Embraced (5 page)

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Embraced

Star Trek was usually all one needed to say to Meg and she was there, but she felt too out of sorts. “No, thanks. You two go ahead. Dinner won’t be long, and I want to finish up here.”

He looked surprised that she’d turned him down. “You sure?”

Meg nodded, and he left, slowly, hesitantly, as if expecting her to change her mind at any minute. She didn’t. Instead she cranked out several pages of a new romance she was working on, then heard the timer go off in the kitchen and went to rescue dinner.

By then Hayden had arrived, saying David wouldn’t be along because he was working late. Once the food was on the table, Hayden beat Barrett to seating Meagan, pulling out her chair with a flourished bow, while Barrett seated his sister on the thick cushion he had thoughtfully placed on her chair.

“Uh-oh, I’d heard that someone got in trouble today,”

Hayden commented, getting a dig in at his sister, although his butt had been comforted by that very cushion on not just a few occasions during his adolescence, particularly.

Mandy seemed to take the ribbing in stride, especially when Barrett glared at his younger brother and said, “That’s all over now.

Mandy’s learned her lesson.”

Grace was said in a short, sweet fashion, and everyone dug into the food, except Meg, who for some reason was eating like a bird, which didn’t escape the eye of the man at the head of the table. “Are you ok?” he parroted the very same words back at her that she had asked him earlier in the day.

“Fine,

thanks.”

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BacksideOfLove.com

Carolyn Faulkner

Then Amanda had to get into the act, too. “Meg, you’re never not hungry.” Suddenly, Hayden’s large paw covered most of Meagan’s forehead and eyes.

“I’m not sick,” Meg said quietly.

“She doesn’t have a fever,” he diagnosed.

Barrett scowled. “That’s not an accurate way to tell!”

“I’m not sick,” she repeated, not that anyone was listening to her.

Hayden grinned wickedly. “There’s only one really accurate way to tell, you know.”

“For the third fucking time, I’m
not
sick, and even if I
was
there’s no one in this room who could get me to cooperate with that method of determining if I have a fever or not, Hayden, you
pervert
.”

The siblings collectively drew in their breath at her outburst, eyes wide, looking expectantly to the head of the table.

Only half of his meal eaten, Barrett put his napkin on the table, got up, and, grabbing Meg’s wrist, gave her no choice in whether or not to follow him. She knew if she decided to really protest, he’d simply lift her into his arms effortlessly and remove her choice entirely. They ended up outside on the glider together, Meg sitting like a lump on one side and Barrett on the opposite end, wanting alternately to hug her or spank her into a better mood, at this point he didn’t much care which one it turned out to be, either.

He took a deep breath of the clean night air and set the glider to rocking gently back and forth. His hand lay palm up

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Embraced

between them as a silent invitation, which she deliberately ignored for several minutes. But he was patient and simply continued to swing in the cool night. Eventually, like a timid wild creature, her small hand snuck into his and he folded his big fingers over hers loosely. Nothing more than that. He could hear her slow, steady breathing, the occasional clearing of her still somewhat clogged throat. She was relaxing by inches, but not because of anything he was actively doing. The night air, the cricket and frog chorus, and the gentle glide of the swing were her undoing. He let go of her hand and stretched his arm out behind her, and it was only natural that she curl up at his side as if she belonged there. He let out a breath he hadn’t known he was holding and began to rub slowly up and down her arm, bringing her that much closer against him.

The screen door squeaked, and Meg tried to move away, but Barrett wasn’t about to let her. It was Hayden. “There are leftovers in the fridge if either of you is still hungry. I think Mandy’s watching the end of that Star Trek without you. I’m gonna head on home.”

Barrett nodded. “Night.”

“Night.”

She was tense again, but he said nothing until her earlier tranquility was restored. Her head on the muscular pillow of his shoulder, she heard his voice more through the rumble in his chest than his mouth. “I realize you have some problems with the way I handle my family, but one thing I can tell you absolutely is that I will not tolerate vulgarity in my home. I don’t use words like that, I don’t let my brothers and sister use words like that, and you have just used your one exception to my swearing rule.”

