The Doctor's Pet (8 page)

He made a soft sound and reached down, pulling her up into his lap where she curled up against his chest and hid her face in his neck. He ran his hands over her back, butt, and thighs, gently soothing her through her tears.

“I’m sorry,” she repeated over and over. He didn’t know what she was apologizing for, but it didn’t matter. He held her close and murmured forgiveness against her ear until she stopped gasping for breath between the sobs that made her whole body shake.

“Shhh, it’s okay,” he reassured her. “It’s done now. We move on from here. Next time you won’t forget to pay your bill.”

His kind attempts at soothing her only made her cry harder. Next time she’d have to make the same shitty choice as this time. She could see her life stretching ahead of her, spanking after spanking for something that wasn’t and never had been her fault.

Kirk held her closely until the tears began to abate, soothing her with his masculine yet tender presence. When she finally stopped crying, he spoke to her again.

“You don’t like it when I’m displeased with you, do you, Tessa?”

“No,” she said in a small voice. “I don’t.”

“I know it doesn’t feel like it now,” he said, pressing a kiss to her temple. “But that’s actually a good thing. It means that our relationship means something to you.”

“Of course it means something to me!” She lifted her head and looked at him with wet eyes. “We’re sleeping with one another, we’re… I… what do you mean?!”

“Easy, pet,” he said gently. “I just meant that it means we’re both taking this seriously, and that’s a good thing.”

“Tell my ass that,” she grumbled.

Kirk made a small sound of sympathy and rubbed his hand over her still blazing bottom. “I don’t think your butt needs to be told anything,” he said. “I think it’s your mind that needs to catch up with things.”

“Are you saying I’m stupid?”

“No,” he replied in warning tones. “I’m saying you’re not used to being held accountable and that you don’t really like it all that much. You’ll see the benefits soon though.”

He thought he knew everything. He didn’t know a damn thing. Tessa sighed inwardly and curled up on his lap, taking what comfort she could while he was still there to give it.

Chapter Nine

The next day, Kirk found himself troubled by the events of the previous evening. There had been a heaviness to Tessa that wasn’t characteristic of her. She seemed to take being spanked very much to heart, more so than ever before. He hoped she wasn’t getting stuck in some kind of self-loathing in which she thought she was being spanked not for her behavior, but for some inherent flaw.

She was off the roster that day, but he had to work until three o’clock, at which point he drove to her apartment to see her. It was an unannounced visit, but a little spontaneity wouldn’t hurt. He wanted to treat her, show her that there were rewards for being a good girl too.

He made his way up to her apartment, where he was less than pleased to discover that the door was ajar. Tessa knew better than to go out and leave her place unlocked. And she should have known better than to leave her place open for just anyone to walk in when she was home.

“Tessa?”

There was no reply, but there was a general clattering taking place. He pushed the door open and walked into the apartment softly. Someone was rummaging about in the kitchen. Kirk briefly considered that it could be a thief, but as he rounded the corner to the kitchen, he swiftly realized that it was not. Unless, of course, thieves made themselves a grilled cheese sandwich before stealing everything in sight.

“Hello.”

“Hi!” A young man with bright blue eyes and a shock of pale blond hair grinned at him with a smile Kirk had seen on Tessa’s face.

“I’m Kirk Saunders, Tessa’s boyfriend.” He reached out to shake hands and was instead offered a spatula.

“I’m her brother, Tim,” the young man said. “She’s not getting the good mayonnaise anymore.”

Tessa had never mentioned a brother. Kirk wasn’t sure why that was. She didn’t talk about her family at all, he realized. Tim looked like your average college senior, a bit of a mess, but charming enough.

“Can you turn that?” Tim pointed at the food in the pan. “I need to see if she’s hiding it. She hides it sometimes.”

The apartment door slammed at that moment, and Tessa came barreling in. “Dammit, Tim!” She yelled her brother’s name. “I had Angus here the other day. He took two thousand dollars off me!”

“Sorry,” Tim called out. “I’m good for it.”

“No, you’re not,” she said, storming around the corner. “You’re not good for… Kirk?”

