Unveiled Desire by Karen Nappa
Chapter 1
The Spanking
May 8, 1987, a student apartment building near the Ohio State University
Ben Quinn tried to push open the window above the two-burner gas stove. Seems like someone painted it shut. The wood protested loudly, and he needed to use a lot of force, but finally the window budged and peeled open. A fit young woman with headphones ran past. She was dressed in tight-fit running shorts and he admired her long, toned legs. Inwardly groaning, he stirred, and Ben willed his body to relax. He wasn't interested in women. Being in the front seat witnessing the debacle of his parents' marriage and still feeling the hurt and betrayal of his mother's abandonment made him wary of the female population. Catching his high school sweetheart in bed with his football team's captain after the Homecoming dance, her dress and the corsage Ben had given her lying discarded on the floor, set off a chain of events. Ben broke Luke's nose and was tossed from the football team, he broke up with Mary, swore off girls and stayed clear of them since. The jogger disappeared around the corner and out of his sight – just as his mother and Mary had.
Not all women were heartless and unreliable though. Hester, the woman his father married when he was six, was sweet, caring, and always put others first. At first, her behavior confused Ben, and he couldn't make himself trust her for a long time. Truthfully, he didn't really trust her to stay, but since more than fifteen years had passed, she probably wouldn’t leave them now. His step-mother was the total opposite of his birth mother. The latter only cared for herself, and her love depended on the proper behavior from the children; with Hester, her love and care were genuine and unconditionally given.
Willing himself to relax, his chest expanded as he took in the fresh scent of mown grass and rain. He missed the Quinn farm in an almost physical sensation and the small apartment stifled him this morning. At least his classes were interesting and he was doing well in them. From the moment he understood his father's job and what the doctor meant for the small community of Peaceful, Ben had been determined to follow in Jacob Quinn's footsteps.
Ben grinned. After finishing his bachelor's degree in chemistry in three years, he aced his medical college admission test and his first eight months at the Ohio State University College of Medicine had been both challenging and fun. I'm going to be a great doctor.
A scuffling sound behind him, signaled he wasn't alone anymore. Before he could turn, a small, soft body pressed against him from behind, and Ben sighed. "Amber." Despite the warning he put in his voice, she didn't budge. He was trapped between her and the counter and he didn't appreciate her forwardness or her persistence. Ben slowly turned and stared down at the little redhead.
Gripping her by the shoulders, he pushed her away and cringed. She was dressed only in the tiny top and briefs she slept in. The garments left nothing to the imagination and showed way too much skin. "Why are you running around dressed like that? It's hardly appropriate, especially in an apartment your boyfriend shares with another man."
Amber shrugged and tried to check the stove over his shoulder. "What ya makin' for breakfast?"
Ben ignored her question and her butchering of the English language, as Logan entered the kitchen yawning and scratching his beard stubble or rather beard fluff. "Morning." Logan was boyish-looking and Ben guessed he could remove his facial hair with a towel instead of a razor. However, Logan was the best roommate he’d found since he moved off campus.
Amber used Ben's distraction and rubbed her breasts against his biceps in a pretense of looking in the frying pan. He knew better.
Using his hands on her upper arms to create some distance between them, Ben gave her a disapproving glare before he pointed his scowl at his roommate. "Doesn't it bother you?"
"What?" Releasing another yawn, Logan ambled over and flopped down on a kitchen chair.
Ben rolled his eyes. Maybe Logan wasn't such a great roommate after all. Another pang of longing and homesickness crashed into him with the force of Hercules, his father's thousand-pound stallion. His siblings were all adept at picking up on Ben's moods and intentions, but his twin Mark didn't even need words. It was times like these that he really missed them. When their mother abandoned them, he and his siblings all reacted differently. Ross, their big brother, stepped into place as their dad's second hand. No wonder the oldest Quinn not only finished a degree in agriculture but had majored in some political subject as well, wanting to take over the Quinn farm when their grandparents retired and having the ambition to run for local office, too.
Mark was the outgoing one. He liked all people, found a kind word for everyone, and managed to say nice things about their absent mom and even nasty Wanda Cockle, who made their stepmother's life a hell for a while. Mark liked to chat and work with his hands. Unlike Ben and Ross, he didn't seem to have the ambition to study, and he preferred staying close to home and working at the garage/handyman shop in town.
Ben forced his attention back to his present company. "Look, man." Ben ran a hand through his hair and sidestepped Amber's groping hands. "You need to control your girlfriend."
Logan stretched like a lazy tiger. "Why?"
"She's running wild. Throwing herself at me. I mean. Look. At. Her."
Logan ran his gaze over the scantily-clad Amber. His eyes lingered on her pebbled nipples clearly visible under the flimsy material of her tank top, before perusing the rest of her body. Lazily, he swiveled his head back to Ben and shrugged. "Looks fine to me."
"Yeah." Amber planted a hand on her hip and cocked it so her top ran up and revealed a sliver of skin at her waist. "I look good."
Ben glared at her. "That isn't the point."
"What’s the matter, big boy?" she taunted, the way she dropped her eyes to his crotch didn't leave any doubt to her meaning. When Ben didn’t respond she cooed, "Afraid you can't control yourself around me?"
Ben ignored her, turned to the fridge to get the eggs, and almost dropped the carton when he turned back and almost crashed into Amber. Fuck! If the presence of her boyfriend doesn't stop her behavior and he isn't doing anything about it, what will help?
His mind went back about five years to when Madeline—his half-sister—snuck off with his dad's behemoth and ill-tempered stallion. Maddy was always getting into trouble with her best friend Lou, and often their mom and dad laughed about her antics, but not when she endangered herself and others. It was a crash and burn offense in his stern father's opinion and led to swift and harsh punishment. When Hercules returned with saddle and bridle but without a rider, they all knew what happened. After a frantic search, they found a disheveled but relatively unharmed Maddy walking towards the farm about two miles out. While Ben tended the horse, he watched his father lecture her on all the things that could have happened.
Being on the receiving end of his father's hard hand a time or two as a lad had curbed Ben's and his two brothers’ behavior, but Maddy seemed intent on acting out. Curious if she would get an over the knee spanking like all three Quinn brothers had in the past, Ben lingered. He didn't understand why she kept taking these risks. He'd thought being spanked by Jacob's hard hand would make her think twice about her actions. He knew he did everything he could to avoid being spanked after a time or two. In the way and speed Maddy was acting up, she'd probably received more than a dozen by now. That is, if dad spanked her. Maybe it was different because she was a girl?
Hester, his stepmother and Maddy's biological mother, was a teacher, and although she never spanked a soul, every child in Peaceful adored and obeyed her – well, except Madeline who took disobedience to a new level.
"Please Papa," she pleaded. "My butt already hurts from the fall. I've learned my lesson. I won't ride Hercules alone again."
"You're not riding Hercules at all. He's my horse and dangerous." Jacob Quinn's brows furrowed as he studied Ben's sister.
