Chapter 11

Chapter

Eleven

“ M andy and John seem happier than ever,” Mac said conversationally.

Willa smiled. “They are pretty great together. He’s a bit authoritarian for my taste, but I know some women like that.”

“I know some women who do, too, you included.”

“Hardly.”

“They work well together,” Mac continued.

“Because Mandy always gives in.”

Mac snorted. “That isn’t how it works, and you know it. Mandy is a lot of things, but she isn’t weak. It takes a strong woman to submit to the man in her life.”

“I’m not submissive, Mac. I never was and never will be.”

“I never wanted you to be submissive, I just want you to submit to me. You’re a strong, fiercely independent, and passionate woman. I need to be with someone who can stand on her own two feet when I can’t be there. But you’re also hotheaded and a bit reckless. I think having a partner who can rein you in and hold you accountable will give you the structure and support you need.”

“I’m not doing this again, Mac. I’m not saying I don’t still find you attractive. Annoying as you are, I think you’re all kinds of sexy, but there’s no way in hell I’m answering to anybody but me.”

“Not true, Willa. You will answer to me. I don’t lie, and I don’t make idle threats. You step too far out of line, and I’ll put you over my knee for a little old-fashioned discipline—especially now. You’re going to stay put until we can make sure Eastwick is no longer a threat.”

“I wouldn’t count on that, Mac.”

“Keep pushing, Willa, and you’ll get that spanking that has you so hot and bothered.”

“Hot and bothered? Are you kidding me? There’s nothing about that I find even remotely interesting.”

Mac took a long drink from the bottle of water, then sighed.

“Yeah, you do. Every time I kiss you or tell you I’m going to spank you if you don’t behave, your nipples bead up, and your entire body language changes. Remember, I know you, and I am professionally trained to pick up on people’s subtle signs of changes in their emotions. I’m good at it, and it’s saved my life a time or two, so keep that in mind.”

Willa pushed the coffee table into its folded position.

“I cooked. You can clean up. I want to go home.”

“Cleaning up, I’m happy to do, but you’re not going home.”

“Then what would you like me to sleep in?”

“I suppose it’s too soon to tell you I always liked you naked in my arms.”

She gave a shriek of frustration.

He stood up, piling the dishes together, then leaned over and kissed her. Willa couldn’t understand why she stood there and did nothing, or why she moved closer to him to deepen the kiss.

“I despise you,” she whispered as she broke it off.

Mac chuckled. “No, you don’t. You’re just pissed because you know I’m right, and you don’t want me to be.”

She turned and walked toward what she hoped was the bedroom in a huff. If it wasn’t, she was going to feel like an idiot. Thankfully, she was right, and the door made a loud noise as she slammed it behind her, then engaged the deadbolt.

She checked the closet but didn’t see anything that looked particularly comfortable to sleep in. However, in the dresser drawer, she found a very large T-shirt that should cover everything it needed to.

Willa went into the attached bath and turned on the shower. After stripping out of her clothes, she folded them neatly, which would allow her to slip into them quickly once the marshal was sleeping soundly enough, she could quietly slip away. She’d show him he wasn’t going to tell her what to do, no matter how much she liked kissing him and the feel of his strong hands on her body again.

Get a grip, girl!

Willa stepped into the shower and enjoyed the hot, powerful spray as it cascaded down her body. The water stung where the bullet had grazed her earlier in the day. She used the washcloth to cover and protect it, but it felt good to wash away the grit and grime. Walking into the bedroom, Mac was stretched out on top of the bedclothes with the covers turned back on the side next to him.

“How did you get in here? I distinctly remember locking that door.”

“Not much good to lock something I have keys for.” He grinned and held up a set of keys, then patted the bed beside him. “Why don’t you come to bed?”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea, considering why I’m here.”

“Probably not when you think of it in those terms, but I don’t much care. If you don’t want anything to happen tonight, it won’t. That’s why I’m still dressed and lying on top of the covers.”

“And if I’m not sure about what I want?” she asked quietly.

“Then we can talk about it or make out until you decide. I’ve missed you, Willa.”

“Not planning to threaten me to have sex?”

His face lost all its humor.

“Never. When we have sex again is totally in your control.”

“But you’re sure that’s going to happen…”

“Yes, and so are you, but before we start, you need to hear me when I say, you will not be the dominant one in our relationship.”

“Do you hear yourself? We haven’t spoken in five years.”

“I know,” he said soberly. “Letting you push me out of your life was the single stupidest thing I’ve ever done. Now that we’ve been thrown together, I don’t intend to let it happen again. I made mistakes, but so did you. I mean to correct the errors of both of our ways.” He patted the bed beside him. “Come sit with me.”

