Spring Fever Daddies

by Rayanna Jamison

  The familiar feelings of self-hatred rushed to my core. I had not intended to come between a couple.

  And then I remembered. I hadn’t. They had made the first moves. First Mitch, and then Brody. They had literally put me between them. I had been the squeamish one.

  Something had shifted since then, though. What was it? Was I at fault? Could I fix it? Should I ignore it and hope it went away?

  The latter seemed the only course of action I could take without more information, so I continued as if nothing was wrong. What was it Brody had told me this morning? Oh, right. There’s a chain of command, and he’s at the top. I grinned devilishly, knowing my next move.

  “You could. Or you could just take care of it yourself. After all, aren’t you the top dog around here?”

  His eyes lit up, and he smirked. “Something like that. I don’t think you know what you’re asking, little girl.”

  “And I don’t think you know what you’re saying,” I countered. “I am a grown ass woman, not a little girl by any stretch of the imagination.”

  “It’s a term of endearment. One designed to put you in your place.”

  “Oh yeah,?” I scoffed. “What place would that be?”

  “Underneath me, over my knee, on your knees in front of me, bent over with your hands around your ankles. Take your pick.”

  Oh God. My pussy gushed, and I wished for dry panties.

  “Yeah, I don’t think it’s working. You keep using it, and so far, I haven’t been in any of those positions.”

  His only response was a feral growl as he stood. I forced myself not to back away as he advanced towards me. I did close my eyes, though. Shit. No sooner had I done so, than I found myself flying through the air as he scooped me up by the waist and deposited me over his shoulder. I shrieked softly, not wanting to draw attention.

  “How about all of the above, then?”

  Ignoring my shrieks of indignation, he unceremoniously threw me onto the bed. I landed on my back and peered up at him with a grimace. Was it too late to back down? The look on his face told me that it was.

  “It’s the middle of the day! What if someone hears us?”

  “Somehow, I don’t think any of them care. Besides, unlike present company, I don’t think any of them go around listening at other people’s bedroom doors,” he said with a pointed glare.

  Shit. I didn’t have a leg to stand on. That didn’t mean I wouldn’t argue. “You know, you seem to be of the opinion that the woman you are dealing with is not a woman at all, but a little girl incapable of thinking for herself or making decisions about the way she lives her life.”

  “Maybe we just call it like we see it. I don’t know about Chicago, but where I come from, eavesdropping through closed bedroom doors isn’t exactly mature womanly behavior.”

  I had no response.

  I looked up at him sheepishly from under lowered eyelashes. “If I promise that I’ll never do it again, can we just pretend it never happened?”

  “It’s far too late for that. I hope you’ve enjoyed sitting down. I doubt you’ll be doing it for a while.”

  I couldn’t hold back my whimpers—or the surge of wetness that pooled when he looked at me the way he was.

  “Stand up.”

  I obeyed quickly. His stern demeanor left little choice, and my penchant for sass only went so far. I didn’t have a death wish.

  He snapped his fingers and pointed to a spot on the floor, just like I had seen him do to Mitch.

  Shit. Shit. Shit. I might be in over my head just a little. I hitched my pants up before I crossed over to stand in front of him, eyes downcast, just the way I had seen Mitch do.

  He shook his head. “On your knees, little girl.” The last was spoken pointedly, and I gulped. Message received.

  Quickly lowering myself to my knees, I stared down at the floor.

  “Tell me, little one. Are you feeling like a grown ass woman right now, or not so much?”

  “Not so much, Sir,” I whispered as my eyes filled with unshed tears.

  “Good. Well, that’s one position out of the way, isn’t it?” I closed my eyes and heard his footsteps as he crossed the room. They stopped suddenly, and the bed squeaked under his weight. “Want to guess which one is next?”

  I lifted my head and turned, staring right at him. “Over your lap, Sir?”

  “That’s right. Such a good little girl,” he crooned, patting his knee expectantly.

  With a sigh, I accepted my fate and stood, walked over to him, and draped myself precariously over his knee, burying my face in the bedcovers. They smelled like lavender.

