He had gotten her a good-sized slate and chalk, and she wrote, "DISGUSTING!" after his first attempt, then she refused to take even one more swallow of that abhorrent slime.
Lawson had given her a look that—earlier in their relationship—would definitely have made her reconsider her stance, but she knew he wasn't going to spank her. He had no right to, anyway, not that that seemed to deter him in the least in the past, but also because she was feeling so poorly, so she was much less cooperative than she might have been.
But the better she began to feel, the more she worried that she was living on borrowed time in that sense. Because he simply wanted her to eat—pretty much anything, he surprised her one night by making her an incredibly delicious milkshake and presenting it to her in a beautiful pedestaled goblet.
"Ta-da!"
"What's this?"
"Well, I know you didn't get to go to your birthday dinner because of me, so I made you a homemade birthday cake—your favorite flavor—and I bought some vanilla ice cream—your favorite flavor—and I blended them together."
It was absolutely heavenly!
But he didn't give up on finding ways to get her healthier foods, too. He even found a wonderful solution for the vegetables. He made his own vegetable soup, with everything he knew she liked, pureed it as best he could, added homemade vegetable broth to it, and served it to her in a mug with a straw.
"Try this, m'lady."
Even just sucking on the straw wasn't easy—and it hurt—but she made the attempt.
This time, he got a, "This is GREAT!" and she finished all of it.
"Good thing," he teased, "or you were going to end up on your tummy, getting your bottom warmed."
She couldn't even stick her tongue out at him in defiance, so she settled for raising her middle finger.
"Fleur Daniels O'Meara! I should spank you right now for that! What would your mother say if she saw you do that?"
"She'd be even more unhappy if she caught you spanking me when we're not even dating," she pointed out.
He supposed she had him there, but he wasn't about to admit it. And he wasn't about to let the fact that they were no longer a couple stop him from doing what he thought was right for her.
It wasn't long before she began to pester him to get up. But the doctor was quite conservative, and he agreed, so she was going nowhere fast.
But it was five days after the doctor's last visit, in which he'd vetoed her getting up for anything more than to tend to her intimate needs, and another two before she'd have a chance to ask him again, and she thought she would die if she didn't have a proper bath! She'd been in bed for nearly a month now, and all she'd had were bed baths, which were completely useless.
She could hear that he was bathing in his parents' room, which he'd taken over since she was occupying his, and she'd seen—because they'd used it—that their rooms had connecting doors. So, when he left the bath, dressed and went downstairs to prepare their dinner—which smelled wonderful—she snuck out of bed and into the tub, running water slowly into it, so as not to attract attention, washing herself and her hair thoroughly, then sinking down into the deliciously hot water and knowing she was safe, because she'd heard him clomping back up the stairs.
Unfortunately, she hadn't counted on the idea that the warm bath would make her sleepy. She had, at least, turned the water off, but she'd fallen asleep in it, only to be rudely awakened to him scolding her severely.
"Fleur! You're not supposed to be out of bed and certainly not in a bath! You could catch your death of cold, and you know the doctor hasn't given you permission to spend so much time out of bed yet!" He held his hand out to her imperiously, as if he expected her to meekly get out of the tub.
But she lay there, looking up at him unrepentantly, ducking down so that the rest of her was completely submerged and only her nose and higher were above the water line. She could see the corners of his mouth twitch, even the ruined one, but he managed to suppress his smile in favor of giving her a very stern gaze.
To her surprise, he didn't wait very long for her to comply with his unspoken command, but leaned down and plucked her out of the bath, striding boldly—with barely any limp at all, she noted—into his room, which was warmer than any other room in the house, where he put her down, then proceeded to begin to dry her off.
She tried to wrestle the towel from him, but he swatted her hands away.
"You stand still, missy, until I've gotten you completely dried off. You're in enough trouble already—believe me, you don't want to compound it."
He gave her a sharp swat on her bottom, and Fleur glared up at him as he held her in place, giving her another few slaps as he attended to her.
Then he lifted her up again and deposited her on his bed, on her tummy, keeping a hand in the middle of her back so that she couldn't roll over while he pinkened, then reddened, every inch of her bottom.
It was worse than any other spanking he'd ever given her—and that was saying something—because of the combination of her still slightly damp skin, as well as the fact that as much as she wanted to yelp with each smack, she couldn't. She could moan and give a kind of guttural yell from the back of her throat, but it was the quietest punishment he'd ever given her, too.
All in all, though, he kept it lighter than he might have, in deference to her condition, and when he was through, he rolled her into his arms, careful to do so in a way that would allow her to put her uninjured cheek on his chest and not giving her much choice but to do so, either.
She was stiff in his arms, and he could hardly blame her, but she was also warm from the bath—and the punishment—and he kept her there long enough—rubbing her back and shoulders gently, massaging her, pulling sounds of pure enjoyment from her that seemed much easier for her to vocalize than her discomfort at his discipline.
