by Starla Kaye
“Every blessed person on every committee wants your help.” His impressive chest rose and fell with his frustration. “You can only do so much. You’ve got your showing coming up to consider. You’re working on this house. And you’ve got me to consider.”
She shoved her plate away, annoyed. Everyone, everything in her life seemed to be demanding a piece of her. “I do consider you. I make sure I have time to spend with you whenever you want to.” She fussed with her napkin and then tossed it next to the plate. “I’m with you here Monday thru Friday every week. And usually I’m with you at your ranch on the weekends.”
Now she glowered at him, reminding him silently that he hadn’t wanted her to go there this time. At least he looked uneasy.
“Okay, you’re right. We’re together a great deal, but I can’t help that I want to be with you every chance we get.” He scrubbed a hand through his hair. “But, dammit, I remember how much time all of this annual community stuff took last year. I hardly saw you the entire month of July.”
She couldn’t argue with him about that because he was right. Because of the extra demands on her time, they’d had some serious arguments last year. They’d had some frantic making-up times, too. She tried to focus on those instead of how she’d almost lost him. But she couldn’t stay out of these community plans. She was the mayor. It was part of her job, at least that’s how she saw it.
“I promise that I will try not to be involved with every tiny decision this year.” She crossed her legs under the table, wished she could cross her fingers. She knew how tempted she would be to get crazily involved. That’s the way she did things: all or nothing.
She tipped out her chin. “Besides, you’ll be more involved this year, too. You’re the sheriff, at least for now. The town expects you to have a big presence in the events.”
He scowled. He hadn’t wanted to take over as the temporary sheriff when Harold Jenkins had been forced to retire for health reasons. But he’d been the best person qualified for the job. He’d been the top deputy for several years before he’d resigned to focus on the ranch. Still, he probably would have turned the town council down, except she’d done some fancy persuading to get him to agree. Not that she’d minded bribing him in a very unconventional way. She’d been more than agreeable to letting him have his wicked way with her as payment. And he could be very wicked. She squirmed in her chair just thinking about it.
“Yes, you should be squirming around. I’m tempted to burn your butt all over again.”
She watched him flex his right hand on the tabletop, his spanking hand. This was a particularly sore subject with him: all of these community events. They strongly disagreed on the importance of them. But she wasn’t going to take another spanking just because he was irritated about the matter.
Standing, Cassie grabbed her plate and carried it across the kitchen, dumping her sandwich in the trash. As she looked at him, she reached back to put a hand on her bottom. “This butt is not going over your knee, cowboy. Your hand is not smacking it anymore today.”
He drew in a breath, grinding his teeth, and then pushed his chair back to stand. Clearly he wasn’t hungry anymore either. “I think it’s time this cowboy went back to his ranch.” He pinned her with a bold look. “I need my shirt.”
She bristled. He knew she would be standing there naked then, the rat!
“Fine!” She jerked it off, sending a couple of buttons flying, and then tossed it at him.
One of his eyebrows lifted as he looked toward the buttons. He picked up the shirt and tugged it on, buttoning what he could. “You’ve sure got attitude out the wazoo today.”
“And you don’t?” she countered. She heard the sass in her tone and felt badly about the buttons and the sort of temper tantrum. Disgusted, she stomped across the kitchen and faced the only free corner in the room. “Five minutes. I’ll stand here five minutes for the attitude thing. Okay?”
Once more she felt the heat of his gaze staring at her. She quivered as if he’d caressed her. The fire went out of her…at least the fire of irritation. Warmth had built low in her body and she was ready all over again for him to take her, however he wanted, so they could have make-up sex. She was clearly obsessed with the man. Or just with sex with him. She sighed.
Suddenly he was behind her, his big hands cupping her butt cheeks. “Damn, darlin’, I’m sorely tempted to bend you over and ram my dick into that sweet ass until you can’t take it anymore.”
The words and the image he invoked made her heart race. She glanced back at him, her braid brushing her back. The sight of his hands on her bottom and the heat in his gaze, made her mouth water. Then she saw him fighting his desire and disappointment washed over her. “But you’re not going to do that, are you?”
Regret filled his expression. “I can’t. My brothers really do need my help.” He gave a sheepish grin. “And you’ve about worn my cock out. I need to recover.”
He removed his hands and when she started to follow him from the corner, he shook his head. “You were right the first time. I think you need five minutes in the corner to get your head straight.”
Now she glared at him. “I was kidding.”
“I’m not.” He turned her back toward the corner and sent her into it with a sharp swat on the bottom. “At least stay there until I get out to my truck. I want to leave with the vision of you standing here all nice and naked. Submitting to your man.”
“Sometimes I wonder why I ever considered taking up with you,” she grumbled. “I’m an adult. I’m a responsible person in the community. I shouldn’t be letting you turn me over your knee or letting you spank me.”
She glanced at him. “I shouldn’t be letting you put me in a corner.” Okay, she’d stormed over here first all on her own. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
He studied her sadly, with concern. “You can step out of that corner. And I’ll never put my hand to your butt again, if that’s really what you want.”