“No, I want you out. I need to go to sleep. Maybe when I wake up, this nightmare will be over, and you’ll be gone.”

“I’m afraid that’s not going to happen. Don’t misunderstand me. We’ll catch Eastwick, and with your help, we’ll put him away for murdering his wife, but I’m not going anywhere.”

“Of course, you are. Aren’t you based in Louisiana?”

“I am, but I now have enough seniority, I can put in for a transfer to pretty much any place I want… if I decide to stay with the Marshals.”

“Get out.” Willa shook her head. “Please, if you won’t let me go home, then leave me alone.”

Mac swung his legs over the edge of the bed and stood. He walked over to her, hugged her unrelenting body, and kissed her on her forehead.

“It’ll be all right, Willa. I’ll sleep on the couch, and you can have the bed to yourself for as long as you want it. but keep the door open.”

“What if I don’t want to keep the door open?”

“Then when I have to unlock it a second time, your backside will pay the price. I want to be able to keep my eyes on you.”

“I thought you said this place and especially this bedroom were secure.”

“They are, but you always had a nasty habit of leaving without telling me. I’m warning you, if you do it this time, you and I will tangle, and not in the way you like… at least, not at first.”

“You think I like it when you hit me?”

“Hit you? No, but I think you like the idea of my being in charge again of spanking your sexy ass when you get out of line, of yielding to me and my authority. Trust me, Cowgirl, if you disobey me and I have to get after you, I’ll paddle your fanny until it’s bright red and you have trouble sitting comfortably, but after, the sex will be intense and will reset our relationship to neutral.”

“You’re nuts.”

He closed in on her, reaching out and taking hold of her to prevent her from pulling away.

“What I am is telling you how it’s going to be, how we both want and need it to be. Now, be a good girl and climb in bed and try to sleep. I’ll keep watch over you. You’ll be safe.”

Willa climbed into bed, turned off the light, laid down, and waited. She could hear Mac settling himself comfortably on the couch. Willa catnapped off and on. When she woke and could hear him lightly snoring, she grinned. Going into the bath, she changed into her clothes, except for her boots, which she carried in her hand as she crept past Mac’s sleeping body and reached down to the coffee table to take the keys to the SUV. Just as she had them in her grasp, his hand snaked out and seized her wrist.

“Naughty girl. You know, I think I was really hoping you’d pull a stunt like this.”

“Let go.” Willa tried to snatch her wrist away from him, but she’d forgotten how strong he was.

“No. Did you not hear what I told you earlier?”

“I wasn’t paying attention. I’m not interested in anything you have to say.”

“I guarantee you, Cowgirl, when I’m finished with your spanking, you’ll be paying plenty of attention to what I say on a variety of subjects.”

“You are not going to spank me!”

He sat up and pulled her over one hard thigh, trapping her legs between his as he used his hand to hold her upper body down.

“Wanna bet?”

“Don’t you dare,” she screeched.

“You’ve had this coming for a good long while. I mean to see you get it and keep on getting it for the rest of your life.”

Before she could form an angry retort, Mac’s palm came crashing down on her behind. This was no smack to her ass to ramp up her arousal or even one to move her in the direction he wanted, or when he was exasperated with her. This was a strong swat meant for one thing and one thing only—to let her know how pissed he was and to administer, as he had called it, a bit of old-fashioned discipline.

“God damn it, Mac. That hurts,” she cried.

“Has it been so long, you’ve forgotten that? I got news for you, Cowgirl, once I’ve warmed you up over your jeans, I’m going to strip you bare and blister your ass.”

Mac spanked her in a no-nonsense way. While her jeans offered her some protection, they held in the heat he created, the longer and more intensely he spanked her. He moved his large hand around to ensure her entire bottom was covered with the stinging blows. Willa struggled and squirmed but could not get away or mitigate the spanking he seemed intent on giving her.

“Stop it!”

Mac didn’t strike her again. Willa felt whatever madness had possessed him had cleared, and he would apologize to her. Instead, as he let her up, he made quick work of unzipping her jeans and pulling them down past her knees before bending her across his own. Once again, trapping her between his legs, his palm pressed her upper body into the couch seat.

“No panties? Hmm… I think I like that. We may have to have a no-panties rule.”

She barely had time to register his cock throbbing under her, how scratchy his jean-covered thighs felt to her mons and the front of her legs, and the odd sensation of the cool air from the HVAC unit flowing over her heated bottom before his hand once again descended on her upturned derriere in a painful swat.

“You mother fucker!” Willa yowled.

