Beautifying Bernadette: A BBW Romantic Comedy (The Jackson Tribe Book 1) (7 page)

When she pulled into her parking lot, thinking how disappointed she was that he hadn’t texted back, she was surprised and elated to see the familiar truck sitting in front of the building. Levi was sitting on the hood. She parked next to him and got out sheepishly.

“Hey… what’s a cool guy like you doing in a hot place like this?” She felt like an idiot and like the saying had gotten all jumbled, but he gave her a big grin and hopped off of his hood.

“I was going to say what’s a hot chick like you doing in a cool place like this…”

She giggled and then bit her lip looking at her feet and then up at his face. “SorryIKindaFlippedMyShit.”

Levi gave her a serious look. “It’s okay, but I think I need to understand why you ‘flipped your shit.’ I need to make sure that I didn’t cross some boundary you had that I didn’t know about, so I can make sure to never do it again.”

Bernie shook her head. “No! It wasn’t you at all! I was just scared and overwhelmed and panicking. It was not you. You’re like perfect, like Mary Poppins, practically perfect in every way, and I only say practically perfect because I don’t know like all of you yet and there might be something hiding in your closet and I don’t want to be painted into a total perfect corner. I need room to find a need for improvement.” She gave him a cheeky grin.

He impulsively grabbed her hands and pulled her towards him and kissed her forehead. “You, my dear Miss Douglas, are Mary Poppinsesque yourself. And cute. And adorable. And amazing.”

She blushed and fought the urge to debate him on that. “So, you want to come up to my apartment and we can talk, I guess?”

“That would be a great idea.”

As they walked into the building, Pete walked up to them. “So, how are things going you two?”

They grinned and held their clasped hands up to him.

Pete nodded approvingly. “Then, I’ll add him to the list, dearie?”

Bernie nodded happily and they walked to the elevator and then to her apartment. “Do you want some coffee or lemonade or something?”

“Yeah, some lemonade sounds really good right now. It’s getting warm out there. Maybe summer is finally on its way for real.”

After Bernie poured them both large glasses of lemonade, and grabbed some cookies from the cupboard, they went outside and sat on the balcony. Bernie had a cute hot pink metal table with teal deck chairs and a multi-colored striped umbrella. They sat down and Bernie nervously rocked in her seat, worrying her lip, and running her fingernails up and down her exposed arms.

Levi gently reached over and put a hand on each arm. “Calm down. It’s okay. I just want to hear what was going through your mind and heart earlier. I need to understand.”

Bernie looked at him anxiously and took a deep breath, letting it in and out, and again, until finally she felt like she could speak without shaking. “I don’t really know. I liked the spanking you did with your hand, I mean it hurt, but it also felt good. Like really good.” She blushed and he smiled, encouraging her to continue. “But I think the other one… confused me. It startled me because I wasn’t doing anything bad, you seemed so serious, there wasn’t anything sensual about it, and well, it really hurt. Like a lot.”

Levi tried hard not to laugh, but his mouth quirked a little. “It was a spanking, they are supposed to hurt. But—” He put his hand up seeing she was about to interject. “But you’re correct that it was more serious than the other one I gave you. That’s because I find the type of words you were using to describe yourself incredibly offensive. My parents have spent decades helping girls, woman, to view themselves as beautiful and competent and amazing, and you were just tearing yourself down. I needed you to know how seriously I take that.”

Nodding, Bernie twirled a stray hair with her finger and shifted her weight from one sore butt cheek to the other. “My ass is still tender but, I’m not as grumpy now. I just don’t understand my feelings. I was kind of scared, kind of sad, and…” She looked down at her hands and worried her lip.

Levi smiled. “Kind of turned on?”

She nodded slowly and then emphatically with a shy smile.

“That’s understandable and perfectly acceptable. It’s normal to feel uncertain and confused. You’ve probably been taught your whole life to never let a man hit you or boss you or push you around and, knowing that it both turns you on and hurts, is probably not easy to swallow.”

