by Anya Summers
“A tally of what?”
“The number of spanks you deserve.” The way he looked at her, desire turning his gaze molten black, made heat pour into her limbs and her core.
Her nipples perked up. It took everything inside Sadie to not take that final step into him. “But we’re not at the club,” she said, more breathlessly than she would have liked.
“You think that matters? Not in a true Dom/sub relationship. Granted, outside the club or bedroom, some Doms tend to be a little lax with the rules. It depends on the Dom and what you’ve agreed to within your relationship. But you should know, I’m not one of those Doms. I have no problem enforcing rules outside the bedroom. So go ahead and be a brat with your sarcasm. I can tell it’s getting you hot, the thought of a spanking. Bet if I reached beneath your skirt, I’d find you wet. I think you’re doing it just to earn a spanking.”
As he talked, moisture flooded her panties and she squeezed her thighs together at the thought of a spanking.
He chuckled darkly, like he knew the exact effect his words had on her. Ram leaned forward, nipped her ear, and murmured, “Later. I promise you won’t be able to sit down afterward without feeling the imprint of my hand.”
She moaned softly in the back of her throat.
“Come on. I need to check on the chicken.” Taking her hand in his, he led her out through a sliding glass door onto his back patio.
The large paved patio sported a decent sized pool. Angela was reclining on a float in the water, while Rocky launched himself off the diving board like a cannonball. A tidal spray of water doused Angela.
When Rocky surfaced and took one look at his drenched sister, the kid tossed his head back and cackled.
“Hey!” Angela shouted. “Stop being a dingus.”
“If you don’t want to get wet, you should get out of the pool,” he taunted his sister.
“I’m allowed to be in the pool the way I want just as much as you are,” Angela sniped, wiping water off her face.
“The joys of fatherhood,” Ram said in a low voice. “Guys, you remember Sadie? Sadie, you remember Rocky and Angela.”
“Hi. Thanks for having me over. I brought cookies,” Sadie said.
“Woohoo!” Rocky leapt out of the pool.
“I don’t see why she had to come to dinner,” Angela said snidely.
“Angela,” Ram said, with a warning in his tone.
“Don’t mind her. She’s just upset because Trevor didn’t want to date her anymore.” Rocky laughed.
“Explain. Who’s this Trevor? And why didn’t I know you were dating someone? We talked about this. You can, but I need to meet the guy and know where you are with him at all times,” Ram said, his hands on his hips, staring his daughter down on her raft.
Angela huffed. “It’s no big deal, Dad. It wasn’t anything. Just ask Trevor.”
“I’m going to ask again. Who’s Trevor?”
Angela shrugged. “Just some guy at camp.”
“The camp counselor, you mean,” Rocky said.
“Rocky, you traitor. You promised not to say anything.”
“Did not,” Rocky said.
“Oooh, I hate you!” Angela sputtered.
“Angela, cut it out. Get out and dry off. Then go in, bring out the plates and the salad.”
Angela whipped her head between them until she finally tossed her hands in the air and dramatically said, “Fine.”
Oh, to be fifteen again. You couldn’t pay Sadie all the money in the world to be that age again. She’d been awkward and clumsy and shy. A horrible combination.
Angela did as she was told, huffing and muttering beneath her breath the whole time.
“And you, Rocky. Why don’t you grab everyone some drinks? Then help your sister set the table. Leave the cookies alone and better yet, stop antagonizing your sister,” Ram said.
“But it’s so much fun to see her lose her shit.” Rocky laughed with unrepentant glee.
“Language,” Ram said.
Rocky gave Ram a rather patronizing stare. “Like you don’t say even worse.”
“Yeah, but I’m an adult and have been to war. When you’re fully grown, under your own roof, you can say whatever you like.”
Rocky grinned. “You keep thinking that, Daddio. Sir, yes, sir.” He saluted in a dopey, rather comical fashion that made Sadie think of Jerry Lewis. Then the kid laughed his head off and headed inside.
“Sorry about them.”
