Maggie clapped along with everyone else as Sebastian finished his speech. “See, I knew you could string words together coherently,” she whispered as he sat back down beside her.

“Was there ever a doubt?” he said, and picked up his wine glass.

“Yeah, many times,” she said, and clinked hers to his. “Good speech, Mr. Jones.” It had been. She had no clue how many jobs an equipment store would bring to town, and heaven knew, just like every other place in the country, they could use more decent jobs. “What number will this store be?” she asked.

“Number?” He looked at her puzzled.

“How many stores does your family own?”

“This will be one hundred forty-eight,” he said, “over seven states.”

Her ears rang just a little. That was a good amount. Was she half way sort of almost dating a millionaire? Or was he a lowly peon working his way up in the company like everyone else? If he was rich, he wouldn’t have bought a house in her neighborhood. They were comfortably middle class there, and there were very high-end houses worth quite a bit more within a mile of hers. Why wouldn’t he have moved there? Interesting. She needed to know more about this man, and she knew just how to do it.

But for tonight, she smiled at him, clinked glasses once again and took a drink. “There’s apparently dancing after the dinner,” he said, frowning as they started bringing out salads.

“Two left feet?” she guessed.

“No,” he shook his head. “Just a waste of time.”

“You’ve not danced with me, then,” she said. “I took an entire semester of dance in college.”

“I’m in good hands.” He smiled at her again, and she felt a thrill to her toes. What was with this strange and mysterious man who gave speeches effortlessly, but had a hard time with conversation, who opened doors for her, drove her to the hospital when her mom was hurt, took her dancing, or would in a few minutes, yet warned her about consequences and spanked her? She had never met anyone like him.

Being held in his arms, swaying on the dance floor a while later, she sighed happily. When was the last time she’d been dancing? Her cousin Amy’s wedding almost a year ago? Probably. She missed dancing, and missed dancing with someone who knew how.

“You’re good at this,” she told him.

He half smiled and pulled her closer. “I have a good partner.”

“Aww, you say the sweetest things.” She put her head on his chest, happy she had on comfortable shoes because she felt as if she could dance all night.

Then someone tapped her on the shoulder and she looked up, startled. “Mind if I cut in, I need to borrow some of Mr. Jones’ time.”

Yes, she minded a lot. A whole lot, and opened her mouth to say it, but then shut it. This was his night and people probably did want to talk to him. He needed to make contacts and she was being selfish to hog him.

“After this dance,” he smiled at the woman, and twirled her around.

“You didn’t have to do that,” she gasped. “I am a good share -er.”

“I’m not,” he said. “The song is almost over and then I will go speak to her.”

“And I’ll find a bathroom,” she said and then grimaced.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

Maggie buried her head in his chest. “I just told you I had to go to the bathroom,” she moaned.

“I’ll pretend to forget that, and focus on you powdering that cute nose,” he said, and hugged her close just as the song ended. “We will meet up again after I make the rounds and you do whatever vague thing you need to do.” Maggie didn’t want to leave his arms, but dang, she really needed to go to the bathroom.

She headed toward the back of the room where she saw the signs earlier and noticed three women swooping in on him. Committee women, she assured herself, that was all. Chamber business, nothing more. Not that it mattered, of course. She had no hold on him, no reason to be jealous that other women thought he was attractive, also. He could dance with them all if he wanted. Spank them all, too. It wasn’t like he was good at it or anything, after all. She made it to the restroom and tried not to marvel at the marble counters and upscale fixtures. It was just like on the house shows on TV, her secret addiction, when everyone walked in and said, “It's tight! It's dated! Omg carpet! The color! Eeekk!” She didn’t shriek as much when she saw a mouse, much less when she saw a paint color on a wall she didn’t like. Honestly, she thought they paid them to act like idiots. Why else would they? Well, why would she go over some neighbor’s knee and get spanked? Why could her brain never shut off? She washed her hands and smiled at the lady next to her. “Mrs. Carpenter?” the woman asked.

Maggie nodded. Half her parents called her “Mrs.” It really didn’t matter, just like paint color. “Your husband is handsome,” she said.

Her husband? That was funny. “I’m sorry,” Maggie said. “You are?”

“Oh, sorry, I’m Lily’s mom. She was in your class two years ago, and thanks to you, she’s made As in honors geometry this year.”

