All She Wants For Christmas Read online

  "We don't have time, Lyndsay," she told her friend. "And besides, we didn't come here to shop for ourselves."

  Lyndsay's brow furrowed. "Just a quick look," she begged. "I can only stare at men's cargo pants for so long before I start going cross-eyed, you know. And anyway, it'll just take a few minutes. Come on!"

  Shaking her head, Monica followed the other girl into the store. They would take a quick look, and then leave, she told herself. They still had a lot of other shopping to do.

  But the minute they stepped foot inside the boutique, that thought went out the window. She had a hard time saying no to clothes as it was, and this particular store had some really great stuff. At first, she and Lyndsay just looked around, but it wasn't long before her friend found something she wanted to try on.

  "Aren't you going to try on that cocktail dress you were looking at?"Lyndsay asked.

  Monica gave the dress in question a wistful look as she shook her head. "I'd better not," she said. "If I do, I'll end up wanting to buy it, and I'm trying to be good."

  The other girl frowned. "There's no harm in just trying it on," she cajoled.

  Lyndsay did have a point, Monica thought, her gaze going longingly to the dress again. It wouldn't hurt to just try it on. A smile curving her lips, she grabbed it from the rack and followed her friend into the dressing room.

  Choosing ones that were side by side, both girls went inside their respective dressing rooms and closed the door. Tossing her shoulder bag onto the chair, Monica quickly wiggled out of her jeans and T-shirt, and then slipped into the dress. Sapphire blue in color and made of a silky chiffon, it left her arms bare and dipped low in the back, accentuating her curves and showing a sexy amount of skin. Monica couldn't help but smile. It was perfect!

  "How does it look?"Lyndsay called from the other dressing room.

  "It's beautiful!"Monica called back.

  Outside, Monica could hear the other girl open the door of the adjoining dressing room. "Let me see."

  Giving her reflection another look in the mirror, Monica opened the door of the dressing room wide so that her friend could see. Lyndsay had changed into the skirt she'd brought in to try on, and Monica had to admit that it looked great on her friend. The other girl nodded approvingly at Monica, a huge smile on her face.

  "That dress looks absolutely gorgeous on you!" the other girl exclaimed. "You have to buy it!"

  Monica chewed on her lip, hesitating. "I don't know," she said after a moment. "It's really expensive."

  Lyndsay's brow furrowed. "But it's on sale, right?"

  "Well yeah, but even on sale, it's four-hundred-and-twenty-five dollars. And that's with a hundred-and-fifty dollars off," Monica said. "There no way I can buy it."

  The other girl put her hands on her hips. "Why not?"she demanded. "You can afford it, right?"

  Monica sighed. As an architect, her husband made good money, and she made pretty good money herself, but nevertheless, spending five-hundred dollars on a dress wasn't something she made a habit of doing. Turning away from her friend, she looked at her reflection in the full-length mirror on the opposite wall.

  "I suppose," she agreed. "But Cole and I agreed that neither of us would buy something really expensive without talking to the other first. We're trying to get bills paid off."

  Lyndsay studied Monica's reflection. "But Cole will think you look gorgeous in it. And it'd be perfect for the Christmas party that his firm puts on," she pointed out.

  Monica hadn't even thought of that, but her friend was right. The dress would be perfect for the party. It was still a lot of money, though. "I don't know..." she hesitated.

  "You have to buy it!"Lyndsay insisted. "I mean, look at that!"she added, pointing at the mirror. "That dress looks like it was made for you. It would be a crime not to get it!"

  One of the salesgirls chose that moment to walk by and upon seeing Monica, she stopped in her tracks. "I agree," she said. "That looks fabulous on you!"

  Beside the salesgirl, Lyndsay was smiling. "I told you!" she said. "You have to get it!"

  Monica took one more look in the mirror before she finally nodded. "Okay," she announced. "I'll get it!"

  Of course, because of the way the dress was made, she couldn't wear a regular bra, or even a strapless one for that matter, so it was over to the lingerie store next, where she picked up a very expensive invisible-shaping style bra. At Lyndsay's urging, she also got a new pair of high-heeled shoes and a matching evening bag to go with the dress, too, which put the grand total close to eight-hundred dollars.