She shrugged, hiding her smile. “They’re teenagers. What do you expect?”
“To hopefully get through these years without going fully gray and losing my mind.”
“Ha! Good luck with that. Although, Rocky’s not far off. You do sound a bit like a drill sergeant.”
“And you would know that how? Ever been in the military?”
“No. But I remember a friend of my dad’s, they were like brothers, and I even called him my uncle before he died, years ago. He was in the military—the Navy, if I recall correctly. I remember the few times my parents had Uncle Charlie watch me. He was the strictest out of all my babysitters. Granted, I was eight, so what did I know?”
“I promise to show you just how strict they can be in the military tonight.” He nudged her into one of the chairs at the patio table, then waltzed over to the huge grill and opened the lid. The scent of cooking meat and smoke billowed up into the air. Sadie watched him wield the tongs and move things around, and couldn’t help staring at his mighty fine ass.
“How’d your meeting with Marsha go?”
“Are you asking as a therapist or as my… friend?” she asked, not taking her eyes off his behind. To be fair, each time they’d been together, she had been a little more concerned and engaged with the front of him.
But then he turned, and her gaze was now centered on his crotch. Lifting her eyes, she bit her bottom lip to keep from moaning out loud. The man exuded more testosterone from his little pinky than most men did in their entire being. He was brandishing a set of tongs, his gaze shielded by the sun at his back, casting his face into shadows. She felt a bolt of energy shoot straight through her. He’d caught her ogling his butt.
“Sadie, just answer the question.”
“You first.” She gestured in a be my guest fashion.
“Sadie,” he said in a low voice that let her know he was adding to the spanking tally.
“Fine. It was fine. Marsha and I are getting along great. We talk the entire hour. And she likes the progress I’m making,” Sadie replied.
“That’s good. And no more episodes?”
Disappointment settled into her belly. He might want her, might even fancy extending their bedroom activities when he returned from Dallas, but she would always carry that sheen of being a patient to him.
“Ram, I’m not your patient. Please stop treating me like one.”
“Showing concern doesn’t mean I’m treating you like a patient.”
“Could have fooled me.” She didn’t know why she was picking a fight—except, she did. It was because she’d been thinking about what Marsha had said earlier, about her loving Ram. She was beginning to suspect that Marsha’s insights were spot on.
Ram prowled her way, and bent over until they were eye to eye. “Babe, listen up. I don’t consider a woman I plan to fuck tonight until neither of us can walk, one of my patients. It’s in my nature when someone is struggling—be they friend, submissive, or otherwise—to show concern and try to help. Understood?”
At the dark promise in his eyes, Sadie felt herself falling into his gaze. “Yes, Sir,” she whispered.
At that, his gaze darkened and he leaned in, brushing her mouth gently, without a lot of heat behind it.
“Eeewww. Get a room,” Angela said.
Ram withdrew, straightened up, and turned to his daughter with a raised brow.
“I know, I know. Stop with the dramatics. But you’ve never been a teenage girl, Dad,” Angela said, setting a stack of plates on the table.
“S
he has a point. Girls are quite different from boys. Especially during the teen years,” Sadie said.
Ram slanted a look her way. A look that made her squirm in her seat because she could see him adding a few more swats to his internal tally for the night.
Angela perked up at Sadie’s defense of her. “What do you do, Sadie?”
“I’m an RN, a nurse, over at Saint Mary’s Hospital. I work in the Intensive Care Unit.”
“Really? What’s that like?” Angela asked.
“Yeah, do you get to see a lot of blood?” Rocky asked, setting four bottles of water on the table.
“It sort of comes with the territory. Why, are you interested in medicine, Angela? In studying it?”
“Maybe. I have another year before I really have to start deciding,” Angela replied, and it struck Sadie how much her eyes were like Ram’s. They were the same shape and color.
“Well, if you would like to see the hospital, get a feel for it, I would be happy to give you a tour. I’m on vacation right now,” she lied, with a brief glance at Ram and then back at his daughter. “Actually, I’m leaving the hospital in a few weeks to go work for a general practitioner’s office.”
