"No, you won't. That's why I'm working double shifts." That and trying to get a coat and save her butt from getting an even more painful tanning, but Elodie wasn't about to tell him about that.
He sighed, loudly and exaggeratedly. "You shouldn't be working double shifts. You're barely eating, I know," he glared at her as she automatically reached for her bowl of soup, "and you're not taking care of yourself." He sighed extremely loudly for dramatic effect. "I can see that I am not going to get anywhere with you, as usual."
Just then, the phone rang, and Elodie scooped it up. "Hello?"
"How's your bottom?"
No preamble, no "how you doing", just "how's your bottom."
"Uh, fine." She dragged the word out and pressed the phone closer to her ear, just in case any sort of untoward sound might leak out and into Joshua's avid ears.
He was already getting up, though, having deduced who was on the other end of the line. He put their dishes to soak in the sink, and poured the remainder of the soup into a big Tupperware bowl, then he scooted out to kiss her on the top of her head.
Elodie whipped around and saw him backing away from her, waving goodbye and blowing kisses at her, then making grabbing motions towards the phone.
She got the message as he backed out of her place. Elodie heaved a huge sigh of relief. She had not wanted to talk to Clay while Joshua was still in the same room. There was no telling what he'd do. And at least she'd kept one secret—Joshua didn't know that she'd been spanked. She was sure that if he'd stayed, she'd have ended up saying something that would make him curious, and then the cat would be out of the bag. Elodie couldn't imagine how Joshua might react to the idea that she got spanked. She couldn't think that he'd be any too happy about it—most people peering in from the outside would assume that she was being abused, but it was hardly that.
"Just fine?" Clay asked, putting a fine point on the question.
"Yeah, it's not hurting anymore." She didn't mention that it had hurt like hell to sit down when she got home, and that she could still feel the 'warmth' for several days.
Clay paused for a moment before responding in a deep growl, "Then I must not have spanked you hard enough. Have you gotten your coat yet?"
Elodie humphed into the phone, trying to sound indignant at being asked, but she answered truthfully. "No, I haven't." She hadn't quite gotten the money saved yet, and she was trying not to rob Peter to pay Paul.
"You'd better get on the ball there, Miss Elodie, if you don't want a second—and worse—dose of what you got once already. You had better bring that coat to the bowling alley, and if it's cold out, you'd better be wearing it. I have a vintage hairbrush in my desk that would work perfectly on you, though, if you don't."
Elodie froze, wondering if it was something he used to use on her sister.
"And, no, this is something I bought a couple of months ago," he said.
"How did you know that's what I was thinking?"
Somehow, she could see him shrugging even over the phone. "Because I know how paranoid you're likely to be about that kind of thing."
"I'm not paranoid. I'm just concerned about propriety."
Clay grunted. "Too concerned for your own damned good, I say."
"Uh huh. Is that all you called for, to gloat?" she asked with a bite in her tone.
"I'm not gloating at all." He chuckled, and it instantly made Elodie smile. "I wanted to make sure that you survived your first spanking."
"My only spanking, you mean."
"I said exactly what I meant, Elodie," came the steady, even reply. "Whether it's your only spanking remains to be seen."
As far as she was concerned, there was no proper reply to that, so Elodie kept quiet.
Clay laughed again. "Smart girl."
She cleared her throat, anxious to change the topic. "So, how are things on the ranch?"
"Good. Brought on three horses yesterday. They came from a bad situation. Malnourished and neglected, but still young and full of life. Hopefully we can give them that fresh new start they deserve."
Fresh new start they deserve… Could the same be said for Clay and her?
They chatted for a little while longer, a much more casual conversation than they had probably ever had. It was hard to be staid and staunch with someone who had seen you sobbing over his lap.
Eventually, he let her go, but not before he'd managed to slip into the conversation how much he was enjoying seeing her more often. He also touched on how much it had meant to him to hold her after her spanking. He mentioned that it was the first time he'd held a woman since April, and she could hear the tears in his voice.
That caught Elodie by surprise. She'd known he hadn't been involved with anyone since that awful night, but to hear how seriously he'd been grieving put into stark words... and then to realize that she was the woman he'd broken that streak with. It made her think, long and hard, about where they were going, and whether or not she wanted to be along for the ride.