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rested on it . . . for now. Riding wasn t going to be much fun for her today, but then he hoped it helped her think twice before she lit up again. He curled her head under his chin and just held her as she sobbed fit to make his heart stop dead in his chest. Quinn rubbed his hand up and down her back and occasionally dropped a kiss onto that shiny black hair while her sobs tore at his gut. There, there, sweetie. He sat and rocked them both for a long time, not hurrying her through her recuperation. I can t believe you did that to me! Quinn sighed, holding her tightly to him, feeling every ounce of blood pumping through his heart. I have to do what you need. I have to help you live, because, even though we haven t known each other that long, I don t want to live without you. Annie could feel the naked truth of what he was saying. This big lug of a man loved her enough to correct her and probably, eventually, save her life . . . if she could keep herself away from smoking. And after a spanking like that, just the thought of putting a cigarette to her lips made her bottom sting just that much worse. Wild horses would never be able to drag it out of her, but she thought that this form of aversion therapy of his might actually work. And she knew her doctor, who had been after her for years to give up smoking even though she really didn t smoke that much, would be ecstatic. She didn t realize that the spanking wasn t the worst of it this time. The worst was having to climb into a hard leather saddle and ride on that poor abused bottom for the next ten or so hours. When she finally dismounted at the end of the day, she thought her bottom was going to fall off and hit the ground right next to her, and Quinn was no help. All he could do was snicker at her as she walked bow legged towards the house. In fact, he had the audacity to pat her bottom as they went up the stairs, easily dodging the flailing hand she tried to wave him off with. Cut that out! Nope, he replied. I just want to make sure you remember what you re supposed to remember. I don t want to have to do that again any time soon. He tilted his chin down and raised his eyebrow at her. Understand? She glared back at him, feeling ornery and sore and out of sorts, and mumbling, Bite me, under her breath. Quinn stopped in the act of going upstairs to their room and turned back to her. What did you just say? His tone let her know that he had better not have heard what he thought he heard. Annie had no interest in getting a second spanking on top of this morning s, so she crossed her fingers and fibbed with a syrupy sweet, patently innocent smile, I said might be . What do you want for dinner? He paused for a moment, as if trying to discern whether or not she was telling him the truth, but mentioning food when they d just come in was the perfect tack to take. Annie heaved a sigh of relief when he was so easily diverted into peering into the freezer with her, mulling over the neatly labeled plastic containers. Beef stew, lasagna, ham, stuffed peppers . . . what suits your fancy? she asked, pleasantly surprised when his arms wrapped around her from behind. You, a la mode. His eyebrows waggled outrageous. Sounds interesting, but cold! Hmmmmmm, he gave the contents of the freezer almost as much consideration as he did his computer stuff, smacking his lips loudly and experimentally. I have a taste forrrrrrr . . . beef stew. Yum. I ve got some biscuits I can thaw, too. Annie always made extra whenever she made biscuits, so she always had homemade in the freezer. As she reached in to grab a block of stew, Quinn turned away from her to head towards the bedroom again, but not before delivering a very hard, sharp swat to her tender butt. Hey! Annie arched against the fridge, trying to avoid any more precipitous slaps, but he was already halfway across the room. He didn t even break stride when he answered her outraged cry. Don t even think about fibbing to me again, Annie Cavanaugh, or you won t sit comfortably for a week. Annie grimaced as she heard his boots clunking unevenly up the stairs. Knowing he was out of earshot, she muttered, I ve already got a good start on that, thank you very much, as she absently rubbed the twice offended part. It ended up being more than a week later when they lost their tranquil idyll, because the minivan had acted up on its way across country. But eventually Reena had descended on them in all her glory, bag and baggage, husband and two kids in tow. It took most of the day to get everything settled Reena and Mike in what had been Quinn s old bedroom, and the kids into each of the other two bedrooms. They had a full house for the first time ever. When she and Reena had been growing up, the forth bedroom had always been a spare for guests not that they d had many, but it was kept untouchably clean, anyway. Mike and Quinn had found immediate common ground in Quinn s computer set up, and they became lost in a conversation that Annie would have sworn was not being conducted in English. She and Reena ended up in the kitchen, getting dinner ready. If there was one skill that their mother had imparted to the both of them, it was the ability to cook. They had grown up in the kitchen with their mother Reena even more so than Annie, who liked to tag along after their father about the ranch as much as possible. They fell into the same routines they d had as kids and young adults fixing dinner for the family, moving smoothly about the big old kitchen in the familiar dance of reaching arms and tasting fingers stuck in pots. Annie had taken a roast out for just this purpose a big family meal together on their first night [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] |
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