A Tiger's Eyes
by Laura
copyright©1999

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It couldn’t be …thought Olivia with dismay as she stared across the room at the tall, familiar broad-shouldered form of Jack Sheridan. His back was to her and she couldn’t help but notice how well he filled out that blue polo shirt and how nicely those faded Levis molded his muscular buttocks and thighs. She hadn’t seen him since his latest deployment three months ago---he must have just returned to Ft. Campbell recently. As a Green Beret with the U.S. Army’s Special Forces, Jack was often involved in covert operations in other countries. They had not parted on good terms. The heated argument had left her in tears as Jack had slammed out of the door and out of her life.

The pain of the loss pierced her heart like a knife as she gazed at the back of his tawny head. He was laughing at something his Army buddy, Sean Maxwell, had said and the sound of it made her stomach do flip-flops. Why, oh, why had she given him that ultimatum? After dating Jack for three years, Olivia knew that he was not a man to be pushed, but she wanted so badly for him to marry her. He kept telling her that he was gone too much…that it wouldn’t be fair to her. She had to admit that he was gone a lot---a total of six to eight months out of the year sometimes, but she loved him so she was willing to deal with it.

Olivia knew that the real problem was that Jack was afraid she would get lonely and stray to other men as his ex-wife had done. She had argued till she was blue in the face, but Jack would not give in, so she had screamed at him to leave her apartment and never come back again, and that was the last she had seen of him.

Ann, Sean Maxwell’s wife, hadn’t told Olivia that Jack would be here at their barbecue this evening. Olivia suspected that her friend and Jack’s buddy were trying to play cupid and had arranged this surprise meeting tonight in the hope that she and Jack would reconcile. She wondered if Jack knew that she had been invited? She doubted it.

Maybe it would be a good idea for her to make a quick exit out the back door before Jack noticed her. Just as the thought entered her head, a pair of piercing green-gold eyes leveled on her from across the room. The only indication of surprise on his face was the slight narrowing of his eyes as they settled on her startled brown gaze. Olivia’s breath caught in her throat as those mesmerizing eyes swept over her---missing nothing and seeing too much. He reminded her of a great jungle cat---unleashed power ready to

Spring at a moment’s notice, while giving the false impression of being totally at ease. He was a dangerous man and to touch him was thrilling to her…just as it would be to stroke the fur of that great beast. He walked toward her with the natural grace of an athlete and she braced herself mentally for the confrontation.

"Hello, little one," he greeted her. His deep, soft voice reverberated down her spine. Olivia felt intoxicated by his nearness and stepped back to put some distance between them. She felt the wall at her back and realized her error…there was no way to escape him now. He smiled wickedly, sensing her distress. "What’s the matter, sweetheart, the cat got your tongue?" he teased.

"How are you, Jack?" she finally managed to find her voice.

"I’ve missed you," Jack answered her, candidly. He searched her luminous brown eyes and found what he was looking for and smiled tenderly at her.

"Oh, Jack…" she breathed as he cupped her face in his large hands and kissed her softly on the lips. Her mouth opened for him and he tasted the sweet nectar within. Olivia felt herself melting against his big, hard body and she reveled in his kiss. God, how she loved this man…

"Let’s go home," Jack murmured against her lips, as he slipped a strong arm beneath her knees and lifted her high against his brawny chest. Olivia purred contentedly as Jack carried her out the door. It looked as though it was going to be a good night after all…

SIX MONTHS LATER…

Olivia Hamilton Sheridan scrambled out the door of the new country-style house she and Jack had recently bought and raced out to the mailbox. The phone bill was due to arrive any day now and she had to get to it before Jack did. Her new husband of four months had become quite perturbed with her when he saw last month’s $300 phone bill. Ever since Olivia’s childhood friend, Brenda, had moved to Florida, her phone bills had been atrocious. She usually was fairly good about staying off the phone when Jack was home, but when he was gone---which was quite often---the phone bill soared!

