Free Sweet Salvation by Maddie Taylor

back to work. Her knee, which was considerably less swollen, also felt much better. It still had twinges and occasional sharp stabs of discomfort, but it was manageable. He’d given her the okay as long as she kept close to her desk and elevated it, and most important, promised to use her crutches for at least another week. She had agreed to all his conditions and been declared fit to return to work with restrictions.
    That night when he’d kissed her goodbye, he let out the heat until she felt she was going to explode into flames. Holding nothing back, Stacy realized he hadn’t been giving all that he had in his previous kisses. His mouth devoured her until she lay breathless in his arms. Nibbling along her swollen lower lip, he teased her, nipping her tender flesh between his teeth and soothing the little sting with his tongue. After playing lightly for a bit, he kicked it up a gear, sealing his lips over hers, his tongue running along the recesses of her wide open mouth and driving deep as she surrendered to his possession. She was a defenseless recipient of his passion, easily giving ground and yielding all as he overwhelmed her senses. It was blissful. When he’d kissed her into such a state that she felt drunk on his kisses, he eased back, tapering his intoxicating kisses slowly. At long last, he raised his mouth and spoke softly against her lips, telling her what he wanted.
    “I care for you, Stacy. I’d like to see where this leads.”
    He expected her to speak coherently after that? Was he kidding?
    Allowing her a few more minutes of recovery time, he continued. “What you’ve seen these last few days is what you’ll get from me. I’m usually laid back, easy going, and fun.”
    “Yes, please,” she managed, finally putting lucid thoughts together. “I’d like that too, Jared, very much so.”
    “I’m glad of that, but I’m not finished. You were right when you said I could be bossy, autocratic, and dictatorial. I’ll admit that’s another very real side of me at times. I know what I want and usually won’t take no for an answer, but I’m not unreasonable. I can listen and compromise, although if it comes to your health or safety, be prepared to lose.”
    “Are you trying to scare me off? ‘Cause if you are, you’re doing an excellent job.”
    He smiled sheepishly for a moment before continuing sincerely. “I know I can be intense sometimes, but I don’t want you to ever be scared of me, Stacy. I would never hurt you. I promise, you’ll always be safe in my arms.”
    “You threatened to spank me!”
    “True, but I see a spanking as an attention-getter more than anything. It lets you know I am serious about something you have or haven’t done that is important to me, or in the future, to us. Other than a hot bottom, you won’t be harmed by a punishment from me.”
    “Punishment?”
    “If it happens, and I expect it will, probably sooner than later, I would make up for it afterward with cuddles and kisses and steamy hot sex.”
    “The making-up part sounds nice, but can’t we just talk about it like adults?”
    “Of course, we would always talk like adults, but if I told you to do something and you put yourself in jeopardy by failing to do it, that would be blatant disobedience and would earn you a spanking.”
    “Like the other day? You said if I was your woman you would have taken me over your knee.”
    “Yes, it is exactly like that. I told you to stay put and you left without the crutches I was arranging. At the risk to your already injured knee, you walked out. If you parked in the rear lot as you usually do, that’s at least 500 yards, then drove home in rush-hour traffic in your manual transmission Jeep.”
    “But you said it was fine.”
    “No, I said it looked fine but we would needed to recheck in a week. Very often, injuries like small tears don’t show upon on the initial scans.”
    “So I could still have a worse injury and have made it worse.” Her voice was quiet