Irritable (5 page)

"You
could say that. I don't know how anyone tolerates the way cops
drive. Most of you are terrible behind the wheel because you are always
in such a hurry. You speed, and if it doesn't suit you, you don't even
buckle up," Kelsey accused heatedly. "You shouldn't have been trying to
keep up with me!" she dared to scold.

"Really?"
Cleve drawled slowly, perilously close to losing his temper, something he
rarely did.

"Really.
Don't do that again!"

"I'm
going to finish my ice cream, and then, little Pebbles, you are going over my
knee for a good spanking!" he promised her.

"No
I'm not," Kelsey immediately argued although she was secretly thrilled by his
words. Was she deliberately trying to provoke him? Yes,
probably. Why? Because she had to know if he was the type of man
who could handle her moody temper and her bratty tantrums. If he
couldn't, then she needed to know it now, before she invested too much of herself
in him or let herself go to bed with him. Her libido was returning and
Kelsey suddenly found herself wanting to experience the physical side of love
once again. That couldn't happen unless she truly cared for the man and
he cared for her. A man who cared for her wouldn't let her drive like a
complete idiot without saying something.

"Want
to make a bet?" Cleve asked. "I don't like being tested, but even more
than that, I'm not one bit impressed at the way you were driving. You
need your fanny set on fire for that little stunt, and I promise I'll do it
again if I catch you speeding and running stop signs. Hear me?" he
demanded.

Kelsey
swallowed hard. "I hear you, and I really wish you'd forget the
spanking. I get the message loud and clear."

"I
have no intention of forgetting the spanking, Pebbles. I get the feeling
that you haven't been on the receiving end of consequences too often in your
life, which I find very hard to believe since your Dad and husband were both
cops."

"I had
consequences from my parents," Kelsey admitted, "but Mama did not permit
spanking, and Dad respected her wishes. She was abused as a child and it
frightened her if Dad even gave me a swat."

"What
about your husband?"

"He
didn't believe in spanking, either. And," she cocked her head to one side,
"I wouldn't have tested him like that. I knew where I stood with him from
the first second he looked at me." She took a deep breath and then let it
out slowly. "What about you, Cleve? Have you ever been
married? You have to be at least as old as I am, and I am thirty-three..."

"I'm
forty and no, I've never married. I was engaged a few years ago, but Amy
didn't want kids. I do. She was offered a job in New York and took
it. She's happy with her career and probably better off following her
heart."

"And
you haven't met anyone else?" Kelsey found that very hard to believe.
Cleve Blankenship was a handsome, sexy man.

"No
one I was serious about. And you, Pebbles? You said that your
husband has been gone for ten years... I can't believe you haven't found someone
else in all that time."

"No
one. I wasn't looking, and I discouraged anyone who might have been
interested. I needed time to cope with losing the three people who
mattered most to me in less than a year."

"Three?
Your Mom, too?" Cleve wanted to know.

"Yes,
she found out she had terminal cancer a couple months after we lost Dad and
Steven. She didn't care to live and wouldn't fight. I nursed her
through it... and it was a hard thing to do. Are your parents still
living?"

"Yes,
they're retired and living in Florida. They're fortunate to be in good
health." They talked a while longer and their ice cream was long
gone. Cleve finally pushed his chair back and said, "Come on over here,
Miss Pebbles. You asked for a spanking and you're going to get one right
now."

"But,
Cleve, I don't drive like that normally!"

"And
you won't do it again once I'm finished with you," he promised. "Come
here and make it easier on yourself." He could see her thinking and
trying to decide what to do. It was plain as day that Pebbles didn't want
another spanking, but she didn't want to make the spanking worse by arguing
with him and she clearly remembered the first spanking he gave her. To
his satisfaction, Pebbles got up and walked over to him. He decided then
and there to make the spanking more symbolic than painful. She'd already
accepted that she'd earned it and that was an important part of a spanking in
his opinion.

Kelsey
wanted to sink through the floor as Cleve helped her lie over his thighs, but
she couldn't very well think of a good excuse to talk him out of the
spanking. She'd driven like that on purpose... just to see if he cared or
would say anything. She only had herself to blame for what was about to
happen.

