Page 4 of Protecting Vidalia
“You can't,” she yelped, feeling herself falling and unable to do anything about it. She put out her hands to keep herself from hitting the floor, but was surprised to find herself stopped short as his arm wrapped around her waist and held her across his knees.
Vidalia had never been spanked before, but she’d wondered a few times what it might be like whenever she’d come across a scene in a romance novel. It had only been a mild curiosity, though, and not something she felt would ever actually happen. Not in this day and age, and especially not with a complete stranger. The position she was in was mortifying and humiliating as she struggled desperately to get off his lap. She looked back at him in time to see his hand come up in the air. Reality slammed into her psyche and she yelled. “Jake! No!”
“You asked for this,” Jake replied grimly, bringing his hand down in a hard, sharp swat on the seat of her jean shorts.
“Ow! Damn!” Vidalia couldn't help the expletive that burst forth from her lips. That smack had hurt. Then it was followed by another and then another. “Ow! Stop it, Jake—that really hurts,” she protested.
“Are you going to put on some warm pants?”
He rested his large palm on the seat of her shorts and Vidalia could feel the heat from his hand mingle with the heat of the spanks he’d already administered. When she didn't answer, he lifted his hand and started landing fast hard swats until she kicked and yelled at him again. “Please, just stop.”
“Now are you ready to put on some pants?”
“All right, all right,” she yelped, “just let me up.” Her butt was on fire at this point, and she was ready to agree to the stupid pants if it was that important to him.
“And are you going to be civil and let me help you?”
Vidalia rolled her eyes where he couldn’t see them. “Fine...you can help me,” she agreed and was rewarded by him picking her up and standing up with her. Her hands immediately flew to the seat of her pants, trying to rub some of the sting out of her butt.
“I'm glad to hear it,” Jake replied graciously, his tone mocking as he watched with an amused quirk on his lips. “I'm glad we got that straightened out.”
Vidalia ignored him as she took her bag into the bedroom to change into her sweats, and it was then that she realized that for the first time in days she’d actually thought about something else besides Dani Owens.
Trembling, she sat down on the side of the bed, guilt flooding over her once again like a mountain gully washer. What right did she have to be alive when Dani wasn’t? Dani had died in a storm much like the one that was raging outside and she hadn’t been able to help her. Hadn’t been able to get her to safety. It was her job to help save lives and she’d failed one small girl completely. Lost in her misery, she didn't even hear Jake when he called her name.
Chapter 2
“Vidalia?” Jake peeredinside the door of the bedroom, wondering what was taking her so long. When he saw her sitting on the side of the bed, her hands lying in her lap and her gaze pinned on the floor, he quickly crossed to her side. “Vidalia? Are you okay?”
When her startled gaze locked with his, Jake was struck by the intense pain that seemed to emanate from her very soul through those luminous green eyes. She shook her head as if she’d been far away from the present and then slowly stood up.
“I'm...I'm fine,” she croaked hoarsely, her gaze sliding away. “Really, I'm just fine.” She tried to step around him, but he caught her cold hands in his big warm ones.
“Vidalia...if you need to talk, I'm here,” he said.
“I don't have anything to talk about, Jake. I'll be fine, really.” She pulled her hands from his then and turned around to rummage through her bag for a pair of sweats. She could feel his eyes on her but she didn’t want to look at him, didn’t want to see the sympathy there. It wasn’t deserved.