“She did? Tell her I’m so proud of her! And she will just ace trig, I know it!” Maggie racked her brain trying to remember Lily from two years ago. Cute little redhead, maybe? Some kids just blended.

“Do you mind if I dance with your husband?” Lily’s mom asked. “I miss dancing.”

“He’s not my husband, just my neighbor and of course, you can,” she said. “Not that I should be giving him permission to do anything,” she laughed.

An hour later, she was sorry she said that. Sebastian was constantly on the dance floor with a different woman every dance. Apparently, tall, handsome, good dancers were hard to come by here at the local Chamber meeting. Bored, Maggie decided to poke around a little. She’d go check out the hotel. They’d remodeled a few years ago, and she hadn’t seen the upgrades. Yeah, Sebastian was still schmoozing, so she slipped out the side door and headed to the lobby. After looking around there a bit, she decided to check out the new pool area. Why not? She went down a deserted hall when a man came out of a room, he looked at her and did a double take. “Ms. Carpenter?” Sighing, she nodded. Another parent?

“Fancy seeing you here,” he said, and leaned into her, whiskey breath suddenly all over her face. Could she get contact drunk?

“Who are you?” she gasped out, suddenly feeling very nervous and concerned. She eyed the hallway, hoping to see someone else around.

“Your newest best friend,” he leaned over her, and she stared into his glazed eyes, as he pushed her against the wall, and leaned into her. “Wanna come in and have a drink with me? I’m all alone.”

Maggie felt a surge of panic. What was going on? She froze, unable to move or think, then shoved as hard as she could but he didn’t move, he grabbed her hair and smacked her head against the concrete wall, she tried to catch her breath while she heard a buzzing in her ears. He groped her breast with the hand that wasn’t holding her, and she felt like vomiting. She took a deep breath ready to scream as his mouth came down on hers. Kissing? No. Just No. Shoving with her arms, she kneed him as hard as she could and as soon as she could catch her breath, she screamed as loudly as she could, hoping for any attention.

Weirdly enough, Sebastian was right there while four doors opened down the hall. “Call security,” he growled to one of the open doors, and had the man’s arm twisted behind him and up against the wall before Maggie even realized what was going on. Her knees gave way, back against the wall, and she slumped down on the floor, head swimming and ears buzzing.

“Maggie!” A sharp voice in her ear. “Maggie, look at me!” Sebastian. She knew his voice. Why was her head fuzzy? Where was the man? She pushed away, she needed to run.

“Maggie!” Sebastian. She was okay? Maybe.

“We need to check her out,” another male voice.

“No!” she tried to yell, but nothing came out.

“Maggie, these are the EMT’s. They want to help you.” Sebastian again. “Open your eyes. Look at me. Maggie, do it now!”

She responded to his voice and opened her eyes, and saw his, wild with concern. There was a blood pressure cuff on her arm and a bunch of people standing around staring at her and for some reason she didn’t care.

“What happened?”

“You got attacked,” Sebastian told her.

“Okay,” she said and the next time she woke up, she was in the ER.

“No. I’m taking her home with me as soon as she’s ready to go.” She heard Sebastian say. “I can take care of her.”

“No. She’s my sister and I’ll take care of her.” Ben’s voice. Jerk. How could he take care of her? Why did she need taken care of? He was a doctor, he’d tell her.

“Ben?” Why didn’t her voice work better? Weird.

“Maggie!” Her brother rushed over, she saw Sebastian right behind him. A good thing.

“What’s going on?” she asked Ben. She felt exhausted, as if she’d run a marathon.

“You have a concussion,” Ben said, flicking a pen light in her eyes that she waved away.

“It's against the law to treat family,” she complained.

“Told you she was stubborn,” Ben said. To whom? Oh, Sebastian.

“I can handle stubborn,” Sebastian said.

Could he? “You don’t spank very hard,” she told him with her eyes closed. Then she heard Ben snort.

“I guess you need to spank harder if you want to handle stubborn miss, here.”

Had she really said that out loud?

“Touchy subject,” Sebastian said.

“I’m her brother, and I know that if anyone needs a good butt blistering now and then it's this one.” He finally quit shining that thing in her eyes because she refused to open them. Served him right. When she opened them again, she was alone in a dark room.

“Maggie?” Okay, she wasn’t alone.