  Brody was harder than Mitch. More muscular but also bonier. I could tell he worked out.

  “Naughty little girl about to get her first spanking from me,” Brody mused, massaging my ass through the thin fabric of my yoga pants. “Tell me again how you’re a grown ass woman?”

  “Well, I was!” I exclaimed. “Until I got here, and the two of you started in with all this Daddy talk, with your ridiculous terms of endearment and your constant threats.”

  “I assure you, I do not make threats. Those are promises.”

  I shivered. “Okay.”

  “And if the Daddy talk really bothers you, we will stop, but there’s just something about you, little one. You need a Daddy. Or two.”

  “I know, I know, one to cuddle and spoil, and one to…do other things.” His earlier words lingered in the back of my mind.

  I could almost feel the grin that lit up his face, even though I couldn’t see it. “That’s right. We did say that, didn’t we?”

  I nodded.

  “And if you weren’t so horribly naughty, maybe we could be having a little more fun right now.”

  I honestly wasn’t sure if either was preferable. Brody scared me, in a delicious way.

  “Can you just…you know…hurry?” I whined.

  “If that’s what you want.” His hands stopped their exploration, and the cold air kissed my skin as he peeled my pants down, resting them at my knees, leaving me little modesty.

  I squeezed my legs together tightly, hoping to hide my arousal.

  It was a futile effort. “What’s this?” Brody asked, flicking his fingers across the base of my pussy. “You are wet, little girl. Very wet. Very wet and very naughty.”

  I hid my face and willed his hands to move back to my ass, ceasing their exploration. The way I felt in this moment, he could do anything to me, and I would be powerless to resist.

  Thankfully, he stopped. “Eavesdropping is a very serious offense. You’re lucky we aren’t in my room. I don’t have access to any of my implements. A nice hairbrush spanking would have done the trick nicely.”

  “Thank goodness for small favors,” I sassed, then immediately clamped my mouth shut. Good Lord. I needed a muzzle around this man. He brought out the worst in me, but he was just so fun to challenge.

  “I’ll just have to make do. Lucky for you, I’m a very experienced spanker.”

  I bit down on my lip to keep my sarcastic replies at bay. I wished he would just get on with it, but I was beginning to understand that the build-up and psychological torture was a big part of the punishment.

  Brody was really good at it.

  Without warning, his hand fell hard against my ass, and I screamed. “Holy hell! What the hell is that? I thought you said you were going to use your hand!” I writhed on his lap and cranked my neck to glare at him over my shoulder.

  Raising his eyebrow, he wordlessly held up his cupped hand. There was nothing in it, and I realized that it was his solitary device of torture. Holy crap, I was screwed. My whimpers began anew, and I turned back quickly, not wanting to watch the onslaught.

  I had barely retreated to the safety of the bedsheets when it fell again. I didn’t scream this time, but tears welled as I bit my lip and tried to stay stoic.

  His hand felt like a wooden plank against my tender skin and stung with the rage of a thousand angry bees.

  And i
t fell again and again, with no pause or warning, until my body fell flat and limp against his and tears began to roll down my cheeks. The fight had left me.

  “Please stop,” I begged. “I’m really sorry, and I won’t ever do it again!”

  Mercifully, he paused, though I could feel his hand hovering in the air above my backside. “Learned your lesson, have you?”

  “Yes! Yes! I promise! Your business is your business! I never should have done it, and I’ll never do it again! You had every right to not answer my questions, and I had none to do what I did! Please stop!”

  The ragged sigh rocked his body, alarming me, and his hand dropped to the bed beside him.

  “I really don’t care that you listened,” he admitted with defeat. “But Mitch, he’s a pretty private guy. I didn’t feel this needed to be said, but now I’m not so sure, so I’ll say it, anyway, to be on the safe side. Anything you have heard or seen between Mitch and me, either through the door or when the three of us are together, needs to stay between us.”

  The pain in his voice was tangible, and I rolled out of position and climbed into his lap.

