Of Yesterday (9 page)

The door to the barn was closed.
She could hear the frightened animals inside. They were at least alive…for now.
She yanked open the door of the barn with all her strength. The smoke and the
fumes hit her with a force that obstructed her vision. She coughed and wheezed
as she tried to make her way inside. She could see the flames engulfing the
hay, the wood, and very soon the animals. Smoke clouded her eyes and made it
close to impossible to breathe and she was not even all the way inside. Should
she go in? Common sense screamed no, but the shrill from the horses compelled
her to rush inside, against any better judgment.

"Jason! Jason, are you in
here?"
Oh, please no. Please do not be in here
, she prayed.

Each beat of her heart pounded
against her chest. Fear almost paralyzed her as she scanned the inferno.
Running to the stalls, she began to unlatch the wooden doors, allowing the
animals to make their escape. She continued on to each stall, trying not to
breathe in the toxic air. Each gulp of the smoke threatened to consume her
consciousness. Her head spinning, her chest heaving, and her body growing weak,
Taylor wondered if she could go on any further.

The air was getting worse and the
wooden beams above her were beginning to burn and break loose. Taylor knew she did
not have much time left. Taking a deep breath and holding it, she reached the
last stall that held her favorite horse. Desperate to make her own escape, she
followed the horse’s flight route. With cinders flying through the air and
beams crashing all around her, Taylor could only hope that Jason was not
trapped anywhere inside.

Mistakenly, she turned around one
last time, to make sure she had rescued all. The haze had grown so thick that
Taylor could no longer tell which way was out. Her lungs demanded air that
Taylor could not find. The realization that she could die besieged her with
fear.

"Taylor! Where are you?"
She could hear Jason’s voice amongst the popping and cracking of the blaze. He
was in the barn! Was he hurt?

"Jason! Jason!"

She felt his hands wrap around her
body, and in one swift move, he picked her up and started to charge past the
embers and the roar of the flames. Behind them, a splintering beam came
crashing down, causing a chain reaction of others to follow. Jason dove toward
the exit, spilling him and Taylor down to the ground. The orange flames were
all around as Jason pushed Taylor to escape, both rolling away from the barn.

Mere seconds from death, they
crawled their way to safety and fresh air. Gasping for breath, choking against
the pungent vapors still burning the back of her throat, Taylor allowed the
tears to escape her body. She had survived. Jason had survived. Relief washed
over her as she felt Jason lift her up and carry her further away from the
crumbling barn.

She clung to his neck as he ran
toward the house. "Mandy, run into town and get the doctor! Quick!"

Taylor opened her burning,
irritated eyes long enough to see that men were rushing to the fire with
buckets of water. Chaos was all around, and yet she felt safe in Jason’s arms.

Placing her nearby but far enough
from the madness, Jason stared at her, his eyes dark with rage. "What the
hell were you thinking? Why in the hell would you run into a burning barn?"
He grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her. "Are you insane? You could've
been killed!"

She wheezed, every breath she took
burned her lungs. "I thought you were inside, or at least could've been."
She coughed and swiped at her streaming tears with the back of her hand. "And
the animals. I couldn't just leave them to die."

He loosened his grip and wrapped
his arms around her. "Christ! I'm so mad at you!" He placed soft
kisses in her soot-covered hair. "I'm furious!" He pulled away and
glared into her eyes. "I could have lost you. You could have died! Do you
get that?" He placed a soft kiss on her lips, stealing whatever breath she
had managed to reclaim.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have
—
"

"You're damn straight you
shouldn't have! But we'll deal with that later." He pulled away and
started examining her body. "Are you hurt? Do you have any burns?"

She shook her head and attempted
to assure him that everything was all right. But her breath came in shallow,
rapid gasps. Her mind fogged and her vision began to give way to darkness. She
faintly heard Jason call out her name.

****

When her eyelids opened, Taylor was
aware that time had passed. The setting sun shining through her window cast
shadows along the walls. She was lying in her soft bed, staring into the most
comforting, loving, blue eyes she had ever seen.

"Hello, sleepyhead,"
Jason whispered as he leaned down and kissed her forehead. "You nearly
scared me death."

She tried to talk, but the burn in
the back of her throat radiated.

"Don't try to speak right
now," a voice behind Jason ordered. She looked over his shoulder to see a
man she assumed to be the doctor.

She struggled upright, her muscles
weak and her head still spinning.

Gently, Jason placed his hands on
her chest, preventing her from sitting up any further. "Taylor, just rest
right now," he soothed.

The doctor came over and examined
her eyes and the inside of her mouth. "You're a very foolish, yet brave
girl. Running into a burning building wasn't the wisest choice you could make,
but I give you credit for having such courage. You're lucky to still be alive."
He patted her leg. "You're going to be just fine. Get some rest tonight
and drink plenty of fluids."

The doctor's light lecture was
nothing compared to the glare she was receiving from Jason. His eyes darkened
to a steely grey and his arms were crossed against his chest. His jaw tightened
and his forehead creased, giving off the most intense scowl she had ever seen.
She suddenly did not want the doctor to leave. Being alone with Jason was not
high on her list right now.

When the doctor did leave, she
prepared for the worse. She bashfully looked into Jason's eyes and with barely
a rasp asked, "Am I in trouble?"

Jason chuckled. "More than
you could even imagine. Although I'm so proud of you. You saved all those
animals. You're a strong woman, Taylor." He sat on the bed and wrapped his
arm around her, allowing her to place her head on his chest. "But right
now I want to you get some sleep."

"Stay here with me. Please."

He kissed the top of Taylor's
head. "I'll never leave you."