“Hi,” she said. “I need to go home and let Simon out.”

“Cambry went to get him, and took him home with her and Ryan,” Sebastian said. “I didn’t want him pooping on my porch.”

She almost told him he wouldn’t but decided she didn’t care. “I still want to go home,” she said. Her head didn’t really hurt but she saw an IV in her arm and assumed she was getting meds and saw she was in a hospital gown. How had that happened? She didn’t want to know. They would give her pills when she went home. They loved to hand out pills and the way her head hurt she wanted some.

“What happened?” she asked.

“What do you remember?” Sebastian prompted, as a nurse came in. He must have called her.

“I was watching you dance, you’re a good dancer. Then I got bored, because you aren’t that good. I went to check out the pool, I hadn’t seen it since the reno.” She paused. Okay then what? “Then someone came out of a room and they knew me. I thought it was a kids’ dad, but then, then…” Her memory struggled, Sebastian came closer and stroked her hand and lightly over her hair. She liked that. “Then he threw me against the wall. Why did he do that?”

“We don’t know yet, but we’ll find out.” He kept stroking her hair and the next time she opened her eyes, Cambry was there.

“Hey, little sister,” she said. “How are you feeling?”

“I need to go to the bathroom,” she said almost desperately.

“I can help with that,” she said, cranking the bed up. “Tell me if you feel dizzy.”

“I will,” she promised, swinging her legs over the side of the bed.

A few minutes later she was sitting up in bed, and waiting for the promised coffee and food. Who should bring it in but Sebastian. “Why aren’t you at work?” she said.

“Even the boss gets a few days off now and then,” he said, putting her food down on the table.

“I want to go home,” she said. “Where are my clothes?”

“Eat,” he said and pointed to a neatly folded pile of clothes on a chair.

“If I eat, can I go home?” She sipped her coffee and shut her eyes in delight. Yes. Coffee. Nectar. Delight.

“With me,” he said. “But after the police come in and talk to you.”

Maggie pouted. “I don’t want to talk to them, I want to go home.”

“Maggie, you can go home with me after you talk to the police and get a medical okay.”

Furrowing her brow, she said, “What does that mean?”

“It means you can go home with a supervisor. Your mom is recovering, your dad is watching her, your brother and sister-in-law work. I will watch you until you can be home alone. “

Maggie sipped her coffee again and tried to stay calm. So, she was going to hot neighbor’s house for a day or two. Did she mind? Not really. Did she need to make a token protest? Of course.

“I don’t need a babysitter.” She scowled at him. “I don’t have to have one. I’m a big girl, you know.”

“And I’m your big brother, you know.” Ben walked in the room. “And I’m not going to have you worrying Mom.”

“That’s not fair.” She glared at Ben. “Besides, one, you aren’t my doctor, two, you aren’t my boss and three, I’m fine.”

“Four, you are coming home with me,” Sebastian said, matter of factly.

She glared at both the bossy men staring at her, and took another long slow sip of her coffee. “Fine,” she capitulated. If it would get her out of here and within walking distance of her house, why was she complaining? She wasn’t. She was going home, or next door to home anyway, and then—going home. After she spent a little time with the hot neighbor, of course.

“Fine?” Ben asked.

“I just want to get out of here. You might like it here, but I don’t. Release me!” she begged.

“Eat, then I’ll have the nurse come in and take the IV out, after you talk to the police,” her brother said, and she scowled at him again.

“You can’t take it out, now? Didn’t they teach you that in medical school?”

“I could, I prefer not to,” he said, giving her half a wave and left the room.

She looked at Sebastian. “People come and go so quickly here. I’m ready to go, too. I need a shower and to put some clothes on. How long have I been here?”

“Less than twenty-four hours,” he said, and she felt shocked. She thought it would have been days or at least two.

“Wow,” she said. “Well, I still want a shower and to change clothes. It would be much easier to do it at my house.”

“I’ll think about it,” he said. “Now, eat and I’ll go tell the police you can talk.”

She looked at him and said, “Bossy.” But took a spoonful of her soup. He sat back, patiently while she took a few bites, then left, and a police officer came in. “Hi, Diane,” she said resignedly. If she had to talk to someone, then Diane, the sister of one of her co-teachers, was better than most.