Her heart thudded and panic tore through her. Her eyes misted. “Are you…are you…” She couldn’t get the words out. Was he walking away from her? Had she finally gone too far?
“Sweetheart, I’m backing down from my wishes. I’m not willing to lose you just because—”
“I don’t want to lose you for any reason,” she said bluntly. “I don’t want to change anything about you…about us.”
She faced the corner. “I’ll stand here until you honk from the driveway, okay? Just don’t stop…stop loving me.” Why was she acting like a crazy woman today? Maybe she was PMSing. Perfect.
He groaned and walked back to her. “I’ll love you until they put me six feet under.”
She relaxed at his quiet vow. Then he surprised her by reaching between her legs, sliding a finger along her instantly aching lips. She shivered all over.
“What are you doing?” she asked breathlessly.
“Spread your legs, Cassie Anne.” As she obeyed, he found her pulsing clit and lightly pinched it, driving his middle finger inside her. “I want to give you something to think about as you stand here when I leave.”
Heat spread through her, yearning. “Like when you sometimes say, ‘I’ll burn your butt so you really have something to pout about?’”
“Sort of like that, yes,” he said huskily. “Only this will be better, more enjoyable for you.”
True to his word, he brought her to climax in just a few strokes of his amazing finger. While she shook from the force of it, panted, he pulled out and left her barely able to remain standing.
“Did that help settle you down?” he asked from across the room by the doorway.
“Yes, oh yes,” she whispered on a tremble.
He sucked in an unsteady breath. “I really wish I could hang around, but I can’t. Really.” He hesitated. “But I’m looking forward to Wednesday.” And then he was gone.
She put her head to the corner and thought about the man she loved with all her heart. If only she could give him what he wanted….
Wait! She hadn’t told him about Wednesday!
Darn, darn, darn. Maybe she’d spend the rest of the day in this corner, try to come up with a way to either soften the blow to Dalton…or find a way to tell Rachel she couldn’t meet that day. Both were going to be disappointed with her. Darn!
Chapter Four
Cassie sat in her car in the crowded parking lot of the First Baptist Church for several minutes, debating whether or not to actually go inside. She and Dalton didn’t come every week, but she hadn’t been here without him in … well, since they’d become a couple. It felt strange to be here alone. But he’d been busy at the ranch and had no time for church, her, or anything beyond his ranch chores this weekend.
She frowned in annoyance, but quickly shoved that emotion away. They both led hectic lives, had responsibilities. She could survive a weekend without him. Except he’d come to see her yesterday, so she wasn’t completely not seeing him this weekend. His surprise visit had been both good and bad. She’d relived the “good” moments in the shower over and over last night. And, oh yes, some of them had been very good. But she’d avoided thinking about the “bad” moments or how their time together had ended.
She’d woken up frustrated, for a number of reasons. It had been too long—okay, only a couple of days— since she’d woken up in his arms. There was no better way to start a day, in her totally biased opinion. Restless, she’d decided to come here. But now she wasn’t sure about her decision. It just felt wrong. Maybe she should go back home and work on finishing up her bedroom. Or she could…
Someone tapped on the passenger window.
She gasped in surprise, heart pounding. As she recovered, she found Rachel smiling at her and lowered the window. “You about scared me to death.”
“Sorry. I was just glad to see you. I wasn’t sure you would come today without Dalton,” Rachel said.
The chance to escape—that was a bad way of putting it, she supposed—was gone. Cassie forced a smile. “I should have stayed home and worked on the bedroom. It’s still something of a mess. Or I should have finished up another painting for the showing.” Why was she babbling? She drew in a steadying breath. “But I was feeling kind of antsy this morning. Guess I’m missing him. So here I am.”
Rachel stepped away; looking all pretty and perfect in what Cassie thought was a new dress. Maybe she needed to work in time to go shopping for some new clothes. That had never been a high priority for her.
With a sigh, she pushed the thought to the side for another time and rolled up the window, and then pushed open her car door. She reached back across to the other seat for her over-sized shoulder bag-catch-all. When she shifted to get out of the car, she got a strange feeling. A sense that she was going to wish she hadn’t come here after all this morning. She almost groaned because of it, but held it inside.
“A bunch of us are throwing together a potluck dinner at the reverend’s house after church.” Rachel made the announcement bluntly and looked determined. “You should come, too. You don’t need to worry about bringing anything. There’ll be plenty of food.”
“I…” What? She really didn’t have a good excuse for not going. With Dalton busy, she just couldn’t get her enthusiasm up for doing anything else. How sad was that? “All right.”
Rachel came around the small car and slipped her hand into the crook of Cassie’s arm. Her usual peppy mood returning, Rachel barely waited for her to shove the door shut before she began tugging Cassie toward the church steps. “Karen and the reverend have some interesting ideas for a few of the community events this month. I’m sure you’ll love them.”
Cassie quietly sighed again. She should be glad that the new minister and his wife were settling into the town and getting actively involved in what happened here. And she was, really. But somehow she knew that her life was going to get even busier, more complicated after this afternoon. She would have to take a firm stand, let everyone know that she could only do so much. She was not Super Woman. Between her duties as the mayor, working on remodeling the house she’d inherited, getting ready for her first show, and trying to spend as much time as she could with Dalton… Well, she was stretched pretty thin.