Generally, Meg didn’t swear much either. Her parents had always subscribed to the idea that vulgarity was the result of a

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BacksideOfLove.com

Carolyn Faulkner

small vocabulary. She didn’t know what was getting into her.

“I’m sorry. I don’t usually talk like that, either. I’m just not in a very good mood, I guess.”

“And you can’t sort out how I can love Mandy yet spank her, and how she can love me despite the fact that I spank her,” he said succinctly.

Man, she hated it that he was so dead-on about things.

Wasn’t this man ever wrong? He’d summed up what had been bothering her in 50 words or less. “Loving someone and actively causing them pain would seem to be at odds, wouldn’t you say?”

“Lots of things in life cause pain, Meg. It’s not like I break bones. In my house, disobeying my rules results in a spanking.

My Dad spanked me, and to a much lesser extent the other kids – I don’t think any of them has much of a clear memory of anyone but me spanking them. But that’s where I learned it. Lovingly, over my father’s knee. I was a hell raiser, back then.”

“Why do I not find that hard to believe?” Meg asked wryly, listening to him intently.

“Always getting into one scrape or another. Broke one of Dad’s windows, dug up Mom’s flowers, I was forever getting my butt whupped for something. But that’s just it – Mom and Dad took the time, loved and cared for me enough to keep track of what I was doing and see that I learned that it’s not polite to swear, not acceptable to shirk your duties, however menial, or speed, or try to ride an unbroken horse when I was about 6 . . .”

She could see him doing all of those things and more, easily.

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Embraced

“They never let me down; they were always there either to cheer me on, provide advice, or the occasional kick in the pants when I needed it, or a bare bottomed reminder that I was getting out of hand. Kids push the limits, try to see what they can get away with. I didn’t get away with anything, and by the time I was 16, just a couple months before they died, I had a part-time job, a straight A average, and had just bought my own car with my own money. It’s because they were loving
and
strict with me that I was able to do what I did with my siblings – maintain the family, with me at the head. I would never have asked for the position, at least not that young, but I was well trained to step into it, thank God. I expect one day I’ll head my own family – “

“That’s a very chauvinistic attitude, you have there, buddy.

Are you going to spank your wife, too?”

Barrett nodded. “If she needed it, of course.”

Meg shook her head, disbelieving. “No wonder you’re unmarried at 39.”

“That’s by choice, not for lack of possibilities.”

“You mean you’ve met women who would have agreed to let you spank them whenever you determined it was necessary if you married them?” The disbelief was rampant in her tone.

He scoffed. “Loads. None that I really thought I clicked with, though.”
Until
now
, he thought.

You could have knocked Meagan over with a feather. She was still digesting this fact when Mandy appeared in her robe and slippers. “I’m gonna go to bed.” She didn’t seem the least bit surprised to see Meg cuddled up against the lunk of a man she supposedly hated.

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BacksideOfLove.com

Carolyn Faulkner

Barrett got up and hugged his sister tightly, giving her an exaggeratedly loud kiss on the cheek. “Night, Sweetie. Sleep well.”

When he turned back to the swing, he found it empty.

“Meagan?”

He had no idea how she managed to slip past him while he was kissing Mandy good night, but apparently she’d done it. He found her and the rat dog in his study. Meg was grabbing a handful of the hard candy he kept on his desk. “Good idea,” he commented, scooping up the little firecracker dog and tucking him under his arm.

“Yes, thanks. It does a good job of keeping me from coughing all night.”

Barrett sat down on the closer end of the leather couch. He looked thoughtful. “You know, I owe
you
a spanking.”

Meg’s mouth became instantly dry as the Sahara. “You certainly do
not
.”

“Yeah, I do. It was a pretty stupid thing to drive three days down here from Maine by yourself when you were barely recovered from pneumonia. You should have called Mandy to reschedule for later in the summer.”

“I – I couldn’t.” She couldn’t very well tell him that she scheduled her summers around whether or not he was going to be around.

“Then you should have foregone the trip until next summer, rather than putting your life at risk to get here,” he said matter-of-factly, watching her closely as he stroked the dog.

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Embraced

“I wasn’t putting my life at risk by any means.”

