Angel Among Sinners (The Garden Book 1) Page 4

  “One thing at a time.” Eden set the wooden brush on the countertop. “Yes, she is going to stay there because that is where I put her. She misbehaved, and when she breaks the rules, she is punished.”

  “But I don’t remember reading about medications in the handbook.” Eden’s eyes didn't move from the kneeling form.

  “You read the whole thing before you fell asleep, yes?” At her nod, Eden continued, “Then you also saw the section that said additional rules can be added on an individual basis. This is one of those cases.

  “You see, Prim has been with me since she was very young. I picked her up off the streets when she was fifteen and six months pregnant.” Eden shared.

  “Past the point of being able to hide it,” Embry commented, finally looking at Eden.

  “Exactly. I helped her finish high school, helped raise Parker, then when she was a legal adult, she started working for me.” She smiled at the silent woman. “She has been in my employ longer than James. This place has been her home for a long time, and as a result of the passing time, we have both grown and evolved with each other.”

  “Loved each other.”

  “Yes, you can say that. I love all my girls.”

  Embry didn’t miss Prim’s flinch. It was subtle, but it was there, as was the love the three of them had for each other—a love that went beyond employer-employee.

  “So, these are the rules the two of you have?”

  “Yes. She knew the second she realized she’d forgotten the inhaler, she was in trouble but was hoping she would be able to tell me in a controlled environment. Probably wanted to make sure she wouldn’t get her ass paddled in front of anyone.” Eden leaned down and caught Prim’s chin in her grasp. “Isn’t that right, little one?”

  “Yes, Ma’am. I was going to tell you, I swear it,” Prim replied, truth ringing through her words.

  “I know. Shall we get this over with?”

  Prim nodded her head, “Yes, Ma’am.”

  Eden smiled. “Then stand, bare yourself, and face the wall before you grasp your calves.”

  With as much grace as she possessed on the way down, Prim stood from her kneel and did as she was told.

  Embry quickly turned away when the other woman started working her jeans down her hips, the heat of her blush warming her face. When her eyes met Eden’s, the blush deepened.

  “I will not force you to watch, but you will sit there silently and not interrupt. Is that understood?”

  “Yes.” Embry quickly nodded.

  An almost sympathetic smile spread across Eden’s face. “This is one of the times I require a ‘ma’am.’”

  “Yes, ma’am, I understand.”

  With a squeeze of her knee, Eden stood from her stool and moved to stand at Prim’s side.

  “You are going to get my hand first, then you will get the brush you so graciously provided for the occasion.”

  “How many, Ma’am?” Prim’s voice rang strong despite her position.

  “I haven’t decided yet. We’ll have to see how well you take the punishment.” With that, Eden brought her hand down.

  The clap of skin meeting skin had Embry jumping in her seat. By the fourth strike, she was fighting the urge to look. Why was it so hard for her to keep her eyes off the scene playing out behind her? Shit. Every time she thought she had overcome her curiosity, she found her eyes drawn to the pinkening cheeks.

  Eden spanked fast and unrelentingly, her hand bouncing from cheek to cheek before moving to the crease just under Prim’s ass, then down to her thighs and back up again. It was the spanks to the thighs that had the spankee moving and making the most noise.

  “Please, not my thighs.”

  Prim’s cry drew Embry’s eyes to her face. There were no tears, but the distress of it all was clearly written onto the features of her face—bottom lip caught between her teeth, eyes screwed shut, and cheeks nearly as red as her bottom.

  “Want to know why I am punishing your thighs?” The cry that fell from her victim’s lips at a particularly hard swat was enough confirmation for Eden. “You put someone in danger, you put someone I love in danger. And this isn’t the first or even the second time we’ve had to address this, is it?”

  “No, Ma’am!”

  “I’m done being lenient with you on this,” Eden spoke with confidence and resolve, but her next words told anyone who cared to listen that while she would do it, she wasn’t going to like it. “Please don’t make me repeat this lesson.”

