Page 13 of On His Ranch

When his hand emerged from the backpack, fingers pinched around a thick cream flyer, her stomach dropped.

“Put it back,” she rasped out.

Chase looked up at her. “What is it?”

“It’s… it’s nothing that you would care about. I promise. Please, put it back,” she whispered, knots of dread in her stomach as she waited. She didn’t want to be even further humiliated in front of this man than she had already been.

He locked gazes with her, seeming to look inside her.

She held her breath and waited, unnerved for more reasons than one. When he shrugged a shoulder and put it back in the backpack without turning it around and reading it, she let out the breath she’d been holding.

When he set the backpack down, frustration at being put in this situation mingled with relief and it took all the self-control she possessed not to snarl, “Satisfied?” and grab it back from him. He must have seen it on her face, though, because he smirked at her. “Empty out your pockets.”

She reached down and put her hands in, pulling the fabric so that the pockets were inside-out. A single dime chimed as it fell to the floor.

“You really are a good girl,” he observed, his eyes lingering on her face and making her blush hotter. “Even good girls need spankin’ from time to time.”

Her entire body flushed and she wasn’t sure why—from the mentioned spanking, or hearing him call her a good girl.

He set her backpack down. “Over my lap.”

Piper blanched and her eyes widened. “What?”

“Don’t make me repeat myself, Piper.”

This time when heat spread over her limbs, she knew exactly the reason. He hadn’t called her by her name before—hell, no one had ever said her name like that before. Her thighs began to quiver as she watched, horrified, praying he didn’t notice. Damn it, of all the times to be turned on, this had to be the worst!

“But… you already spanked me.”

“That was for running away. I still owe you a spankin’ for hittin’ me earlier.”

Her brow furrowed. “But… you already did that.”

“I have a rule, and if I have to restart the spankin’ we do the whole thing over, right from the beginning.”

Her mouth gaped open. “But—”

“I’m not a patient man, Piper. I’m givin’ you ten extras for arguing, and if you don’t want more where that came from, you’ll do as you’re told.”

* * *

He had to admit, he was liking Piper more and more. Of course, it didn’t hurt she’d proven herself to be honest. When he’d thought she was the thief they’d been keeping an eye out for, it had been hard to acknowledge his attraction to her. Now, though… it was all he could do to ignore the throbbing in his cock as she laid herself back over his knees, her movements hesitant and awkward.

She’d done it, though. That was what counted.

He shifted her a bit so that her ass was in the center and easily in range. His eyes drifted along her orbs, and he grinned to see that her perfectly white, unblemished globes were now a deep pink with darker splotches of red in place. They would be red before he was through.

“Hittin’ other people is not somethin’ we tolerate ‘round here,” he began to scold.

Piper craned her head around to look at him. “But aren’t you hitting me for hitting you?”

The ruler smacked down on her thighs three times in quick succession.

“Yow!” she cried out, pain mingled with surprise.

“That’s enough of your sass.”

Her eyes narrowed into a glare, but she turned back around and lay down across his lap with further comment.

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