Page 70 of Good Girl

I’m going to be okay.

By the time I reached room 213, I had my tears under control. I fixed the faux smile onto my face and rapped my knuckles against the door, the towels balanced neatly in one arm. A few moments passed before the door opened and I forced my smile wider.

“Your towels—Derek?”

Derek Hansen stood over me in a half-opened, light blue shirt and with a gaze so intense that I was completely rooted to the spot. All thoughts fled my mind, and the towels wobbled in my hand until I clutched them to my chest.

“My towels?” Derek asked so casually that I couldn’t be sure he wasn’t a hallucination.

“What—what are you doing here?”

Derek stuck his head out into the hallway, glanced up and down its length, then grasped my arm and pulled me into his room. I kept the towels clutched to my chest as I stumbled to a stop and he closed the door.

“We’re all here,” Derek replied easily, “but your mother wouldn’t let the three of us share a room so it makes the surprise a bit awkward.”

I rolled my eyes immediately. “She’s terribly old-fashioned,” I began, then a lance of coldness shot through me. “Wait, you met mymother. She’s here and you’re here—if she finds outanything—”

Derek placed a finger against my lips, hushing me quietly with a soft sound in the back of his throat.

“Your mother won’t find out anything,” he assured me quietly. “I’m not here for her. I’m here for you.”

Derek’s hand slid around my jaw, and he cupped the side of my neck, stroking my jawline with his thumb. I scarcely had a moment to think before he pulled me into a deep and sudden kiss that shocked all instinct from my body. I forgot how to breathe, how to think, how to doanythingbut stand there and melt against his firm lips. When my lungs finally kicked into gear, his scent filled my nose with a familiar warmth and the static upset in my chest promptly melted away.

When the kiss broke, my lips remained parted and I chased the contact for a moment until Derek held me still.

“I missed you,” he said huskily. “We all did. But you’ve been distant, ignoring us, and I was sosurewe had laid down some rules about that when it came to communication. Or am I mistaken, Charlotte?”

The deep way my name rolled out his mouth was like a command, and for a brief, weak moment, I was tempted to spill my guts and tell him everything. From Haley to the pregnancy, every secret I had tickled on the tip of my tongue, but despite the comforting depth of his eyes, I couldn’t do it. My mouth moved uselessly and words failed me.

“Am I mistaken?” Derek asked once again, and a hard edge entered his voice. I stood there dumbfounded as he removed the towels from my arms and set them down out of sight.

“No,” I managed to say finally. “You’re not mistaken.”

“But you can’t tell me?” Derek’s dark brows pulled together, and I nodded shakily.

“Let’s see about loosening that tongue, then.”

Derek’s athletic build constantly had me forgetting just how strong he was, but I was swiftly reminded as he swept me toward the bed, and before I could even blink, I was bent over his lap. One of his hands curled into my hair and kept my head down while the other yanked my skirt and panties down to my mid-thigh.

“Derek, wait!” I gasped, my mind flooding with all the terrible scenarios of someone hearing and making a noise complaint or my mother noticing I was missing, but those thoughts vanished the moment his hand smacked down on the swell of my ass.

Heat and fire licked across my skin as a second spank landed on my bare skin, and I bit back a squeal.

“Charlotte,” Derek said softly, “I don’t hear any counting.”

At this moment, nothing else mattered but the deep calm that Derek was able to bring me to in the very depths of my soul. My mind was empty and my focus was on just him. My lips parted.

“Two.”

34

CHARLOTTE

Ten firm spanks, and I was molded butter in Derek’s arms. Each flash of sharp pain against my skin slowly removed every worry and lingering thought that clung to the web of my mind. I wanted Derek, I wanted all of them, and one last incredible session was all I desired. At some point during the spanking, Matt and Samuel had slipped into the room, and while I couldn’t quite decipher what they were saying around the thundering beat of my heart, the buzzing warmth of their tones filled my chest with joy.

“Good pet,” Derek said after the last spank, and he dragged his hand over my heated ass, then dipped two fingers down between my thighs to feel the slickness that had beaded there from each slap. “Well, well... you’re turned on already.”

“I can’t help it,” I gasped as he stroked through my slick folds. All my focus went into not grinding my hips into the touch because he hadn’t given me permission to do so yet, and I was so fucking determined to do him proud. Matt helped me back onto my feet and cupped the side of my face with his soft hand. His entire muscular form dwarfed me when he stood over me like this, but never had I come across a gentler kiss. It was the truest notion about this man as his lips pressed against mine and we kissed long and slow.

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