stomach and then sinking between those hot cheeks. It had been far too long since he’d given her a spanking—and she’d certainly needed more than a few in the last couple of months. He just hadn’t had the energy to deal with disciplining her. Or with making love to her. Damn ass stupid is what you are. Got your priorities out of whack.
His foreman spotted him on the porch and nodded in greeting to him. Time to get working. He forced the problems with his wife to the back of his mind. Later, as he drove into town, he’d do some thinking. He’d been dropping the ball in this marriage and it was time to pick it up and get back into the game. Seriously. Christmas was only a week away and he had better find time to shop for his wife. She deserved something nice…but he couldn’t manage time away right now.
* * * *
“Can I help you find something?”
Christina nearly jumped out of her skin, her face heated. Warily she looked sideways at the young woman all gothed out complete with heavy black eyeliner, black lipstick, and a black dress that barely covered the essentials and knee-high black boots. She had stopped in the Naughtily Yours store on a whim while on her way home from work. If she hadn’t been desperate for a very special Christmas gift for Joshua and if tomorrow wasn’t Christmas Eve she never would have dared come in here. But she was desperate.
Pulling in a steadying breath, she said, “I need something…” The heat spread higher on her face. “Something special for my husband as a gift.”
The salesclerk’s lips spread into a knowin
g smile. “You want to give him something that you’ll both enjoy. Maybe something a bit naughty.”
“Um, yes.” Forget this. Walk out the door and go home. Yet her feet refused to obey her thoughts. She had a couple of shirts, some new boots, and a new DVD for Joshua. They were OK gifts, but B.O.R.I.N.G. She wanted a gift that would shock him, that would…
“We’ve got all kinds of flavored massage and body lotions, vibrators, dildos, anal toys. Any of those interest you?” The slightly younger woman headed toward the other side of the store.
Christina’s heart raced. They’d done the flavored lotions and Oh Wow! What her husband could do with his tongue as he lapped chocolate from her body. She had a couple of vibrators stashed in her nightstand drawer, but they hadn’t been used in a long, long time. When Joshua was in the mood there was absolutely no need to even think about a substitution for his long, thick cock. And she was determined to get him interested in her again. As for anal toys…No, at least, not now.
She didn’t move from the board of hanging items she’d been studying. “Actually, I was considering one of these.” Could her face get any redder?
The salesclerk turned around, grinning, and hurried back. “Wanting to play the naughty wife? Always fun.”
Focusing on a two-fingered, over a foot long, two-inch wide white tawse with four red hearts, Christina wondered just how “fun” it would be to feel it lashed across her bare bottom. Her stomach fluttered at the idea. Her husband had whacked her a few times over the years with his belt when she’d been really “naughty.” The experiences hadn’t been close to enjoyable. But she’d learned a memorable lesson each time. Still, did she dare give him something like this?
“These can sting like the very devil.” The clerk removed the tawse from a hook and handed it to her. She smiled, her eyes dancing with knowledge. “Applied just right it can be a serious turn-on, for both of you.”
It felt firm yet oddly soft in Christina’s hand. She ran her fingers over the hearts and felt her panties getting wet. Turned-on is right. But did she really want to give Joshua something that he could eventually use in a far less playful manner?
Before she could change her mind, she nodded. “This will be perfect.”
* * * *
He was such a loser of a husband.
Joshua’s shoulders slumped as he stood in front of the sparkling Christmas tree and the meager three wrapped gifts he’d gotten for Christina. He’d probably even gotten the wrong sizes, the wrong colors. Gift buying was not his thing. Lately even being a decent husband wasn’t his thing.
He heard his wife’s soft footfalls on the hardwood floor, smelled the scent of the strawberry body lotion she favored. With each step closer, he tensed. He didn’t want to face her and see the disappointment on her face when she noticed that he hadn’t added any new gifts for her under the tree. She’d added a new gift for him earlier today, something that had made her blush when he’d caught her setting it down. He’d wondered about it ever since. Now he felt like shit for not working harder to get Christina a gift that would really show her how much he loved her.
She walked up behind him and put her hands on his shoulders. He tensed even more; at the same time his dick hardened so much he hurt. “Are we still opening the presents in the morning?” Maybe he could come up with some brilliant plan before then. Go online and get her a gift card for something, or arrange for a trip like she’d been wanting.
Her hands moved slowly down his arms and his muscles tightened at the soft touch. “I’ve got one I want you to open tonight.”
They had always saved the presents for Christmas morning. He panicked, certain she wanted to give him something special. He didn’t have anything really special to give her. Filled with regret, he faced her. “I suck at buying gifts.”
To his surprise, she smiled and nodded. “I know. But it doesn’t matter.”
