Maid for Spanking (2 page)

Guess there was only one way
to find out.

Tightening her grip on the
clipboard in her hand, Colleen took a deep breath, tucked back a stray strand
of blond hair that had escaped her ponytail and rang the doorbell. Though she
had both a key to the house as well as the code for the security system, the
other maids had told her to always ring the doorbell first to see if the client
was home before going inside. She hoped he wasn’t there. She was a little
nervous at the thought of someone standing around watching her fumble through
the act of cleaning.

As she waited, Colleen
glanced down at her clipboard for the owner’s name.
 
Steven Hughes.

When Mr. Hughes didn’t
answer, Colleen took out the key to unlock the door when it swung open.
Startled, she stood there for a moment, speechless. She’d assumed Steven Hughes
would be an older man, simply because the house was so freaking expensive, but
the man who stood in the doorway looked as if he wasn’t much older than she
was. Tall, with dark hair, well-chiseled features and a body that obviously
spent a lot of time in a gym, he was easily the most gorgeous man she’d ever
seen. Even the wire-rimmed glasses he wore, which by rights should have
detracted from his good looks, made him even more handsome.

He took in her long, blond
hair and tall, slender figure with a sweep of his gaze. “Can I help you?”

God, even his voice was sexy.
“I’m Colleen Palmer,” she said,
then
quickly added, “From
the cleaning service.”

His gaze went to the
embroidered
You
’ve Got it Maid!
logo
on the left corner of the navy T-shirt she’d been given to wear. His blue eyes
narrowed. “What happened to Gina? My usual maid.”

She frowned, taken aback by
the question. “I don’t know. I’m new.”

Steven Hughes was silent for
so long that Colleen thought he wasn’t going to let her in, but then he took a
step back. Clipboard in hand, she stepped past him into the entryway.

Wow, was the first word that
came to mind when she looked around. The place was even nicer on the inside.
Really nice.
It wasn’t mansion-size, but everything in it
spoke of quality and money. Off to the left was a sunken living room with
high-end furniture and built-in bookcases. To the right was a spacious, open-concept
kitchen and connecting dining room. Even as she took it all in, she couldn’t
help but notice there weren’t any photos or knickknacks anywhere. It was as if
everything in the place had been selected by an interior designer
.

“I suppose that the service gave
you a list of instructions?” he asked as he closed the door.

She turned back around to
face him. “Yes.”

“Good. Let me show you around
and cover anything they might have missed.”

Kristy had told her that some
clients might have special instructions, so Colleen wasn’t surprised. But as
she followed Steven Hughes through the beautiful two-story house, she quickly
learned why the other maids had been amused when they heard she was cleaning
his house. The guy clearly had serious control issues.

“The television and stereo
equipment need to be cleaned every day. And pay special attention to the TV
screen. I hate streaks on my television screen,” he said as they stepped down
into the sunken living room. “You’ll need to vacuum every day as well, and when
you do, make sure the tassels on the edges of the area rug are perfectly
straight after you’re finished.”

Colleen lifted a brow, but
didn’t say anything.

“You can dust the bookcases
every other day,” he continued.
 
“But don’t use a moist cloth. I don’t want the books damaged.”

Colleen looked around for a
hidden camera, wondering if this was some kind of joke, but she couldn’t find
one. Okay, so maybe Kristy and the other maids weren’t punking her. Which meant
Steven Hughes was seriously OCD.

“The windows only need to be
cleaned once a week,” he said as they made their way into the huge kitchen.
“And be careful not to leave any streaks.”

She bit her tongue to keep
from saying something she shouldn’t.

“You’ll need to mop the
floors every day, as well as clean the pots and pans, and the glassware that’s
out.” He gestured to the stem glasses hanging upside down underneath one
section of cabinets “And don’t forget to clean behind the refrigerator
frequently.”

He had so many instructions
Colleen wondered if she should be writing them down. She didn’t want Mr.
Perfection thinking she was a moron, though, so she committed everything to
memory instead. Besides, he was going so fast she probably wouldn’t be able to
keep up anyway.

After taking her through the
rest of the house and giving her even more detailed instructions in the master
bedroom and home gym upstairs, Steven Hughes took her back down to the living
room, where he led her over to a set of double doors.

“This is the one room in the
house that’s off-limits. Nothing in there needs to be cleaned, so there’s no
reason for you to go in.” He gave her a stern look. “Is that understood?”

Colleen bristled at his tone.
It made her feel like she was being taken to task by the school principal.

“Yes.”

He gave her a curt nod. “Good.”
Hand on the doorknob
,
he turned back
to her
. “One more thing. I don’t like to be disturbed while I’m working,
so try to keep the noise down.”

Colleen had to resist the
urge to salute as he disappeared into the room. She tried to catch a glimpse of
what was in there, but he closed the door before she could see anything. Well,
one thing was for sure. The man might be a walking Abercrombie and Fitch ad,
but he was definitely a weird one. At least he wasn’t going to be hovering over
her while she worked.

She looked around the roomy
living area. Where should she start? Since it looked as if she was going to be
cleaning his house every day anyway, she supposed it didn’t matter where she
started. Deciding on the kitchen, she went out to the minivan the cleaning
company had given her to drive and grabbed her supplies.

Everything in the kitchen,
from the state-of-the-art appliances to the expensive tile floor was already
squeaky clean, but Colleen dutifully wiped down the granite countertops and
polished each and every stem glass. And though it seemed like a waste of time
to her, especially since they looked as if they’d never been used, she cleaned
the pots and pans hanging from the rack above the center island as well. After
that, she quickly ran a mop over the floor before moving into the living room.