She stopped dead and stared at him with a markedly guilty expression.

“Hello, Tessa,” Kirk smiled. “I was just introducing myself to your younger brother here.”

“Uh… yeah,” Tessa said. “This is Tim.”

“So I gathered,” Kirk said. He couldn’t help but notice that Tessa looked horrified at seeing the pair of them together. It went well beyond mere surprise at finding her boyfriend and brother chatting casually in the kitchen. And what had she meant about the money?

Tim didn’t seem nearly so concerned. He took the spatula out of Kirk’s hand and served up his snack, stuffing it into his mouth in an attempt to avoid conversation.

“Tim, this is Kirk. We’re, uh, dating.”

“I gathered,” Tim said in muffled tones that could have been intended to mimic Kirk, or not. “Listen, Tess, I gotta crash here for a few days, okay?”

“Uh…”

“That’s fine,” Kirk cut in. “Tessa can spend some time at my place. We need to talk about a few things anyway.”

* * *

Tessa’s greatest nightmare had come true. Kirk and Tim in the same room. Kirk’s intense gaze running over Tim with obvious judgment. Tim wasn’t doing himself any favors. He was wearing ratty old jeans and a man’s tank with geographical designs and, now, a mustard stain.

“That’s real nice,” Tim said, grinning like an idiot.

“I don’t want any… unexpected visitors coming here, Tim,” she said, trying to choose her words carefully. “Especially not Angus.”

“I thought you, uh, took care of Angus?”

“I did,” Tessa said, trying not to lose her temper. Tim was trying to get on board with being subtle, but he was bad at it. He had a certain glassy look in his eyes that strongly suggested he’d been imbibing illicit substances. “But you and Angus seem to hang out together a lot these days. I don’t want him here. He’s not good for… the furniture.”

She shot a glance at Kirk and saw him looking at her with a measured expression, his dark eyes giving nothing away.

“I get it,” Tim said. “No visitors. No parties.”

Tessa felt Kirk’s arm loop around her waist. She looked up at him and saw his wickedly intelligent gaze looking down at her. Oh, damn. She was in trouble. He knew everything. Well, maybe not everything, but enough to matter.

After a few more forced pleasantries, Tessa found herself being ushered out of her place and down to Kirk’s car where she sat tensely, trying to make small talk to distract Kirk from the conversation he must have heard owing to the fact that she’d screamed it.

“So,” Kirk said once they were driving. “Are you going to tell me what’s going on between you and that brother of yours?”

“Oh, Tim,” she said, trying for a lighthearted laugh. “I think older sisters always worry about their younger brothers.”

“Maybe, but older sisters don’t always have, what was it, two thousand dollars taken from them on their younger brother’s behalf?”

Tessa groaned and slid down in the leather seat. This was the discussion she’d wanted so badly not to have. “It’s nothing,” she said.

Kirk flicked on the indicator for his exit. “Tessa, you were punished for being financially irresponsible recently. Did that incident have anything to do with Tim?”

“Well, not really,” she said, looking out the window. “I just paid the power bill late—or not at all. I’m such a ditz!”

A grim silence settled over the car. She knew Kirk was not happy with her evasive answers. They drove the rest of the way to his house without speaking a word to one another. He parked in the garage and went inside, leaving her to trail after him feeling small and guilty even though she hadn’t actually done anything wrong.

Kirk walked through to the kitchen and turned the coffee machine on. Tessa lingered awkwardly in the doorway between the hall and the kitchen/lounge, one part of her wanting to go and hug him and tell him everything; the other, more powerful part telling her it was best to keep her mouth shut.

“So,” he said, turning toward her when she finally dared creep into his presence. “Why are people named Angus coming to your house to take large sums of money?”

She sighed and shook her head. “This isn’t anything you have to worry about,” she explained. “It’s just Tim.”

“I disagree. This is something I very much am worried about,” Kirk replied. “Why are you on the hook for Tim’s debts? More than that… why didn’t you tell me about the situation with Tim?”

“Because he’s my problem, not yours.”

Kirk crossed over to her, took her chin between his thumb and forefinger, and gazed down into her eyes. “Tessa… I smacked your butt for being irresponsible—when what I should have been doing was smacking your butt for not telling me the truth.”