Taylor smoothed her hand under his
shirt, enjoying the feel of his skin against her palm. "Jason, I was
really scared. I thought I was going to die."

Jason whispered into her smoke-filled
hair, "I'll never let anything happen to you like that again. It's my job
to protect you, and I'll make damn sure you never feel that fear again."

She stared up at Jason as he
tucked the blankets tighter around her body. His face still dirty from the
fire, his eyes shadowed with exhaustion. "Jason, being here in your arms,
I've never felt so safe."

Jason rested his cheek against the
brown curls of her head. "You're safe, sweetheart. I'll never let anything
harm you again." He whispered the soothing words as he placed soft kisses
along her forehead. "You need to get some sleep."

Shivering, she closed her eyes and
let herself relax against the warmth of his body. Taylor was so tired that she could
not prevent her mind from shifting hazily between reality and the nightmare of
the fire. She fought the weight of her eyelids to look up into Jason's worried
eyes.

He gazed down at her and
whispered, "You're safe, sweetheart. You'll always be safe."

Taylor made her way into the
kitchen. She was not sure what time, or even what day, it was. She stood barefoot
on the wooden floor, watching Jason clean up the last of the dishes.

"I can do that." Her
voice was clear, with only a slight scratch to it.

Jason turned around and smiled. "You
look good. You sound good, too."

Taylor brushed her hair behind her
ears, suddenly self-conscious of her appearance. "What time is it?"

"Almost 8PM. You've slept all
last night and most of the day." He walked toward her, wrapped his arms
around her lower back, and gave a soft kiss on her dry, chapped lips. "Are
you hungry?"

Taylor shook her head. "Where's
Mandy?"

Jason growled. "On a walk...with
one of the O'Keefe brothers. I'm not happy about it."

Taylor tried to conceal her smile.
"I'm sure she is loving every moment of it. Good for her."

Jason frowned. "I don't want
to talk about it."

His gaze met hers and took on a
subtle shading. Taylor could tell there was something on his mind. Being able
to read his expressions pleased her. They were getting closer and closer every
day.

"What is it, Jason?"

"About yesterday..."

"I know. I was scared, and I
didn't know what to do."

She reached out for him, but he
pulled away. Anger washed over him. "You don't need to be acting like some
hero. I'm supposed be the hero. I'm supposed to protect you and this land. What
you did...what you did..." He began to pace along the drying dishes, attempting
to walk off his fury.

"I was stupid. I know, and
I'm sorry."

Jason paused and turned to face her.
With a devilish grin he said, "You damn sure
will
be. I want you to
go upstairs and wait for me in your room."

Taylor opened her mouth to
protest, but thought better of it. Messing with Jason while his temper was
still flaring was about as stupid as running into a burning barn. She took a
deep breath and turned around to make her way to the stairs.

Taylor sat at the edge of her bed,
fiddling with her ash-stained fingers. Getting all the soot out from under her
nails was going to take her days. Waiting for Jason seemed like an eternity.
Not knowing what to expect was excruciating. Was he going to spank her? Most
likely, and frankly, she deserved it. She would not fight him on this one. She
had already made up her mind that she would willingly submit to the punishment
in store. This was the lifestyle she knew she was getting into, deep down. This
was the lifestyle she had grown to love.

She laid back and stared up at the
white ceiling with the old fashioned light above. Her eyes scanned the
curtains, the wallpaper and the old worn rug in front of the doorway. She was
going crazy inside. And why in God's name was she finding herself getting aroused?
Nothing she could do could distract her from her thoughts of Jason. How long
was he going to make her wait?

She contemplated going downstairs.
Maybe she should just walk down there and lay herself across his lap and get it
over with. He might be mad she came down, but if she was going to get spanked
anyway, how much worse could it be?

Drumming up the courage to turn
the door handle and make her descent, she heard the heavy weight of his boots
pound against the stairs.

Jason walked into the room, eyes dark, lips in a firm,
straight line. He closed the door behind him and took a moment to just study
Taylor. The moment seemed like an eternity to her.

"I'm going to punish you."

"I know." She swallowed the forming lump in the
back of her throat. But also noticed the wetness forming between her legs. How
could anxiousness and eroticism be mixed together?

He took off his belt, making Taylor's heart skip. Jason sat
down beside her on the bed. "Come here."

Prickles against her skin sprang up as his palm glided its
way down her back. The shiver continued as he lifted her across his lap. Taylor
released a light gasp as he nudged her thighs apart with the press of his
strong hands. Breathless and yielding, her fears buried under a surge of
sensuality, Taylor closed her eyes to allow the surrender.

She looked over her shoulder, knowing there was no way to
avoid this punishment. The set to his mouth was hard, his eyes determined. The
faintest of smiles lingered in the corner of his mouth. Something was
different. His demeanor was not exactly what she expected.

"What you did could have killed you. I could have lost
you."

Taylor swallowed back the lump forming in the back of her
throat. His lecture could very well be worse than the discipline to come.

"It’s my job to protect you, care for you." He
lifted up her dress, exposing her white cotton panties. "It’s also my job
to make sure you never do something so foolish again." He grasped the band
of her panties and lowered them down to her knees.

Taylor tensed and gasped at the exposure. "Jason? What
are you doing?" The blush shot through her entire body. Lying across his
lap with an uncovered behind was almost too much to endure.

Jason ran his palm from the top of her ass, to where her
butt met her thighs. "Bare bottom spankings from now on, Darlin’. I want
to be able to see my handy work."

Taylor relaxed into him, nervous about what was to come, but
aroused by his soft touch, and silky voice even more so. She did not move,
wriggle, or fight his caress. She closed her eyes and absorbed every moment.