She stepped by him and bent over to pick up the brightly wrapped package she’d put under the tree this afternoon. As she leaned down, the short red silk robe she’d changed into after dinner rode up. He stared at long, shapely legs and that sweet ass he loved, an ass sporting a whisper-small red lace thong. He sucked in a badly needed breath, swallowed hard. Gawd a’mighty, he wanted that ass. Minus the thong. He wanted her less every scrap of clothing beneath that robe and on her hands and knees in the middle of their big bed. He wanted her head lowered, that long brunette hair draping around her slender neck, and that ass up nice and high for him to…
Before he could finish that vision she stood and held out the gift for him to take. He resisted pulling her to him instead, sensing she was eager to give him whatever it was. Her cheeks had turned a pretty pink and she had trouble meeting his gaze.
“I hope you will like it. That you won’t think me foolish.” She worried her lower lip. Lips he wanted to kiss, a mouth he wanted to plunder.
Curiosity filling him, he ripped the paper off to find a long, narrow box. He looked up at her again and noticed her watching anxiously. Even more curious now, he lifted the lid from the box and gaped in shock. Never in the world would he have expected a gift like this. She didn’t like it when he disciplined her, which he hadn’t done in too long. But she’d sure been pushing his buttons lately. They’d never done spanking as foreplay. Not that he was against the idea. Hell no. There were few sights he liked better than having Christina’s pretty ass over his knee. But it surprised him that she might want some spanking fun.
He lifted the leather tawse from the box and met her eyes. “Oh, darlin’, this is one damn fine gift.” He shook his head. “I don’t have anything nearly as special for you.”
She reached out and touched the side of his beard-stubbled face. “The only gift I need from you is you.”
All he could do was stand there, wishing he were a better man, wishing he had poetic words to give her in return.
She dropped her hand and he noted the hint of disappointment in her eyes. Then she turned and headed out of the great room. “The second part of this gift will be upstairs in the bedroom.”
Was she serious? She wanted him to use the tawse? Could he be so lucky? He sure as hell didn’t deserve to be. But damn if he was going to pass up this opportunity if she was really offering it.
* * * *
Am I crazy? Can I really do this? Christina walked as calmly as she could manage away from her puzzled husband. Her stomach fluttered with nerves the entire walk up the stairs. Her heart pounded.
“Hands and knees on the bed,” Joshua called up to her, sounding huskier than normal.
She froze for a second, tingling all over. If she could actually go through with this, he would smack that leather tawse across her bottom Oh god, oh god, oh god! She could stop this. She could change her mind.
You will not chicken out now.
“Take off everything but that thong.” He still hadn’t followed her, but desire laced his words. He liked the thong, the one she’d debated over buying, uncomfortable things that they were. But she’d bought it for him, another gift of sorts.
Her hands shook as she walked into their bedroom and she looked toward the bed they’d shared for over five years. Where they’d once had such wild, uninhibited sex. Where he’d occasionally sat on the edge and turned her over his knee for a spanking. Where he would soon apply that naughty gift to her bottom.
Slowly she moved across the large room and removed her robe, tossing it on a chair near the dresser. Then she took off the short nightie top she’d also recently purchased and added it to the chair.
Pulling in a wary breath, she crawled onto the bed. She moved into a familiar punishment position, leaning over until her forearms hit the thick comforter. Her bottom rose high, making her feel awkward, vulnerable…and excited. This time it wasn’t about obedience, about waiting to be disciplined. No, this time she took the position out of love, out of anticipation. Moisture beaded the thong. Her clit ached, pulsed. She wanted Joshua so much.
“You’re so beautiful.�
� She hadn’t heard him walking up the stairs or entering the bedroom. But she heard the lust, the need in his voice and she shivered.
She craned her head to glance back at him, trembling even more at the obvious heat in his expression and the sight of the tawse in his hand. “My bare bottom is pretty much all you can see. How can that be beautiful?”
His lips lifted into the sinful grin she hadn’t seen in far too long. “Darlin’, I love that sweet ass of yours.”
Feeling bolder than she had in a while, she wiggled her bottom at him. “What you love is burning my bottom.”
He swallowed hard and walked closer, appearing unable to stop staring at his goal. “I don’t mind heating up your backside, particularly not when you need it.” He met her gaze. “But I don’t like hurting you, ever.”
She thought about the gazillion times he’d spanked her, sometimes pretty darn hard. Those times had caused her some real discomfort for hours, occasionally a day or so. But never once had he finished disciplining her without holding her close afterward. Her strong-willed husband believed in domestic discipline, but it cost him. He suffered almost as much as she did…almost.
“I know.” She nodded toward the tawse, nerves dancing inside her again. “Going to try out your gift?” Then she added quickly, “This is just for—”
He stepped next to the bed, smiled. “For heating things up. Foreplay.”
“Yes,” she whispered, trusting him as she always did.
His eyes had darkened, his nostrils flared and he gently ran a hand over her buttocks. They quivered in response. He grinned and then fingered the tiny strap of the thong. “I really like this.”
She didn’t so much, but she’d wear it for him once in a while. “Another gift for you.”
“I’m the worst husband ever.” Such sadness filled his face that her heart ached for him. “I haven’t told you, like I should every damn day, how much I love you. How much I need you.”
Tears misted her eyes. “Words aren’t always necessary. I know you love me. I love you, too.”