Discipline Down Under (8 page)

Her breath came in gasps, her feet were sore from pebbles and twigs. But she ran on, trying to put off the inevitable, both with the spanking and a defining moment regarding her relationship with Tripp.

Tripp caught her. Of course, he caught her. There was nowhere she could go, dressed only in a shirt and stumbling through the brush with no goal but to get away. Fortunately, he didn’t tackle her to the ground; instead, he grabbed her arm and pulled her around in a circle.

“Stop! Stop it, Peggy! Yer acting crazy!”

“Let me go!” A sob tore through her. Confusion overwhelmed her and tears began to flow.

“Crikey, Peggy. What did ya think I was going to do? It was just a spanking. I wouldn’t do ya harm. Don’t ya know me better than that?”

Yes, she knew him. She knew he’d never harm her physically, but emotionally they were entangled, at least in Peg’s mind. She sobbed loudly and Tripp pulled her into his arms.

“Shh. Are ya hurt? How are yer feet? Did you run into any thorns?”

“I-I’m okay. My feet are sore, but I don’t think they’re really hurt. Just hold me for a minute.” Or a lifetime. Peg didn’t know what she wanted and she cried all the harder.

Tripp stepped away a bit and took her hand gently. Seconds later, with a freshly determined look, he scooped her up in his arms and strode back to camp. “Let’s get back to camp, luv.”

“Are you still going to spank me?”

The look on his face said he wasn’t sure what to do. But, perversely, Peg wanted to feel some absolution for being so stupid. Once again, she’d endangered herself. Once again, Tripp had had to run to the rescue. Yes, there were mitigating circumstances, but Peg wasn’t going to give herself an out. She deserved to be spanked.

Tripp let her down gently on a soft tuft of grass once they’d reached the camp, but his arms remained around her. “I don’t know what to do with ya.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I can tell ya are. But ya keep doing dangerous things. How can I make ya learn to think first?”

“I… I guess we’d both feel better if you spanked me. I don’t like feeling so guilty for acting like a fool. Every time I get myself into trouble, I put you in danger, too.” She looked up into his face. “I know that.”

Tripp’s gaze roamed her face, but after a moment he nodded. “All right. Go to the gum tree, put yer hands on it and bend over.”

Treading the distance as though to the gallows, Peg got to the tree and put her hands on it, bending so her behind was sticking out. The whole idea of being spanked with a belt scared the bejesus out of her. How would that feel? The hand spankings had been difficult, but she’d recovered quickly enough. They weren’t really
that
bad. But a belt… That was going to hurt. Maybe it would even leave bruises, marks of his dominance over her. Actually, that thought was kinda sexy. Her friends would have been appalled at the thought, but Peg enjoyed the fact that his personality was strong and his hands big. She didn’t mind that he insisted that she behave. No one had ever done that before, and she thought maybe someone should have.

Tripp approached, and she peered at him over her shoulder. He was removing his belt from its loops. Her hands got sweaty against the peeling bark of the tree, but birds still sang, and the sun was still slightly above the horizon. Except for this regrettable situation, everything was so placid. So placid it made the spanking seem like a more horrible thing.

After folding her shirt up and tucking it between her shoulders, Tripp touched her bottom gently. The gentle stroke gave Peg a jolt of pleasure right between the legs. There she was, exposed, out in the open, with a man—Tripp—fondling her behind.

“The point of this exercise,” he told her, “is to make sure ya don’t do this again. I don’t know why ya did it, but I’ll find out.”

No, he wouldn’t. No matter what, he wouldn’t. Probably. Peg realized that she didn’t know how awful this was actually going to feel. Would it be like torture, making her pour her secrets out to him?

“I’m scared, Tripp.”

“I won’t harm ya. I think ya like the hand spankings, Peggy. We need to overcome this problem in a more serious way.”

Peg leaned forward and pressed her forehead against the tree. “Just get it over with.”

He patted her behind in a friendly kind of way, but soon after, Peg heard the slight whistle of the belt fanning the air and less than a second later, it landed on her rump with a resounding thwack. Cringing, she ground her teeth together, unwilling to cry though the strike hurt. Once again, he hit her, spanking the other cheek. The birds had quieted and it seemed like the sun was growing cooler, even as her butt warmed up with half a dozen more strokes.

“Why did ya do it, Peggy?”