Fleur had missed this—this in particular—terribly. He had spanked her twice since he'd been back, but he hadn't comforted her after either one, and that had been a big part of what he'd always done for her before. He had never gone easy on her, but he'd always, always shown her that he loved her afterwards, just by being there and holding her, drying her tears and brushing the hair out of her eyes.
And he did all of that and more. Lawson pressed soft kisses to her forehead, rubbed her arms, rocked them both and whispered sweet nothings against her skin.
"I'm sorry I had to spank you, Fleur, but when you were ill, I was truly terrified, and I cannot bear to see you like that again, especially since it was my fault."
Although she didn't want to disturb herself in the least, she felt she had to talk to him, so she felt for and found her chalkboard.
"It wasn't your fault—it was mine, for jumping in front of Devon. I should just have let you hit him, the idiot."
He laughed, asking, "Why do you say that?"
"Because he was just trying to make you jealous. He's sweet on Patsy now. But he was always just trying to make you jealous. What an idiotic idea."
"It wasn't idiotic at all—it worked, because I most definitely was, which was why you ended up here, not that I'm complaining. I've always wanted you in my bed."
"NO, YOU HAVEN'T!" She made that chalkboard scream, and he could see that her eyes were brimming with tears when she showed it to him.
Lawson sighed, then reached for both of her hands and said, "Yes, I have. Even when I was yelling at you and saying those horrible things that I will regret till my dying day, I have always loved you and wanted you more than I want my next breath of air."
Fleur looked dubious at that declaration, and he could hardly blame her.
He arranged himself so that he could lean back against the headboard on some pillows and she could lean against him, putting the chalkboard on his stomach so she would have it if she had questions, which he figured she would.
"I really haven't talked to anyone—until very recently—about what happened to me when I was over there, because it's so incredibly horrific that I really don't want a
nyone else to have to hear it or think about it. It's bad enough that I do." He paused, took a deep breath and began again. "I flew a lot of missions—"
She held up her hand and then the chalkboard. "You don't have to tell me this. You are under no obligation to do so."
"Yes, I think I am. I'll censor it, because I don't want to give you nightmares, but I want you to know the basics, at least. I was shot down on one of those missions, behind enemy lines, and the enemy doesn't treat their prisoners any better than we do."
"Is that where you were whipped?"
He looked surprised. "How do you know about that?"
"Your back. Patsy knew what caused those scars."
"Oh, well, yes. The burns are from the fire when we crashed—I lost my co-pilot, who was my best friend over there—but he got off easy, it turned out. Some of the bullets when they were shooting at us hit me, and my leg and arm…" He trailed off, as if lost in his memories, and she remained quiet. Then he snapped back, saying, "Well, anyway, I was rescued and brought to a field hospital, then an Army hospital, then a recovery place—different doctors, different operations, different therapies at all of them. Damn, I hate hospitals!"
"You were quite vehement about that when you were delirious with the infection."
"I'm not surprised."
He blushed then, and it was such a rarity that she simply drew a question mark on her slate.
"Well, this is kind of an aside, but, um, you know when we…uh, made love that night, when I was or, rather, when you thought I was delirious?"
It took a second for the way he'd phrased it to sink in. "YOU MEAN YOU WEREN'T?" she yelled-wrote.
"Well, I definitely was, early on. But by then, it had gotten to the point where it wasn't delirium, I wasn't feeling very well, but…" He looked at her angry face and sighed. "No, I wasn't. I was surprised you didn't notice, because I was worried that I didn't sound delirious enough when I told you how much I loved the sounds of you coming."
She slapped her palm over his mouth to stop him, then didn't even bother to yell at him, she just began to pummel him with her fists. And when she wasn't doing that, she was giving him the finger.
"Now, now. I couldn't help it. You were being so amazing to me when I had been such an awful jerk to you. It made me love you just that much more, and it really helped me a lot to see that you really didn't care what I looked like. You were here alone with me much more than I've been alone with you and took very intimate care of me. When I got better, I used to watch you giving me a bed bath or changing my dressings. I never once saw a look of revulsion on your face, even though I was revolted myself every time I got a look at myself in the mirror." He captured her hand and kissed her defiant middle finger. "You healed me, Fleur—not all the way, but enough that I could kick my own ass and get myself the help I needed. Even after what I'd done and said to you, you selflessly devoted yourself to me, to getting me better, then slipping away from me again, neither demanding nor expecting anything in return."
He pressed her hands to his lips, then kissed her forehead. "I-I know I have absolutely no right to ask this of you, and I'll understand completely and do my best to adhere to your wishes if you turn me down, but do you think that we might be able to start over again, from the beginning, and forget everything about what happened until this point? I know it's a lot to ask; I do. And you can have all of the time you need to think about it—oof!"
She had launched herself at him, and for a small woman, she made quite an impact. But then she looked a bit tentative, and he tapped the chalkboard.
"You—you won't yell at me anymore and tell me to get out?"