Bernie nodded, relieved that he understood. Hesitantly, she asked, “So, if your parents have spent their whole lives investing in girls and helping them have self-confidence and all that, how do they feel about their son hitting girls—or do they just not know?”

Levi chuckled. “They know, and my dad services my mom in the same way, so they aren’t exactly shocked.”

Bernie’s mouth dropped. “Your parents are kinky? Damn. I guess that makes sense since they have so many kids. Something had to be keeping their attention, right?”

“Well, not kinky as much as practice domestic discipline, I mean they might be kinky, but we don’t generally talk about their sex life. But, I sure know that when Mom is overwhelmed or overworked, she and Dad slip out. When they come back, she is a lot more relaxed, and prefers to stand and serve everyone else or sit on his knee.”

Bernie couldn’t imagine her parents kissing on the lips, let alone other stuff.

She spoke softly. “I think that’s really cool. I mean, that your dad cares about her so much and that they have such a close relationship. But back to us.  I don’t know why I got so overwhelmed and scared, but I did, and I can’t promise that won’t happen again. I couldn’t control it. I just knew that I couldn’t function and needed it to stop. I needed space.” She looked at his face, stricken and ashamed. “I guess you don’t want to waste time on such a l—”

Levi started to rise and she gripped the sides of the chair. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry! Let me try this again. I think it would be really… hard… to be in a relationship with someone who has such an irrational reaction to something she said she wanted. And I understand if you want to walk away and never look back.”

Levi sat down, proud of her for rephrasing her words, but his heart breaking at the lies he knew she was battling in her heart. “I have no intention of walking away, at least not unless you are walking with me. Maybe we need to institute some safewords.”

Bernie jumped up at this one. “No way! I am not going to be some lame ass who earns a spanking, and then safe words her way out. I genuinely think that is something I would be tempted towards, to bratting, and then when it came time to pay the piper, tossing out ‘red’ or something. And I don’t want to do that to you. It’s not fair. It wouldn’t be fair to me either. If I can’t handle the fire, then I need to stay out of the kitchen. If I am going to write checks my ass can’t cash, then I just won’t open up the bank account.”

She gave Levi an angry look because he started laughing halfway through her tirade and, when she was done, he teased her. “How many clichés can you come up with in one speech, sweetie?”

She pouted and stamped her foot. “I am serious! This isn’t some fucking game to me!”

He shook his head at her language, but there were so many other things to deal with, he didn’t comment on it. “Okay, first off—” he pulled her into his lap, then continued, “there that’s better. I like to be able to hold you while we talk so you don’t get all jumpy.”

She kept pouting, but didn’t try to get up and just gasped a little when her ass connected with his thigh.

“Now, a safe word doesn’t mean that you don’t get discipline for naughty behavior or that you’re taking control of the situation. It just allows me to know that you have needs. It can mean pause, it can mean something is going on that I am unaware of, and I am open to discussing an ‘I need an alternative right now,’ so if you cannot handle being spanked, I am sure I can come up with something equally unpleasant for you.”

Bernie nodded uncertainly. “I don’t want to be in charge, though. I want to trust you. I…”

Levi tapped her lips with his finger. “Shh… I am still talking. Okay, what I was going to say is that we are just getting to know each other and we are jumping into all of this really quickly, so it makes sense that you would be nervous and uncertain. You don’t know me or how I respond or if I am safe. So, it’s perfectly acceptable, and probably wise, to give ourselves some boundaries so that we are being safe and slow down a bit.”

Bernie felt relief and sadness at his words. She vowed in her head to never actually use a safeword.  “Okaaay… like, yellow and red?”

“Those seem the easiest to me, but we can do something else if you prefer.”

Bernie shook her head. “No, those are fine. So, since we decided and it’s ‘all good,’ do you need to go home now?”

Levi grinned. “Are you trying to get rid of me? I was thinking we could make grilled cheese sandwiches and ice cream sundaes and just watch a movie and sleep. Neither of us got a lot of sleep last night, but I would like to hold you while we sleep.”