  “I won’t, I promise.” Prim visibly relaxed when the beat against her ass stopped, and Eden simply rested her hand on her heated flesh.

  “If I have to do this again, the punishment you’re getting now will seem like child’s play. Embry?”

  The sound of her name set Embry’s face ablaze as her eyes swung up to meet Eden’s. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to stare. I-I tried not to.”

  Shaking her head slightly, Eden smiled, “I just need you to hand me the brush.”

  “The brush?” Embry was pretty sure she could warm the whole damn building with the amount of heat her face was producing.

  “On the counter behind you. I need the brush.” Eden held her hand out expectantly, the corner of her mouth twitching with laughter.

  “Shit!” Embry swiveled in her stool, grabbed the brush, and practically threw it to her new boss. “Oh my God, I’m so sorry. I really didn’t mean to throw it, it just… I’m nervous.”

  “You have no reason to be nervous, Embry. Unless, of course, you have broken one of the rules written out in front of you in the last,”—Eden eyed the clock on the stove a smile twitching at the corner of her mouth—“seven hours.”

  “No, ma’am.”

  “Do you have a problem with the way I’m treating Prim?” Eden tapped the brush lightly against the presented bottom, pulling a small whimper from the still bent woman. “Do you feel I am being unjust or cruel to her?”

  “No.” Embry huffed a laugh. “That’s not cruel. That’s loving someone enough to want the best for them, even if it means causing a slight discomfort for a little while, so they remember that love. No, that’s not what cruelty looks like.”

  “Wise for a princess who’s been locked away in her father’s tower all her life.” Eden turned back to the job at hand.

  “More like the whipping girl.” Embry’s eyes widened. “I didn’t mean to say that.”

  “No, I get it,” Eden said before she placed the first swat with the brush, effectively putting an end to the conversation.

  Embry watched as the brush bounced off Prim's ass, leaving white patches in its wake that quickly turned an angry red. She shifted in her seat and instantly froze. There was no way. No, she was not getting turned on by watching her future roommate get her ass paddled. Shifting again, Embry cringed. Shit, she totally was.

  Eden’s scolding filled the room. “What are you going to remember next time?”

  “My inhaler, Ma’am,” Prim called out as she clutched her knees in a white-knuckle grasp. “I’ll remember, I swear.”

  “I’ll make sure of it,” Eden announced a second before the brush moved, and she began the assault on her thighs, each word she spoke accompanied with a fierce swat. “Next time I have to remind you of this, you will be getting the cane. Do you understand me, young lady?”

  “Yes, Ma’am! I understand.” Tears landed on the floor beneath Prim’s face. “I’ll do better.”

  Embry watched as Eden allowed the back of the brush to do the talking. Bouncing it from thigh to thigh, not caring in the slightest that the woman she spanked was starting to slightly shift side to side. No, she anticipated the movement each time, always seeming to hit her mark before, finally, she stopped.

  Eden ran her hand over the heated flesh, the pressure behind her manicured nails, leaving four white lines in their wake.

  Prim sucked a breath in through her teeth.

  “I love it when I can see the results of my punishment so clearly, but I still hate punish
ing my girl.” With a shake of her head, Eden tapped the bottom in front of her. “Up you go.”

  Prim immediately straightened and allowed Eden to pull her into her arms. Her lips going to her hair, Eden’s whispered words getting lost in the locks.

  Embry spun her stool to face the counter once more. This was their moment, and she didn’t want to infringe on it.

  The movement had her mind going back to her own problem. She was turned on, like a lot. What the hell was that all about? She couldn’t be turned on by a spanking, it just wasn’t possible. She had suffered enough abuse at the hand of her father, it couldn’t be the spanking. She ran through the list of possibilities in her head.

  First, the sight of Prim’s glistening sex peeking out from between her thighs. Had she really been into women this whole time? Eden thought back to the few times she’d had sex and cringed. Yeah, better not to think about that.

