Her Cowboy's Way Read online

  He calmly closed and locked the door behind him. He didn’t say a word, trying to determine how to handle this. He didn’t want to scare her even more, he needed to bolster her confidence that this was her decision, not something he was forcing on her. She’d been standing close to the door, now she stepped backward. And, backward some more.

  He moved toward her, calm, collected, determined. “A deal breaker, huh?”

  She looked frustrated, a pinch of worry between her eyebrows. “This is fundamental, Colby! I’m fine with the whole love and honor stuff.”

  Good to hear. “But the word obey bothers you.” It wasn’t like he wanted her to do everything he said and not have a mind of her own. He wasn’t always right. What he wanted, expected, was for her to give credence to his telling her not to do something, which would only be said for her own good. “Maybe you should explain your thinking on the matter.”

  She put a hand on her stomach, a sign she was jittery. “I’ve spent my life obeying and following rules. I’m ready to be in charge of my own life. For Pete’s sake, Colby, I have my own business.”

  In truth, she’d always struggled with doing what someone else wanted. As for rules, she preferred to make her own or bend someone else’s to meet what she wanted. He was going to have his patience tried for years to come. He decided it might be wise to respond with care. “Yes, you do. And I’m proud of what you’ve accomplished.”

  Some of the tension eased from her shoulders. “Thank you.” She nibbled on her lip, still concerned.

  He wasn’t sure quite what she wanted yet. “You are in charge of your life. Our getting married doesn’t change that.”

  “But… You have rules. You have expectations of me.” She inched backward again.

  Colby glanced at his watch. Time was not their friend. This wasn’t a serious problem; she was grasping at straws, at anything, in her anxious-bride worry. “Do you love me, Brandi? Really love me?”

  He stepped in front of her as cautiously as when he approached a frightened horse. Her eyes widened at his closeness, but she didn’t move away. Progress.

  They stood there watching each other. Her scent drifted over him, making him aware of his desire for her, any time and anywhere. She’d spent many hours in his arms and in his bed, many hours with him deep inside her. He could sense longing building within her as well. Trying to keep his need at bay, he prodded her again. “Brandi?”

  “Yes. I love you with my whole heart. But…”

  “Nothing else is as important.” Even as he spoke, relieved by her answer, he took her hand and pulled her with him to the window seat. She didn’t try to stop him and gave a small sigh.

  Brandi was over his knee before she could even think of resisting. She already felt better. Colby had come to her as she’d asked, even when he should be getting ready now…just as she should be. He put her needs above everything else. That said a lot about the man she was marrying. Their marital life ahead might have ups and downs, clashes and make-ups, but she was pretty sure they would make it. Statistics weren’t in their favor, though. But this was their wedding day; statistics had no place in it.

  She settled into place, to heck with stupid statistics. “What if someone looks up and sees us?” They were in front of the window.

  He tugged her closer. “Nobody is going to see us.”

  Probably not, since they were seated. “You’re going to wrinkle your tux pants.” Now that she was in this familiar position, she was embarrassed by her strange show of nerves. She wanted to marry this man. She really did. God, why was she so upset? Why couldn’t she just go through with this?

  “My pants will be fine.” He didn’t sound the least bit concerned. He swatted her denim-covered bottom. “You need settling down. The stress of the wedding has gotten to you, hasn’t it?”

  The smack over the denim hadn’t hurt, but if he spanked her long enough, she knew it would eventually. “I’m a grown woman; I shouldn’t be getting a little nuts about this…about wedding vows.” She flinched as she watched his hand rise and fall again.

  Colby’s expression showed both understanding and determination. She turned her head away. She was getting spanked. Good? Bad?

  “We are getting married today, Brandi Lynn.” There was no question about it in his tone. He landed six sharp swats with attention-getting force. “I know you don’t want to call this off.” A dozen swats followed. “Do you?”

