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casually eyeing.
No. Put it back, he said in no uncertain terms.
She d turned to him in amazement, but then she should have known him better. Excuse
me? Laurel s back went up immediately. He wasn t generally so autocratic with her,
preferring a more firmly gentle approach.
Put it back and pick out something else. There are enough clothes here to outfit a small
army. Find something that s less revealing.
Until he d mentioned his objection, she hadn t been considering it that seriously he
was right it really was too short. But she wasn t about to knuckle under and adjust her
shopping habits just because he was a prude. If I want it, I ll buy it, Laurel said with
quiet strength.
Still burdened with shopping bags, John took one step toward her. Laurel was proud that
she didn t automatically take a step back, but stayed put where she was, looking up at
him with expectant defiance.
He lowered his voice a little, but nowhere near enough for Laurel, considering what he
said. You can buy it, of course. But if you do, I ll spank you when we get home and
you ll wish you hadn t. And the skirt will find its way to Goodwill before you ever have a
chance to wear it.
Her huff of absolute indignation had no noticeable affect on him. He merely stood there,
to all outward appearances a mild mannered man. But Laurel knew now, from way too
many personal experiences in the last six months, that when she crossed him or did
anything that he thought wasn t right for her to do and, if she d admit it, she knew she
shouldn t do it either - that she d end up sitting very gingerly for days if she got stubborn
about this and disobeyed him.
With a dramatic, and obviously exasperated, sigh, she put the skirt back. Good girl, he
said.
Arf, Laurel replied, putting as much sarcasm into the response as one could to an
animal utterance.
But she did find that, in general, the fact that he spanked her didn t go to his head at all
he wasn t a control freak at all, didn t get jealous if she had to work late or anything like
that. He completely respected her career at the bank and supported her when she applied
elsewhere for better positions providing a pair of strong, warm arms when she didn t
get the positions for whatever reason. What he expected of her was no more and no less
than her best which is what she should always have been expecting of herself but
sometimes failed to do.
That was when he stepped in. He didn t come into her life and try to rewrite it to his
specifications. He wasn t demanding and he didn t look for things to spank her for.
Usually, like the fire hydrant incident, they reached out and smacked him in the face.
John did curb her a little as he had in the department store especially her language,
and if he ever heard her running herself down. But overall, she didn t feel smothered or
stifled at all by the fact that she occasionally found herself over his lap.
John was also walking pretty proud lately. He was with the woman he d wanted all his
life he d just slipped his interest in her to the back burner after Sylvia, figuring he
didn t have a chance with Laurel after what he d done to her. But he was determined to
make up for what he d done, and didn t intend on letting her get away from him under
any circumstances this time. If he had his way and it was likely that he would, he
thought they would be married within the next year or two, and he would be the
happiest man on Earth. He knew that the next step for them should be for her to move in
with him, but she didn t seem to be in any hurry, and he didn t want to frighten her away.
He figured six months was a good time to suggest it, so he decided to take them away for
a long weekend and make the suggestion then.
Laurel loved the ocean. Their two families had vacationed there almost every summer
when they were growing up when they weren t exploring up and down the Eastern
seaboard. So he found a hotel right on the beach in a place they were both already
familiar with, but he figured neither of them had been for a while, so it would be almost
new for the both of them. He d considered Boston, but it was such a hassle to get around,
and he frankly hated really big cities so much that he dismissed it almost immediately.
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