  Next, she had to consider she may actually be turned on by the act of spanking; many people were. Yeah, she had been her father’s whipping girl, but what she’d just witnessed was completely different from what she’d experienced in her past. What she had just seen was done in love.

  That was it—it had to be—the love the two of them clearly had for each other. There was more to it than just a simple employee/employer relationship. The love they had for each other was clear on both of their faces, no matter how hard they tried to mask it, and she wanted that. Hell, everyone wanted to have someone look at them the way Eden and Prim looked at each other.

  But was a look enough to force someone to drench their panties like Embry had?

  “Okay, ladies, car’s running. It’s time to go.” James’ voice had Embry startling, which only earned her a chuckle. “You would think you were the one caught with your pants down.”

  “No, just the one caught enjoying the view.” Eden’s words were full of teasing laughter as she patted the hip of the woman in her arms. “Pull up your pants, baby. We have to get moving.”

  Embry's mouth fell open. “You couldn’t have possibly known that.”

  “No, but shifting in your seat gave me a pretty good idea, then you confirmed it for me, so…” Eden shrugged as a smug smile took over her face.

  “Shit.”

  Chapter Three

  “Is that really where the headquarters have always been?”

  They were back at the apartment after getting the grand tour of the office building that housed The Garden. It was extravagant and almost too good to believe.

  “Oh, no, that’s just where Eden takes the new people to impress them.” Prim’s smirk gave her away.

  “You’re horrible.”

  “And you’re gullible. That’s really the headquarters. Everyone works out of there, but it hasn’t always been that way. For a while, we worked out of her garage. Before that, it was whatever restaurant we decided sounded good that night.”

  “And before that?”

  “Before that, it was wherever we were the safest.”

  Embry’s belly growled.

  “Please tell me you didn’t skip lunch.”

  “I had a little.”

  “Translation, you had next to nothing. You’re going to have to make sure this doesn’t become a habit. If it does, you’ll have James on your ass and trust me you don’t want him to get after you. When it comes to your health, you won’t get away with anything around here.”

  “I’m just not comfortable with all of this yet.”

  “And skipping a meal is going to help you get comfortable faster?”

  “Well, no.”

  “My point exactly. I want you to sit right there.” Prim led her to a stool and all but forced her to sit. “This is your first night, so I’m going to treat you to my famous spaghetti and meatballs.”

  “You don’t have to do that.” The protest died on her lips when Embry’s belly rumbled again. “Okay, so it sounds really good, but at least let me help. I’m a pretty good cook.”

  “Nope, we’ll take turns cooking, and tonight is my turn. Tomorrow, you can bet your ass I’ll be sitting there, watching you slave over the stove.”

  “Are you sure this isn’t because you still have a sore ass?” She slapped her hands over her mouth. “Oh my God, I’m so sorry.”

  “First rule of this apartment, stop apologizing for everything. If you actually have reason to tell me you’re sorry, fine, but this,”—she gestured between the two of them—“this is us becoming friends.”

  “Are you going to take a brush to my butt if I break the rule?” Her blush was instantaneous.

  “I’ve been known to top, but it was once, and it wasn’t really my thing so you’re probably safe, smart alic.”

  Embry watched as her new roommate pulled the supplies from the cupboards and started piecing the meal together, her hips moving to a song that only she could hear.

  “Do you like to dance?”

  “I love it. I took lessons until I was booted from my parents’ house for getting knocked up.”

  “I’m sorry they did that to you.”

  “Eh, I made a choice and had to live with it.” Prim shook her head. “Don’t feel sorry for me, I was a lucky one. Eden picked me up off the street and took me in. She helped me through the rest of my pregnancy and the delivery. She even paid for me to take my GED and go to college. That woman has been a saint.”

  “How long have you and Eden been together?”

  “She scooped me out of the gutters when I was fifteen, so I’ve been here for over twenty years now.”

