Not the Man She Thought by Paige Tyler Page A

than he’d been even after he had
caught her snooping in the hold the other night. Suddenly, standing up to him
didn’t seem like it had been such a good idea. Her pulse racing, she took a
step back, but it was too late. Rade reached out and grabbed her arm, pulling
her against him.
    “I’ve had it with you,” he growled. “You’re a spoiled brat
who stowed away on my ship, which is a crime in any corner of the galaxy, and
yet you have the nerve to call me a criminal. Well, I’m tired of your
condescending attitude, little girl, and I’m not going to put up with it
anymore.”
    Tightening his grip on her arm, Rade dragged her across the
hold to a big wooden crate. Laken fought against him, but it was useless. He
gave her arm a jerk that sent her tumbling forward and over the crate in one
swift motion. She tried to push herself upright, but he put a hand on her back
to hold her in place.
    “I thought I got through to you with the other spankings I
gave you,” he ground out. “I guess I was too soft on you. When I get done with
you this time, you’ll be lucky if you can sit down for a week.”
    Laken opened her mouth to tell him to go to hell, but all
that came out was a gasp as Rade flipped up her skirt and yanked down her
panties. Her face went hot with embarrassment. She thought that being over his
knee was mortifying, but being bent over the crate like this was absolutely
humiliating. Not only did the position give him a perfect view of her ass, but
it let him see her pussy, too. She reached back with one hand to cover herself,
but he caught her wrist and pinned it the small of her back, then did the same
with the other. She was as helpless as if he’d tied her up.
    She threw him a murderous look over her shoulder.   “Let me up, you bastard.”
    Rade only answer to press her more firmly against the rough
wood of the crate and deliver a sharp smack to her ass. Like with the other
spankings he’d given her, the smacks came hard and fast, with him moving back
and forth from one cheek and the other until her entire bottom was blazing.
    “Owwww!” she cried. “Damn you, that hurts!”
       “Good,”
he said. “That way, maybe you’ll stop acting like such a brat.”
    Laken cried out as his hand found her tender sit-spots. She
danced from foot to foot, attempting to get away from the smacks, but it didn’t
do any good. His hand kept coming down on her ass cheeks over and over and
over.
       “Please,” she begged. “I promise not to say anything about your or your
crew ever again. Just please stop spanking me.”
       Considering she’d made him so angry, she didn’t think her words would
have any effect on him, but to her relief, after once more hard smack to each
cheek, he released her.
    Pushing herself upright, Laken she reached back to cup her
red-hot ass cheeks, and gasped at how tender they were. Rade had obviously
wanted to make good on his threat about her not sitting down comfortably any
time soon. She waited for him to say something, to warn her to behave herself,
or promise her an even harder spanking next time she stepped out of line, but
he only gazed down at her, his face unreadable. A moment later, he turned on
his heel and strode out of the cargo hold.
     
     
    Chapter Five
     
     
    He had spanked Laken too hard, dammit. He’d realized it the
moment she’d begged him to stop. The other times, she had called him names the
whole time he’d spanked her, then jumped up with defiance in her beautiful,
green eyes when he’d released her, but this time, she’d barely looked at him at
all. It had made him feel like shit and he’d almost taken her in his arms and
apologized. He doubted she would have appreciated the gesture, though, not
after everything that had just happened between them.
    “You were a little hard on the girl back there, weren’t
you?” Kellen said. He was standing outside Rade’s cabin, leaning back against
the wall, arms folded.
    Rade clenched his jaw. He