Her heart melted and a smile covered her face. She nodded eagerly. “I have everything for grilled cheese and for sundaes too! How did you—oh yeah, you cleaned my kitchen last night. Oh! That reminds me I need to move my quilt to the dryer.”

She hopped up to move the quilt. Levi went into the kitchen and started cooking bacon, and, when she was done, Bernie laid out the cheeses and buttered bread. They snuggled up on the couch deciding on
The Princess Bride
. Bernie fell asleep before they even got to ice cream. Levi carried her to bed and fell asleep with his arms around her.

The next morning since they had both fallen asleep before nine o’clock, Levi woke up at 6:00 am and went to the kitchen and started coffee in the pot. Knowing his parents were always up early getting ready for the residents, he dropped a text to his mom.

Do you have room for another at lunch?

She responded almost immediately

Depends. Is she pretty?

He laughed as he texted back

Breathtaking.

Good. Then you’re both more than welcome. We are having pot roast, and Dad is hoping you and the guys can help him after lunch—the alarm is acting up again.

Levi groaned, but smiled shaking his head. That damn “alarm system” was constantly on the fritz, but Dad’s theory was that, with so many sons, they should be able to figure it out. Sadly, none of them had any skill in electrical issues. But he let her know he’d be happy to look at it. Then, filling two mugs with coffee, he went to check on Bernie.

She was snoring and had drool covering the side of her face, but he thought he’d never seen anything so cute and sweet. He waved the cup back and forth under her nose and she woke up groaning.

“Jaaaaaavaaaaaa.”

He put the coffee on her nightstand and then crawled behind her and pulled her so that she was partially sitting with her back pressed against his chest and stomach. 

“So, sweetie, I wondered how you would feel about going to church and family dinner with me this afternoon. My brother is the pastor of The Community Church; you know the one on Route Seven? It’s not a huge church, but they have good music and he isn’t incredibly boring. And the prize for making it through is my mom’s cooking. You will be very well fed. And, I am sure everyone would love to meet you.”

Bernie woke up fully at this, but glared at him.

“No talking before coffee! Hard Limit!”

As she grasped at the cup and started sipping it, she let his request funnel through her brain.

He laughed heartily, but wisely kept his mouth shut while she drank.

After a few minutes, she looked at him slightly less bleary eyed. “You want me to meet your family? Isn’t this like insanely soon? What will they think if you’re like ‘So this bi—, uh
…
girl that I met because she was speeding and then I spanked her ass, well, yeah, we’re going to bring her around the family now?’ That seems like a bad plan. Why don’t you just go and I’ll stay here? I mean, I don’t want them to think badly of you.”

Levi rolled over and pulled her into his arms, making sure not to spill her coffee, and held her close. “I will say every day for the next hundred years if I need to. You are beautiful. You are talented. You are funny. I am proud to call you my girl. And, I assure you, that all my family cares about is that I vouch for you. As long as you don’t hurt me or any of them, we’re golden.”

Bernie melted a bit at that. “Oh, okay… I guess I could do that.”

Then a thought occurred to her. “Church? I haven’t been to a church since the last time I went home to visit. I don’t have anything to wear—is it one of those places where the women are like covered head to toe? I’m kind of a floozy when I’m not at work and all of my work clothes are super boring, and my hair! I mean it will take forever to get it right. Oh dear, what time does it start because I need a really long time to get presentable if I am going to be meeting your family and people at your church.”

He could tell she was mildly hyperventilating, so he lightly swatted her thigh.

“Ow! What was that for? I didn’t even do anything.” She scowled at him indignantly, but it really didn’t hurt at all and just made her pussy clench.

“Chill out. Church is casual. My family is casual. I am wearing jeans. It doesn’t start until eleven, so we have time. And actually, I need to take you by my place first so I can get some fresh clothes. “

Brightening a little, she grinned at him. “So, I get to see your place?”

