Summer Solace Read online

  Summer Solace

  By

  Maggie Ryan

  ©2013 by Blushing Books® and Maggie Ryan

  Copyright © 2013 by Blushing Books® and Maggie Ryan

  All rights reserved. No part of the book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

  Published by Blushing Books®,

  a subsidiary of

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  Charlottesville, VA 22901

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  is registered in the US Patent and Trademark Office.

  Ryan, Maggie

  Summer Solace

  eBook ISBN: 978–1–62750–1682

  Cover Design by edhgraphics.blogspot.com

  This book is intended for adults only. Spanking and other sexual activities represented in this book are fantasies only, intended for adults. Nothing in this book should be interpreted as Blushing Books' or the author's advocating any non–consensual spanking activity or the spanking of minors.

  Table of Contents:

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Epilogue

  About Blushing Books

  About the Author

  Free Ebook Offer

  Chapter 1

  Joanna breathed deeply of the clean, crisp air as she followed a faint trail through the towering trees. She looked up as the wind whistled through the swaying branches. The wind was the main reason she was still in the woods instead of sitting in her favorite swing on her back porch, a much needed cup of coffee in her hands. She pushed aside a branch and confirmed what she had suspected earlier. There was a faint glow up ahead, the flickering light indicating a campfire. She hadn’t expected to encounter any other campers this deep into the woods but had thought she smelled wood smoke. She walked a few more feet into the woods before stopping suddenly. What was that sound? Was someone crying? She pushed into a strand of bushes on her left and froze again. The bushes and the growing dark concealed her at the edge of the woods. Before her was a clearing that was designated as camp site forty. In the center of a fire pit, a small camp fire blazed, its glow lighting the area surrounding the ring of stones. However, the fire wasn’t what had captured Joanna’s attention.

  “No, please, don’t. I’m sorry…I won’t do it...owwww!” The sounds that had carried into the woods became clear. They were coming from a young woman who was indeed crying and pleading. Joanna stood as still as a statue, unsure of what she should do. The woman was obviously in pain, but seeing as how she was bent over a man’s knees, her shorts and panties at her ankles, her hands clinging tightly to the legs of a camp stool, the cause of her distress was clear. The steady cadence of sharp slaps rang through the night. The man held the woman with one arm around her waist as he used a paddle to deliver swat after swat to the woman’s bare bottom. The woman was beginning to kick her feet and twist her body in a futile attempt to escape the paddle that connected again and again with her upturned bottom.

  “Stop, please…please…it hurts!” the woman cried. Joanna almost smiled at the words. It certainly looked like it hurt. She was momentarily shocked, not at the scene playing out before her, but from her reaction to it. It hadn’t been that long ago when she had changed the entire direction of her life over an incident that could be compared to what she was witnessing. She had thought all possibility of ever feeling a jolt of desire from any sort of discipline had disappeared on that night. Frozen in place, she fought the need to moan in recognition that she had not buried her sins as deeply as she had thought. Another highly pitched wail followed by a desperate plea for the spanking to stop snapped her back to the present. Evening had already descended, but the firelight showed the poor girl’s bottom was turning darker with every stroke of the relentless paddle.

  “Settle down. Of course it hurts. Spankings aren’t supposed to feel good. I can’t believe you would make such a stupid decision. You know better than to get involved with something like that. Young lady, you deserve a nice long spanking and a very hot bottom, don’t you?” the man asked even as he continued the spanking. Joanna felt a shiver race down her back at the man’s voice. It was deep and husky. While the girl’s pleas were high and frantic, the man’s tone was calm, almost soothing. Joanna began to tremble, realizing that it also sounded very, very familiar. Shaking her head in an attempt to dispel that thought, she desperately wondered what she should do. Knowing the best thing would be to step away, Joanna found that she couldn’t. She did begin to step back deeper into the darkness of the trees but froze when a twig snapped under her right foot. She stopped breathing as she saw the man’s head snap up, his eyes quickly scanning the edge of the tree line. Joanna felt her face grow hot as she felt the man’s eyes seem to fall directly onto her. She couldn’t make out his features very clearly but was certain he was searching the tree line for any evidence of movement. She knew that it would be impossible for him to discern her outline as long as she remained perfectly still. After a few moments, his attention returned to the upturned bottom over his knees.

  “I asked you a question, young lady. Do you deserve this paddling?” His question was accompanied by an additional flurry of spanks that caused the poor girl to buck and kick, one hand releasing the stool’s legs to fly back towards her bottom in an attempt to stop the paddle. Joanna watched as the man simply captured her escaped hand and held it tightly in the small of the girl’s back. The paddle continued its attack, moving down to slap against the girl’s upper thighs. This got the girl’s attention.

  “Yes!” she wailed. “Yes, Sir…I deserve it, but…owwww…please, no more! Please, I’m sorry!”

