by Ava Sinclair
He told Lily Mae that he was going to straighten out her financial mess, not out of pity but because he considered it an investment in their future. She knew this made sense; with her all but teetering on the brink of bankruptcy, she’d be a liability to him if they decided to marry, and to her surprise, Jace had already mentioned that possibility.
She teared up now, just thinking of the years that had been wasted while she was away. He’d been with a few women, too. In fact, he’d gotten pretty serious at one point with Janet Billings. But like Lily Mae, the longing for another had resulted in an emotional roadblock leading to the end of the relationship. As she stood in front of the window watching Jace walk back to the house, she wondered how different their life might be if she’d just admitted all those years ago that he was just what she needed. They might have a kid or two by now.
But there was no need to dwell. Jace had given her an assignment: make a list of all her assets and debts.
The first list was short. Her SUV was paid for, at least. She had jewelry. She had her mother’s house and old clunker of a car.
The list of debts was longer—Visa, AmEx, MasterCard, furniture store, student loan. She was behind on all her utilities and so far behind on her townhouse rent that she wasn’t even sure she’d be able to retrieve her belongings when and if she went back to Los Angeles.
And then there was Tony Orzo. Her hand hovered above the paper, but Lily Mae couldn’t bring herself to put this debt on paper. After seven years she was finally reunited with the guy she’d loved since she was in high school. This was her second chance, but how long would it last if Jace found out that she was seven thousand dollars in debt to a shady strip club owner who made the loan with the unspoken understanding that there’d be a return on his investment?
Tony had been the first person to contact her when she’d lost her job after the DUI. He’d used her services when she’d been a design consultant with the furniture store to decorate the lobby of his first club, and she’d been gratified and flattered when he said he wanted to hire her to redo not just his corporate offices, but three new clubs he was opening around Los Angeles. He also hooked her up with new clients, and told her to come to him if she needed anything, anything at all.
Lily Mae resisted at first, but when she got the notice giving her thirty days to catch up her vehicle payment or lose her SUV, she’d gone to his office. Tony had listened, tapping his expensive pen against the edge of his Moroccan leather desk organizer, nodding sympathetically on occasion.
He’d written her a check right there, but had not let it go when Lily Mae gratefully went to take it from his hands. Even now, she could hear the words of the slick, handsome man.
“You know, Lily, I’ve always thought you were the prettiest girl I’ve ever seen. If I didn’t respect you so much, I’d offer you whatever you wanted to dance in my clubs. But you’re too good for that. You’re not the kind of girl a man like me puts on the pole. You’re the kind of girl that a man like me puts on his arm, the kind of woman a man adds to his list of fine possessions.” He’d leaned over then and kissed her on the cheek. “Now, this is a loan, not a gift, so you’re going to have to pay it back within three months. I’m all business when it comes to what’s owed to me, but if you’re still on hard times, understand that we can work something out. And remember, I’m the kind of man who expects commitments to be honored.”
She’d smiled coyly, praying her next words would be enough to get him to relinquish the check. “Well, Tony, you’re in luck. I’m the kind of woman who happily honors her commitments, especially… attractive ones.”
She’d punctuated the comment by trailing one manicured finger down the sleeve of Tony’s tailored suit jacket, and he’d released the check into her hands then. Lily Mae had paid off the loan on her SUV that day, which allowed her to travel for work. And she’d allowed herself to hope that hard work would improve her situation. But even as she picked up some clients, the ones Tony sent her fell away. Lily Mae had started to wonder whether this was by design. Whenever Tony saw her, he made it a point to smile broadly and ask how business was. Sometimes the question was accompanied by a possessive stroke of his hand down her back, and while she knew most women would have been thrilled by the attentions of a gorgeous, dark-haired man who only wore Italian suits, Tony Orzo’s behavior and rumored organized crime ties scared her to death.