An hour later, with her statement given, the IV out, her clothes on, and the paperwork signed, she was walking out the front door. Sebastian had pulled the car around and helped her inside.

“Thank you for everything,” she said, looking way up into his eyes.

“Actions have consequences,” he said, and shut the door. What did that mean, she wondered? She hadn’t done anything wrong. Was he talking about leaving her alone while he danced? She didn’t mind that, he was there to schmooze, after all. Plus, she didn’t want him hanging out with her because of misplaced guilt.

“I’ll take you home,” he said. “And you can shower, change and pack a bag. They want someone watching you for a few days. I’m off today and tomorrow, I’ll work from home the next day, and by then you should be recovered.”

“I have practice tomorrow,” she told him, already feeling frustrated and confined.

“No, you don’t,” he said as if it were a fact.

“We’ll see,” her head hurt, and she didn’t want to argue with him right now, but she was a grown woman and could decide what she wanted to do and which doctor advice she wanted to ignore.

“No, we won’t,” he said, again in such a matter of fact tone she wanted to scream. He was just going to be a lot of fun, now, wasn’t he?

She opened her mouth to say something when he said, “You hurt your head, not your butt, but I can change that.”

Did he just threaten to spank her? Why did she feel excited and intrigued instead of pissed off? Well, she had just hit her head.

His car directed them home, though by now he should know his way to and from the hospital fairly well. He pulled into her driveway and came around to help her out of the car. “Quick shower, pack up and then I’ll take you home and put you to bed.”

“I don’t want to go to bed,” she complained.

“Too bad,” he said, tersely.

“Lovely,” she said, feeling as if her life were spiraling out of control. It was just a few days, she told herself. She could deal. At least it hadn’t happened during the school year, she consoled herself. “You going to let me shower alone?” she asked him almost sarcastically.

“This time,” he said, and she sighed. That was too bad. She could have used someone tall and strong to wash her back. Not that she’d let him know that. What was the deal with her? She stood in the shower and thought. He was hot, good looking and interesting. She was a normal, red-blooded woman and felt attracted to him. He also had the potential of fulfilling her fantasy. Well, maybe he did. Maybe she’d find out over the next couple of days. She winced as she shampooed her hair. That was one nasty bump back there.

“You okay in there?” his deep voice boomed over the noise of the shower. Didn’t he realize she was naked an arm’s length away? What would he do if she didn’t answer or said no?

“Sure am,” she called back, not feeling quite that bold. “Almost done.” She dried off and slipped into the sweatpants and oversized shirt she’d brought in with her. At least she’d be comfortable in her boredom.

The weather was still hot and sultry, typical Southern Illinois weather, and it was the perfect weather for ball playing. She was only sidelined a few days, she reminded herself. She’d miss one or two practices and then she’d be fine and back to playing. She’d grab Ryan and do some extra practice when she was allowed.

“Here I am, sir,” she saluted as she came out of the bathroom. “All clean, comfortable and ready to be bored out of my mind.” She noted his lips twitching as he tried not to smile. He should smile. He had a great smile and an even better laugh. Why would he not let himself indulge more often?

“What else do you need?” he asked, looking around her bedroom.

“My phone charger,” she said. “It's over there by the bed.” Okay she could have grabbed it, but she wanted to watch him bend over. Why not? A girl needed her jollies where she could get them. He did not disappoint. Perfect ass.

She had her small bag packed in a few minutes and went to the kitchen to grab her lap top. “I might want to work on lesson plans,” she told his upraised, disapproving eyebrows.

“We’ll see,” he said.

They walked over to his house, with him carrying everything, even her purse, which made her smile. “I banged my head, not my hands,” she told him and received a frown in return but no comment. She really had to teach him to use his words.

“Have a seat,” he told her. “I’m going to change the sheets, so you can sleep in my bed.”

“No,” she said.

“No?” He stopped and looked at her as if no one had ever said that word to him before. Well, it was about time someone did.

“Your couch is very comfortable, and I prefer to sleep and rest out here,” she said. Folding her arms, Maggie stared at him, and tried not to smile as she saw disbelief cross his face. What? He didn’t know her by now?

Sebastian left the room, heading to the back of the house and she didn’t know if he was changing the sheets or just getting away from her. Whichever, it made her smile triumphantly. Finding the remote, she flicked on the television. There had to be something decent on.