  “No, but…” She gasped, her bottom hurt now. “You’re sure you don’t have any doubts?” She drew in a breath at a hard swat. “I won’t always agree with you. I argue. I—”

  He sent another biting swat down and laid his hand over the spot as if holding in the sting. “I’ve never had any doubts, Brandi Lynn. And I don’t expect you to never argue with me. That wouldn’t be who you are.”

  She looked back at him again. Her bottom ached, but the look of love in his eyes made up for the pain he’d caused. “So, are we done now?”

  “Are you sure?” His fingers moved to the waistband of her jeans.

  She trembled in response; yearning took away any wounded feelings from being spanked.

  “These can come down. I can warm your bare bottom until you’re convinced I will always take care of you…no matter what you need…or when.”

  “I’m pretty sure I get that now.” She wiggled her bottom, experienced the sting beneath the denim. “No, I’m good with what you’ve already given me.”

  He smoothed his hand over her tender bottom and released her. Then as she scrambled off his lap, he said, “So, we’re beyond any problems with the whole obey thing?”

  “For the most part, yes.”

  She stood in front of him, rubbing her bottom. He frowned. “I mean that I’ll try to follow those rules we’ve talked about. But we both know I’ll struggle. Can you accept that?”

  Colby watched her hands moving over her bottom. Normally he didn’t allow it. Now he appeared fascinated by the action, his nostrils flaring and his eyes darkening. More than anything she wanted to pull the jeans off and….

  “Colby?” she questioned, taming her thoughts. Both of them needed something, relief of some kind. She didn’t want to get too disheveled and have to face her bridesmaids. Which left taking care of the man she loved. “Colby,” she repeated, dropping her hands.

  He looked confused, then went back to her mention of his acceptance. Still a bit distracted, he said, “As long as you’re my wife, I’ll accept anything.” His gaze held hers. “I might spank you, but that has nothing to do with my love for you. Or everything to do with it.”

  Her buttocks clenched and she drew in a shuddery breath. She stepped closer to him and he hugged her as she repeated what he’d told her before, “You spank me because you love me.”

  She felt the pounding of his heart, the gentleness in his embrace. The scent of his arousal drifted to her and the bulge in his tux pants pressed closer.

  “Sweetheart, you need to step away from me,” he said huskily, although he still held her and rubbed against her to make sure she understood his problem.

  She definitely did. With a smile, she reached down to cup him. She moved her hand up and down the impressive length. He shoved forward with a groan, making her smile bigger.

  “Damn, Brandi Lynn, you’re killing me.” Yet he didn’t move away, just let her have her way with him.

  It always pleased her when she made him hard like this. Stepping back, she went to her knees and unzipped his pants at the same time. She drew out the heated shaft, eager to play with it.

  His eyes were dark, brow pinched as he glanced toward the door. “You should be getting dressed,” he managed to grunt out while she licked the head of his cock.

  “I will.” She licked him again, grinned at his groan and looked up. “Pretty soon.” She held him with one hand and ran her tongue along one side of the pulsing shaft, following the vein line. Her other hand cupped his balls, massaged them with gentleness.

  “God, Brandi,” he moaned,
thrusting forward, demanding more of the pleasure making him grimace with tension. “This isn’t right.” He moaned again. “It’s damn naughty, here in church.”

  She leaned back and her hands continued to drive her man toward release. “Showing my future husband how much I love him is bad?”

  “It’s the timing that’s bad,” he gritted out. “Oh God! Ohhhhh God!”

  Brandi worked him until he shot all over her hand. She made sure the semen stayed off his tux pants. Still holding him, she reached her other hand out to a box of tissues and cleaned him up.

  “Feeling less tense now?” She smiled in mischief, very pleased with herself while he straightened his clothing.

  “Hell, yes.” Colby pulled her to him and kissed the top of her head. He threaded his fingers through her chin-length hair the way he liked to do sometimes. “Darlin’, you don’t have to promise before God and all that you will obey me. And I won’t ask you to do so without good reason.”

  She felt way beyond foolish about the issue now, embarrassed at her breakdown. She hugged him tighter.