Cleve
didn't spank overly hard, just enough to sting, and he scolded, making her
answer his questions. When she hesitated, or got a bit flip, Cleve
spanked harder. It didn't take long for Pebbles to admit she was wrong to
test him in that manner. Cleve gave her a dozen more spanks on her sit spots
and then stood her on her feet. As spankings went, it was very
mild. Cleve was determined not to ruin his chances with the
redhead. There was a mutual attraction there and he wanted to explore
it. He was too hard on her over the manure and he wasn't going to make
that mistake again. He also wanted to keep the lovely redhead safe, and
he still felt she was in danger.

*****

Another
poor woman was tortured and raped while he and Pebbles were having their ice
cream and Cleve simply couldn't shake the terrible premonition that it was the
young man from the grocery parking lot targeting women. He turned in the
description and had the police artist draw a composite, but nothing turned up
when they ran it although the two surviving victims said the drawing looked
similar to the man who attacked them. Cleve warned his pretty redhead to
keep her doors locked and she promised she would. He took to calling her
several times a day to make sure she was all right. That was fine unless
Pebbles was immersed in her work, and then she scolded him right and left for
breaking her concentration. Cleve didn't keep her on the telephone at
those times and by the time he went to see her after work she was in a decent
mood again and did her best to placate him for speaking so sharply.

Cleve
was pleased to discover that Pebbles could cook and he started having dinner
with her nearly every evening. He took her out several times, too, but
both of them enjoyed staying in. They spent quite a bit of time together,
but neither of them seemed to want to rush the relationship. Cleve went
home and slept in his own bed every night. It had been a long time for
both of them and they wanted the timing to be just perfect.

It was
nearly a month later when Cleve arrived one day after work and found the patio
door of Pebble's condo open. He couldn't help but wonder if she was
testing him, and that thought sparked his temper.. "Why is this door
open, young lady?" he called out as he walked inside. Kelsey was in the
kitchen and jumped at the sound of his deep voice.

"Cleve!
You startled me!"

"I'm
going to do more than startle you, young lady," Cleve promised. "Why is
this door unlocked and open?" he demanded, walking over to the kitchen to face
her.

"I
simply forgot," Kelsey explained as she stirred the spaghetti sauce. "My
editor called and I hurried inside to get the telephone. I forgot to go
back and lock the door."

Cleve
nodded and reached into the ceramic jar on the counter beside the stove and
took out a wooden spoon. "You come with me," he took her hand and pulled
her over to the kitchen table and gently pushed her down over its shiny
surface.

"No,
Cleve! My dinner will be ruined!" Kelsey tried to get up but he held her
down and cracked her with the wooden spoon. "Ouch!" She was wearing
shorts and they didn't cover much. To her horror, Cleve pulled her shorts
down and her panties came with them. She was completely bared and Cleve
started spanking with the wooden spoon, making sure that each crack hurt like
the very devil. "
Owwwww
! Stop it!
Cleve! It wasn't deliberate!" she cried out, but he was a man with a
mission and continued to spank until she was howling and crying and begging him
to stop, and promising she would never do it again.

Cleve
wanted to make his point, and he took his time administering a spanking that he
hoped would make her remember the next time. When he released her, Kelsey
was furious with him. She jerked up her panties and her shorts and when
she saw the mess on her stove she whirled on Cleve and said, "Get out!
Get out right now! Get your stubborn sanctimonious cop ass out of my
home!!!" He watched as she picked up the pot of sauce and dumped it in
the sink. The pan of pasta was next. She took garlic toast from the
oven and dumped the burned mess in the sink too. "GET OUT!" she snarled
at him once again and Cleve realized he'd made a huge mistake. He should
have listened when she told him that dinner would be ruined, but he'd decided
she was simply trying to get out of the spanking she deserved. "If you
don't go right now I am going to call the cops and have you tossed out!" she
threatened and Cleve headed for the door. Pebbles needed some time to
cool down before she did something she would regret.