Sitcom reruns. Fine, she could deal with that for a bit.

She sat down, noting her head was throbbing just a little, but knew she had medicine to take after a while, so ignored it.

A few minutes later, Sebastian came back in the room. “Time for bed,” he said.

“I’ve basically slept for twenty-four hours,” she pointed out calmly, trying not to whine. “I don’t want to go to bed.”

“Then I’m going to prove to you I can give a proper spanking,” he stood there as if he’d said something totally normal.

“I have a concussion,” she said dramatically.

“I’m going to paddle the other end.” He was entirely too calm for her liking.

Was he really going to do it? Her heart pounded, and she gave a half smile remembering she was on painkillers which would dull any pain he caused. Right?

He frowned, and she knew he thought she was laughing at him, because before she realized it, his long legs had taken a few steps and he was right beside where she sat on the couch. He jerked her over his knee and she scrabbled to put her head up on the couch instead of dangling. That was only common sense. She grabbed a pillow to stabilize herself.

He jerked her sweatpants down and she screeched. Now, that wasn’t playing fair! “No!”

“Oh, did you want to go to bed?” he asked and delivered a sharp smack to somewhere that hurt. “Too late. You’re going with a red-hot butt.”

“Ow!” He’d really been taking it easy with her last time, apparently. He had some power in those long arms.

“Stop it!”

Of course, that got her no answer. The man didn’t speak but half the words a normal man… “Ow!” She forgot her train of thought as he started peppering her with swats that stung like crazy. She began to wiggle and protest, her hand came back to try and block him. Why couldn’t she roll off his lap? This made no sense. Must try harder, she thought.

Bucking, squirming and trying to get away seemed to make no difference. Her feet started kicking though she wasn’t certain what good that would do, but there was nothing else for her to do.

“Please! No more!” she sobbed out. “Okay, I’m done, I’m done.”

Oddly, this didn’t stop him. He just kept spanking over and over and over and it seemed to go on forever and her brain couldn’t remember a time she hadn’t been over his lap. Her whole entire bottom was on fire and she howled in agony. So much for painkillers. “Please, no more. Please!”

Yet he kept on. Tears fell, she could feel her pants fall off her feet. Why had she wanted this? She hadn’t! Nothing like this was what she wanted. “No more. I’ll be good.” She tried to think of words, any words. Hell, he wasn’t a man of words. He was probably going to keep spanking her until her butt matched what he thought was the right color or something. “Please, no more, please!” Another half dozen sharp smacks right at the center of her butt and she knew she’d feel those for a few days.

“Ow!” she screeched and let out a huge sob.

That must have done it, because he put her up on her feet. She frantically rubbed her bottom, glaring at him and sniffling. Tears rolled down her face, but she didn’t care, she wasn’t going to stop rubbing the fire out of her butt. He reached over for a tissue, and got up to wipe her nose for her but didn’t stop her from rubbing.

“Who doesn’t spank hard enough?” he asked as he tossed the tissue away.

Maggie didn’t answer and only glared at him as she rose on her toes. For some reason her body thought that might help the fire. It didn’t. She knew she was doing a tiny dance for him, clad only in her T-shirt and panties, since she had slid her sneakers off when they came in, but she didn’t care. Rubbing helped turn the bonfire in her bottom to a smolder. No way was she stopping long enough to put her pants on, yet.

“I don’t know,” she wailed out.

“Don’t know what?”

“Who doesn’t spank hard enough? You spank too hard!” Maggie glared at him, realizing she wasn’t very ferocious with two sets of red cheeks, tears on her face and both hands seriously rubbing her bottom.

Sebastian looked at her impassively. “Was it everything you wanted this time?”

“No!” she stomped her foot.

“What?” he asked.

“You’re supposed to hold me, tell me it's okay and I’m forgiven, and rub my back and…” In one step he was in front of her and pulling her to him.

“Who knew there were so many rules?” he whispered in her ear.

Me!” she said and put her head against his chest and felt his arms tighten around her. Now, this was good. She liked this part. Sighing, she stopped rubbing her bottom and put her arms around him, too, not wanting to let go of him. Her bottom was hot and sore, but not unbearably. As soon as he let go of her, she wanted to go see what it looked like in the mirror. But she was in no hurry. Right here was just fine with her for now. He hadn’t held her or hugged her like this before and it made her wonder what else he could do just as well. For an undemonstrative man, he was quite the cuddler.