“Yep, but I’ll warn you it’s not as fancy as this. I have a small house, basically a cottage; two bedrooms, bathroom, and a lot of land.”

He glanced at the clock. “It’s barely seven o’clock now, so we have more than enough time for you to get ready. Then, we can to run by my house and still get to church with plenty of time to spare. Let’s leave about nine-thirty just to be safe.”

He mused to himself.
That will give us time to fool around at my place if we need to.

Bernie leapt off of the bed, leaving her empty mug on the nightstand, and raced to the bathroom. He could hear the shower running within moments and the faint beginning of a slightly off key version of Mary Lambert’s
Secrets
. Chuckling, he got up and took her cup to the kitchen, and set about making some eggs and toast. He figured it would take her thirty minutes max to shower and get ready since he’d told her the plan.

He could be wrong.

And he was.

At eight o’clock, still hearing the shower running, he knocked on the door. “Hey, are you okay in there?”

Bernie jumped, dropping her razor she was using to devoid herself of any hair on her body. “I’m good. I’ll be out soon.”

Levi shook his head, but walked away.

When she finally came out forty-five minutes after that with a towel wrapped around her head and another around her body, he looked at the clock and teased her. “When you said you were going to take a shower, I didn’t realize you were going to wash every hair on your head individually.”

She stuck out her tongue and let her hair down and shook droplets of water on him. “It takes time to be beautiful.”

He growled, wiping droplets off of his face and grabbed her, pulling her against him, getting his shirt wet, yanking the towel up in the back and giving her a couple sharp teasing slaps to her damp bottom. The sound was more sharp than the pain, but very satisfying to both the giver and receiver.

She squealed and giggled and he kissed her wet face and let her go.

“But, seriously, Bernadette, we have forty-five minutes before we need to be in the car and your breakfast is ice cold now.”

She waved her hand dismissively. “Oh, you can eat it, don’t worry about feeding me today. I’ll be so excited and nervous I probably won’t even be able to get anything down.”

She quickly turned and went down the hall to her room in case he had anything he wanted to say.

He did.

He followed her.

He leaned against her door frame and cleared his throat. “Ahem, Miss Douglas? Try that again. I am sure I did not hear you try to tell me that you’re not eating today. Because that will not fly.”

Her tummy flipped, but Bernie kept faced away from him looking for something to wear. She dropped the towel she had around her body and felt sick at first when he was silent, worried that he was disgusted by her body. She bit her lip in excitement when a moment later she heard him gasp and groan.

“As delectable as your body is…”
and no matter how desperately I want to ravage you right now, “...
the question still stands. Are you trying to say you do not intend to eat today?”

Bernie shook her ass impetuously, trying to ignore the jiggle, and shook her hair again peeking over her shoulder. “Is food really what’s on your mind right now?” She pouted her lip in a way she assumed was seductive and, dropping the pair of panties she had grabbed out of the drawer, spread her legs and bent over completely to pick them up, exposing her freshly shaved… everything.

Levi groaned a little, glad he was already leaning against the wall for support. Taking a deep breath, and a moment to “adjust” himself, he strode over. “How kind of you to already be in position for me.”

He held her torso tight under one arm, so her head was behind him, and grinned as she struggled to stand up. He smacked her exposed bottom moderately with his free hand a couple dozen times as he spoke. “I believe that I asked you a question, young lady. And, as enticing as your body is to me, I think you need to give me an answer. Right. Now.” He finished with a hard slap to the center of each cheek to emphasize the immediacy.

Bernie was startled when he grabbed her and gasped when he slapped her ass. “Seriously? Ouch! Levi, let me up!”

She couldn’t help but laugh a little. “Seriously! You’ve slapped my ass like four times in the last eighteen hours. Don’t you think this is a little overkill? Big strong HOH types are supposed to spank the heroine every few chapters, not like every few hours.”

He continued smacking her bottom, sharply, but not incredibly hard and laughed at her description. Giving another slap every few words, he said, “Well, if you’d start behaving, I wouldn’t have to keep spanking. Is there a limit I am supposed to know about? And this isn't some romance novel. This is real life and you, my dear girl, are ‘real sassy’ and really need a lot of discipline. Now, answer my question unless you want me to get creative back here.”