“At the very least, you were prolonging the illness.”

“That’s where you and I disagree.”

He smiled in an almost angelic manner that put her instantly on edge. “That’s where my being the head of this household comes in so handy, since it’s my opinion that matters on the subject.” He set the dog down and came toward her, not surprised that she backed away. “I’m not going to spank you, now,” he reassured, and she stood still, letting him take her in his arms. Nose to nose, he looked down into her eyes and said very somberly, “I told you the first night you arrived that if you were mine, I would blister your bottom for putting yourself at such risk. And when you’re mine, I will.” He took her mouth in a kiss that was all possession and passion, slanting her lips open to invade her mouth with his tongue. His arms kept her on tiptoes, tight against him, shoulder to thigh, back arched. She could feel his growing arousal rub against her belly. His lips descended to her ear, as his husky voice vowed,

“I will lay you across my lap bare bottom up, your panties around your ankles, and I will make you remember whose you are, and that I protect what’s mine, even from themselves. I will make you cry and beg and wail and promise to behave in the future, but that won’t stop me from warming your fanny good and hot.” He bit her earlobe in gentle warning. “You will need to borrow Mandy’s pillow for several days at the dinner table.”

Suddenly, he let her go, and she nearly collapsed at his feet.

He reached out a hand to steady her, but she shied away from it, turning to practically run out of the room as if the hounds of hell were at her heels.

Instead, the only things that followed her were a confused little Yorkie and Barrett’s deep, amused chuckle.

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Carolyn Faulkner

arrett slammed the door of the ancient pickup and stomped up the steps to the house, to be greeted by Bthe sound of someone torturing a cat. He opened the screen door carefully, frankly concerned about what kind of mayhem he might encounter that would cause such an unholy racket. What he found was delightful, visually at least: Meg was elbow deep in some kind of dough at the kitchen counter, her back to him – and a beautiful backside it was. He snickered a little, then schooled his face to watch the show. Mandy’s boom box was on the table, blaring directly at her. She had yet to notice his presence

– he could tell by the fact that her baleful caterwauling hadn’t decreased in volume, if anything it had risen to a frightening crescendo. Barrett was certain that every dog within range – he noticed that Butch had abandoned his mistress for quieter digs –

was going to start howling in protest shortly. Far from interrupting her, he stood for a moment and enjoyed the view of Meagan at her most uninhibited. She was wearing seafoam green jeans and a thin white cotton top, long red hair piled on top of her head haphazardly leaving her neck and shoulders tantalizingly exposed. But it was her hips and tushie swaying in time to the soulful music that drew his eyes like a magnet.

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Embraced

“You’re the reason I live, you’re the reason I die. You’re the reason I give when I break down and cry, don’t need no reason whyyyyyyyyyy, ba-by, ba-by, ba-a- YIKES!!”

If she hadn’t caught a whiff of his ever present aftershave, Meg might have worried about the owner of the wonderfully muscled arms that drew her back against an impossibly hard chest while her messy hands remained buried in the bread dough. There was no doubt in Meg’s mind as to the identity of the man who moved both of them sensuously in time to the music, kissing his way wetly up her bare neck to press his lips against her ear and murmur the next line of the song huskily, “You’re my angel, come and save me tonight. You’re my angel, come and make it all right.”

He’d completely undone her. Meg was a puddle of drool in his arms. She couldn’t have put a coherent sentence together to save her life, and it was becoming a familiar state around him. His unselfconsciously sexy, sensuous manner invited her to join him and revel in the sparks they created. Man, was she reveling. She allowed herself to relax completely against him, feeling his arousal against the top swell of her bottom. Barrett was doing some reveling of his own. She was usually like a raw nerve when he touched her, all jumpy and nervous. Finally, it seemed she was relaxing a little, beginning to enjoy the pleasure they created in each other. He let his hands roam where they would, feeling her sides and tummy, lightly running his fingers under her arms, then down and back up to cup her breasts possessively. Her nipples were hard and delicate as berries, and she whimpered wonderfully when his thumb and index finger captured them to roll and pull the aching nubs, arching her back to cradle her breasts in his eager hands.