A few long seconds later, and he scooped her up in his arms. She clung to his neck. “I still have to go to bed?” she pouted.

“Yes, you do,” he said, striding down the hall.

“Any chance you will come with me?” she asked hopefully.

Sebastian looked at her as if she’d grown three heads and she giggled. “Hey, you created the heat after all.”

Shaking his head, he put her down gently on the bed. “Do you need your pants? Wait, no. I’m keeping your pants in case you think about escaping.”

“Escaping? Like I’m a prisoner or something?”

“Whatever thought floats your boat.”

He pulled the covers up, tucked her in, then brushed a kiss across her forehead and she sighed in sheer bliss. “Take a nap,” he said, as he turned, flicked the light off and shut the door behind him. It was dark in here she noticed and remembered he had light darkening curtains on the windows. Of course.

She reached around the nightstand and found the TV control and flicked it on. She was tired, but she wasn’t really sleepy and hoped something mind numbing would bore her enough to sleep. How much did they think a person needed to sleep anyway? She’d slept an entire day away after all and that was plenty. Ticking off her mental list of things needed doing while she flicked the stations around, for the second time this hour, she knew she needed to call her mom, and call Sherri, her ball coach. She wanted to call Cambry and check on Simon. Her phone was in her purse in the other room. She would have to fake a nap and then hopefully Mr. Bossy would let her make some phone calls.

Finding a movie, she put down the remote and rolled over on her side to feel her bottom. Yeah, she needed to look at it. It felt like he’d lit a fire on there that would never be extinguished but in reality, it had mostly faded already. She knew there was a bathroom off the back of the bedroom, and made her way there using the TV for a night light. She flicked the light on and blinked, pulling up her shirt and dropping her panties. “Ow!” she said out loud. Her bottom wasn’t welted or maroon, but it was way more than pink. He’d done a great job. Should she praise him? Give him an A and a gold star? She heard the door open to the bedroom, but didn’t care. What was he going to do, spank her? Oh yeah. He’d already done that.

“Why are you out of bed?” he asked.

“I’m in the bathroom, why do you think I’m out of bed?” she said, eyes not leaving the mirror.

“Because I don’t spank hard enough?” he suggested.

Quickly, she pulled up her panties and dropped her shirt, blushing wildly. “No.” She flounced past him and tucked herself back into bed.

“I brought your pills,” he said. “After your nap, I’ll get you something to eat.” She took the pills he handed her, and the water to wash them down.

After that, he took the remote, turned off the TV and took the remote out of the room with him.

Maggie sighed, rolled over on her stomach and thought about her spanking and the man who’d given it to her, until she drifted off to sleep.

Sebastian put the remote down on the dining room table where he’d be sure to find it later. Little brat. Little brat had spunk, that was for sure. He liked some sass and spirit, but she might have gotten a double dose of it. He’d given her a pretty good spanking, while being careful of her head and weakened condition. She didn’t realize he had more tricks, or implements up his sleeve. She’d squalled like he was killing her though, and he’d thought he’d gotten the message across. Apparently not. He smiled, as he went to the kitchen to put on a chicken and rice casserole for supper after she woke up. That would go down easily for her, and be a change from hospital food.

His phone rang, his new friend, Ben. They’d had several long conversations while Maggie slept. He’d been worried about his little sister, and popped in and out on her when he had a break in his schedule at the hospital. His wife, Cambry, seemed like she was a really good person, too. It was their son, Ryan, who’d broken his window. Cambry said she knew nothing about it until they got home, or would have had Ryan come over with Maggie and apologize. They both offered to pay for it, which was nice of them, but his homeowner’s insurance had it covered, and he didn’t mind using it. He knew Maggie thought she was paying for it, and shook his head. So many members of that family throwing money at his window repair because one little boy hit a ball. That made them good people in his book.

“Hi, Ben,” he answered.

“Just checking on the patient,” he said. “Sure, was good of you to take care of her for a few days.”

Sebastian flexed his hand. Yeah, it was. “She’s under control. Trying to take a nap.”

“That’s good. We should both be off by seven tonight if you need us to take her off your hands,” Ben said.

“Nope, we’ll be good. I’ll look forward to our dinner next week.”

