Chapter Twelve

Violet couldn't believe she was doing this .

Not once in her life had she ever imagined herself letting a man spank her.

Then again, she'd never imagined herself with a man like Simon Jennings. There was something different about him. Something darkly alluring beneath that nice-guy exterior. It was both unexpected and refreshing. Probably because he didn't seem to be putting on a front. This came naturally to him. His assertiveness in the bedroom turned her on more than she'd ever thought it would.

"Tell me, Violet," he said, his hands caressing her ass.

Figuring it was best to get this out of the way, she opted for the truth. "I left because I wanted you too much."

"You wanted me?" He didn't sound convinced.

"Yes." It helped that she didn't have to look at him when she spoke. Granted, she wasn't immune to him ogling her bare ass, either.

"Explain."

"I woke up and wanted you," she told him. "Since I'd already had you— three times —it scared me."

"Hmm." His hand kneaded her ass, teasing her bare flesh. "So your instinct is to run when you're scared?"

"I guess."

He shifted and she felt his towel as it slid down her legs to the floor. Then she felt the hard ridge of his cock as he rubbed it between her ass cheeks. Sparks danced along her skin.

"You don't have to be scared of me. I'll never do anything you don't want me to," he said softly, the head of his cock pressing gently against her entrance.

"It wasn't that," she admitted.

"Then what scared you?"

Violet held her breath, unable to answer. Partly because she didn't want to give that much of herself to this man. She did not want him to know he had that kind of power over her. That was how her mother had ended up the way she did, a prisoner of her feelings. Granted, Daphne had fallen for a man who wasn't worthy of her, but still.

Simon's lips brushed along her spine as he leaned over her. He kissed a path up her back, over her neck. She'd never realized that was an erogenous zone until his mouth caused trails of fire to blaze straight to her core.

His body covered hers, his heat spreading through her. She whimpered when he lifted her right leg, resting her knee on the mattress like he had last night. A second later, his cock pressed against her entrance, sinking inside of her. Slow and deep.

"What scared you, Violet?" he whispered as her pussy stretched around his thick, beautiful cock.

"I want you too much," she blurted, fisting the blankets as pleasure fizzed in her bloodstream.

"I know the feeling." He rolled his hips, pinning her upper body to the bed while he stood behind her, fucking her like he owned her.

"Simon…" She moaned, loving the way he overwhelmed all her senses. She could feel him everywhere.

"What do you say we don't run from this just yet?" He kissed her shoulder. "We just take a breath and see where it goes?"

She nodded because that made sense to her. Whether she could hold up her end was yet to be seen, but at that moment, she would've given him anything.

"Good girl." He lifted up. "Now I'm gonna give this pussy the fucking it deserves. Then we'll get back to the punishment."

Violet had barely enough time to tighten her grip on the blanket when he rammed into her from behind. He fucked her hard, deep. It was as though he was marking her from the inside out. Or maybe that was her romantic heart looking for something to hold on to. Whatever it was, she was caught up in the conflagration that consumed them both.

"Violet … baby… Fuck, you feel good."

One second, she was climbing toward that inevitable summit; the next, the world was spinning, and she felt empty. Simon pulled out, shifting, moving. Then she was on her back, and Simon hovered over her, his cock sliding inside her once more. They were face to face, her knees embracing his hips as he rocked into her deeper than before.

"Hold on to me," Simon ordered.

Violet threw her arms around his neck and held on as he drove into her again and again. His breathing was as ragged as hers, his throaty groans reverberating through her as they soared toward the ether together. It felt as though she was being filled with a warm light. That light made its way through her until the spark ignited and flames licked at her nerve endings.

Tightening her arms around his neck, Violet let herself get swept away by the pleasure.

"Come for me, baby," he growled. "Come for me."

His tormented growl set her off and then she was fracturing, splintering into millions of fragments of light and heat.

"That's it, Vi. God, that's it, baby." Simon drove into her one last time and held himself still. She felt his cock pulse, reigniting the sensations tearing through her body.

"Simon!"

He growled, grinding his hips as he came, his cock spurting deep inside her. It was all she could do to breathe as wave after wave of pleasure ripped her to shreds.