  He nodded in agreement with her assessment of her need to be spanked. He lifted one knee a bit to elevate the poor bottom a bit and finished the spanking with a half dozen smacks to the girl’s tender sit spot. He wanted her to remember this spanking and blistering her bottom would ensure she’d think about it every time she sat down for the next couple of days. He finally lowered his knee and turned to place the paddle on the picnic table behind him. The girl lay sobbing over his lap, her hands once again wrapped around the legs of the stool. He didn’t speak for several minutes as he allowed her time to realize the spanking was over and to begin to compose herself.

  As her cries began to slow, his eyes again scanned the tree line. He knew that something or someone was present, just out of sight. However, he also knew that he needed to deal with this situation. After several minutes passed, he asked softly, “Are you ready to be a good girl, Amber?”

  The girl sniffed and nodded. “Yes, Sir,” she managed to say as she hiccupped. He grinned and then gently patted the well roasted bottom over his lap. She wiggled off his knees once she felt the pat, knowing he was giving her permission to get up. She stood and was surprised when he told her she could dress. She hesitated only a moment before bending quickly to pull up her panties and her shorts. Once dressed, she stood before him.

  “I’m really sorry. I don’t know what I was thinking. Please, don’t be mad at me anymore,” she said quietly. He looked at the young woman and stood. He wrapped his arms around her and bent to kiss the top of her head.

  “Yo
u’re forgiven, Amber, but believe me, if you pull a stunt like that again, this little spanking will feel like a couple of love taps. The next time you’ll be so sore you won’t be able to sit for a week. Understand me?” he warned firmly. Amber pulled away and nodded.

  “Yes, Sir,” she answered, knowing he was serious. He reached out and ruffled the girl’s hair which was messy from all her struggling during her spanking.

  “Good, now I do believe we have company,” he informed her. Amber’s mouth dropped open even as she whirled around. She didn’t see anyone, but was acutely aware that her spanking had probably just been witnessed. She suddenly understood why she had been allowed to dress instead of being made to stand with her spanked bottom exposed while she spent several minutes thinking about her misbehavior. Her face flushed as she heard him say, “You can come out now. I know you are there.”

  Both the campers watched and waited. A few seconds passed.

  “Please, don’t make me come and get you.” His last words did the trick. He was surprised when a woman stepped out of the shadows of the tall pines into the edge of their clearing. Though her features were still hidden in the twilight, he saw that she wore the uniform of a ranger. He relaxed a bit, but still stepped in front of Amber as if shielding her.

  A little late for that, Amber thought even as she took the opportunity of his diverted attention to rub her bottom with both hands in an effort to ease the ache his paddling had caused.

  Joanna walked into the firelight and approached the couple. It took every ounce of her courage to reveal herself. The moment the man had turned towards her, the firelight revealed him very well. His size was another identifier. He had looked large when seated. Standing he loomed over the smaller woman hiding behind him. Joanna was tall for a woman, measuring just an inch short of six feet barefoot. Even from several feet away, she knew exactly how perfectly the top of her head would nestle under his chin. Within moments, her eyes drank in more. He looked broader and leaner than before. His shoulders were wide, his chest broad before tapering to a slim, lean waist and some of the longest legs she had ever seen.

  He watched as the ranger looked him over and returned the favor. The woman was tall and slender. The hat she wore hid her facial features. She was wearing the khaki uniform that usually didn’t flatter anyone wearing it. On her, however, the uniform was filled out quite nicely, at least from the frontal view that he was enjoying. She reached up and pulled the length of her braid from where it had been hanging down her back. The firelight seemed to make her hair glow, their colors almost matching. He looked puzzled for a moment. When he saw her fingers toy with the end of the braid, his eyes snapped up to her face. Joanna pulled herself together and spoke for the first time.

  “Hello, Gabe,” she said softly.

  Gabriel Jamison was a man who was a master of control. For only the second time in five years, he was totally at a loss. His heart stuttered in his chest. The woman who had caused that break in his control years ago had just done it again.

  “Jo?” Gabe asked, disbelief clear in his tone. He was the only man who had ever used the nickname for Joanna. For the briefest moment, the wall she had spent years building showed the faintest chink. “God, Jo, it’s really you. What are you doing here? Where have you been?” Gabe asked, still attempting to reconcile himself to her presence. Gabe had a million questions he wanted answered.

  Joanna remembered that she had no desire to go backwards. Her life had been hard enough to rebuild, she didn’t think she’d have the strength to start again. She fought to remember her responsibilities. “I’m the chief ranger,” she explained. “I wasn’t aware that anyone was registered this far up the mountain.”

  Gabe was confused with the conversation. He was in shock at seeing the woman he had loved step out of the woods. He wanted to grab her and demand an explanation, but for some reason, answered as if they were total strangers with no tumultuous past between them.

  “We moved up here this afternoon. I was going to come down to the office tomorrow and inform Dan.”

  That answered one question Joanna had considered. She had been shocked to see him standing in her woods. She had no idea he was anywhere near her home. Hearing that Dan had obviously checked them in while she had been on a supply run explained her ignorance. The woman moved from behind Gabe and stood at his side.