Now instinct told her that this debt couldn’t be explained, at least not yet. So she’d left it off, telling herself that there was no way Tony would have known where she’d gone, and that he’d hardly try to track her down for what had to be a small amount in his eyes.
“Your car will be fixed by next Wednesday.” Jace was walking back inside now, and Lily Mae smiled as he walked over to take her in his arms. “Did you make that list like I asked?”
“Yes,” she said with a sigh. “But do we have to go over it right now?”
“No,” he said. “I think right now we need to get you to town and buy you some clothes. I’m pretty sure I owe you a dress.”
“You don’t have to do that, Jace,” she said.
“I know, Lily Mae. But I want to.”
She frowned as she looked down. “We have a problem, though. I’m still wearing your shirt and I didn’t bring anything else.”
Jace took her by the hand. “I want to show you something,” he said, and led her upstairs to the guest room where Lily had stayed on a few occasions, always under the supervision of Jace’s conservative parents. Now she stood in the doorway as he walked to the closet and opened it to pull out a pink and white flowered sundress.
“You’ve got to be kidding…” She walked over, taking the dress from his hand. “After all these years?”
“You were so forgetful. You always used to leave stuff here. I couldn’t bear to part with it.” Jace paused. “I bet it still fits.”
“I’ll need to take this shirt off to see,” she said seductively.
“Allow me, baby.” She could see the bulge forming in the front of his pants as Jace began to undo the buttons down the front of the shirt. When he shrugged it off her shoulders, Lily Mae stood back, allowing him a good look at her body. Of all her insecurities, body image wasn’t among them. She’d always been a lean, well-muscled girl who enjoyed physical activity. Her breasts were just large enough to overflow the large hands of a man like Jace, the dusky pink nipples thrusting upward in an impudent taunt. Although she was short, her waist was long, and her belly was nearly flat save for the slightest feminine swell between the V directing his hungry gaze to her shaved pussy.
Lily Mae caught her lower lip in her teeth as Jace reached down to drag his finger up through her slit, pausing to press the tip against her throbbing clitoris. When he removed his drenched finger and sucked her arousal from the tip, she felt herself go weak in the knees, so it was a welcome gesture when Jace lifted her to place her on the edge of the bed. Lily Mae’s bottom was still sore beneath her, and she groaned with pleasure-pain as he slid his hands underneath her to cup her tender cheeks and squeeze as he growled for her to open her legs.
“I’m going to eat your pussy until you scream for mercy,” he said, and Lily Mae couldn’t even respond from the delicious thrill she gleaned from hearing Jace Whitaker state his intentions as if she had no say in the matter.
He was a man true to his word. From the moment he latched onto her clit and sucked until her toes curled until the moment Jace laved the last drop of arousal from the folds of her open pussy, he kept Lily Mae seeing starburst after starburst of ecstasy. Several times she worried that her eager thrusts against his face might be a bit too enthusiastic, but then she’d feel his mouth growling possessively against her labia and her toes would curl from the experience of feeling completely dominated. And just when she didn’t think she could be any more satisfied, he raised himself up and pushed his cock balls-deep into her soaking pussy, his hands fisting in her hair as he looked into her eyes.
“I love you so damn mu
ch, Lily,” he said, and she could smell her pussy on his breath as he confessed his feelings, then taste it on the tongue that plundered her mouth.
“I love you, too,” she said aloud, and to herself vowed to work for a future where no secrets would ever hang between them.
Chapter Seven
“Hey, wait up!” Jace dug his heels into the thick sides of his gray quarter horse gelding, pushing the horse to a gallop in an effort to overtake the leggy paint mare carrying Lily Mae.
When Jace had offered to take Lily Mae riding, he’d pictured a nice meandering stroll along the trails. But Lily Mae had other ideas; as soon as they were by the open field, she’d taken off on the little mare.
Jace was tempted to tell his girl that she’d earned another licking for just assuming she could take off without him, but that was before she looked back laughing and pointed toward a hill in the distance. At the top was a grove of oaks and the swimming hole where they’d passed many an hour as youngsters.