She squirmed a little and could feel something wet building up between her legs—shit! She hadn’t considered that shaving it all would mean there was nothing to catch the… her arousal. Which was now sliding down her leg. She blushed, sure he was going to notice. She was supposed to be getting ready for church for Chrissake and—damn it—she was so incredibly horny.

He started spanking harder and Bernie started to squeal and tried harder to get away. “Okay, okay! I’ll eat, damn it! God, please stop!” She knew when the words left her mouth he was going to say the most cliché thing ever.

And he did.

Smirking he said, “As flattering as ‘God’ is, Sir, or Officer Jackson would be perfectly acceptable. There’s really no need to elevate my status.”

She groaned.

“But I am glad that you have acknowledged that you’re going to eat.”

He started rubbing her moderately pink posterior and she moaned. “Oh, you like that, Miss Douglas?”

He moved lower and caught the edges of her lips. “Oh, my sweet Bernadette, somebody did not dry off very well down here; I had better assist you.”

She thought she was going to die as he rubbed her smooth mound. She wasn’t sure if it was blood rushing to her head from being upside down, or the pleasure from his fingers, or not eating breakfast yet, but her legs started to shake.

Levi scooped her up and carried her over to the bed, laying her flat on her back, holding her wrists against the bed and climbing over her to straddle her with his knees on either side of her body.

He looked into her eyes hungrily. “You, my dear Miss Douglas, are a very very naughty girl. Enticing me with your sexy body, distracting me from my mission, and, at this point, I highly doubt I will have time to show you my house before we have to go to church.”

He began kissing her face softly, nose, forehead, each of her cheeks, and then leaned forward to nip her ears. Then he slowly began to nuzzle her neck with his chin. “Very. Very. Naughty.”

Bernie gave minimal effort in trying to get away from him, and could not help but writhe and moan as he held her down and kissed her. She felt like she might have an orgasm just from his kisses, and the fact that he was holding her down. She squeaked when she felt a sharp prick on her neck.

“Hey! Don’t bite me!”

He gave her a rakish grin. “I was just marking what is mine.”

She blushed and then melted into him, submitting deeper if that was even possible.

Levi looked into her face, searching for a moment, and then squeezed her wrists tightly before releasing them. “Do not move these without permission, or you will be punished.”

He slowly moved his mouth down her body, gently kissing her upper chest and shoulders, moving down each arm with airy sucks of his mouth, feather-like kisses to every centimeter of her torso and abdomen. Once he reached the apex of her pussy, he skipped it completely, moving to her thighs, kissing outside and in with the same methodical tender care.

Bernie felt a sense of loss when he released her wrists, but his words had her heart beating faster and she felt the bed underneath her thighs and butt growing damp as her pleasure trickled down. She was soon overwhelmed with sensations as his lips caressed her body. She worked hard to keep her hands still as the warmth and care of his lips overtook her. She was surprised when he seemed to have missed her breasts, her nipples fully alert, stretching out to meet the mouth that so rudely neglected them. When he kissed her ribcage, it tickled a bit and it took all of her self control to stay in position. But she did. She felt a mixture of pride and wonder as she held her arms above her head—it was as if his words alone were holding them there. She had made out with a lot of boys over the years, but nothing even approaching the intensity this
man
was giving her at this moment. She felt a crushing disappointment when he bypassed her drenched womanhood and mewed in displeasure. But, the beautiful agony of his kisses to her thighs had her moaning and thrusting out her nether-regions, begging for his attention. Writhing on the bed, still holding her arms still, but allowing her legs to squirm and her voice to let her needs be known.

Levi looked up at her tenderly and placed his palm between her breasts. “Shh… Be still, my dear. I am so pleased with you for staying in position, and I just need your obedience and submission a few more minutes. Okay? Can you do that for me?”