  A second later, she shoved out of his embrace and glanced toward her dress hanging across the room. “Can you find the girls for me? I’m going to need help getting into the gown.”

  He stood, studied her, and nodded. “You’re settled now, I take it?”

  She put a hand on her tender bottom. “Yes, thank you.”

  “All right, I’ll go round up your girls.” He headed for the door, stopping to say, “I suspect it was better that I came to talk to you than your father. But you’re mine now. I’ll be the only one turning your sweet bottom red on occasion from now on.”

  Forty-five minutes later Colby’s heart swelled with pride as he stood at the front of the church and took Brandi Lynn Dalton for his wife. Her bottom wouldn’t be red by now, maybe a bit pink. Knowing their little secret about that and about what she’d done in return, he grinned like a love-struck idiot at her. He didn’t care. He did love her. Even more when she met his eyes and said, “…to love, honor and obey…”

  Even as he spotted her crossed fingers beneath the bouquet she held, he winked at her, lifting one eyebrow.

  She blushed and let him see the crossed fingers better.

  Chapter Two

  Misbehavin’ in Mexico

  “The sun's up and we shouldn't be wasting time here in our room,” Brandi said, nudging Colby where he still lay half-awake in bed. “We've only got six days here. I don't want to waste a second.”

  He groaned in answer, but that was it.

  She was excited to be away from her accounting business, away from her clients and the demands of her new husband’s ranch. Time alone with Colby was precious. He’d wanted to spend their honeymoon in Kansas City, close to home in case he was needed. She hadn’t wanted that at all. She’d had to do some persuading—she’d enjoyed every delicious second—but he had given in.

  She glanced at him, shivering at knowing he belonged to her. Only her. It wasn’t wrong to want time away from their everyday world to get to know each other much, much better. When she’d seen an ad about Cozumel, she’d made an instant decision: that was where she wanted to go. It would be nothing at all like Kansas. He’d agreed but had shopped around online for the best deal. Besides that, he insisted she not go all crazy with overspending on trinkets.

  “We already have more than enough bits of girly stuff sitting around collecting dust.” The words had rankled, knowing he referred to the numerous small collections that had belonged to her mother. He hadn’t been thrilled when her father let her take them to his very minimalistic house. She’d huffed at him in annoyance about his warning for their trip. But she would try to keep her impulsive buying to a minimum.

  It wasn’t that they were close on money. The ranch was paid for and he had a good chunk of savings and investments. And she had a nice size inheritance she could draw from. He was just Mr. Conservative and determined about the matter. She was an accountant and paid close attention to the spending habits of her clients for their businesses. She didn’t overspend for her business, either. Personally, though, she hated budgets. Colby stuck to them.

  She imagined they would have a lot of disagreements about budgets in their marriage. She wouldn’t win them all, but some would be good. They’d already had a small disagreement about how much she’d spent on new clothes for the honeymoon. She’d “graciously” let him warm her bottom when he’d given her the choice of returning the clothes or getting spanked. Clothes were more important; her bottom recovered before too long.

  “Come on, Colby,” she pleaded, growing more impatient.

  From his stomach down position, he turned his head and opened one chocolate brown eye to look at her. “I'm on vacation. Sleeping in is part of my dream.”

  He gave her a crooked grin, looking sexy as hell with his thick, black hair all mussed and the five o’clock shadow clinging to his carved face. “’Course having sex almost 24/7 this week with my new wife is a bigger part of my dream.”

  At his comment, spoken in his oh-so-sexy deep voice, warmth spiraled through her. Tingles down low led to moisture beading in a place that enjoyed having her husband fulfill his dreams. He’d worked hard at pleasing them both until the wee hours of the morning. Instead of feeling exhausted like him, she was flying high with energy. She wouldn’t mind climbing back in bed and jumping his gorgeous bones, but she didn’t want to hurt him. She had plans for him later. She’d been thinking about a certain position that seemed mighty interesting and she was pretty limber. Maybe she would let him rest after all.