“Willa Reynolds, that is no way to speak to your man. The longer you throw this tantrum with kicking, caterwauling, and swearing, the longer and worse this spanking is going to be.”

Mac repeatedly spanked her bottom. Once again, he moved his swats around to ensure he covered the entire area. When he used an upward swing to catch her sensitive sit spots and the tops of her thighs, he brought a new level of pain to the lower portion of her body.

Willa realized he hadn’t been making an idle threat. He fully intended to spank her into submission and had no intention of letting up until she settled down. What made that realization worse was if she were completely honest, she didn’t want him to. Once that thought crystalized in her head, her nipples formed stiff peaks, her clit engorged, and her pussy produced more than enough of her honey—as he’d always called it—for him to be able to ride her long and hard. Willa had no doubt he intended to do just that.

Despite her best intentions and powerful will not to yield, Willa found herself going limp over his knee and crying—not just tears of pain resulting from the spanking, but tears of remorse and regret as well. How had things gone so far off track—both then and now?

“Mac, please stop. It hurts.”

“It’s supposed to, Cowgirl. Do I have your attention now?”

“Yes,” she said very quietly.

He swatted her several more times, making her cry harder.

“Are you sure? Because I don’t want to hear later, I didn’t or that you aren’t interested in listening to me.” Mac continued to spank her, making her quite sure she’d never be able to ride a horse again.

“Mac, please. I’m paying attention, and I’m willing to hear whatever you want to tell me. Please, stop.”

He brought his palm down and rested it softly on her bottom, but even that light contact made her ass feel worse. He loosened the vise-grip of his thighs and moved the hand that had been pressing her down to rub the small of her back. She tried to rise, and he swatted her again with the same intensity.

“You don’t get up off my knee until I tell you that you can. Understand?”

“Yes, Mac. I’m sorry, I forgot. It’s been a long time.”

“I know, Cowgirl, and I will regret that to my dying day, but if you don’t straighten up and behave, I’ll make up for lost time. You can stand, then I want you to sit on my lap for a minute.”

“That’s going to hurt…” she said petulantly.

“No doubt it will, but it’ll hurt a lot less now than if I go back to paddling your ass, then tell you to sit on my lap. Now? Or after you’ve been spanked some more?”

“No, Mac, please. I’ll sit on your lap now.”

He let her up but didn’t allow her to move so far, he couldn’t have grabbed her and thrown her into position for more discipline from those same hands that had so often brought her extreme pleasure in the past. She sat down gingerly and winced.

Mac took his handkerchief out of his back pocket and brought it up to dry her tears. That single act of tenderness was her undoing. Willa wrapped her arms around his neck and sobbed. Folding his around her, he rocked her gently, whispering words to comfort and reassure her she was safe with him.

Willa wasn’t sure how long they stayed that way. She only knew that, at some point, the tears had become more about what they had lost than the pain radiating from her ass. Finally able to stem the tide of tears, one of Mac’s hands moved from holding her close to the inside of her thighs, nudging them apart as he reached for her swollen clit.

She bit her lip to keep from calling out, but not fast enough to silence the pleasured sigh.

“There’s my good girl.” He pressed his thumb against her throbbing clit in a circular motion, and once more, she struggled. “Naughty girls who try to evade the pleasure being offered, end up getting either their bottoms or their pussies spanked. You don’t want either of those, do you?”

She shook her head. “No, Mac, please. I’ve had enough. I’ll behave.”

He chuckled softly.

“No, you won’t… at least not for long but for a while. What I need you to pay attention to,” he said as she tossed her head and moaned at the intensity of his caress, “is if you try to run away from me again or put yourself in harm’s way, your next discipline session is going to end up with me welting your ass with my belt. Do you hear me, Cowgirl?”

“God, yes, Mac,” she breathed raggedly as her body responded to his dominance and his fondling.

He moved lower and fingered her very wet and very needy cunt. Willa’s legs spread involuntarily to grant him easier access to her core. She was about to slip over the abyss into an orgasm when he stopped.

“No,” she wailed.

“Yes,” he said, smiling. “I want you to get up and take the rest of your clothes off. Then you go stand in the corner away from the window, push your bottom out, spread your legs, apologize to me, and ask me to fuck you to show you I forgive you for being such a brat all day.”

“Mac, no…”

“Yes, Willa, or I’ll strip you naked, put you across my knee again, and we’ll start all over. I’m going to have my way on this, so it isn’t whether or not you’re going to obey me, it’s a question of how red your backside is going to be. Now or later, Willa. Choose.”

She searched his face and knew he had no intention of backing down. He meant to settle things with her, perhaps the way he should have five years ago. She nodded.

