Embraced by Faulkner, Carolyn (books for 8th graders .TXT) 📕

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BacksideOfLove.com

Carolyn Faulkner

small vocabulary. She didn’t know what was getting into her.

“I’m sorry. I don’t usually talk like that, either. I’m just not in a very good mood, I guess.”

“And you can’t sort out how I can love Mandy yet spank her, and how she can love me despite the fact that I spank her,” he said succinctly.

Man, she hated it that he was so dead-on about things.

Wasn’t this man ever wrong? He’d summed up what had been bothering her in 50 words or less. “Loving someone and actively causing them pain would seem to be at odds, wouldn’t you say?”

“Lots of things in life cause pain, Meg. It’s not like I break bones. In my house, disobeying my rules results in a spanking.

My Dad spanked me, and to a much lesser extent the other kids – I don’t think any of them has much of a clear memory of anyone but me spanking them. But that’s where I learned it. Lovingly, over my father’s knee. I was a hell raiser, back then.”

“Why do I not find that hard to believe?” Meg asked wryly, listening to him intently.

“Always getting into one scrape or another. Broke one of Dad’s windows, dug up Mom’s flowers, I was forever getting my butt whupped for something. But that’s just it – Mom and Dad took the time, loved and cared for me enough to keep track of what I was doing and see that I learned that it’s not polite to swear, not acceptable to shirk your duties, however menial, or speed, or try to ride an unbroken horse when I was about 6 . . .”

She could see him doing all of those things and more, easily.

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BacksideOfLove.com

Embraced

“They never let me down; they were always there either to cheer me on, provide advice, or the occasional kick in the pants when I needed it, or a bare bottomed reminder that I was getting out of hand. Kids push the limits, try to see what they can get away with. I didn’t get away with anything, and by the time I was 16, just a couple months before they died, I had a part-time job, a straight A average, and had just bought my own car with my own money. It’s because they were loving and strict with me that I was able to do what I did with my siblings – maintain the family, with me at the head. I would never have asked for the position, at least not that young, but I was well trained to step into it, thank God. I expect one day I’ll head my own family – “

“That’s a very chauvinistic attitude, you have there, buddy.

Are you going to spank your wife, too?”

Barrett nodded. “If she needed it, of course.”

Meg shook her head, disbelieving. “No wonder you’re unmarried at 39.”

“That’s by choice, not for lack of possibilities.”

“You mean you’ve met women who would have agreed to let you spank them whenever you determined it was necessary if you married them?” The disbelief was rampant in her tone.

He scoffed. “Loads. None that I really thought I clicked with, though.” Until now, he thought.

You could have knocked Meagan over with a feather. She was still digesting this fact when Mandy appeared in her robe and slippers. “I’m gonna go to bed.” She didn’t seem the least bit surprised to see Meg cuddled up against the lunk of a man she supposedly hated.

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BacksideOfLove.com

Carolyn Faulkner

Barrett got up and hugged his sister tightly, giving her an exaggeratedly loud kiss on the cheek. “Night, Sweetie. Sleep well.”

When he turned back to the swing, he found it empty.

“Meagan?”

He had no idea how she managed to slip past him while he was kissing Mandy good night, but apparently she’d done it. He found her and the rat dog in his study. Meg was grabbing a handful of the hard candy he kept on his desk. “Good idea,” he commented, scooping up the little firecracker dog and tucking him under his arm.

“Yes, thanks. It does a good job of keeping me from coughing all night.”

Barrett sat down on the closer end of the leather couch. He looked thoughtful. “You know, I owe you a spanking.”

Meg’s mouth became instantly dry as the Sahara. “You certainly do not.”

“Yeah, I do. It was a pretty stupid thing to drive three days down here from Maine by yourself when you were barely recovered from pneumonia. You should have called Mandy to reschedule for later in the summer.”

“I – I couldn’t.” She couldn’t very well tell him that she scheduled her summers around whether or not he was going to be around.

“Then you should have foregone the trip until next summer, rather than putting your life at risk to get here,” he said matter-of-factly, watching her closely as he stroked the dog.

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BacksideOfLove.com

Embraced

“I wasn’t putting my life at risk by any means.”

“At the very least, you were prolonging the illness.”

“That’s where you and I disagree.”

He smiled in an almost angelic manner that put her instantly on edge. “That’s where my being the head of this household comes in so handy, since it’s my opinion that matters on the subject.” He set the dog down and came toward her, not surprised that she backed away. “I’m not going to spank you, now,” he reassured, and she stood still, letting him take her in his arms. Nose to nose, he