  “I’m afraid you’re all-talk and no-can-do as far as the 24/7 sex goes.” When he frowned, she smiled to let him know she was teasing. “How about we try for 20/7? I need some rest, too, my big stud muffin.”

  “Did I hurt you last night, sweetheart?” he asked, turning serious. “I got a bit carried away.”

  She fanned her face. “A bit? I lost count of my orgasms. But am I complaining? Double darn, no.” She slid a long, leisurely look over the worn out cowboy. “I’ll give you a break, let Mr. Wowser get back into playing condition.”

  Colby shifted onto his back, the sheet way down at his knees. He took hold of his semi-hard cock with one hand, making her think about reconsidering her decision. “Mr. Wowser?” he asked, stroking his shaft again and grinning while he watched her reaction.

  “Yeah, got a problem with that?” She struggled, torn between the desire to sight see and the passion of taking charge of his pleasure tool

  “Nah, I’m good with it. Just don’t tell anyone.” His gaze turned annoyed and he gave his cock one final stroke. “Like you told everyone about the damn nickname, Super Stud Cowboy.”

  “You already spanked me for that.” She took another step back from the bed, moving her hands to cover her bottom. “I don’t know why the title upsets you. It’s a compliment.”

  He still looked unhappy. “If half the town didn’t know about it, it wouldn’t be so bad. But the men tease me sometimes.”

  Best to let the subject drop, she decided. She put her hands on her bikini-clad hips, delighted to see his eyes widen now that he noticed the scrap of fabric she was wearing. “I’m antsy. I want to go out and do something.”

  “I thought you were going to be on your best behavior on this trip.” He sat up and moved back against the headboard.

  “I haven’t done anything wrong.” Yet. She blew out a breath of frustration. “I just want to get out of this room. We’ve already been here almost solid for 24 hours.”

  “So you haven’t been enjoying those almost 24 hours?” His testiness disappeared and he gave her a cocky grin of challenge.

  She’d already learned men liked to have their egos stroked now and then. In this case, he deserved it. “You’ve been amazing. Super fantastic. Mind blowing magnificent. Yada, yada, yada.” She focused on his cock. “It appears your brilliant woman pleaser is almost ready to dazzle me some more.”

  She sighed, thinking
there was more to see in Cozumel, even at this resort, than just this room. “But I want to go see some sights, go to the beach, go do anything but stay here another five minutes.”

  “Brandi Lynn,” his tone revealed how tired he was, how uncertain. He yawned, rubbed at his eyes. “You’ve got to be exhausted, too. You were right with me every step of the way last night.”

  “I’m not going to waste my day like you. I need to see what’s outside this room.” Before she could stop herself, she stomped her sandaled foot. “I’m leaving this room with or without you,” she added more quietly, yet determined.

  “Do you want to start our vacation this way?” He slipped from the bed and walked toward her, big and naked, and his eyes sparked with aggravation.

  That darn foot! Always getting her into trouble. She steeled herself for confrontation. “All right, I’m sorry I stomped my foot. It was childish.”

  “Yes it was, Brandi Lynn. You know how I feel about your little temper tantrums.” He stood in front of her, all pissed off male.

  “It wasn’t a tantrum,” she countered. “I have an uncontrollable foot sometimes.” Maybe she could distract him. Stomping her foot was one of his biggest pet peeves and she was trying to stop the habit. She reached out to smooth her hand over his chest. “Have I mentioned how much I love your pecs?”

  Colby took hold of her hand. “Uh-uh. You’re not going to distract me that way.” His gaze shifted to her bottom. “Bend over, hands to your knees.”

  “Seriously? It was just a little stomp.” Tears misted her eyes and she gave him a pleading look. “Please don’t do this now. I’m sorry.” She covered her bottom with her hands. “I’ve already got my bikini on to go layout for a bit and …”

  “A red bottom would be embarrassing.” He drew in a breath and relented. “Okay this time, but don’t do it again. Next time I’m taking off whatever shoe you have on and paddling your butt with it. Understand?”