Her Old-Fashioned Husband (10 page)

“I never really was. Although I admit there are certain parts I enjoyed. Learning how to keep in control, about how to put my partner first, her safety, her pleasure.”

Frankie shivered at the word.

“Did you like when I took control the other night on the phone, Frankie?” he asked, his voice deep.

“Yes,” she whispered. She shivered at the memory.

“Would you like more, baby? Would you like me to tie you up and have my wicked way with you? I wouldn’t mind tying you up, having you at my mercy
.
What do you think?
” He grinned and she felt a low stirring in her gut. Yeah, that wouldn’t be too bad at all.

She bit her lip. “I think I’d like to try that with you. I trust you.”

Leaning down, he kissed her, his tongue tangling with hers, stirring her arousal.

“
How come you’ve never talked about Austin before? What happened
?” she asked.

Tom’s eyes grew sad. “He fell in love. She was a sub called Lou-Lou. I didn’t like her much but I respected his love for her. She was manipulative and catty. But he couldn’t see it. Roarke could, though. They had a number of arguments over her. The las
t argument was the worst
. Roarke told Austin that Lou-Lou was only with him to get to Roarke. That it was Roarke she wanted, not Austin, not a poor, young med student. Roarke has a lot of money. He’s a powerful man, but he doesn’t let people close. No one except fa
mily. He considered me family.”

“What did Austin do?” she asked. It all sounded like a crazy soap opera.

“He was furious. They both said things that were hateful. Austin stormed out of our small apartment and drove off in his car. I never spoke to him again. A drunk driver went through a stop sign. They decided to turn off the life support five days later. I was devastated.”

“Oh God, I’m so sorry.” Frankie clasped him close, wishing she could take his pain into herself. “What about Roarke? He must have been devastated as well.”

She couldn’t even imagine his pain.

“He should be,” her normally compassionate husband snarled. “He killed him.”

“Tom—”

Tom stood and set her in the seat as he started to pace. “No, I don’t want to hear any def
e
nse of him. He might as well have taken a gun to Austin’s head and killed him. And now he’s here, why?”

She knew he wasn’t really talking to her, but answered anyway. “Maybe he’s here to make things good with you.”

Tom turned back to her. “Well, he can’t,” he growled. “Hell, when I heard he’d opened that club in Waco I thought he wouldn’t dare come any closer. What the hell was he doing in Bronwood?”

“A BDSM club?” she asked.

Tom nodded sharply. “He’s been steadily opening up clubs over Texas.”

Frankie was frowning. This was so unlike her husband. Couldn’t he see how much Roarke must be hurting? That he’d only been trying to pr
otect his brother.

“
He said he knew Brax, how?
” Maybe Frankie could get in touch with him, see if she could ease this rift between Roarke and her husband. Of course, the easiest thing would be to get hold of
that business card. She now knew
why he’d given it to
her;
he was hoping to ease the way. Frankie wondered if he’d known who she was when he’d approached her
.
She didn’t suppose it mattered.

Still, she didn’t like her chances of getting her hand on his
card;
she didn’t think Tom would be carelessly leaving it around. Although she supposed she could do some searching. Someone surely knew where to find him.

I could always find his club. Visit him there.

She held in a shiver.

“Brax goes to his club sometimes in Waco,” Tom spat out. He stilled, staring down at her. “I want you nowhere near this man, understand me? You see him again then you cross the road and walk on the other side. You ignore him. You don’t talk to him. You don’t go anywhere near him. If I catch you even looking at him, I will take a switch to your butt.”

“That’s hardly fair, Tom,” she protested in surprise.

“I don’t care about fair,” he snarled. “You’ll do as I say.”

Frankie stood, hangover forgotten. “Why? Because you man? Me woman?”

He drew her close, pulling her against him. “No. Because you’re mine. Now get your butt into the shower. I want you naked, downstairs with your nose in the corner and your bare butt poking out in twenty minutes.”

Frankie
washed herself slowly
. She wasn’t going to just hand herself up to him on a platter to discipline, was she? He’d never required her to stand in the corner before a punishment. Afterwards, sure. Personally, she figured he just liked staring at her red butt, but she’d never had to wait for a punishment that way, they were always given as soon as Tom could manage it.

Stepping out, she dried herself and then stood in her bedroom, chewing at her bottom lip.

She could put clothes
on;
refuse to do what he’d told her.

She could climb back into bed, the way she really wanted to.

But in the end she knew that she deserved this. The guilt was eating away at her stomach and she needed the relief a punishment would bring.

So, naked and
hung over
, Frankie walked downstairs and moved to the only empty corn
er of the living room. Sticking
her nose in the corner,
she
crossed her a
rms behind her back and widened her stance, sti
ck
ing her bottom out
.

Frankie didn’t know how long she stood there before Tom came into the room, but she’d nearly stepped out the corner three times.

“About time,” she muttered quietly to herself.

Smack!

“Ow,” Frankie cried, jumping at the heavy spank that landed on her butt.

“Are you allowed to speak while standing in the corner like a naughty little girl?” Tom asked her.

Immediately, she was flooded with the need to submit.

“No, sir,” she replied softly.

“Then hush.”

She closed her eyes, her throbbing butt cheek a reminder to behave. It was easier to stand here now, even knowing he was staring at her naked butt, because this was what Tom required of her.

“Come here, baby girl.”