  "Cole is going to have a fit if he finds out how much I spent!"she said as they left the shoe store.

  Lyndsay dismissed Monica's concerns with a wave of her hand. "Don't worry about it," she said. "He'll never know."

  Monica chewed on her lower lip. Cole was playing golf with Lyndsay's husband that afternoon, she reminded herself. If she were lucky, then she could get back to their house and have everything put away before he even got home. Then she could just pull the dress out before the party and claim that it was a dress she'd had for years. He didn't know what was in her side of the walk-in closet anyway.

  But when she and Lyndsay got back to her house, it was to find both men relaxing in the living room.

  "Hey honey," Cole said. With a grin, he got to his feet and walked over to give her a kiss. "Did you get your Christmas shopping done?"

  Monica glanced at Lyndsay, who had gone over to stand beside Ryan. "Most of it," she told Cole. "Let me go put this stuff upstairs, and then I'll be right down."

  "You should model that new dress you bought," Lyndsay called as she started for the steps.

  Shocked that her friend would mention the dress she'd bought, Monica whirled around to look at the other girl in dismay, but from the expression on Lyndsay's face, it was clear she didn't seem to think she'd done anything wrong. Annoyed, Monica opened her mouth to tell her husband that she would try it on later, but Cole was already grinning.

  "You bought a new dress?"he said. "I'd love to see it."

  Shooting Lyndsay a glare, Monica started up the stairs, only to stop in mid-step when her friend called out to her again.

  "And don't forget the shoes," Lyndsay reminded her. "They're a perfect match!"

  Monica's grip on the shopping bags tightened. What part of the promise to keep her little shopping spree a secret didn't her friend understand? Furious, she stomped up the stairs to go change.

  When Monica went back down dressed in her sexy new dress and high-heels ten minutes later, it was to find her friends seated on the couch and talking to Cole about the men's golf game that afternoon. At her entrance, Cole let out a low whistle of approval. Getting to his feet, he walked over to her.

  "You look gorgeous," he told her, his dark eyes smoldering as he admired the way the dress showed off her curves.

  "Doesn't she?" Lyndsay agreed. "And she got a great deal on it."

  Monica gave her friend a pointed look, silently trying to remind the other girl to keep quiet about how much she'd spent. But Lyndsay ignored her as she continued.

  "I mean, it was still way more than I'd want to spend on a dress, but once she tried it on, she couldn't resist," the other girl said. "And it does look great on her."

  Cole nodded in agreement. "It does," he said, his gaze gliding over Monica's slender figure again. "How much was it?"

  "Not that much, really," Monica answered quickly. "Just a hundred and fifty."

  At the amount she'd named, Cole looked visibly relieved, and Monica felt herself relax. She hated lying to her husband, but she disliked the thought of getting into an argument with him in front of their friends even more.

  "A hundred and fifty off the regular price, you mean," Lyndsay added. "Which is a good deal, I admit, but four-hundred-and-twenty-five dollars still seems like a lot to me."

  Monica gasped. She couldn't believe that her friend had ratted her out.

  Beside her, Cole folded his arms across his chest and gave
her a scowl. "You spent four-hundred-and-twenty-five dollars, Monica?"he demanded.

  "And that's not counting the shoes and matching handbag," Lyndsay pointed out. "I advised her not to spend so much, but she wouldn't listen. She had to have it, and said that you'd never know how much it cost anyway."

  Monica stared at her friend in shock, unable to believe that her friend was throwing her own words back at her. What was Lyndsay trying to do? She was already going to be in trouble with Cole. Did the other girl have to make it worse?

  Monica turned to her husband. "Honey, it wasn't like that..."she began, but he silenced her with a look.

  "Oh really?"he said. "Then what was it like?"

  Monica tried to think of something to say that would diffuse the situation, but nothing would come to mind.

  On the couch beside Lyndsay, Ryan shrugged. "It's just like I was saying on the golf course," he said. "It sounds to me like your wife needs a spanking, Cole."

