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I finally look at the painting. It’s a familiar one. It was hanging over the couch in my parent’s living room while I was growing up.
I smile as I look at the acrylic mountains and lake. A flood of warm memories fill me up—opening presents on Christmas morning with it hanging over my parents’ smiling heads and the time my brother threw a soccer ball at me and it bounced off my back and knocked it down. The frame chipped and it’s still there. “You have good taste. That was hanging in my childhood home.”
“Oh, that’s nice,” she says with a warm smile. “I knew I liked it for a reason. It must have good vibes.”
I step a little closer to her as we both admire it.
“I forgot all about it. Someone must have moved it down here without me knowing.”
“Do you want to bring it home with you? I can pick out another one.”
“No,” I say as I turn to her. “I like having it close to you.”
She smiles shyly and tucks a loose strand of hair behind her ear. I knew I’d get this girl loosened up. It’s only one thin strand of hair, but it’s a start.
“I’m so sorry again about the damage,” she says as her bright brown eyes drop to the floor. “I don’t know what I was thinking leaving mittens on the radiator.”
“I bet you heat up every room you’re in,” I say with a wolfish grin. “You took care of the damage. The contractors seem to be doing a good job up there.”
She sighs as she turns away. “There’s something else… Something I didn’t tell you.”
“What is it? You can tell me anything, Lauren.”
“The reviewer, Mikey Reynolds… He was… videotaping the whole fire incident.”
I raise my eyebrows, urging her to go on.
“He was filming while I was trying to put out the flames. It’s not going to make the lodge look very good if he releases it on The Luxury Traveller Magazine’s social media accounts. They have millions of followers.”
“I’ll take care of that,” I promise her. “The video will never see the light of day.”
Because I’ll bury that little shit in the mountains if I have to. I don’t care about the lodge looking bad nearly as much as I care about this amazing woman looking bad. If that twerp does anything to upset my girl, I’ll kill him.
“You’re being too nice,” she says. “I screwed up majorly and made the lodge look bad. I should be punished.”
She must see the dark urges passing over my face because she swallows hard and steps back.
“Do youwantme to punish you?” I ask in a slow throaty tone.
Her brown eyes remain on mine for a long moment as her breathing quickens. I don’t think she realizes how suggestive she’s being or even if she’s doing it at all, but she slides her finger along the base of her neck, tempting me with that warm soft skin.
“I think you should… do what you think is fair.”
My heart pounds. Lustful heat fills my body. My hands tingle and ache with the need to touch her.
We’re all alone down here. I could do anything I wanted. With the sexy look of arousal saturating her eyes, I don’t think she would stop me.
She licks her luscious pink lips as her eyes roam down my chest. I’m wearing gray pants and a black collared shirt with the sleeves rolled up my forearms, which is way more clothes than the last time she saw me. She knows what’s under this shirt and I can tell that she’s thinking about my muscles, tattoos, and warm skin right now.
“A punishment…” I say as I take a couple of steps toward her. She swallows hard as she looks at me under those long dark lashes with her big innocent eyes. “What would you like?”
We never break eye contact. The air thickens with need and desire as I get closer. She doesn’t back away or flinch. I can tell she’s as intrigued by me as I am by her. I could tell that the second she fled from my place with blushing cheeks after all those dirty Freudian slips flew out of her sexy little mouth.
“Tell me what you want,” I whisper as I hover within kissing distance.
“How about an oral warning?”
“How about a spanking?”