Frankie turned, blinking herself out of her semi-trance state. Tom sat on the sofa. She gulped as she got closer and saw what rested beside him.

“Tom?” she questioned, her gaze caught on the hairbrush and paddle.

He stared at her then down at the i
mplements. He held up his hand.
“A hand spanking for forgetting your dinner.” He then dropped his hand and picked up the hairbrush. “The hairbrush for hanging up on me.” He moved to the paddle. “The paddle is your morning spanking as part o
f your punishment two week punishment
.”

Frankie gulped. “You’re going to use a paddle on me twice a day for the next two weeks?”

How the hell would she survive it?

Tom shook his head. Relief surged through her. “Sometimes I’ll use my hand, sometimes the hairbrush or the belt.”

Frankie whimpered.

Tom patted his lap. “Lay yourself over my lap and we’ll begin.”

She shook her head. “I can’t.”

Tom simply stared at her. “Don’t you want to get rid of that guilt rolling in your stomach?”

“Yes,” she whispered. “But can’t you just do it? Can’t you just pull me over my lap?”

“No, baby,” he told her. “I know that’s what I’ve done in the past, but I’m pushing you further now. I want more and I know that you do to. You can do this, Frankie. Give us what we both need.”

Tears started rolling down her cheeks as she stepped forward and positioned herself over his lap. When she was settled, Tom rubbed her back until her tears dried. She wiped her cheeks against her hand.

“I’m very proud of you, Frankie,” he crooned. “My brave, beautiful girl. Do you know how gorgeous you are when you submit to
me?
Remember
it’s
not a sign of
weakness;
its
being strong enough to admit what you need and going for it. There are so many people who are too scared, but not my Frankie. This is going to be hard on you, honey. I can’t go easy. I have to make an impression because I will not survive another night the way I spent last night. I want you to hold onto the sofa arm and don’t move your arms. Understand?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Good then we will begin.”

His hand landed sharply, heavily. He moved swiftly, quickly covering the whole of her buttock in smarting spanks.

Frankie dropped her head, tears forming as her butt started burning, throbbing.

Oh, God, would he
n
ever stop
? She was all too aware of the rest of her punishment to come, but it seemed like Tom wasn’t taking that into consideration. He was giving her one hell of a hand-spanking.

“
When I tell you to eat regularly, Frankie, I expect you to obey me,” he told her, pausing briefly. “I don’t tell you these things just to order you
around;
it’s
for your health. Now, you have thirty more and they’re all going on your thighs. I expect you to keep your legs still.”

Frankie cried out as he started spanking her thighs. Pain engulfed her, radiating through her. She had to work hard to keep her legs still when all they wanted to do was kick and move out of the way of his punishing hand.

He stopped. “Will you be forgetting to eat again?” he asked.

“No, sir.”

“Good, because this is a light spanking in comparison to what you’ll get next time. I take your health very seriously, Frankie.”

“I-I know,” she sobbed.

“Okay then, I think you’ve learned your lesson. We’ll move onto the hairbrush. This part of your punishment is about respect, Frankie. For me and for our relationship. I would never disrespect you by hanging up on you. It’s childish, immature and I never want it to happen again, understand?”

“Yes, sir.” Frankie was crying softly, unable to stop herself.

“Good. I want you to count these out and ask me for the next. You have thirty coming.”

Smack!

The paddle landed, excruciating against her already roasted bottom.

He stilled and Frankie caught her breath frantically.

“One. May I have another please sir?” she asked.

By the he reached
thirty
, Frankie was unable to count
, her breath stolen by the punishing force of the paddle. Luckily, Tom seemed to have sensed her issues and finished the count for her.

Huge, heartfelt sobs jumped out of her lungs as he turned her, holding her, letting her bury herself against his chest. This was the only part she enjoyed about a spanking, the cuddling afterwards when she felt so safe and protected within Tom’s arms.

“Come on, baby. I think
it’s
time you had a nap.”

She whimpered in
protest as he moved, rising with her still held in his arms. “I just got up.”

“I know, but you didn’t get much sleep last night and
I bet you haven’t slept
well since I left. I want you to take a big nap and then you can snuggle on the couch with some hot chocolate and watch TV, okay?”

S
he yawned, surprising herself with how tired she felt.

“Okay,” she muttered reluctantly. “You know, I’m too big for you to be carrying me around.”

“You weigh nothing.”

She stiffened
, chewing at her lip. Tom reached the bedroom and put her on her feet as he pulled back the covers. “In you get, love.”

Frankie lay on her stomach and he pulled the cov
ers over her.

“
You make me so happy.” He ran his hand over her hair.
“I’m going to go and get you something to eat and drink, then you’re going to have a big sleep.
I need to go out for a little bit. I don’t like leaving you home alone, but I won’t be long and I expect you to stay in this bed.”

“Where you going?” she asked, rubbing her hand over her eyes.

“I have to pay someone a visit. I’ll be back soon with some food.”

*****

Tom stood in the foyer of
Decadence,
waiting as one of the door men c
alled up to Roarke. He knew Roarke would
see
him;
he wouldn’t be able to resist. Tom was impatient, though, he’d already been gone from Frankie for an hour. He’d driven as quickly as he could to Waco, but he still had a return trip to make. He hoped she stayed asleep, she was worn out and he didn’t
want her curiosity to flare up.