Sex had never been this good before, and Violet knew it had as much to do with her feelings for this man as with the way he could play her body like a finely tuned instrument.

No doubt about it, she was in way over her head.

·····

Simon rolled off of her, not wanting to crush her. He made a quick stop in the bathroom to clean up. First himself, then he took a warm washcloth back to the bedroom and cleaned a drowsy Violet. She smiled, sighing softly.

The sight caused a throb in the center of his chest.

He was in deep.

After returning the washcloth to the bathroom, he grabbed the water bottle from the nightstand, took a sip while he admired the beautiful woman on the bed.

"Are you considering my punishment?" she asked, rolling over and propping her head on her hand.

"I'm considerin' a lot of things." He smiled, put the water down, and crawled into the bed with her. "And yes, your punishment's one of them."

"You are a nice guy."

Simon pressed a kiss to her forehead, then got comfortable, urging her to rest her head on his chest. He trailed his fingers up and down her back.

"That's not a bad thing, Vi. You know that, right?"

"Mmm."

"Why don't you like nice guys?"

"It's not that I don't like them. They just don't stick around."

"Ah. Right. The curse. And who determined you were cursed?"

"It's kinda obvious." Violet sighed, her fingers teasing over his chest. "Nice guys run far and fast from us Anderson women. It's my mother's fault."

"How so?"

"When she was younger, she dated this nice guy. They were serious. He was even gonna ask her to marry him. At least that's how she tells it."

"What happened?"

"Harold Anderson happened."

"Your father?"

"Yup. He swooped in and charmed my mother's panties right off. She kicked the nice guy to the curb and married my father. They had known each other for seven days. She claimed he was the love of her life. Still claims that even though he's stomped all over her for the better part of forty years."

"And you think she's cursed because she chose your father over the nice guy?"

"We all are. If it hadn't been for my father, my mother might've been happy, and her daughters wouldn't've been drawn to the same type of man."

Simon smiled. "If it hadn't been for your father, you and your sisters wouldn't be here."

"True."

"Why do you think it's a curse?"

"Well, for starters, Amanda ended up married at eighteen to an asshole who cheated on her with her best friend. And Whitney, don't even get me started on her long list of mistakes. She never married any of them, thank God, but not for lack of trying on her part. Neither one has ever dated a nice guy because those guys won't get within ten feet of them. And if they did, they wouldn't stick around."

"You sound certain about that?"

"I am. I've never dated a nice guy before. Not until you."

"I'm stickin' around," he told her.

"Yep." He felt her tense, although her words were slurring as she was drifting off. "Right up until you go back to Dallas in a week or two."

Not sure what to say to that, Simon remained there, rubbing her back, listening to her soft, heavy breaths as she succumbed to exhaustion. At some point, he drifted off with her.

Simon woke up when he felt something move against him.

"If you're tryin' to sneak out…" he mumbled, eyes closed.

"I wouldn't dare." Violet's soft voice sounded nearby. "Then again, if I do, will it earn me a spanking?"

"Absolutely." He chuckled softly and held her tighter. "What time is it?"

"Seven."

"Really?" They'd slept for the entire night.

"I hope you didn't need to be somewhere."

He nuzzled her neck. "Right here. This is where I need to be."

"Well, I need the bathroom," she said with a giggle. "And I should probably check on Harry and Hermione, or they might break through the door."

"You didn't sneak out."

"Neither did you."

"Why would I?"

Her voice sounded smaller when she said, "Payback, maybe?"

Simon hugged her tighter and pressed a kiss to her forehead. "This doesn't work like that." He pressed one more kiss, then released her. "Go on. Go do your thing. Mind if I take a shower?"

"Not at all. Do you drink coffee in the mornin'?"

Simon smiled as she crawled out of bed, taking the sheet with her. "I drink coffee any time of day, but yes, if you're offerin' to make some…"

"Okay."

While she slipped into the bathroom, Simon put his hands behind his head and stared up at the ceiling.

"Do you work on Sunday?" he prompted when she came out of the bathroom wearing a royal purple robe.