Lily Mae had already dismounted by the time Jace reached the pond.
“What took you so long, cowboy?” she asked. She was sitting on the ground, pulling off her boots, her eyes bright with mischief.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Jace asked.
“What’s it look like I’m doing?” She stood up, undoing her jeans and pushing them down before pulling off her t-shirt.
“Looks to me like you’re about to go skinny dipping.”
“Good work, detective.” Lily Mae walked over, her hips swaying seductively. When she reached Jace’s horse, she took hold of her boyfriend’s leg and looked up at him. “Join me?”
She didn’t need to ask him twice. Soon both horses were grazing as their now-naked riders laughed and splashed in the water.
“I can’t ever remember being this happy,” Lily Mae said when Jace took hold of her. She wrapped her legs around his waist, pressing her breasts against his muscular chest as she ran her hands through his sandy-colored hair.
“Me, neither,” he said. “And I want to marry you, Lily Mae Slater. Just as soon as we get all this bill stuff settled.”
“I’ll pay you back,” she said. “I’ll work, Jace. I’ll…”
“Baby, that’s not necessary,” he said. “All I’m going to require is for you to love me like you’ve been doing, help me on the ranch, and be honest with me about everything. Dishonesty is a deal-breaker, but I’m not worried that you’d throw away what we have by ever lying to me.”
Was it his imagination, or did she stiffen in his arms and look away?
“You hear me, baby?”
“Of course, Jace.” She hugged him tight and Jace looked up at the sky.
“It’s such a pretty day,” he said. “We’re almost finished fencing in that pasture. Once that’s done we need to get to California and bring your stuff back. I talked to my accountant Wayne this morning. He spoke to the property manager about getting you out of your lease now that we managed to stop the eviction process. He thinks they can have a new tenant in there by the end of next month, so we need to get that place cleaned out.”
He felt Lily Mae’s arms unwind from his neck as she slipped from his grasp.
“I don’t know,” she said, turning away. “I don’t think I want to mess with it.”
“Don’t want to mess with it?” Jace started after Lily Mae, who was climbing out of the water. “You told me yourself that you have a ton of expensive jewelry you bought, not to mention all your fancy clothes and furniture.”
Lily Mae wasn’t looking at him as she reached for her panties. “I don’t need any of that stuff,” she said.
Jace had exited the pond and pulled on his jeans and shirt. He caught up with Lily Mae now and reached for her hand.
“It’s not a matter of need, baby,” Jace reasoned with a laugh. “You ran up quite a credit card debt buying all that stuff. I went and paid it off for you. I want you to have it.”
“Well, maybe I don’t fucking want it!” Lily Mae spat and moved to pull away, but Jace held her fast.
“Why not?” he pressed. “What’s gotten into you? Why don’t you want to get your belongings?”
“I just don’t, goddamnit! And I don’t have to explain myself, either.”
Jace jerked the panties out of Lily Mae’s hand and stuffed them in his shirt pocket.
“I disagree. We talked about this,” he said. “I told you I wouldn’t put up with your temper tantrums.” He paused. “You’ve earned yourself a switching, young lady.”
That got her attention. “Jace, no…”
“Did you or did you not agree to my rules, Lily Mae?”
“I did, but…” Her hand had already flown back to cover her wet, naked bottom. “I’m naked!”
“As the day you were born,” he agreed. “And after today I have all ideas you’ll think twice before sassing without your pants on.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a knife. “Here.”
She looked up at him.
“You can’t be serious,” she said tearfully, and Jace wanted to kiss the trembling lower lip, but knew now wasn’t the time.
“Yes, I certainly am.” He inclined his head toward the willow tree by the pond. “You’re cutting your own switch, missy.”
“The hell I am!” Lily Mae backed away, looking at the knife as if it were a snake.