Since the television and
stereo equipment had obviously been cleaned the day before, it didn’t take but
a few minutes to run a cloth over the flat-screen plasma TV and high-tech
electronic equipment. Once that was done, she went to get the vacuum out of the
utility closet Hughes had pointed out earlier.

As she vacuumed the plush
wool area rug, Colleen found herself wondering whether Hughes lived alone. She
found it hard to believe that a guy as gorgeous as he was didn’t have a
girlfriend somewhere. Then again, he might have a hard time finding a woman who
could put up his idiosyncrasies. Although, with his money and those chiseled
good looks, most women would probably be willing to overlook Mr. Perfection’s
OCD.

Colleen ran the vacuum over
the section of the rug on either side of the couch, then in front of the low-slung
coffee table. She was thinking how incredibly easy it was to clean a carpet
that had obviously never even seen dirt much less made friends with it when the
vacuum suddenly stopped. Frowning, she flipped the switch off then on, but the
vacuum still wouldn’t work. She turned to see if she’d jerked the plug out of
the wall and was jumped when she saw Steven Hughes standing there with it in his
hand.

He scowled. “What the hell
are you doing?”

What the hell did it look
like she was doing? “Vacuuming.”

“Now?”

Colleen gritted her teeth. He
sounded like he was talking to a child who should know better. “You told me you
wanted the rug vacuumed, so that’s what I’m doing.”

His brows drew together. “I
also said I wanted you to keep the noise down.”

How the heck did he expect
her to vacuum quietly? She would have asked, but getting into a fight with a
client her first day on the job probably wouldn’t be a good idea.

“Fine. I won’t vacuum. But
don’t complain that the rug isn’t clean.”

Giving the cord a jerk, she yanked
it out of his hand and angrily wrapped it around the hooks on the vacuum.
Across the room, Steven Hughes muttered something under his breath she couldn’t
catch.

She whirled around to face
him, pinning his with a glare. “I don’t know who the hell you think you are, but
you’d better start treating me with a little more respect, or you’ll be
cleaning your own damn house.”

Colleen turned back to finish
wrapping the cord, only to gasp when a hand caught her arm and spun her around.
She knew Hughes was tall, but she didn’t realize how tall until now. He towered
over her.

“You’re the one who needs to
learn some respect,” he said. “I pay a lot for your cleaning service and I want
it done right.”

She lifted her chin. “I was
doing it right until you came out here and got in my way. I was even going to
make sure the tassels on your overpriced rug were all straight and pretty just
like you ordered—which is beyond stupid, by the way. I’m a maid, not your
slave, Mr, Hughes, so you can just go to hell.”

Okay, so much for not getting
into a fight with a client. She could kiss this job goodbye.

Abruptly realizing he was
still holding onto her arm, Colleen tried to yank it free, but he tightened his
grip. The next thing she knew, she was bent over the back of the sectional
couch. What the hell?

She tried to push herself
upright, but a strong hand on her back firmly pushed her down.

Colleen craned her neck to
glare at him over her shoulder. “What the hell do you think you’re doing? Let
me go.”

He glowered down at her with those
incredible blue eyes of his. “Not until we get something straight. You might
not be my slave, but I pay to have you come here and clean, not interrupt me
while I’m working.”

She could officially add
arrogant to his list of flaws. And why the hell did he
had
to bend her over the couch to lecture her? She opened her mouth to ask when she
felt his hand come down hard on her jean-clad ass.

Colleen’s eyes went wide. She
had to be imagining
things,
because there was no way
he had just done that. But when his hand came down again, this time on her
other cheek, she realized she hadn’t been imagining it at all. Steven Hughes
was spanking her.

“How dare you?” she demanded.
“Let me up right now, you jerk!”

He ignored her, instead
bringing his hand down over and over on her ass with smack after resounding
smack. The spanks stung even through the thick material of her jeans, and as
much as Colleen would have liked to
have called
him
every insulting name she could think of, all she could do was let out a squeal
of protest after each and every one. She’d never been so humiliated—or
furious—in her whole life. When he let her up, she was going to slap that
smug expression she knew he must
be
wearing right off
his handsome face.

When Hughes finally released
her, though, all Colleen did was glare up at him and rub her stinging ass
cheeks.

“Consider that a warning,” he
told her. “Or next time, I’ll spank you harder.”

Next
time?
She would have
told him there wasn’t going to be a next time, but he was already heading for
his secret room. When he reached the door, he turned around to look at her.
“And leave the rest of the vacuuming until tomorrow.”

Colleen stared at the closed
door, her mouth open. She didn’t think she’d ever met a more arrogant,
domineering jackass in her whole life. Steven Hughes had to be out of his mind
if he thought any woman would put up with that kind of treatment. She wouldn’t
be coming back tomorrow or any other day to vacuum his damn rug. In fact, the
moment she left, she was going straight to the cleaning company and reporting
him for what he did. They would blacklist him, or whatever it was that maid
services did to asshole clients.

* * * * *

Steve swore under his breath
as he flopped down into the expensive leather swivel chair that was more comfortable
than the sectional couch in his living room and cost almost as much. What the
hell had he been thinking, spanking Colleen Palmer like that? He’d be lucky if
she didn’t go straight to the cops and report him for assault.

When Colleen had introduced herself
as the new maid, Steve had been surprised, especially since Gina—the
previous maid—hadn’t mentioned anything about her. It’d seemed a little
suspicious to him, so he’d called the cleaning company to check out Colleen’s
story after showing her around the house. They’d confirmed the change, saying
she was taking over for Gina.