“Just as long as you’ve got some reason to spank me, right,” she said somewhat bitterly. She turned away from him, hot little tears of frustration stinging her eyes.

“Hey.” He turned her gently to face him. “You don’t have to hide your problems from me. Start from the beginning. Tell me what’s been going on.”

“You don’t want to hear it from the beginning,” she sniffed.

“I do,” he said, sliding his arms around her. He pulled her close against his body and ran his palm up and down her back, comforting her. “I want to know everything, Tessa, not just the things you think I want to hear.”

She was so tired of carrying her burdens alone, and though she knew Kirk would probably not like her as much once he knew how much of a mess her life really was, she couldn’t hold it in anymore. With a great sob, she spilled it all. How her mother and father were too sick to help anymore, how Tim’s gambling kept getting more and more out of hand, how he’d ended up in the hospital more than once thanks to various gangsters who had no problem breaking bits of him if it meant they got their money. All that had done was add hospital bills to his debts.

Kirk held her close and listened to it all, saying little aside from a few murmurs to indicate that he was hearing everything she said.

“So now you know,” she sniffed when there was nothing left to tell. “If you get involved with me, you get involved with a whole lot of other problems.”

Kirk made a soothing sound and picked her up in his arms. He carried her over to the couch and sat down with her in his lap, holding her close and stroking her hair.

“I’m going to take care of this,” he said. “And you’re not going to keep anything from me again.”

“What can you do?” Tessa gave him a look of despair. “Tim doesn’t listen to anyone. He had both his arms broken and was still placing bets. Nothing stops him. He just doesn’t care, or something, I don’t know. He’s sick.”

“He needs someone to make sure he stops,” Kirk said. “Not a sister to bail him out, or a henchman to break his limbs. But enough about him.” Kirk dropped a kiss on her nose. “I want to be clear that you know I expect you to tell me everything about a situation when I ask. I don’t want you martyring yourself because you’ve decided to protect someone, or because you think I couldn’t handle the truth. Understand?”

She nodded, then squealed as he flipped her over his lap.

“What’s this for?”

“This is for being a good girl,” he said, swatting her bottom lightly. “For finally trusting me enough to tell me.”

He proceeded to spank her, not with any harsh intensity, but with light swats that almost tickled more than they stung. She squirmed as he spanked her, enjoying the touch of his hand, feeling how much power he had and how little of it he was choosing to use.

“I’m here for you always, Tessa,” he repeated. “You don’t need to hide anything from me.”

She moaned softly as the spanking went on, gently reassured by the light swats that soothed her more than she could ever have imagined a spanking would. It was more like a massage than anything, without any sexual energy either. This wasn’t about dominating her or punishing her. It was purely a gentle tapping massage that reassured her more than words could that she was his and he intended to protect her.

Tessa closed her eyes and stretched out, relaxing across his lap as the light swats and taps lulled her into a sense of relief and safety she had not experienced in a very, very long time. She felt so silly for not having just told Kirk in the first place. Two punishments could have been completely avoided if she’d just told the truth. Maybe this relationship could work after all.

Chapter Ten

Having settled matters with Tessa, Kirk was feeling better about everything. There had been a secret between them, and now that it was gone they were closer than ever. He could feel the difference in her, see it in her eyes. Thinking about her made him smile as he went about his day, checking in on patients post-surgery.

As he was between patients, his cell rang. It was Tessa. He answered her call with a smile. “Hello, my pet.”

“Uh, Kirk?” Tessa’s voice was shaking, concerning him instantly. “Someone broke into my place. Can you come?”

“I’m on my way,” he reassured her. “Wait outside your building, okay?”

He cleared his schedule and left the hospital as quickly as he could, deeply worried about her. She’d never sounded that scared before. When he got to her building, he was pleased to see that she had done as he’d told her and was waiting outside. She looked tearful and frightened and when he got out of the car she threw herself into his arms.

“It’s okay,” he reassured her. “I’ve got you.”

“They smashed everything up,” she cried. “It’s… everything.”