  “I would never say anything, and honestly, I’d expect the same in return.” I cupped his face in my hands and stared into his eyes. What I saw there was the same pain and confusion I had heard in his voice last night. I hadn’t imagined it.

  “Brody, if you need someone to talk to, I’m here. I know I can be a brat, but I’m actually a pretty good listener.”

  He threw back his head and laughed. “God, how backwards are we? I just got done beating the tar out of you, and you’re sitting here comforting me.”

  “We may be a little backwards,” I agreed. “But I’m okay. And I meant what I said.”

  “Thanks, but I don’t think you’re the one I need to talk to.”

  I nodded in understanding and stood, choosing to step out of my pants rather than pull them up. I was seriously considering staying in my room for the rest of the day, naked from the waist down. At least, until dinnertime. “Well, go get your boy, then!”

  Brody’s eyes flashed with pain and then zoned in on my exposed pelvic region.

  “Later, maybe. I’m about to be very busy. On your back, on the bed. I think you’ve endured quite enough punishment today. It’s time for your reward.”

  He knelt on the ground between my legs and licked his lips. Morals and waiting be damned. I fell backwards onto the bed and spread my legs wide, giving him full access.

  He was right about one thing. I had damned well earned a reward, and I was going to enjoy it.

  Chapter 15

  Mitch

  When I came back from town at a quarter after two, there were two large vans full of foster kids pulling in just ahead of me and Brody was nowhere to be found.

  Which was fine. I didn’t have a lot to say to him at the moment, and I was, quite frankly, running out of things I could make up for him to do that did not involve him getting back on a horse.

  A cowboy, Brody was not. Just another layer to add to the problems piling up between us. I was happy here. Like really happy. I hadn’t thought about that damn app since the minute I got back on a horse. There was always something to do here, and most of the time, my mind felt quieter. Unless, of course, Brody and April were yapping in my ear, giving me new things to be anxious about.

  The pounding on the window of my truck brought me back to reality. I had been parked in front of the barn, spacing out for God knows how long, and Slade was pounding on my window.

  I rolled it down and leaned out. “Yes?”

  “Can you leave all that stuff in the truck and come give me a hand with these kids? I forgot Blake was getting off early to go with Merry to her doctor’s appointment.

  I glanced out the rearview window and saw a dozen or more sulky teenagers clustered around the vans in various moody teenager poses.

  “Shit. Yes. What do you need me to do?”

  I opened the door, and Slade moved out of the way so I could jump out.

  “Just wrangle them into the barns and have them start grooming and getting saddled up. Then, I was planning on just taking them on a trail ride today. If you don’t mind coming with us, then we can still do that, and I’ll ride up to the house and throw together some water bottles and snacks to take.”

  “Yeah, sure, okay. No, I don’t mind.”

  The sun was shining after a week of clouds and drizzle, and a trail ride sounded like the perfect thing for my day.

  “Great.” Slade nodded agreement. “Okay! Hey, kids, this is Mitch; he’s back here at the ranch after a twenty year sabbatical in the Big Apple. But don’t think that means you’re gonna be able to pull one over on him. Here at Second Chance Ranch, Mitch is our resident horse whisperer. So follow him into the barns, get your horses groomed and saddled up, and when you’re ready, form a single file line in front of the gate over there. “

  “We going riding the trails today? Hell yeah!” The kid who whooped sported a Metallica t shirt, a nose ring, and blue hair.

  “Yes, we are going on a trail ride today, Derek, but you won’t be going if you can’t watch your mouth and your manners.”

  Slade commanded the kids with the same ease he commanded Merry—and a lot less softness. It wasn’t a side of him I got to see often.

  The Derek kid instantly sobered, to my shocked amusement.

  Slade just nodded, pointing towards the barns. “All right, let’s move. Hustle up! Get those horses saddled! You’re burning daylight! And don’t let me hear that you gave my boy, Mitch, here any trouble, or I’ll be giving you trouble; you hear me?”