"Make
damn sure you lock this door, young lady!" he got in the last word. He
took about three steps before he heard her slam the patio door so hard it
shook. She locked the door and then flipped him off before pulling the
drape to block his face. Cleve stomped home and looked in the cupboard to
see if he had a can of soup. He tried to call her an hour later and she
didn't answer the telephone. He left a message, apologizing for ruining
dinner and told her to call him back. An hour after that he realized she
wasn't going to. He went to bed, mad at Pebbles and her damned temper,
but most of all, he was mad at himself. He'd let his fear get the best of
him and he ruined dinner. He knew how much work she put into making her
homemade sauce... and the spaghetti noodles, and in the space of one spanking
he'd destroyed an afternoon's work. It would be a while before the feisty
woman forgave him... "But she'd better make sure she keeps her doors locked!" he
growled into the darkened bedroom.

*****

Kelsey
stomped around her house for at least two hours after she sent Cleve
home. She'd worked so hard to make her special spaghetti sauce from
scratch, and she'd taken the time to make the spaghetti noodles, too, and
because she forgot to lock a door one time, he'd insisted on spanking her right
then and there and no matter that the sauce boiled all over the stove, making a
huge mess. No matter that her noodles were cooked into a
mooshy
clump! And no matter that the garlic toast was
burned black! The man was a complete Neanderthal, and with her luck, he
would probably spank her again because she flipped him off!!!

It
wasn't as though she left the darn patio door unlocked on purpose,
either! She had to run inside to answer the telephone, and then Elise
kept her on the phone forever, and she simply forgot all about locking the
door. Besides, she'd lived here for two years now and didn't lock her
doors... Not until Chief Cop threw a fit and insisted she start. Her
terrible temper reasserted itself and she marched from door to door and
unlocked each and every one. "So there too, Chief Cleve
Blankenship!"

Kelsey
was so angry that she started cleaning. She burned off as much of her
temper as possible, and then decided to go into her office and work. For
a few terrible seconds she was tempted to unplug her headphones and let her
music blare, just to irritate the snot out of Cleve... but she knew he would
simply come back and spank her again if she did. No, she was going to
concentrate on her work and try to calm down. As upset as she was, she
would never go to sleep. Working always settled her if she worked off of
her emotions and let them flow.

Kelsey
lost herself in her work, and the earphones allowed her to play her music as
loud as she wanted without disturbing her picky neighbor. She worked for
some time and suddenly realized that something didn't feel 'right'. She
had the feeling of being watched and whirled in her desk chair to find someone
standing in the room with her, a knife in his hand. Kelsey immediately
recognized the man from the grocery parking lot and her eyes went wide as she
realized that Cleve's instincts were right. She'd unlocked the damn doors
and practically invited the man inside and now she was going to have to fight
to protect her life. He wasn't making any attempt to hide his identity
and he would kill her when he was through violating her. "What do you
think you are doing here?" she demanded, not about to show fear.

"You
know why I'm here, bitch. We would already have had our fun if that
friend of yours wouldn't have interfered." He brandished the knife and
took another step toward her.

Kelsey
took off the headset and jerked the cord out of her computer, filling the room
with blasting music. Her only prayer was that Cleve would hear the music
and come running.

*****

"Damn!"
Cleve rolled over and sat up. It sounded as though little Pebbles was
spoiling for a fight. He was in the mood to give her one, he decided and
got out of bed and pulled on his sweat pants and a t-shirt. He slipped
his feet into a pair of slippers, and headed for his keys and the front
door. If he was a betting man, he'd lay down odds that he'd find the
doors unlocked.

He
tried the front door and was inside just that quick. He immediately heard
screams and sounds of struggling coming from upstairs and took off running,
taking the steps three at a time. The noises were coming from Pebble's
bedroom, and he walked in the room in time to see the bastard hit her in the
face with his fist. The tiny redhead was fighting with everything she had
but she was no match for the rapist's strength. Cleve didn't have that
problem. He kicked the knife from the bastard's hand, then jerked him off
the bed and threw him against the wall. When he tried to get up, Cleve
used his fist and put all of his strength into putting him down. The
rapist collapsed in an unconscious heap on the floor. Cleve picked up the
telephone and called for back-up while cradling Pebbles in his arms.