Page 15 of Wild Mustang Security Firm

Turning back to Mandy, John took her by the arm. It might have appeared to have been an affectionate gesture, but she could feel the steel in his grip and the waves of anger rolling off him.

“The guy was?—”

“Enough, Mandy,” he said through clenched teeth as he led her back outside, stopping to let her retrieve her purse and phone. Opening the car door, he helped her in before getting in on the driver’s side.

“John, the guy was completely out of line. That arrest was pure bullshit, and I’m going to sue his silly ass.”

“You’re going to do no such thing. I just assured the sheriff this was the end of it in exchange for all charges being dropped. Ninety? Are you kidding me? Where was the fire?”

“I was going out to do my job,” she retorted.

“This morning, you told me you could do whatever you needed from home. You need to give Willa a call and let her know I came and got you, so you don’t waste her time.”

“I wasn’t planning to go to the departure point, but it’s a new, big account, and Willa asked if I could come out, so I was rushing to get there.”

“Call Willa,” he interrupted.

After reassuring her friend everything was fine, she ended the call.

“If he’d just given me the damn ticket!”

“Or if you’d just blown into the damn breathalyzer. And I come back to ninety miles per hour. Do you have any idea what happens if anything, and I mean anything, goes wrong at that rate of speed?”

“I’m an excellent driver,” she spat.

“Don’t you take that tone with me.”

“Fuck you. Why don’t you just let me out, and I’ll get a ride back to my car?”

“You want to apologize for that?” he said in a tone that replaced the edge of his anger with the determination she had heard the night before.

“Not particularly.”

John stopped for a light, and Mandy unbuckled her seatbelt, unlocked the door, and reached for the handle. John re-engaged the lock and took hold of her arm.

“Put your seatbelt back on.”

“You can’t tell me what to do.”

“I thought we settled that last night. At least that’s what you told me. Should I add lying to the list of things you and I need to discuss when we get home?”

Mandy was unsure why she was becoming aroused. Granted, John had delivered on every fantasy she’d ever had about a man, plus a couple she hadn’t realized she had. So, there was that. But contributing to her arousal was the deep, authoritative voice and the memory of his spanking her the night before. She was glad he had explained it wasn’t the pain involved that had turned her on, but the show of dominance—a trait he was displaying in abundance at the moment.

“My guess is the proper answer to that is, no, Sir,” she said in a far less heated and far more respectful tone.

“That would be the one. Get that seatbelt buckled, Mandy. Right now.”

Mandy wasn’t sure what it was about John that kept her from telling him off and getting out of his truck. She wasn’t the least bit frightened, but she was pretty damn sure he meant to get after her about this whole incident. Normally, her inclination would be to go on the offensive and confront him, but she remembered all too vividly, doing so last night had resulted in being put over his knee and getting spanked, so she decided to switch tactics.

“Yes, John. I’m sorry.”

He glanced at her. “Sorry for what? Driving like a bat out of hell? Being disrespectful to a law officer? Using incredibly inappropriate language? Shall I go on?”

“No, I think you about covered it. I’m sorry for whatever it is that will make you a little less angry.”

John snorted. “At least you’re honest about it. Won’t do much to mitigate the spanking you’re going to get, but at least it lets me know part of what I said got through to you last night.”

“Hey! You can’t just waltz into my life and decide you’re going to spank me whenever the hell you want.”

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