"I … uh … work … uh … every day." Her eyes were locked onto his cock. The damn thing was hard, but that wasn't saying much. He was hard whenever he thought about this woman. Being in the same room only made him harder.

"All day?"

"No." She swallowed, shifting her eyes to his face. "Officially, the store's open from noon to four. Since it's only me, the town knows my hours may vary. Why?"

He grinned, shifting his gaze her way. "Just curious about you."

"Ah. Well, if that's all, I'm gonna make coffee."

The teasing note in her voice made him want to grab her and haul her back into the bed. He could've spent the entire day there.

"What's on your schedule today?" she asked as she opened the door and left the room.

"I need to do some research," he called after her, sitting up. "And I need to call Archer and Paige."

Violet reappeared in the doorway. "Are you gonna do the story?"

"I think so." Now that he'd said it out loud, he realized how much he wanted to do it.

"So you're goin' back to Dallas?"

"Do you want me to go back to Dallas?"

Her smile looked forced. "Of course not."

She disappeared again.

Simon knew they had to talk about what this was. He hadn't been concerned about how fast things were moving between them, but that was before she told him the story about her parents. He would have to tread lightly if he hoped for any chance of seeing where this might lead.

After he took a quick shower and got dressed, he joined Violet in the kitchen. She was busy making the cats their breakfast while the coffee was brewing. He waited until she set the bowls down for the cats before he said her name.

She didn't look at him. "Hmm?"

So she wanted to play like that, huh?

"Come here, please."

Again, she didn't turn around. "The coffee's almost done."

"Violet."

His tone was firm enough to attract Harry's attention. He looked over, assessed, then went back to eating his breakfast.

Violet finally turned, her gaze dropping to his extended hand. She reached out to put her palm in his and he pulled her toward him. He leaned back against the counter and put his arms around her so she couldn't get away.

"I didn't know what my plan was when I came down here," he explained. "Only that I would listen to what Holt had to say, strike up a few conversations, and see if the story unfolded at all."

"You've done that." Her words were clipped.

"For the most part, yeah. This case is cold enough I could probably go back to Dallas, venture out when I needed to talk to someone. Archer does most of the investigating, so I could rely more on him."

She nodded, her eyes shifting down to his chest.

"But I'm not ready to go back," he admitted.

Her eyes snapped to his face again.

"I'd like to stick around for a bit. If that's all right with you."

Her dark eyes shined as she nodded.

"Unless you're done with me already."

Violet's expression softened. "I'm not done with you. Not yet."

He leaned in and kissed her. "Good. And if you need a date for your cousin's wedding…"

Her dark eyebrows popped up. "You're offerin' to go to a wedding with me?"

"Baby, I'm offerin' to go anywhere with you."

Simon stood still as her gaze skimmed his face. He couldn't read her expression, but he hoped she understood he was being sincere. He couldn't explain what was happening here, but he knew he wasn't ready for it to be over. In fact, he wanted to stick around more to see where it was going than for the potential story.

"And maybe you could help me with some research if you've got time."

"Really?"

Simon nodded.

"You just said Archer does most of the investigating. And you've got Paige for … whatever else."

"They help me, yeah. Archer does most of the leg work. Paige takes care of the audio. She cleans it up, edits, forces me to make those changes, and adds the sound bites and whatnot. I'm sure she'll wanna come down here to check it out."

"That'd be cool."

Simon thought he heard hesitancy in her tone. "Would it?"

"Are you and Paige … umm…"

He smirked. "No. We're not."

"How do you know what I'm askin'?"

He smoothed out the crease in her forehead with his thumb. "I just know."

"Have you…?"

"Have I ever been with Paige? No. Never. We're just friends."

"Paige and Archer?"

I chuckled. "That's somethin' you'll have to ask them, but I don't think so. Then again, I don't pay much attention to that stuff."

Violet leaned forward, resting her cheek on his chest, her hands gliding up and down his sides. "Liar. We all pay attention to that stuff."

He really didn't, but he didn't feel the need to argue. He had Violet right where he wanted her, and for once, everything was exactly as it should be.