“What does that mean, Cowgirl? You going to do as you’re told?”

“Yes, Mac. Please, I don’t want to be spanked anymore.”

“Remember how much your ass hurts right now, Cowgirl. This is the easiest discipline spanking you’ll get from here on out. Are you paying attention?”

“Yes, Mac. I’m sorry I’ve been such a brat. I’ll do what you want. But you are going to fuck me, aren’t you?”

He laughed and kissed her.

“That I am. Come tomorrow morning, it’s going to be a toss-up between your ass and your pussy, which I punished more. Now, go stand in the corner.”

Willa stood and looked at the bed, then at Mac.

“Couldn’t we just go to bed?”

“We could and will, but not until you’ve shown me, you can do as you’re told. You going to mind me, or do you need me to spank you some more?”

“No… no… I’ll do it.”

“Clothes, Willa.” He stuck his hand out. “I want you naked and standing with your nose in that corner.”

Sighing, she removed the rest of her clothing, then walked to the corner with as much dignity as she could summon, pushed her bottom out, and spread her legs. She wasn’t sure which was more mortifying—her well-spanked ass on full display with a good line of sight to her swollen labia and dripping pussy, or that she was more aroused than she’d ever been in her life.

“Mac, please?” she cried softly.

“What did I tell you?”

“I did what you told me.”

“Not all of it,” he said quietly.

Willa gave a resigned sigh. “I’m sorry for being such a pain all day. Will you please come fuck me, so I know you’ve forgiven me?”

He walked up behind her, running his hand down her well-punished behind. She winced but made herself stand as he’d ordered her to do. It rankled to know she had acquiesced without much of a fight, at least much of a fight after he spanked her.

She heard him open his fly, then his cock touched her body before anything else. He grasped her hips with his strong hands, flexing his fingers, so she knew he had a good hold on her, then surged forward, making painful contact with her punished backside as his cock thrust home. Willa was surprised as she was overtaken by a powerful climax.

“God, Mac,” she cried.

“I’ve got you, Willa. I’ve got you, and I’m never letting go again. Do you hear me, Cowgirl?”

She wasn’t sure if it was the dominant way which he mounted her, the fact she had missed him even more than she had allowed herself to admit, or the fact she hadn’t been with anyone in a very long time that had caused her intense response to his claiming. She realized in that instant, it didn’t matter, the very act of possession on his part told her everything she needed to know—Mac was once again in her life, and this time, he wasn’t going anywhere.

He pummeled her pussy with the battering ram he kept between his legs. Willa, when she pleasured herself, most often fantasized about being fucked with his cock. Over and over, he plunged into her, almost pulling completely out before driving back into the depths of her being. At some point, rational thought left her, and all she could do was feel his cock, his dominance, and his love.

Mac groaned as he thrust his hips forward, sinking as deeply into her pussy as he could. One of his strong hands kept hold of her hip, not allowing her to move. The other came up to tug, pinch, and play with her nipples, which were hanging down because of the position she was in.

“Mine. Do you hear me, Willa? You’re mine,” he rasped as he fucked her like a man possessed.

Willa had lost count of her climaxes. Her desire was to feel him empty himself deep within her, then pull out and take her to the bed where, hopefully, he’d put her on her back and fuck her again. She’d forgotten what a wanton creature she was under Mac’s skillful hands, cock, and mouth.

The increased frenzy of his fucking signaled he was close to finding his release. Playing with her clit brought her to orgasm as his cock pumped its load into her well-used pussy. When his cock stopped twitching from its release and her pussy stopped spasming all along his length, she reached around for him.

“Stay, please?” she said, not wanting him to withdraw.

“I remember, Willa. I’m not going anywhere except to take you to bed. Come morning, Cowgirl, you’ll remember what it’s like to be us.”

“I haven’t forgotten, Mac.” She wrapped her hand around one of his. “I missed you so much.” She started crying softly, and he gathered her closer.

“It’s all right, sweetheart. We’re together again, right?”

She nodded, and he kissed the side of her head.

“There’s my good girl. We’ll figure it out this time. I promise.”

“I’m going to hold you to that.”

“I’m sorry, Willa. I never should have let you go. I won’t let you down again.”

“I wasn’t being reasonable, either.” She rubbed her head against his. “We should have figured it out last time… together.”

“At least we both know that now, and we won’t let it happen again.”

“No,” she sighed, happier than she had been in a long, long time. “I promise.”

Finally, as Mac felt his cock begin to lose some of its rigidity, he disengaged from her and swept her up in his arms. His shoulder should be screaming at him for lifting her, but it seemed his whole body was working in concert to ensure she wouldn’t get away from him again.