Lawson's heart broke at her question and the tentative, almost scared look in her eyes when she showed it to him. He scrunched himself down so that he could meet her eyes on the same level. "No, my little flower, I won't ever tell you to get out again. I won't promise you that I won't yell at you, though, because someone has a tendency to get herself into all sorts of naughty situations. But I will definitely swear that I will never want you to be anywhere but with me. I can promise you that."
Then he drew her into his arms and hugged her gently, after which he startled her by jumping out of bed and running to his bureau, coming back to say, "Hold out your left hand, please."
Fleur sat up in front of him and put her hand out.
He kissed the back of it, formally, first, then said, "I realize I just asked you to start over, but I would be very honored if you'd wear my ring while we do."
Lawson waited until she finished writing.
"YES!"
He held her eyes as he put it back on her, where it belonged. "I promise to spend the rest of my life doing my very best to make up for everything I've put you through and to be and do everything that you deserve. I love you, I adore you, and I think you are an incredibly wonderful woman, and I will do everything in my power to see that I never, ever give you cause to doubt how I feel about you again."
She was in tears—and he was damned close to them—by then.
And then she wrote something, and when he read it, he nearly lost it.
"Can I belong to you again?"
He drew her into his arms and hugged her tight, whispering brokenly, "Oh, honey, as long as I can belong to you, too!"
THE END
CAROLYN FAULKNER
The words “spanking” and “discipline” have always sent a shiver up Carolyn Faulkner's spine. She knows she's not alone.
Writing started as a way to explore her feelings. Soon short stories flowed from her pen featuring reluctant heroes taking the leading lady in hand, but always for her own good.
Today Carolyn is the author of dozens of books. She writes from her home in Maine, where she lives with her husband and leading man.
You can read an interview with Carolyn here:
http://www.blushingbooks.com/blog/?p=175
Don’t miss these exciting titles by Carolyn Faulkner and Blushing Books!
Series books
The Alpha’s Woman Series
The Alpha’s Woman
Kosh’s Omega
Adored series
Adored, Book 1
Tessa’s Wedding, Book2
The Red Petticoat Saloon Series
Grading Garnet
Thornton Brothers Trilogy
AJ’s Hope
Beau’s Desire
Cade’s Wish
Thornton Brothers, Three-Book Set
Taken as His Trilogy
Prima
Tria
Priceless Love Series
Priceless, Book 1
Love’s Possession, Book 2
Dangerous Love, Book 3
Mistress Mommy Series
Alicia, Book One
Little Miss Series
His Little Miss
Little Francesca
Vlad, the Vampire Series
Tears of a Vampire
Vlad’s Story
Two-Book Set
Single Titles
Ready for Love
Make Me Yours
A Most Unsuitable Mate
Indiscreet
On the Razor’s Edge of Paradise
Only Her
The Power of Love
Forever in Love
Under the Cover of Love
Never Say Never
Man and Wife
The Sister and the Sinner
Amanda and the Stable Master
Lion
The Banished King
Northern Belle
The Cherished One
Forever Wife
Grace’s Demon
Beauty’s Beast
Captured by the Count
Male Order Bride
Sinful
Packed: The Enforcer
Submissive Love
A Heart Full of Heaven
Daddy’s Girl
To Love a Man
Etta’s Surrender
Her Secret Submission
Make Me
Let Me In
'Til Death Do Us Part
Promises Kept
The Obedient Wife
Old enough to Know Better
To Trust Her Heart
Naughty Girls: Brynn and Kim
After Hours: A Medical BDSM fantasy
Droit de Seigneur
Dutch and the Cowboy
Under the Lash
The Rogue and the Rose
Submissive Bride
The Unrequited Dom
Three’s Company
The Reluctant Bride
His
Embraced
Attentions Throbbing
Submissive Desires
Kept
A Hard Man is Good to Find
The Spoils of War
Gilded Cage
Second Chances
Patriot Bride
The Boss of Her
Forever and Always
Tribute
Caged
Jake Ryan’s Woman
Soulmates: Backside of Love
A Good Man
Depths of Desire
The Substitute Wife
Princess Slave
Against Her Will
Body and Soul
Two True Loves
Captured by Time (w/ Alta Hensley)
A New Forever (w/ Alta Hensley)
Under the Cover of Love
Her Guardian Don
Her Knight in Faded Denim
The Rod of Correction: Taken and Tamed
Taken by Force
Skye’s Submission
Sheik’s Desire
Reject Ranch
Nola
Generation Stables
The MacNaughton Bride
More Than a Man
Man of Her Dreams
Love Will Find a Way
Fools Rush In
Everything Gained
Blood From a Stone
Angel of Sudden Hill
All of Her
A Piece of Heaven
Grace’s Demon
Sold!
The Centurion
Cherished
The Little Miss
The Gentleman Dom
The Supplicant
Belonging
Holiday Stories
A Holiday to Remember
Griff’s Christmas Angel
All Hallow’s Eve
Anthologies
Blushing Cheeks Vol. 1
Love of a Cowboy, Vol. 1
Belonging Page 11