Page 12 of On His Ranch

Chase smiled to himself.Got her right where I want her.

* * *

Piper kicked her feet as hot, angry swats landed on her poor, defenseless bare bottom. She couldn’t believe this was happening. But there was nothing she could do—she was powerless to make it stop, and she knew it.

Almost as though he’d read her mind, the cowboy threw a leg across hers, trapping them. She tried for a second to free herself, but his strength was nothing she could match.

As though that wasn’t bad enough, his hard, tireless hand had never stopped smacking her, not even for a second. There was nothing she could do, except accept that she had to take this punishment for as long as he intended to give it to her.

She went limp, mad at herself for giving up, but relieved at the same time. There was something else… some other emotion under the pain she was experiencing from his blistering hand and the humiliation she felt being at his mercy.

Piper could smell her own arousal, and it wasn’t long before it occurred to her that maybe he could, too. The thought made her blush so that her face was almost as hot as her bottom cheeks.Almost, because he hadn’t let up for a second and was still delivering sharp, quick wallops while she bucked over his lap with each one.

“Please!” she couldn’t help but cry out, even though none of her pleas had been successful so far.

“Are you going to be a good girl now?” he barked at her, punctuating the question with a quick smack to the bottom of each of her cheeks.

She winced at the pain. “Yes! Yes, I promise.”

“I make it a habit of never trusting the word of bad girls,” he remarked, his voice heavy with amusement and skepticism.

“I’m a good girl! Really, I am!”

“Hmmm. Good girls don’t hit strangers.”

She opened her mouth, but quickly decided not to argue. “Yes, sir.”

This must not have been the answer he’d expected, because she felt his leg move, and then he pulled her up.

She cringed as her bare bottom hit the stone floor. She looked away from the cowboy’s smirking face.

“Are you a good girl?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Alright, I reckon I’ll give you a shot to prove it.”

Her eyes flew back to his face. What didthatmean?

“What’s your name, little girl?”

She flushed at the question. No, not at the question, at being calledlittle girl, because she’d learned the first time he’d done it that it made her body flush with a weird warmth that made no sense to her. “Piper… sir.”

He arched a dark brow. “Hmm,” he weighed her answer, but she got no clue what else he thought of it. “Alright, Piper. Be a good girl and hand me your backpack.”

Sniffling, she blinked up at him. Was he actually going to let her up? Tentatively, she pushed herself up, waiting. When he didn’t say anything, she moved slowly toward her discarded backpack. She snatched it off the floor and was about to pull up her pants when he stopped her.

“Leave them,” he commanded.

Piper obeyed instantly, making her way back to him and offering the backpack.

He indicated with his pointer finger that he wanted her to sit again.

“So. Youcanbe a good girl,” he purred, his voice velvet. Though she could still detect the steel behind it. He took his time looking and she let him, her eyes darting away and back again.

I should run. He’s distracted now…But if her aunt would be shocked to see her, she’d be even more so to find Piper without a single possession, and with blotchy skin and red eyes. Besides which, she wouldn’t get far. She’d known without question that he was strong just from looking at him, but now that she’d been held captive by nothing more than a single hand, or his leg enclosing both of hers, she knew the man was tougher than any she’d ever met, and it wasn’t just his strength, either. There was something about him… he had a commanding presence that demanded unquestioned obedience.

Now Piper knew what theor elsegleam in his eyes meant. Her bottom throbbed mercilessly to remind her if she should forget. It wasn’t pleasant, her sore ass pressed against the stone floor, but she bit her lip and remained silent while he took his time pawing through her possessions.

---