Rod of Correction_ Taken and Tamed(38)

“Mine, too, I bet,” he agreed, leaning back against his desk as he watched her, death-gripping the edge of it so that he didn’t reach out and haul her across it, and not liking at all how tense the situation seemed to have gotten. Then he leaned over and grabbed the phone that lived on his desk and punched a number. “Carl, would you come up and take the boys to school for me, please? Yes, thanks.”

Then he headed for the door, throwing over his shoulder one word: “Stay.”

She could hear him talking to the boys, who didn’t seem at all unhappy about being brought to school in a limo. She heard someone knock at the door, and the kids greeted Carl at least as exuberantly as they had their uncle, maybe more so.

Finally, she heard the door close and he reappeared in the doorway seconds later. “Much better. No possibility of a munchkin interruption.”

“They seem like wonderful kids.”

“They take after their uncle,” he informed her with a wink.

She was enchanted, but countered impishly with, “Your brother Evan, you mean?”

Unable to stop himself, he came to stand much too close to her. “I ought to give you a spanking for that.”

“NO, you oughtn’t!” she disagreed loudly, laughing as she did so but also putting her hands over her barely recovering behind before he took it upon himself to do what he’d just threatened.

Like that was going to stop him, she thought, rolling her eyes at herself.

“I had an ulterior motive for sending them away.”

“You wanted to spank me?” she guessed.

“No,” he answered, much too quickly, not realizing how it sounded until after it had escaped his mouth. “Not that I don’t definitely want to spank you again, but that’s not why I sent them off to school.”

“Okay, well, then, why?”

Now that she was standing there all expectant and everything, he wasn’t at all sure what he wanted to say, so he said the first thing that came out of his mouth. “So, I’ll expect you after work next weekend? Say around seven?” he asked with more doubt in his mind than confidence about her answer, although luckily it hadn’t come out that way.

“But poker’s not for another month.”

He looked even cuter when he was uncertain of himself. It was such a rarity that she was enjoying every minute of his apparent extreme discomfort.

Rod cleared his throat and reached for her, hauling her up against him just for something to do, and once he’d done it, he realized it was the perfect impulse. He had a feeling that, if they continued this relationship, his philosophy was going to be something to the effect of “when in doubt, either spank her or hug her.”

“I was thinking of a more . . . private party, along the lines of this weekend.”

“Complete with another hand of draw poker?” she asked with a smile, and he wasn’t sure whether that was good or not.

Although he wasn’t a fan, he agreed immediately. She didn’t have to know that he’d considered that idea to be a tactical error on his part. If it got her here, he’d agree to play mahjong, or bridge, or even Monopoly, which he detested. He didn’t much care, as long as she was under his roof, and, preferably, under him the majority of the time. “Sure!”

“Good, because I want a rematch, and I fully intend to win the chance to spend the weekend ordering you around!” She rubbed her hands together with an unnerving amount of anticipatory glee. It didn’t matter to her how she had to shuffle her schedule around, who she had to cancel meetings with or whatever. She was going to be here, secretly hoping that she lost again at poker.

She hadn’t come here Friday night to have her life turned upside down and her entire outlook changed, but he’d done it in the course of a very few hours, considering she’d been a workaholic all her life. She knew she’d spend this week staring out into space instead of working diligently in her office, being distracted by thoughts of him during important meetings, and fantasizing about him every night while she brought herself off, because he wasn’t there to do it.

It was going to be hell. Work had always been her refuge, her solace, her life, but now she’d found something – someone – who made her feel so starkly better that it was night and day – absolutely no comparison.

If he’d asked her to stay today, she would have been hard pressed to do what she knew she should - go in to the office instead of spending the day naked with him. That was unheard of from her. Her assistant probably thought she was dead by now, and she didn’t much give a damn.

Before he let her go, and even though he’d gotten some of what he wanted – she was coming back – he found himself lifting her skirt and gripping her bottom, pulling her against the tented front of his pajamas, rubbing himself lewdly against her and growling, “When I win again, I’m going to tie you to the bed for the entire weekend – in one position or the other. I’m going to keep your bottom bright red, and take you every possible way I can dream up.”