Page 46 of Swiped By My Dad's Best Friend
“I’ll take you home as soon as we get out of here, or back to your friend’s, wherever you want—”
I inhaled sharply, cutting my words short as Cooper clambered into my lap. There wasn’t room, and his ass hit the horn, making us both jump. I hurriedly reached for the lever to push the seat back from the steering wheel. Cooper’s mouth came down on mine, kissing me hard. I couldn’t be sure of his emotional state. Was this an angry kiss? A desperate one? As his fingers speared into my hair, holding tight, I stopped trying to analyze and let the kiss sweep me away. It felt cathartic, cleansing us both of our failures.
Cooper pulled back, breathing hard. “Two weeks?” He slugged me in the shoulder, though I barely felt it over the wash of shame. Perhaps the kiss hadn’t cleansed me ofmyfailures after all. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Those pained eyes were going to be my undoing.
“I know you don’t really want to be with me, because of my father, but—”
“No, Ido,” I said urgently. “That’s the problem. I knew if I told you, I’d never be able to resist having you with me like this, and then…”
Cooper began to pull away, as much as he could in the tight space between my body and the steering wheel column. I clamped my hands on his ass, wedging him tighter against me. “Wait, please. I was a fool. I know that now.” I leaned forward, kissing his neck, which was all I could reach with his face turned away. “You can punish me, if you want. Spank me.”
Cooper laughed against me. “Isn’t that backwards?”
I looked up at him. “Not as backwards as us being apart.” I swallowed hard, heart galloping. There was no going back once I said the words. But the words had been alive in my heart all along, as much as I tried to deny them. “I want you, Cooper. I want us. Will you forgive me?”
He looked down at me, eyes glistening. “I guess neither of us is perfect.”
I pulled him into a heated kiss. Around us, pink and blue suds washed away my car’s travel stains. Inside, our kiss washed away my guilt, and I knew—without Cooper having to explain—that’s all he wanted too.
To release the guilt he felt about the mistakes he’d made.
“I’ll spank you,” I murmured against his lips. “But it won’t be punishment. You’ve already punished yourself enough.”
14
COOPER
Nerves jangled inside me as Trace pulled up in front of the B&B where this had all started between us. This time, I shouldered his computer bag, while he carried his duffel bag and suit, and we checked in together. It wasn’t yet dark, dusk just beginning to dim the color of the sky, when we walked inside. The manager, Craig, smiled when he saw me.
“It’s about time you returned for a visit,” he said as he pushed a key into Trace’s hand. “I was expecting you much sooner.”
Trace looked abashed, and I smiled. “I’ve been busy with school.”
Craig nodded, and Trace guided me toward his room without comment. Once we were inside, he grumbled, “You didn’t have to make excuses for me down there. Ishouldhave asked you to join me sooner.”
I shrugged. “Nothing we need to explain to Craig, right?”
Trace nodded. “Fair enough.”’
Looking around the room, a reel of memories played out. The moment Trace had pressed me against the floral wallpaper. The big, sturdy bed where he’d spanked me to the brink of orgasm and later curled around me and held me for the night.
I placed his laptop on the dresser while Trace hung his suit inside an antique armoire. His duffel, he dropped onto the floor. I wondered if there were supplies inside, then immediately dismissed the thought. I wasn’t here to get fucked. Trace hadn’t fucked me before, and he wasn’t likely to do it now. Not when I’d asked to be punished instead.
What the hell was wrong with me? I finally see Trace, and I want a spanking more than I want an orgasm? It didn’t make sense. But then, this wasn’t really aboutwant.This spanking wasn’t going to be sexy foreplay. It was going to hurt, if Trace did it right. He’d explained on the way here that if he spanked me, it wouldn’t be for fun, it’d be to help me confront and release my feelings of guilt and frustration. It’d most likely hurt, but he’d given me a safe word in case it became too much.
It had made me nervous, realizing that I was asking a large, strong man to beat my ass. Trace could hurt me a lot, if he really wanted. I hardly understood this thing between us, much less the certainty I felt that Ineededthis spanking. It was all instinct. But as Trace took a seat on the end of the bed and motioned me toward him, I felt a sense of calm settle over me.
“I want you to remain dressed, but pull down your pants enough to bare your ass,” Trace said. “This isn’t about sex for either of us. I’ll spank you, and continue to spank you, for as long as I think is necessary, or until you use your safe word if it gets to be too intense, okay? I want to take care of you, Cooper. I want you to let me in and trust me to be whatever you need and toalwayshave your best interests at heart. Most of all, I want you to let go of the guilt you’re feeling and try to see in yourself what I see in you.”
I wet my lips. “What’s that?”
“Someone with a good heart. Someone who tries really hard to be what other people need but struggles to understand what he needs for himself. Someone deserving of love and care and praise, because he’s amazing.”
“You see all that?”
“I do.”