  "I agree," Lyndsay said. "Not only did she spend a fortune on that dress, but she lied to you about how much it cost. If that doesn't deserve a spanking, I don't know what does!"

  Monica's eyes went wide. A spanking? What were they talking about? And why the heck was Cole nodding in agreement?

  "Maybe you're right," her husband said, his jaw tight. "I didn't agree with you on the golf course, Ryan, but now I think that maybe a spanking is exactly what she needs."

  Stunned, Monica automatically took a step back, but Cole had already taken her arm and was leading her over to the loveseat. He couldn't be serious about giving her a spanking. She was a grown woman, for heaven's sake!

  "Honey..." she began.

  But Cole ignored her. Instead, he took a seat on the couch, and before she knew what he was doing, he had put her over his knee.

  "Cole, wait!" she protested, craning her neck to look at him over her shoulder. "You can't..."

  That was all she could get out before his hand came down on her upturned bottom.

  "Owwwww!" she cried.

  But her husband paid no attention to her protest as he smacked her ass again, this time on her other cheek, and Monica let out another yelp. The thin, silky material of the dress offered little protection, and she couldn't believe how much the spanks stung.

  "Okay!" she said even as he brought his hand down again. "You've made your point, Cole. You can let me up now!"

  On the other side of the room, Lyndsay laughed. "He's just getting started!"

  Monica's face turned red at the sound of her friend's voice. She had almost forgotten that Lyndsay and Ryan were still there. Getting spanked was embarrassing enough, but getting spanked in front of her friends was absolutely mortifying! Thank goodness her long hair was hanging down to hide her blushes.

  "Lyndsay's right," Cole said, administering another resounding smack to her derriere. "I intend to make sure that you remember this spanking the next time you want to spend five-hundred dollars on a dress."

  "But it was Lyndsay's fault!" Monica protested. "She was the one who convinced me to buy it! If anyone should be getting spanked, it should be her!"

  Cole's hand connected with her asscheeks again. "Blaming your friend for something you did isn't going to help your cause, babe."

  "But..." she protested, only to cry out as he started spanking her again. "Owwwww!" she yelped. "Owwwww!...Owwwww!...Owwwww!...Owwwww!"

  Over and over his hand came down, first on one cheek, and then the other until her entire bottom was stinging. It felt like her ass was on fire.

  But then she noticed the oddest thing. At first, it was just a tingling between her legs, but then she realized that her pussy was actually starting to get wet! But how could she possibly find getting spanked arousing? And how could she be getting turned on like this in front of her friends?

  As if on cue, Lyndsay spoke. "Now that she's warmed up, you might want to spank her with this."

  Cole stopped spanking Monica for a moment to take whatever it was that the other girl was handing him, and though Monica desperately wanted to know what it was, she was too embarrassed right then to even lift her head and look. She wasn't kept in suspense long, however, because Lyndsay continued.

  "Though a hairbrush is definitely best when used on a bare bottom," her friend said.

  Monica gave a start at that. She didn't know what made her more nervous. The thought of her husband using a hairbrush on her bare bottom, or the fact that he was going to do it in front of their friends.

  "And since you might want some privacy for that," Lyndsay added. "Ryan and I will leave you two alone."

  Monica let out a sigh of relief as she heard the other couple leave. Now, if she could just convince her husband that she'd learned her lesson and didn't need to be spanked with the hairbrush, too. But Cole was already pushing up her skirt...

  Hayley's eyes went wide. "He used the hairbrush on you?" she asked incredulously.

  Monica nodded. "And it stung like crazy, too! Though Cole didn't give me that many spanks with it. Turns out that he was as aroused by the spanking as I was. I don't think Lyndsay and Ryan had even backed out of the driveway before Cole tossed the hairbrush on the coffee table and had my dress off." She grinned. "Cole and I haven't had sex that hot since our honeymoon. It's like we were newlyweds again!"

  Hayley couldn't help being a little bit envious. Though she and Conner had a very satisfying sex life, she wouldn't mind spicing it up a bit. But could she ever be bold enough to hand him a hairbrush and ask him to spank her with it?