“If I have to do it, you’re getting twenty instead of ten.” Jace paused long enough to allow the threat to sink in. “Don’t be stubborn, Lily Mae. You know I mean what I say.”
She crossed her arms, and he could tell she was considering the cost of disobeying. After a moment, she reached for the pocket knife with a trembling hand and turned to the willow tree.
Jace took a seat on a nearby rock and watched as Lily Mae reluctantly headed to the tree. The early afternoon sun glinted off her tan, damp skin. Her long hair hung nearly to her waist. When she turned, he got a full view of her perfect bottom. Damn, but that girl was made to be spanked. He shifted where he sat, discreetly adjusting his stiffening cock where it now nudged against the fly of his faded jeans.
Lily Mae was reaching up now, the position of her arms so that the upward-tilting breasts were visible to his gaze, the little nipples rosy and pert. He wondered if her pussy was wet, despite her dread. Jace imagined bending her over and fucking her pussy, then fucking her tight, striped ass after he switched it. But there was a time and a place for sex, and he needed to start sending the message that when he punished her, it was solely for correction.
She’d selected the switch and was walking back now, looking for all the world like a seductive nymph. But Jace set his mouth in a grim line as he boosted his resolve. Lily Mae had always had a fiery temper, and had been on her own a long time without anyone to rein her in. She needed to realize she couldn’t just sass and curse him whenever she didn’t get her way.
It was a lesson he was about to teach her.
Jace stood to take the switch and the knife, and Lily Mae whimpered as she watched him skin the bark from the limber little branch she’d selected. He knew she’d never been switched, but he also knew that any girl growing up in west Texas was well aware of the dreaded practice.
Tears were welling in Lily Mae’s eyes as Jace put the knife back in his pocket, took hold of her arm, and turned her to the side.
“Move that hand,” he said when she instinctively moved it to the middle of her bottom. When she didn’t, he raised an eyebrow. “Lily Mae…”
With a scared little moan, she obeyed, and the switch flicked across the middle of her bottom, raising a welt as her cry startled several birds into fleeing the surrounding trees.
“It hurts!” she cried, trying to lower herself to the ground. The look she shot Jace was one of fear and betrayal, but he steeled himself against any pity he was tempted to give.
“It’s supposed to hurt,” he growled, and lifted her up as he brought the switch down again. This blow caught the underside of her cheeks, and she danced at the end of his ar
m, howling, as he brought the switch down again.
The fourth and fifth blow caught her thighs. By now Lily Mae was bawling and begging, and her struggles were so animated that Jace knew the only way to effectively finish the task was to put her over his knee. Taking his seat on the boulder, he did just that, catching her lower legs between his as he wrapped one arm around her tiny waist. This left her bottom a helpless target, and with Lily Mae thus restrained, he landed five more stinging stripes to her upturned nates.
She was a sobbing mess by the time he was done, her body slumped in helpless defeat to his authority. Jace tossed the switch aside and looked down at her bottom. He’d tilted her slightly upward after the seventh lick, and her cheeks had parted slightly, he realized, giving him a glimpse of her pussy. Just as he’d suspected, she was wet, the inner lips engorged and protruding through bare labia. His eyes traveled up to the rosy crinkle of her bottom hole. He remembered how she’d groaned with animalistic pleasure when he’d breached it with his fingers. The girl was a natural submissive, his perfect complement. It was his place to make her mind, but it was also his place to take her to the very outer reaches of pleasure. And he would, but first things first.
He lifted her off his lap before his cock could betray him completely by poking into her soft belly.
“Are you going to watch that tongue of yours?” he asked.
“Yes…” she wailed.
“Good girl.” He stood, giving her a hug. “You know I love you to death, Lily Mae. And we’re going to grow old together here on this ranch surrounded by our kids and grandkids. But make no mistake; whether you’re twenty-five or seventy-five, if you sass me I’m going to light that ass up, understand?”