Aha! It was here…now to find a hiding place for it until she could put the payment in the mail. She would have to doctor-up the checkbook too, of course, so that Jack wouldn’t suspect anything. It wasn’t that money was a problem for them, not with Jack being a Master Sergeant in the Army and her a nurse. It was just that men don’t seem to understand about women and talking on the phone, and they especially don’t understand $300 phone bills. Olivia was a firm believer that there are some things that a man just doesn’t need to know…and the phone bill was one of them. She winced when she thought about Jack’s reaction when he had found that last phone bill. He was furious and he had told her in a dangerously soft voice that if he ever saw another phone bill like that one, he would put her over his knee and spank her. Olivia had no intention of letting him see this phone bill.

She was afraid to open it and see how much it was. Bracing herself, she tore the envelope open and gasped with horror when she saw $380.56 next to "amount due". Jack would kill her! She had to find a hiding place for this and pray that Jack wouldn’t question her about the phone bill---she was a terrible liar and he could read her like a book. There was no doubt in her mind that he would spank her if he found out about it.

He was a man of his word, and there had been other occasions when he had threatened to put her over his knee. He had never done it; only because she had always backed down just in the nick of time. He had come close though---too close---and she knew this would be the breaking point. She wasn’t really afraid of Jack…even though he was a big, strong man, standing 6-1 and weighing 210lbs of solid muscle; but compared to her 5-2 and 120lbs,he could certainly be intimidating when he was angry. Olivia knew that he would never really hurt her …he was too gentle and protective of her for that. He would warm her bottom though, of that she was certain, so she had to make sure he didn’t find out about this $380 phone bill.

ONE WEEK LATER…

"Hon, have you seen the phone bill?" Jack called from the kitchen, " It should have come by now."

"Ah…no…ah…I haven’t seen it, sweetie." Stuttered Olivia, feeling her heart skip a beat. She was watching television in the family room when Jack walked in and leveled those jungle cat eyes on her.

"Are you sure?" There was suspicion in his voice and in that perceptive gaze. Olivia glanced away quickly, afraid he could see the guilt in her eyes.

"Ah…hmm…you know what, sweetie…I think I already paid the phone bill." She hedged, still not looking at him.

"Is that so?" Jack smiled humorlessly, closing in on her. His green-gold eyes perused her from the top of her dark brown head down to her pink-polished toenails. "How much was it?" His voice was quiet, much too quiet, and it had a steely edge to it. Olivia felt her lower lip start to quiver. "How much, Olivia?"

"I …I…don’t remember," she squeaked unconvincingly.

"Don’t lie to me, Olivia." His curt voice brooked no disobedience. "It will only make me angrier…and I will know if you are lying," he added on a harsher note. Olivia bit her lower lip, trying in vain to still it’s trembling. Jack grasped her chin gently, but firmly in his hand and forced her to meet his flinty gaze. "How much?"

"$380," she whispered brokenly, steeling herself for his reaction. For one long moment he didn’t say anything. He just clenched his jaw and glared at her with the menacing eyes of a hunting tiger. There was no doubt in her mind that she was his prey.

"I believe I promised you a good spanking the next time we had a phone bill like the last one." His voice was dangerously soft as he gripped her slender wrist and pulled her over to a chair and sat down. Olivia whimpered as he tugged her across his hard-muscled thighs and lifted her short, denim dress up, exposing the seat of her panties.

"No, Jack…please don’t…" she implored him tearfully, but to no avail. Jack raised his hand and brought it down hard on her plump, little bottom.

Olivia began to cry in earnest and squirmed and kicked her feet as he proceeded towarm her fanny. She wept as much from embarrassment as from the stinging pain. It was mortifying to be put over his knee and spanked on her panties like a naughty little girl.

After he had applied about two dozen swats and Olivia was sobbing, he finally stopped the spanking and turned her over on his lap. She buried her face in his chest and cried as he cradled her in his arms and rubbed her sore, stinging bottom. " We better not ever have another phone bill like that again," Jack told her sternly. "Have I made myself clear?"

"Y-yes…" Olivia sniffled, her lower lip pouting prettily. Jack couldn’t resist lowering his mouth to those pouty lips for a kiss. "Next time," he murmured against her lips, "I’ll pull down your panties."

To Be Continued...