“You didn’t tell me that,” Ram said. There was a flash of something in his eyes and then it was gone, before he turned and stood at the barbecue pit, giving her his back. From the firm set to his shoulders, Sadie could tell he was not thrilled she hadn’t said anything.
“Um, yeah, I decided I wanted a little slower pace. I’m working at Luc’s office.” Sadie tried to extend an olive branch. This information wasn’t something she had been trying to hide.
“You’re working for Doctor Beauchamp? He’s our doctor when we’re here,” Angela said with a dreamy expression on her face.
“Ew, you like Doctor Beauchamp too? Gah, girls! They don’t make any sense. He’s like forty,” Rocky said, shaking his head.
“I do not.” But Angela blushed and looked away.
“Luc is quite hot. All the nurses in the ICU are half in love with him.” Sadie’s comment earned her a grin from Angela.
A pan of sizzling chicken was placed in the center of the table with an audible thump. She glanced up at Ram and sucked in a breath at the dark possessiveness in his eyes. “Is that right?” he said. “All the nurses?”
Sadie flushed, trying like hell not to squirm under his penetrating glare. But then something rose up inside her and she returned his stare with one of her own before tossing a gauntlet down. “Yes. All the nurses.”
His nostrils flared and a muscle ticked in his jaw, he had it clenched so tight. Then he took the tongs and slapped them against his palm. Her pussy throbbed. She had never considered that egging a Dom on could be fun, and a turn-on. She would pay for it later, but she would like it.
“Angela, do you need some help bringing the salad out?” Sadie asked, totally ignoring the enticing threat. It was kind of like she was tossing a lit match onto dry kindling coated in gasoline. But hell, she was done playing it safe.
“Yeah. That’d be great. And are you serious about coming to your work? Because I would totally love that.”
Sadie stood, followed behind Angela and said, “Absolutely. We can figure out a day before you leave.”
Then she glanced over her shoulder and flashed Ram a smile. The man was going to let her have it the moment they were alone.
Chapter 20
Throughout dinner, Ram observed Sadie’s interaction with his kids. This was new to him—and them, if he were honest. In the twelve years since he and their mother had split, he had rarely, if ever, brought a woman into his home when his children were present.
Sadie was a natural with them. Some of it was due to the ever-present warmth that radiated from her being. Ram knew it was what made her such a great nurse. He didn’t need Luc to tell him she was one of the best he had worked with; the longer he knew her, the more he could see the depths of it in her soul. She had gotten Angela to warm up, a feat Ram would not have believed possible. But she had.
Rocky’s interest in blood and guts should worry him and it would have, too, if Rocky wasn’t so affable and down to earth. His curiosity was natural for a thirteen-year-old boy, one on the cusp of making the transition into manhood.
Ram rubbed the all too familiar ache in his chest at the thought that it would be Brad, his ex-wife’s husband, who would influence Rocky more than he would on the kind of man he would become.
In the thick of it all was Sadie, making both his kids laugh—and they were genuine laughs, not the fake ones they did when they didn’t want to hurt someone’s feelings. It amazed Ram, whenever he looked at his kids, that he had helped to make them. That they were his. No amount of phone calls or Skyping could make up for the time he didn’t get to spend with them. Before long, Angela would be off to college, with Rocky not far behind. Ram just felt he had missed so much in the five years since their stepfather had been transferred to Dallas.
Angela was now talking about boys with Sadie, pumping her for tidbits about Ram’s buddy, Luc. The thought of one of his best friends and his daughter made him damn near see red. Not that Luc would ever do that to him, or would ever consider his daughter datable. If he did, Ram would kill him. As a former Army Ranger, he knew how to do it, and how to cause the most pain. But Sadie wasn’t helping things, telling Angela about the lengths some of the nurses went to in an attempt to catch Luc’s interest. Despite her teasing him about Luc, Ram knew Luc never selected his partners from the hospital. And the fact that Sadie knew so much about Luc, could recount a few details that put a dreamy expression on his daughter’s face, was something they would address later, once his kids were at their sleepover.