  Chapter Four

  Not able to answer that question yet, Hayley turned her attention back to Monica. "Wasn't it embarrassing to get spanked in front of Lyndsay and Ryan, though?" she asked the dark-haired girl.

  "In the beginning it was, but before long I was concentrating so much on the spanking that I didn't even notice them," Monica admitted, then grinned. "Though of course, Lyndsay took great pleasure in telling me afterward about how red my bottom had gotten from the spanking. But I was able to get her back when Ryan invited us over the next weekend so that we could watch him spank her for the devious way she orchestrated the whole thing."

  "Good!" Genevieve said. "You totally deserved it, Lyndsay. I can't believe you set up Monica like that. You had no way of knowing that she would like it."

  Lyndsay shrugged. "I know Monica pretty well. I was sure she'd like getting spanked, but I also knew that she'd never ask Cole to do it, so it was the only thing I could think of to do. And it turns out that I was right."

  "I'm glad she did it," Monica put in. "I mean, at the time, I was absolutely shocked by the idea. But after the spark that spanking has added to our love life, I'm grateful to her."

  But Genevieve still didn't look convinced. "Well, I would never do something like that," she said, looking at Lyndsay. "I hope that Ryan gave you a hard spanking for being so underhanded."

  Hayley was surprised that Genevieve was so bothered by what Lyndsay had done. Since the redhead was so daring, Hayley would have thought a devious plan like that would be right up her alley. Hayley certainly wouldn't mind if one of her friends did the same for her. Of course, she would never admit that to them. But it would certainly solve the problem of figuring out how to tell Conner about her desire to be spanked.

  Lyndsay smiled at Genevieve's comment. "Oh, don't worry, he did! He felt I had a serious spanking coming to me for my actions. I think that even Monica was surprised when he pulled out the paddle and used it on me."

  "But you had more than earned it," Monica said.

  Hayley's pulse quickened at the thought of what a paddle would feel like on her bottom. Though she had to admit she had been intrigued when Monica had mentioned getting spanked with a hairbrush, she was even more fascinated with the notion of a paddle.

  Hayley twirled her long, blond hair around her finger as she regarded Monica. "So, have you ever gotten spanked in front of Lyndsay and Ryan again?"

  Monica grinned. "A couple of times," she said, and then blushed. "You'r
e probably going to think this is a little kinky, but I've discovered that I have a little bit of an exhibitionist streak in me. I really like getting spanked in front of other people. Cole and I are even thinking of going to a spanking party sometime."

  Hayley's eyes went wide at that. "Spanking parties?"

  Monica nodded. "I've been chatting with a few people online about them and they sound like fun."

  Hayley shook her head. "I can't believe it," she said, setting down her empty glass on the coffee table. "There are people out there so comfortable with spanking that they can go to spanking parties, and I can't even figure out how to bring up the subject to Conn."

  "Why don't you just tell him?" Genevieve suggested, sipping her wine.

  Hayley's face colored. "Are you crazy?" she said. "I could never come out and just ask Conn to spank me!"

  Jill shrugged. "Then be more subtle about it," she said. "Haven't you ever manipulated a situation to get Connor to do something you wanted?"

  Hayley's brow furrowed. "Well, yeah," she conceded. "But this is a little bit more complicated than talking Conn into seeing the movie I want to see. How on earth am I supposed to trick him into spanking me?"

  Jill's lips curved into a smile. "Actually, there are a lot of different things you can try. You just have to know how to push your guy's buttons. That's how I got my first spanking."

  Across the room, Genevieve's eyebrows rose. "Oh, this I have to hear, you being the good girl that you are."

  The blond girl laughed. "I don't know where you all ever got the idea that I'm such a goodie-goodie. I can be just as naughty as any of you."

  "But you've always seemed so..." Genevieve paused, searching for the right word. "Driven and goal-oriented."

  "That doesn't mean I don't know how to have fun," Jill said. "It just means that I go after what I want. When I wanted Philip, I went after him. And when I wanted him to spank me, I went after that just as determinedly. Unlike you girls, I didn't wait for it to happen. I made it happen."

  Hayley and the other girls waited for her to continue with her story, but Jill just smiled, as if she enjoyed keeping them in suspense.