  They piled to the barns without much chatter, and I followed. Damn. What had I just signed on for, anyway? The last time I had been around so many kids, I was one.

  They ignored me completely, but they did what they were supposed to, so I was okay with that. I kept a watchful eye on them while saddling up my own horse, Daredevil.

  There was one teenager, tall and lanky, with brown-black hair falling in his eyes, who kept walking past, looking at me like he wanted to say something or ask a question, but when I turned my attention in his direction, he sauntered off quickly, looking embarrassed. Weird. I wondered what that was about, but I was kind of relieved he hadn’t said anything, because unless it was a question about horses, I would be way out of my element.

  I didn’t have to find out because his friends had their horses saddled up, and they rode out of the barn in a group, presumably to follow Slade’s instructions.

  I lagged behind, taking my time until the barn was empty of kids, and I could hear Slade’s booming voice shouting directions out in the corral.

  The trail ride was pretty uneventful. The kids were typical teenagers, a little rowdy, teasing each other about this and that, but nothing too out of the ordinary. I was pretty sure they were afraid of Slade. I was equally sure that they should be.

  We stopped at the same clearing Brody, April and I had stopped at a few days before. I quickly dismounted and got to work helping Slade hand out water bottles, apples, and little bags of chips.

  Then, the kids were typical kids—skipping rocks in the stream, yelling and hooting, climbing trees, and doing random rowdy stuff. I sat back against a tree and watched. There were definite cliques, once the kids were able to sort out and do their own things. The tall lanky kid from the barn stood off to the side with two pretty girls flanking him. I wondered which one was his girlfriend, but I wasn’t getting that vibe from any of them. They were the quietest group in the bunch, just standing with their horses, laughing and whispering to themselves. One of the girls walked off and sat near the stream, stripping her shoes off and dipping her toes in the water.

  Derek, the blue haired kid was definitely the rowdiest of the bunch. His friends were equally male and female and all fairly loud and rambunctious, often stopping just short of getting in trouble.

  “Hey, sissy boy. What you doing over there?” His loud yell shocked me from my quiet reflection, and I
sought him out, following his gaze. Lanky kid was still standing by his horse. His fingers were working their way through Thor’s mane, fashioning it into a braid, while the girl next to him was fashioning a wreath out of leaves and flowers.

  “Get bent, Derek!” she yelled.

  “Yeah, Alicia, why do you even hang around him, anyway? You know he’s not ever going to be into you, don’t you? You’re not his type. You don’t have a dick!”

  Slade was on his feet now, poised between the two groups as if he expected a fight to break out any minute. I jumped up, still reeling from how fast things had taken a turn to the ugly.

  Lanky kid pointedly ignored Derek’s yells, but his cheeks were tinged with embarrassment, and he looked like he wanted to sink into the ground. I felt that shit in my gut. I also wanted to be anywhere but here and was seriously regretting going along with this, thinking it would be a pleasant way to spend an afternoon.

  Lanky kid may have been silent, but Alicia was not. “I don’t need to have a dick for him to listen to me, be nice to me, and care about me as a person and not just a piece of ass. You could stand to learn a thing or two from him, Derek, you ass!”

  “Alicia, language,” Slade growled, but he was holding back a smile, and he didn’t look very convincing, even to me.

  Derek was decidedly unamused by Alicia’s thoughtful response and turned his attention back to his target. He was moving towards them now, picking a fight.

  “You got anything to say? Or you just gonna let her fight your battles for you, faggot?”

  “Hey!” Finally, other kids started to stick up, but it was too late. Slade was already on it.

  He was seething, as he got Derek in a hold and pulled him to the other side of the clearing. I stood there, frozen and helpless, until I noticed him staring in my direction with a worried expression.

  He dragged Derek to an oversized tree stump and shoved him down onto it. “Do not move,” he growled.

  I started to move towards him, but he shook his head at me. “I got this. You go check on Alex.”

  He nodded at the lanky kid, who I now knew was called Alex. “Yeah, okay. Will do.” Shit.