She nodded in response and he began again. “Who did you come down here with?”
“That’s really none of your business.” She narrowed her eyes at him, but her scornful look soon turned to surprise as he tugged her arm and pulled her face down across his lap.
She let out a squeal as he covered her backside in four hard smacks. Then he released her and righted her again on the couch beside him.
“Care to try again?” He raised an eyebrow at her in challenge.
“I just don’t know why that’s any of your busin?—”
He started to tug her down again when her eyes grew wide with panic.
She tried to pull back and quickly replied, “A guest, he was a guest at the lodge.”
“There, that wasn’t so hard.” He released her arm and smoothed a hand down her long hair that was cascading over her shoulder. “Did you have this tryst on your free time?”
“What tryst?”
“Was it free time, or were you supposed to be doing something else?”
She hesitated.
“Just an answer. I know you know stalling won’t find you in a favorable position,” Jake reminded her.
“Did Mr. Wolfe put you up to this? He said he wasn’t angry with me.”
“Do you think he should be angry?” Jake coaxed her.
“Yes, he has a right to be angry at me. I messed up, again. If it were any of the others there would have been hell to pay.”
“Tell me what happened, Coral.”
She shook her head and tried to retreat to the other side of the couch. He pulled her back towards him in a firm grip and upended her over his lap again. He let his hand fall across the seat of her jeans until she started to wiggle against him.
“Please,” she threw her hand back trying to block his blows. “I’ll tell you.”
He stilled his hand but kept one arm clamped across her lower back.
“Are you going to let me up?”
“No, you can answer from right there. I have a feeling we aren’t through with this position yet.”
She let out a sigh and started to talk. “I was supposed to be covering the front desk. I don’t normally work up front, but everyone was busy. A man came in and introduced himself as Robbie. I realized later that he was on some wanted posters in the lodge. He requested a tour, and I showed him the lodge. He left after that—but not before he cleaned out most of the guest rooms, taking whatever valuables he could find.”
“Why didn’t you recognize him from his wanted posters? Are they posted somewhere where you would have seen them?” Jake rubbed a hand over her bottom, and he could feel the warmth of his chastisement seeping through the seat of her jeans. He would remove them soon so he could gauge her responses.
“They’re posted all over the bulletin boards in the lodge. Ijust never really looked at them,” she whispered. Jake punctuated her answer with two hard smacks.
“Ow!” she yelled out. “Did Mr. Wolfe put you up to this? He told me he wasn’t mad. He said it was an honest mistake.” Her shoulders shook and she began to cry.
Jake pulled her up, settling her into his lap. She cried into his shirt as he rubbed her back.
“He told me he wasn’t mad. But I could tell he was. I don’t know why I keep doing stupid things.” She sucked in a shaky breath but kept right on talking, “If it were Redd or one of the others who had let the thief in, there would have been hell to pay, but he just lets me off the hook.”
“You don’t want to be let off the hook?”
“It makes me feel like he can’t be bothered with me, like there’s no hope for me anyway.”
Now he had the real truth. Mr. Wolfe had told him that he didn’t feel right disciplining the little fairy himself. She had come to him so battered and broken, he only wanted to protect her. But he recognized that there was a need for someone to guide her. In his reluctance to correct her, Mr. Wolfe was hurting her.
