The Cutthroat by Clive Cussler (audio ebook reader .TXT) 📕

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Embraced

this one, he felt that laying helpless and sobbing exhaustedly from a very thorough little-girl punishment on her bare bottom, helped her acknowledge her place as his wife and his as the husband and head of the house. She wasn’t struggling any more, just sobbing quietly, pitifully. He kept her immobile with her wrist against the small of her back, not offering comfort just yet. Barrett wanted her to admit her error before he forgave her. For her own sake, he hoped she would no longer be defiant.

“Meagan, say you’re sorry and it’ll be all over,” he said softly, giving her a way out of disgrace and into his open, comforting arms. He literally ached to hold her and reassure her of his love.

With her free hand, she wiped tears and hair off her face to look back at him, face all swollen and snuffing her nose. “And if-if I don’t s-say I’m s-sorry?”

He sighed. “Then I will give you double the last count –

forty strokes. Then I will double that, if necessary. We will be here all night, my girl, until you realize your mistake. I won’t have you thinking you can repeat such behavior. Do as you’re told and say you’re sorry, Meg. Or I promise you forty more strokes like the last twenty, only I’ll be angrier.”

Silence. Oh, God, she was going to be stubborn, the little cuss!

“I’m not going to wait all evening, Meagan Costas,” he warned sternly, executing a sharp slap onto her burning flesh.

It was that twenty-first slap on her already swollen and abused nates that convinced Meg that she should definitely think twice about doing something like that again. That meant she was sorry she’d done it in the first place, didn’t it?

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Carolyn Faulkner

“I-I’m s-sorrryyyyy!!!”

Barrett closed his eyes briefly, thankful he didn’t have to carry out his threat – although he certainly would have if she hadn’t repented. Then he turned her in his arms to cradle her against his chest, letting her cry herself out as he stroked her hair and rubbed her back soothingly. “There’s my girl,” he murmured against the crown of her head.

He held her to him tightly for a long time, rocking her occasionally and wiping away copious tears. Meg was limp in his arms. Though it was still early, he tucked her into their bed, on her tummy, shhhing her murmured protests with his lips to hers. “No, Sweetie. I want you to get some rest. You know how a good spanking tires you out.”

“But it’s only – “

His finger over her lips cut her off. “I know what’s best for you, Angel. Just go to sleep, and I’ll join you in a few hours.”

Meg was not about to dare to argue any further, but found she drifted easily into sleep just after he closed the door quietly.

~ ~ ~

She decided a while later that it was time they started being a little more social as a couple – if Barrett had his way, he’d never allow her out of the bedroom, even to cook. He threatened occasionally to restrict her from wearing clothes while he was home with her, and had already ripped an old cotton t-shirt completely off her in his eagerness to satisfy his need for her one afternoon.

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Embraced

To test his theory about her bad behavior, he began to delegate more work to his vice presidents, and spent much more time at home with his lovely, luscious bride, making love to her any time the thought struck – in or around the pool, in front of the fireplace in the living room, once on the kitchen counter, and, on the dining room table, he laid her out like a sumptuous buffet and licked his way from one end to the other. They rode their land together, and he was proud to see that she was becoming an accomplished horsewoman. Bookstore owners got used to seeing them together as they scoured the shelves for the latest books on archeology, then split up – him toward the Sci-Fi section and Meg toward the romance section first, then on to horror to see if there were any vampire books worth her perusal.

He had been right. With his steadying, consistent presence, there became fewer incidences where immediate or prolonged discipline was necessary. At one point, it had been a week since he’d had to up-end her and crack his hand against her bare bottom.

That was, at this point, a record, but one he was sure she would break as she settled into his expectations of her behavior.

“So who’s going to be our first victim?” he was asking, as Meg poured over recipe books while bent fetchingly over the counter, as if offering her bottom for a paddling. He was definitely savoring the view.

“I don’t know. Who would you suggest?”

Barrett thought a minute. “How ‘bout Jake?”

Meg got a truly evil grin. “Oh, yeaaaaaaah. And we then we can invite Mandy over, too, and watch the sparks fly!!!”

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Carolyn Faulkner

“C’mere, woman,” he ordered, and she simpered over, offering him her ponytail. “What’m I supposed to do with a hunk of your hair?” He looked confused.

“Well, when you issue a command like that, you sound like a Neanderthal. I figured the next thing you were going to do was drag me around by my hair – Oooh!”

He grabbed her and pulled her between his legs where he was seated at the kitchen table, “Neanderthal, am I?” He growled and Meg giggled, which made Barrett frown in