Page 104 of The More the Merrier

“It’s on my mind. But we are in public and I don’t have a lot of room.” I slowly slid her off my lap and set my hands on either side of my waist. “If a spanking helps get you out of your head and on a better track, we can talk about it tonight.”

“I don’t think so.” She chewed on her bottom lip, making her positively adorable. “Dalton keeps telling me we’re going to talk as well, but it’s a whole lot of promises and not a lot of action.” She tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear. “Don’t say things you don’t mean.”

My palm twitched. It had been a hot minute since I’d punished anyone physically and Kendall was practically begging for it. Her tone was equal parts sassy and sad, which kept me from turning her over my knee regardless of how much space I had to work with.

“What do you say, Dalton?” I threw the question at him since Kendall was casting glances back and forth between us.

“I’d say Kendall is going to keep pushing every button of ours until we respond.”

“I’ve had enough of this conversation.” She threw a haughty glare at Dalton, positioning herself far away from our reaches. “I need to change my clothes. You two need to give me some privacy.”

What Dalton said rang as clear as the bells on Christmas day. Kendall didn’t want to ask for someone to help her through whatever was bogging her down lately. No, that would be too easy. She seemed to have the mindset that it was easier to poke the bear relentlessly to secure a reaction.

“The first step to getting on Santa’s nice list this year is to change your tone, darling.” I added a stern twang of authority to my voice. Her lips twitched into a smirk. I didn’t know her well enough to figure out what naughty idea was on her mind.

“I’m not going to do that, Grant.”

I should have seen that coming. She took off the red vest, making a show out of it. Undoing the oversized buttons on the fancy white frilly blouse, she took her time. One at a time she moved down the row. The pretty shirt came off with flair, and she set it on top of the vest. The full crimson colored skirt came off next until she was standing there in nothing but a beige bra and panty set sprinkled with flowers and dotted with spirals.

Kendall was curvy in all the right places, but she hid her body under bulkier clothing, weather notwithstanding. I didn’t know if she had hang-ups about her gorgeous curves, but they certainly didn’t appear to be lingering with the show she was giving us. Thinking fast, I stole her black warm-up pants and soft gray sweater that she had set on the sofa. If she was going to throw an attitude at me, she’d have to offer an apology to get her clothes returned.

“Hey!” Her eyes flashed something close to anger. “Those are mine.”

I tossed them to Dalton, who caught them without a heads-up.

“Give them back!” Kendall stomped to Dalton, and I bounced my palm off the lowest curve of her butt. She yelped, spinning around to face me. “You said we are in public!” Dalton took the opportunity and cracked his hand off either side of her ass. “Dalton!” Kendall screeched and spun on her heel. “Stop!”

Dalton caught her chin in his hand, lifting it up so she was staring into his face. “You were in quite the mood earlier, teasing me with a candy cane. No longer feeling feisty, darling?”

“I don’t know why I’m having so much trouble lately but either follow through on what you keep saying or leave me alone.” Her lower lip trembled as she gazed at him.

“I won’t leave you alone, no matter how many times you stomp away from me,” he stated gently.

“I’m sorry for throwing a fit.” Kendall sighed. She swallowed a few times as if gathering resolve. Her shoulders dropped, as if a bit of tension eased from them. “I don’t really want either of you to leave me alone.”

Dalton released her chin and put her pants on her, running his hands along her legs and waist as he assisted her. “I’m sorry for the way things unfolded the past few days. Come to the bar tonight, and we’ll get it all out on the table.”

“Then you’re going to, uh, adjust my attitude?”

“Yes, prancer.” Dalton handed me her sweater and Kendall reluctantly returned to my side. I slid the garment over her head, smoothing it over her arms and torso. She looked so beautiful even though her eyes were wide as they studied mine, probably wondering if I was going to do the same. I tugged her to sit on the couch and slipped on her boots.

“I’m also on board, darling,” I agreed. “Can you be there around eight?”

“Sure, Grant. I’ll be there.” Kendall collected the costume pieces and added it to the pile before getting to her feet. “Do you want me to return the costumes to my brother?”

“One of us will handle it,” I assured her. “Thanks for portraying Mrs. Claus today. The kids loved seeing you.”

“I really adored watching their faces light up. You made their Saturday very special, Santa.” She hugged me, then wrapped her arms around Dalton. “I don’t know why either of you are suddenly so interested in helping me, but I swear my hesitations are only because of me and not anything you did.”

Dalton kissed the crown of her head. “Try not to let yourself overthink, darling. See you later.”

“See you.” She waved before unlocking the door and stepping into the hallway, remembering to pull it closed since I was still half dressed.

“I can bring the costumes to the firehouse,” I stated when we were alone. “I have to talk to Gage about something we’ve been working on, anyway. He mentioned wanting to do a riding refresher.” I changed into my jeans and tee-shirt. “Even if Luke and Tate were both home and available, they use their horses for teenage girls and tricks, not muscled firefighters.”

“Gage mentioned it to my captain, and she’s onboard. It’s a brilliant idea, and the firehouse is using training grants. It would throw money back into your pocket. Everyone wins.”

“I didn’t know it was already that far into the planning stage.”

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