She shook her head, biting her lip to keep from crying out. It did no good. After he spanked her four or five more times, she grunted her pain out with every new noisy slap.

“Why? Answer me.”

“I don’t know. Oh, God, that hurts. Please don’t hurt me anymore.”

There was a pause. Long enough to make her think maybe he was done, but, no, the belt fell again. Her bottom was screaming in pain, the agony spread evenly across both cheeks, from where they met her thighs right up through the fleshiest part.

“I won’t stop until you tell me why ya did it. I can do this for as long as it takes.”

She’d be pulp! Maybe telling the truth would be the right thing to do. Tears fell down her cheeks and she moved her face to wipe them away with a stiff forearm. Her nails had dug into the bark of the tree, and now she was crying out, sobbing with each blow.

“Tell me, Peggy.”

“Okay!” She’d had enough. She couldn’t stand anymore. “I didn’t want to have to pee.”

That caused another pause. “You didn’t want to pee, so ya dehydrated and starved yerself?” Tripp sounded incredulous.

“It’s embarrassing to pee in the bush. I hate that you can hear me. I hate that we have to pack out our toilet paper. I hate everything about it.”

She heard him fussing near her and his belt buckle jangling. He began to lightly rub lazy circles on her aching behind. The warmth of his hand hurt, but the caress meant more than that.

“I wish ya had told me.”

“You’d have stopped the trek. I know you would.” Peg hated her sobs, but they kept coming. It had been a relief to tell the truth, but it was still humbling.

“Come away from the tree, luv. It’s over.”

Peg straightened and turned toward him, her shirt tail falling like sandpaper down onto her throbbing bottom. Tripp held out his arms and, exhausted beyond belief, Peg stumbled into them, to be held tight against his chest. He kissed the top of her head and stroked her back. Waves of affection and compassion radiated from him and enveloped Peg in a cocoon. He kept her from falling down both physically and as her own worst enemy.

After hugging her for a while, kissing her forehead and, once, a brief and tender kiss on her lips, Tripp led her to the tent, where he left her for a moment to retrieve his sleeping bag pad and her bag. He chucked them into the tent and then gestured for her to get in.

Peg gratefully sat on the bags, despite the pain on her rear. She felt emotionally drained and she shivered with reaction as much as the cooler temperature now that the sun had set. Tripp took her in his arms again and held her tight, saying little Australian things to her that she didn’t really understand. After a while, he opened out both the sleeping bags and zipped them together. Peg was puzzled by it, up to the point where he pulled off his clothes.

Oh, was he a sight to behold. He was muscular all over, but not muscle-bound. His abs were tight and sculpted, his chest lightly furred with brown curls, and down below it all… Peggy had never imagined she could feel so turned on even after getting the tar whaled out of her. But she was turned on, enough to feel the slickness in her privates and the tightening of her nipples beneath the thin cotton shirt. Tripp tucked her into the connected bags and crawled in after her, pulling her tight against him.

“Warmer?”

It was perfect. “Yes.”

“Done crying?”

“I think so.”

“Try to sleep. It’s almost dark out and we’ll be getting up at dawn again. Ya need to rest.”

“What about you? Isn’t it too early for you to fall asleep?”

He shrugged. Peg felt the flex of his shoulders and arms. “I’ll just hold ya.” He kissed the top of her head again. “I had no idea ya were so upset about the lack of a bathroom.”

“I was just uncomfortable, that’s all. It’s silly. I shouldn’t have reacted the way I did.”

“Are ya sure ya don’t want to end this? If we go back to the ranger station, it could be over in less than a day.”

“No. Please. I want to keep going.” This was as close to Tripp as she’d felt all along and Peg didn’t want to lose a single minute of it. Running away earlier had been so stupid. She’d been running away from herself. Peg had to face how she felt.

He seemed hesitant, but eventually, he said, “Okay.” Petting her hair, he closed the conversation. “Go to sleep, luv.”

There was no answer to that but to snuggle up against his warm body even tighter and close her eyes.

* * *

When Peg awoke, it was to find herself still wrapped up in Tripp’s arms. He was sleeping peacefully, and the kookaburra hadn’t started its caterwauling. She could smell Tripp’s nighttime heat and clean sweat. Peg loved the scent of him, the feel of him against her and beneath her hand. She squirmed away, gently disentangling herself. Once apart from him, she pulled off her wrinkled shirt and tossed it to the foot of their bags. Naked, she pressed herself up against Tripp once more.