  “No way you’re thirty-five. You told me last night you were twenty-six, and you barely look that old.”

  “Having a good job and a support system can do wonders for the aging process.”

  “How long have you two been in a relationship, then?”

  Prim instantly froze, her back going ramrod straight.

  “Did I say something wrong? Did you have a fight?”

  “No.” She turned from the counter. “I love Eden with my whole fucking heart, but she doesn’t return that love.”

  “Bullshit.”

  Embry groaned at the sound of the man’s chuckle from the door.

  “Did Eden finally find someone who isn’t afraid to give you a run for your money, Ma?” A smile split the handsome man’s face.

  “Embry, this is my son, Parker. Parker, this is Embry. She’s going to be Eden’s accountant.” Prim gave her son a small smile after he kissed her on the cheek.

  “It’s nice to meet you,” Embry said as she held her hand out for a shake.

  “I hope you last longer than her last roommate.” Parker teased as he shook her hand. “How long did she last? A couple months?”

  “Give me a break, will you? I get enough guff for ‘running the girl off’ from everyone else. I don’t need it from my own son.” Prim threw the hand towel at him.

  “As far your question goes,” Parker started, earning himself a dirty look. “My mom’s always loved Eden, and if you catch Eden when she thinks no one is looking, you can clearly see she feels the same.”

  “Parker.” The warning in his mother’s voice was clear, but Parker continued anyway.

  “It’s obvious to everyone but the woman. Shit, even James sees it, and God knows, he’s not opposed to it.”

  “I’m not having this conversation again. Go wash up, I’m making spaghetti,” Prim ordered as she turned back to the counter.

  “Mom,” the young man stepped up and wrapped his arms around his mother’s shoulders. “I’m an adult, I don’t need you feeding me.”

  “Does that mean you’re going to turn down my cooking?” Prim questioned, tossing a knowing smirk over her shoulder. “You forget, I know how hopeless a cook you are.”

  “I can’t,” Parker groaned, eyeing the green numbers displayed on the stove. “I have a prior engagement. I just came to see if you needed anything.”

  “To check on me? You do realize I’m not that old, right?”

  “Ma.”
>
  “Is the date with Nala?” Prim spun to face the young man, her face filled with excitement.

  “Ma,” Parker rumbled his annoyance once more. “It is not a date.”

  “Oh, don’t you like when the tables are turned on you, son?” Prim gave her son a knowing look.

  “I’m not having this conversation with you.” He planted a kiss to the top of Prim’s head, then moved toward the door. “It was nice to meet you, Embry. Don’t let her scare you away.”

  As soon as the door was shut behind him, Embry started talking.

  “I’m so sorry. I really thought the two of you were an item.”

  “Stop apologizing. You’re not the first person to think that, and you won’t be the last. I love Eden, I always have, but she isn’t willing to return those feelings on a regular basis. I’m fun to play with.”

  “Bullshit. You spent the night with her last night.”

  Prim sighed as she faced the counter.

  “You may as well hear it from me. I spent the night with them, as in James and Eden.”

  “Yeah?”

  “I love them both deeply, but Eden isn’t willing to commit to more than a random fling here and there. I tried for years to get her to do just that, but she kept pushing me away.”

  “You love them both, and they both love you back, it’s clear as day to anyone who cares to pay attention. I don’t see what the problem is.”

  “The little insight they give in public is nothing compared to what I see when we’re together behind closed doors.” A small smirk played on Prim’s face. “James is more open about it in public, but what Eden doesn’t show in public, she makes up for on our nights together.”

  “Sounds hot as fuck.”

  “Are you always so blunt with people?”

  “It’s a relatively new thing, actually. I wouldn’t have dreamed of doing it when I lived with my father.”

  Prim returned to her food prep.

  “Did you really think you had no way out for all those years?”

  “I didn’t have one. He took all the money I made and stashed it away for ‘my future.’ He’d isolated me so much, I only had two friends in high school, and I completed most of my college courses online.”