“See if you can talk my stubborn sister into coming, too,” Ben said. “Being paged. Later. Call if you need me.”

Ben had told him a bit more about Maggie. She had been what their folks called a happy surprise, born twelve years after him when they’d been told they couldn’t have any more kids. She had been well and properly spoiled, and he had been the only one who told her no. He’d gotten so frustrated with her sometimes, he’d turned her over his knee and smacked her bottom a few times. The last time he said was when she was a freshman in college and in danger of flunking out because she was enjoying life at college too much. After he came up for what he called a ‘discussion’ she’d settled down and gotten her degree.

“She seemed to respond to a butt warming.” Ben had shrugged. “But now that I’m older of course, I know better and do better and might handle it a different way.”

“Might?” Sebastian had asked.

“Well, I’d never spank my kid, it would kill his spirit, but it seemed to put Maggie’s head in a different place.”

“As long as it was a better place,” he said.

Wondering if he’d put her head in a different place, he put the casserole in the oven and resisted the urge to go check on her again. Instead he went into the living room and picked up her pants. Watching her panty clad bottom wiggling and jiggling over his lap had been very enjoyable. Yeah, he’d heard that a spanker shouldn’t enjoy the process, but instead be sad and sorrowful he had to give one, but he wasn’t that altruistic. What wasn’t to like about watching a pristine bottom turn red and a spitfire turning compliant? Wasn’t that what a spanking was supposed to do?

He sat down on his comfortable couch, picked up his phone and called his older brother. “Bastien!” His brother seemed glad to hear from him.

“Hank, how are things going?”

“If it wasn’t for your brothers, things would be going fine. How are things there?”

“Oh, they’re my brothers today. That doesn’t sound good.” Sebastian smiled wondering what the twins were up to now. He and Henry had their father’s work ethic. Lucas and Logan took after their mom. Flighty and irresponsible and given too much money too young. He hoped they’d grow up soon, and was just grateful they went to Henry instead of him with all their escapades.

“Yeah, well, it's nothing major. The folks decided to stay another two weeks in Alaska and they’re taking full advantage.”

“Enjoy that. I left you a message earlier because I wanted to talk a little about the new store. You got all the information?” he asked, walking back to his computer and flipping to the page he had shared earlier. Henry ran the home office and was the man in charge of everything whenever their dad took off on a vacation, which was more and more the last few years. Sebastian had no doubt he’d be taking over in the not too distant future when their dad retired. He wanted nothing to do with the home office. Too much politics and too much confinement. He loved what he did, was good at it and didn’t want all the headaches Henry had. He liked moving every few years and leaving thriving stores in his wake.

They discussed work for about half an hour then Sebastian thought he heard a noise. “Get the twins under control and call me if you need me,” he said.

“Will do. Come visit soon, there’s some things going on here at the office I need to talk to you about in person sometime in the next few months,” Henry said.

“Will put it on the schedule,” Sebastian promised. He hung up and went to see what was going on where. Or rather what Maggie was up to.

Walking back to the bedroom, he heard her in the midst of a nightmare, thrashing and sobbing in her sleep. Rushing to her side, he shook her and said, “Maggie, wake up! Wake up.” As her eyes fluttered open, she shrieked and tried to fight him.

“Stop, no!” she cried.

“Maggie, it's me,” he said and scooped her up and into his arms. He sat back down on the bed and held her on his lap while she cried herself fully awake.

“Don’t let him,” she whimpered. “Sebastian?”

“I’m here, I’m here,” he said. “I’ve got you. No one can hurt you now.” He rubbed her back and kissed the top of her head and felt helpless as she sobbed and clung to him. Of course, what happened to her would upset her. She was attacked in a hallway. She could have been raped, and she had been hurt enough to be hospitalized. He should have expected a nightmare and he expected her to sleep in a dark room, alone. His fault.

She couldn’t seem to stop crying and all he could do was summon his inner empathy and comfort her. He wasn’t good at this, being much better at being matter of fact and unemotional. For Maggie, though, he tried. “Hush, hush, you’re safe. I’m here.” She clung to him as if he were a life raft in a shark filled ocean. He didn’t mind. Not one little bit. He kissed her hair, and kept murmuring soft words as her sobbing became softer. Sebastian Jones would keep this sweet woman safe. Why did he feel as if he’d just made a promise?