He made a small noise, but held her tight. With as much stealth as she could manage, Peg began to stroke his chest, gently, trying not to wake him before it was time, but it didn’t work. His hand caught her wrist and it was clear that he was fully awake.

“Not the best idea,” he told her.

“I don’t care. Don’t you want me, too?”

Loosening his hold on her wrist, but not letting go, Tripp sighed. “More than ya know.”

“Then why not?”

“I don’t want to be a vacation
root
. I won’t claim to be a saint. I’ve spent time with girls I had no intention of taking home to Mother, but never a client. That seems too much. Yer depending on me for yer safety, and I don’t want to take advantage of ya. This is all a new, maybe frightening experience for ya; it makes us seem closer than we are.”

But Peg felt tied to him, not only in proximity but also emotionally. Maybe she should just say so. But, then again, judging by what he’d said, he’d claim it was an entanglement due to circumstances. Whatever was behind it, Peg wanted to feel even closer to him. Feel him inside her, totally focused on her and she totally focused on him.

“Does it really matter why we feel close?” She rubbed her torso along his side, her nipples enjoying the play of his skin against them. “I want you. You want me. Can’t you at least kiss me?”

He was quiet for a long time. Peg wondered if maybe he’d fallen asleep, but his voice wasn’t sleepy when he replied. “If I kiss ya again, Peggy, I won’t be able to stop.”

Shifting her weight to hover over his chest, Peg touched his cheek, caressing his stubbly jaw and chin, imagining his very green eyes looking at her in the dark. “Then don’t stop.” Peg plied her lips at his, pressing her breasts to his chest and rubbing her thighs against his.

Tripp groaned and turned them both over till she was on her back, and he was at her side. “Crikey.”

Peg could feel his erection at her hip and reached down to touch it. Tripp shied away for a moment, eventually relaxing back against her and into her seeking hand with a low groan.

They had no words for each other, except for the soft sighs and quiet moans they shared while they kissed. Tripp, at first tender and gentle, had apparently made up his mind that they were going to make love, because Peg could feel his change of heart. His kisses got more aggressive, his tongue twining with hers and dominating her mouth. She was breathless, rapt, nearly overwhelmed with lust and desire. And she could feel the pulsing of his erection in her hand, the swelling increasing as she touched him and they kissed.

Peg’s face was feeling tender under the abrading stubble, but it didn’t matter. Soon, Tripp moved down to lick and caress her breasts anyway. His tongue was slightly rough, but his strokes were patient. Peg arched into his mouth and he suckled on her nipple until she moaned and gripped his hair.

From one breast to another he moved. Peg lost her grip on his cock, but she took hold of his shoulders and pulled at his shaggy hair. Tripp was not in a hurry, though Peg could feel the urgency in him with the tenseness of his arms.

His kisses trailed down her ribs to her belly. With hardly a hint, Peg opened her legs to him. Tripp eased them both out of the sleeping bags, and headed down between her legs, his rough chin sliding toward her aching mound. She was so wet, so eager to have him touch her there.

“Please,” she whispered.

“Don’t talk,” he answered softly.

Peg might not talk anymore, but she could feel, she could moan, wordlessly beg with her body. Tripp responded as though reading her mind. He separated her pussy lips with strong, callused fingers, and breathed deeply.

It was about the most erotic thing Peg could imagine at the moment. He was taking her scent. It was so feral, so primitive that it was just about her undoing.

When his tongue slid along the crease between her thigh and her pussy, she pulled at his hair, insisting on more, but no matter how she tugged and squirmed, Tripp had his own schedule and wouldn’t be forced to do her bidding. Eventually, when she thought she might go mad with wanting, he tickled her throbbing clit with the tip of his tongue. Peg’s hips arched up and she pressed that part of herself to his face while pulling his head down. He wouldn’t budge an inch, but his tongue snaked out and wrapped around her clit. Peg moaned and shimmied. She was going crazy.

With a soft chuckle, Tripp glided his mouth to the core of her, and thrust inside. Peg let go of his head, raising her hands to her breasts, kneading, pulling at her nipples. She was so close to coming, so close. Tripp replaced his tongue with two fingers and went back to teasing her clit. The combination was too much for Peg, and pulling on her nipples hard, she shattered. Shards of her desire flew everywhere and nowhere. Her eyes squeezed tight, her hips arched, and she cried out.