Free Shared by Her Soldiers by Dinah McLeod

brand-new shoes off the clearance rack. Those people don’t even have running water . And you’re crying over what, exactly? The Internet being down for half an hour?”
    Kaitlyn drew back with a gasp. “How dare you! You know what, maybe you never should have come home at all!” As soon as the words escaped her lips, she clamped a hand over her mouth.
    Sean’s face didn’t register any emotion. In fact, he was stock still, as though she’d frozen him in the moment.
    “Baby…” She couldn’t believe it. She hadn’t meant… maybe she’d thought … but she certainly hadn’t meant for her most awful, private thoughts to be made known to him. Maybe she’d wanted to hurt him, like she’d been hurt by days upon days without him, but she hadn’t meant to say such an awful thing. “Honey, please.” She took a step toward him and slowly ventured to touch his shoulder.
    As soon as she had, it was like he sprang to life. The next thing she knew, he was grabbing her arm and pulling her back to the table. He sat and yanked her over his lap. Before she’d even processed what was happening—and what was going to happen—he was already yanking her pants down and pulling her panties down along with them. The first stinging spank landed before she even felt the kiss of the air, and another followed swiftly behind.
    “Sean, please,” she gasped as another hard swat landed on her unprotected behind. When another followed, she began to cry, not entirely sure whether it was due to her smarting cheeks or knowing how badly she’d hurt him. “I didn’t mean…” A barrage of spanks covered the sound of her apology and stung so much that it made her forget what she’d been about to say.
    It seemed like it had hardly begun when Sean was helping her up. She was caught off guard—she was sore, but not nearly as much as she normally was by the end of one of his punishments. Then she was standing in front of him, her cheeks streaked with tears, her pants puddled around her ankles, wanting to find the words to make it right, if such words even existed.
    But before she even got a chance, he was doing an about-face and leaving her helplessly looking after him. She waited for a moment, foolishly hoping he would come back. When it was clear that he didn’t intend to, she bent down and retrieved her underwear and pants. She’d just pulled them up when she heard the sound of a throat clearing behind her.
    She turned to see Jarrod standing behind her, leaning against the doorjamb. “I guess you heard everything?’ she asked without preamble.
    “Well, you weren’t exactly whispering.”
    “No,” she agreed somberly. “We’re not very good at that.” Kaitlyn looked him square in the eye, waiting to see what he would say. She knew that he’d seen her bare-assed only seconds ago, and there was a time she wouldn’t have been able to meet his gaze, but she had much more to worry about right now than feeling embarrassed. “I just don’t know how to talk to him anymore, Jarrod.”
    “It doesn’t sound like he knows any better. But you’ve got to remember, you guys have been in limbo for the last eighteen months. But just because you weren’t together doesn’t mean you stopped growing and changing. You’ve got to get to know each other all over again.”
    She heaved a sigh, wishing he wasn’t right and knowing all the while that he was. “Tell me something. Being a single guy, how are you so wise when it comes to stuff like this?”
    “I watch a lot of Dr. Phil.”
    Kaitlyn let out a titter of laughter before she covered her mouth. She didn’t want Sean to hear her. It didn’t seem fair, for him to hear her laughing after they’d just been screaming at each other.
    “Seriously, they did a special on military couples three weeks ago.”
    She rolled her eyes, still grinning. “I must have missed it.”
    “That’s a shame. Maybe it’s still on my DVR. I could make you a copy.”
    “We can only hope. Since we’re