“You’re going to be so…” Rachel rattled on, dragging her through the people mingling in the vestibule, determined to get them to the usual pew near the front that her friend sat in with her family.
“I—” Cassie attempted to interrupt, but was ignored.
Giving up, she just let Rachel continue with her excited prattling. She nodded and smiled at the many familiar people they passed and quietly followed along. She hardly heard a word of what was said. All she knew was that in spite of her efforts not to, she would end up getting even more involved in things. Dalton wasn’t going to be happy about it.
As she took her seat and waited for everyone else to as well, she straightened her skirt and drew in a calming breath. She was the mayor. Part of her duties was to be involved in community happenings. She didn’t need to feel guilty about that, and she hadn’t until lately. Until Dalton had become obsessed with wanting her to cut back. Actually, he’d wanted her to give up being mayor because he wanted to focus on them. He wanted her to live with him full-time, to marry him. She just couldn’t take that big step. Yet.
His pushing her was making her draw away even more from the idea and from him. She felt weak doing so and she hated that. Dalton Reede was a good man. He’d suffered in a bad marriage, too. Not with physical and mental brutality like she had, but he’d suffered. The difference was that he’d healed and was ready to move on with his life. He was ready for a family. She was, too…sort of.
Aside from all of that, as another important figure in the community, Dalton should understand her position and duties. He should get involved with one or two events, too, but he seriously balked at doing so. He constantly protested that he was only filling in until another qualified man was found for the sheriff’s position. And he’d reminded her over and over again that his real job was being a rancher.
She worried her lip. Were they drifting apart? They disagreed on so much these days. She’d gotten spanked more lately than she had in months. Burning her bottom almost seemed to be his answer to everything they didn’t agree on. Okay, she’d had a bit of attitude recently. Still…
“Are you all right?” Rachel asked, facing her and studying her in concern, her brow furrowed.
Cassie blinked back tears that were threatening to fall and forced another smile. “I’m just tired. I didn’t sleep well.” Huge understatement.
Rachel gently patted her hand and looked sympathetic. “I never sleep well when Jim’s gone.”
She didn’t want to talk about Dalton not being with her here, or her not going to the ranch with him this weekend. Actually, she didn’t want to talk at all. Her heart pinched. So she just nodded toward the pulpit where the reverend was now standing, hoping her friend would focus on the service.
***
Lifting his hat to swipe at the sweat on his brow, Dalton tried not to breathe in too deeply of the hot, humid air. It had to be over a hundred degrees out here. And the humidity was well over fifty percent, probably closer to seventy percent. Kansas in the summer was a killer. He was getting too old for this, even if he was only thirty-six. At least his body thought that today. His life would be a hell of a lot simpler if he had a desk job.
He shifted in the saddle, tried to get some of the kinks out of his sore back. Frowning into the distance, he remembered how much he’d hated actually working a desk job. He’d tried that in Dallas while he was still married to Brittany, still trying to save his marriage. Complete waste of time and money. He would never put himself through that torture again, meaning working in an office. He sure wanted to try marriage again…with Cassie. But he was beginning to think that would never happen.
Craig rode up next to him, appearing every bit as worn out as Dalton felt. They looked across the field toward the last of the cattle trucks unloading another dozen steer.
That made fifty new ones today. Now that they were here, he and his brothers needed to get them settled in, get the vet to come out here and check them over.
Weariness weighed heavily on him and there was still so damn much to be done. Adding to his stress was the fact that he knew that he really didn’t have time for his temporary job as sheriff. But he’d agreed to do it until a new man could be found. The trouble was he didn’t think the town council was looking all that hard for his replacement. They were too focused on all of these community things coming up this month. He’d be glad when all of it went away. Except that would probably only happen if Jim won the mayoral position. This only had a snowball’s chance in Hell of happening now that Cassie had decided to run for another term. The people liked her.
Hellfire and damnation! He swore under his breath and captured his brother’s attention.
“Still upset with your woman?” Craig asked knowingly. Both of his brothers still wondered why she hadn’t come to the ranch this weekend.
He didn’t want to talk about her or their problems. “I was thinking that since things have been quiet in town maybe I could take a couple of days off. You need me here at the ranch.”
“We’ll survive without you.” Craig rolled his shoulders against the obvious tight muscles there. “Think maybe you could work half days and help us in the afternoons? Other than Wednesday, of course.”
Craig blew out a breath. “I’ll admit you planning to take that day off comes at a bad time for us. Especially since it means Parker will be gone from the ranch, too.”
It had been a last minute decision to get these new cattle that Dalton’s brothers had bought at auction a few days ago delivered earlier than they’d planned on. The auction place had called while he’d been in town with Cassie, wanting to bring them out today. He and his brothers had thought they would have until the end of the week to get all the fences mended and everything else ready. But Parker had agreed to the early delivery and it was saving them almost a thousand dollars. It had been a good business decision. But it sure complicated everything.