  “Gabe? Are you going to introduce me or have you forgotten I’m alive?” the young woman asked. She had an amused tone in her voice as she looked between Gabe and Joanna.

  She was extremely pretty, but in a way that made Joanna think she didn’t even realize it. Joanna thought she was a bit young for a man of Gabe’s age, but flushed when she remembered that was absolutely none of her business.

  The girl put her hand on Gabe’s forearm. “Gabe? Are you okay?” she asked. The concern in her voice snapped Gabe out of his silence and caused Joanna to feel a new sense of loss. He moved his arm to put around the girl’s shoulder and bent to drop a kiss on the top of her head. Joanna felt something shift inside as she saw the very obvious affection between the two. What had she expected? He had obviously continued on with his life the moment he helped destroy hers.

  “Sorry, honey,” Gabe said, and then turned back to Joanna. “Jo, I’d like you to meet Amber,my little sister.” Sister? Joanna realized that the woman she assumed was Gabe’s new….ummm, nope. Not going there; it was not her concern. Joanna heard a sound and realized that the small woman had stepped away from Gabe’s side and was standing with her hand stuck out. Joanna instinctively stepped forward and took it.

  “I’m not little,” Amber said, as they shook hands. “He is just so old that anyone under the age of twenty is considered a baby.”

  Joanna almost smiled for the first time at the teasing tone of Amber’s voice. From her demeanor, no one would ever suspect that she had just gotten her bottom roasted.

  Amber released Joanna’s hand and looked between her and Gabe. Something was going on and her natural curiosity would not let her ignore it. “How do you know my brother?”

  Gabe was the one that responded. “Joanna and I were together several years ago. She just disappeared one evening and I haven’t heard from her since.”

  Joanna immediately heard the change in his tone. She also caught the fact she was no longer Jo. He had used her full name. She understood he was accusing her of something, something he had absolutely no right to do. She unconsciously stood even taller, reminding herself that she was no longer that person.

  Gabe watched her carefully. He saw her eyes darken and flash for a moment before they closed off her thoughts. She had never been very good at that before. Her open face had allowed him to learn so much about her. What he wanted to do was reach out, grab her and shake her. His sense of shock was wearing off and his control was beginning to regain its hold. He felt a sense of loss at the thought she had learned how to encase herself in a barrier. He wanted to force an explanation out of her. He doubted that whatever she said would overcome how hurt he had been when he had discovered her lie, however, he found he needed to hear her story. He forced his hurt down deep and held out his hand.

  Joanna looked at it as if she expected a dagger to appear. She saw Amber’s look of confusion and forced herself to reach out with her own. Joanna placed her hand in his and felt her world shift as the man’s fingers closed around hers. She felt her heart skip a beat and her eyes lowered to see the hand that totally engulfed her own. She could feel the heat from his skin and again felt something course through her, something she hadn’t felt since that night so long ago.

  Shaking her head in both confusion and a flash of embarrassment over her reaction to a simple handshake, she quickly pulled away despite the fact Gabe tightened his grip in an effort to keep their hands clasped.

  He too had felt the jolt as his heart stuttered again. At that precise moment he vowed she would not be able to dismiss him this time. He would not only ask for an explanation, he’d demand one.

  Amber h
ad been watching and saw the look that passed over both their faces. She had never in her life seen her brother react as he did. She had no idea what was happening but the air had grown thick with tension. She had always been a peace–maker and today was no different. She needed to dispel whatever was happening until both of them had a chance to think about their obviously shocking reunion. Thinking fast, she grinned and then giggled.

  “Are you going to arrest Gabe?” she asked. Her words caused the other two to turn their attention to her. Gabe’s eyes grew darker and Amber’s smile slipped a bit. She sighed, “I’m just kidding, Gabe, geez.”

  Gabe shook his head and growled. The sound caused Joanna to relax a bit and a small smile turned up her mouth. It might not be such a bad idea after all.

  “That wasn’t my intention, but perhaps you’d like to file a complaint?” Joanna suggested.

  Gabe’s eyes flashed again but Amber laughed.

  “Hmmm, no, I don’t think so,” Amber said with a smile. “He’d just paddle me again when he got out of jail!”

  Joanna saw Gabe relax and heard him chuckle. She found herself relaxing as well, seeing the easy communication between the two.

  “I just came through because I’ve posted a wind warning,” Joanna said in explanation as to why she had interrupted them. “The wind is already picking up and may reach dangerous levels where campfires are concerned. I need you to make sure your fire is completely out before you retire for the night. Embers have been known to get carried high into the trees and we don’t want any forest fires. Actually, I didn’t know any campers were up this high, but I smelled your smoke and came to check it out.”

  Her eyes turned back to Amber, and her voice lowered. “I didn’t mean to interrupt your evening.”

  Amber blushed a bit at the memory of what Joanna had witnessed, but then she grinned. “It’s okay. I’m sure Gabe wouldn’t want to be responsible for starting any fires, now would you, dear brother?” She batted her eyes at her older brother.