But Ram was charmed by her.
Then again, Sadie made it easy to like her. She was warm and giving, with a natural instinct to please everyone. It was obvious she was truly interested in other people by the way she asked questions. And she did it in a way that a person knew she was fully engaged and listening. It was why Angela and Rocky were now sitting there, describing people from their school, and Rocky had brought up his comic book collection, and artwork. Sadie gave of herself. For someone who had lost as much as she had, been as alone she had through such grief, she awed Ram.
Sadie kept looking at him across the fire pit after they’d had s’mores for dessert. In that look was a warm affection and something deeper, darker, infused with need. It made Ram’s gut clench and his body hunger—for her. Sadie was submissive, through and through. He had never been with a submissive who was as responsive and open, so willing to try anything he wanted, giving him her trust without reservation.
She was intoxicating and addicting. Each time he had her beneath him, he would think that this needed to be it, the last time. That he needed to end things before they went too far. But as he stared at the way her thick golden braid fell over her slim shoulder, the way her eyes danced as she laughed at something Rocky said, and the wide smile on her lips, he had a feeling he had passed all the danger signs and was already neck deep in the muck.
“Dad, Aunt Gina just texted and said they are on their way. We should get ready to go,” Angela said.
“You guys sure you want to spend the night at your aunt’s house?” Ram asked, because as much as he wanted time with Sadie, he could always spend more with her once he returned from Dallas. The idea had merit. But he wouldn’t see his kids again until Thanksgiving.
“Yeah, it’s the last chance we’ll get to see her and our cousins until next summer, unless she comes to Dallas,” Rocky said, which was accurate.
Ram went to Dallas for Thanksgiving. Then they took a trip together, the three of them, over their spring break. Ram’s ex-wife didn’t begrudge him any time with their kids. He and Kelly had remained friends over the years, putting their children first, above any issues they had with each other. Kelly was a great mom, and Ram hadn’t always been the perfect husband.
“All right. Let’s get your things together. Tomorrow, we’
re heading out to Grandma and Grandpa’s house so that they get to see you. Aunt Becca will be there too.”
Ram knew they wanted to have fun with their cousins, but he was always a little sad at the passing of time, especially now that he had two teenagers in high school, which made him feel incredibly old.
“They’re staying at my sister’s house tonight. She lives a few blocks away,” he said to Sadie, who was looking a little lost with his kids heading inside.
She picked up the empty box of graham crackers and plates. “Your sister? I didn’t know you had a sister.” She gave him a look that told him she was realizing that he hadn’t been as forthcoming about himself, that he knew more about her than she did about him. Ram noticed the doubt and uncertainty as it flashed in her eyes.
It was his fault. He had gone into this only thinking about getting her out of his system, when the opposite had happened. He conceded, “One of them. The other two members of the Coven live farther away. Becca, the baby of the family, lives in the town where we all grew up, in Houma. It’s about a forty-minute drive from here, depending on the traffic. And then there’s Riley, who is off in Los Angeles working as a set designer.”
“You call your sisters the Coven?” Sadie followed him to the back door, her arms full.
He shrugged, holding the door open for her. “I call them like I see them. You can leave that stuff in the sink. I need to help the kids out, make sure they have everything they need.”
He headed up the stairs to the chaos of Angela and Rocky getting last minute items into their backpacks. Rocky was easy, with Ram reminding the kid to grab his toothbrush. All the boy did was pack the essentials, his backpack light and not even half full. His daughter, on the other hand, packed like she was going away for a week instead of a night.
“What are you doing, moving in with your aunt?”
“Dad, you wouldn’t get it. Guys have it so easy.” Angela shook her head in disgust as she zipped up her pack, the seams straining. He grabbed the pack from her hands, shocked at how heavy the damn thing was. It had to be thirty pounds.