by Pamela Clare
Do you like torturing yourself, dumb shit?
What the fuck was wrong with him? She was leaving for Chicago soon. He couldn’t get stupid and forget that.
“Oh! I met Shota. He let me pet him. I was nervous at first, but he walked right up to me like we were old friends.”
Austin put his emotions on lockdown, willed himself to focus on the moment. “He’s not usually like that with strangers.”
“Really?” She smiled. “He’s beautiful.”
“Animals are good judges of character.”
Lexi took a drink of her beer, her eyes going wide. “I haven’t let you get a word in, and you had such a long day.”
Austin wiped his lips on the napkin. “I found the remains of the fawn’s mother. Deputy Julian Marcs and I met with a deputy US marshal and searched near the Pinnacles till we found it.”
“Poachers?”
He shook his head. “It looks like the guy who fired at me might have been living up there. We found a mine shaft that showed signs of habitation. There were scorched animal bones, wrappers from energy bars, water bottles, all with his prints.”
“So they’ve identified him.”
“His name is John Charles Ready. He’s wanted for armed bank robbery.”
Lexi’s face went pale. “He’s a fugitive?”
Austin took Lexi’s cell phone and called up Ready’s mug shot online. “Agents are distributing these posters around town in case he comes in for supplies.”
Lexi picked it up. “What a creep.”
The man had dark hair, brown eyes, a bad complexion, and a moon-shaped scar on his left cheek that would be easy to recognize.
“He could have killed you. Do you think he’s still up there?”
“There’s no way of knowing. There are so many caves and mine shafts in that area.” Austin set his fork aside, took a drink of his beer. “Damn, that was good. You can bring me dinner every night.”
Her eyes narrowed, a smile tugging at her lips. “Don’t you just wish.”
While Austin loaded the dishwasher, Lexi slipped upstairs and walked into his closet, an idea half-formed in her mind. She searched through his clothes and his ranger gear. But what she was really looking for was a distraction.
Her conversation with Vic this evening had left her feeling down. Until that phone call, she’d felt free to stay in Scarlet as long as she wanted. Now there was a hard and fast date for her return to Chicago. The thought of going back so soon had left her feeling just like she had as a teenager when summer vacation was almost over.
You’re being ridiculous.
July was a little more than a month away. It’s not like she was leaving tomorrow. She had lots of time left.
She found one of Austin’s uniform shirts and pulled it off the hanger. Quickly, she undressed until she was naked, then she slipped on his shirt, leaving it unbuttoned.
Austin called up the stairs to her. “Hey, Lexi, I’m taking Mack out for a walk.”
“Okay.” That gave her more time.
A few minutes later, she stood just inside the back door, waiting for him, her belly full of butterflies, her pulse tripping. Apart from his uniform shirt and duty belt, she was naked, a pair of handcuffs in her right hand.
God, she must be crazy. She’d never done anything like this before. If it backfired, she would fire her ovaries.
She heard Mack’s excited bark, heard Austin’s voice calling him. Then the handle turned on the door, and Mack rushed in, Austin behind him.
Lexi fought not to squirm and stood her ground—though she did have to push the puppy’s inquisitive nose away more than once.
Austin saw her, stopped dead in his tracks. He said nothing, his pupils going dark, his gaze sliding over her and coming to rest on the handcuffs.
Somehow, Lexi managed to speak without laughing. “You’re coming with me.”
His eyes narrowed. He leaned against the counter, arms crossed over his chest. “And if I refuse?”
A trill of excitement passed through her. He was playing along.
She hooked the cuffs onto the belt, drew out the baton, and slapped it against her palm. Ouch. “Resistance could prove … painful.”
A single eyebrow arched, an amused twinkle in his eyes. But when he spoke, he was all seriousness. “All right, then.”
She pointed toward the stairs with the baton. “Go.”
He walked ahead of her to his bedroom. “What are you going to do to me?”
“Nothing you don’t deserve.” She had to bite back a giggle. What part of her was coming up with this stuff?
When they reached his bedroom, she gave him his next order. “Undress.”
He did as she demanded, taking his sweet time, turning it into a masculine strip tease, the sight of his cock making her squirm.
“Now, lie down on the bed, hands over your head.”
He complied, the muscles of his bare torso shifting, his shoulders broad against the mattress. “I’ll make you pay for this.”
A shiver of anticipation ran down her spine.
“You wish.”
She straddled him, let her breasts hang above his face as she closed one cuff around his left wrist and passed the other behind one of the brass bars of his headboard.
He could easily have overpowered her, but he let her have her way, his gaze moving over her. She snapped the other cuff around his right wrist, and fastened it, a series of metallic clicks signaling his total surrender.
She looked into his eyes. “You are my prisoner.”
What a rush it was to have all this man and muscle under her control. He was hers to do with as she pleased. She indulged herself, running her fingers through the crisp curls on his chest, thumbing his flat nipples, exploring the firmness of his pecs, shoulders, and biceps. Soft skin, hard muscle.
“You’re enjoying this.” He was still in character, his voice hard.
“You bet I am.” She was already wet, her body aching for him.
She bent down and kissed him long and hard. But there didn’t seem to be a passive bone in his body. His mouth answered hers, his head lifting off the pillow as he tried to take control of the kiss from her.
She tore her lips from his, kissing and caressing her way down his throat, over his chest, and across his abdomen, lavishing attention on those sexy obliques before taking his erect cock into her mouth.
He sucked in a quick breath, the muscles of his abdomen tensing. “I’m nothing but a toy to you.”
“Play time.” She tasted him, teased him, stroked him with her hand and tongue, getting more turned on by the minute. She looked up, found his eyes squeezed shut, every muscle in his body tense, his hands clenched around the brass bar that held him fast. But she couldn’t let him come—not yet.
She wanted him inside her now.
Austin moaned in sexual frustration as Lexi quit going down on him, his hips instinctively thrusting upward. “What the hell is it with you and fellatio interruptus?”
She smiled, her lips wet and swollen. “I’m not done playing.”
He hadn’t realized Lexi had this side to her. He’d gone along with this just to see what she’d do. And, damn, it had been worth it. Although being cuffed to the bed didn’t really do anything for him—he was used to being the one in control—it made him horny as hell to watch her getting so turned on.
She straddled his hips, took hold of his cock, and lowered herself onto him, taking all of him inside her.
Ooooh-kay, so he could go for this.
She was slippery-wet and hot.
“You really are enjoying this.”
But she was beyond answering.
She rested her palms against his chest for balance, then began to move her hips, grinding her clit against him, his cock held deep inside her. They’d done it like this a lot as teenagers when she’d been learning how to climax with him, so he knew from experience that it wouldn’t make him come. But it was perfect for her.
Her breasts swayed as she mov
ed, those sweet puckered tips taunting him. He wanted to touch them, wanted to caress them, wanted to suck them into his mouth, but he couldn’t move. The triangle of dark red hair peeking out at him from beneath his duty belt made him want to taste her there, too, but he couldn’t do that either. All he could do was lie there and let his body be her sexual playground.
Boy, do you have it rough.
She was getting close now. Her eyes were squeezed shut, her lips parted, every exhale a little moan. She came with a cry, her head falling back, her inner muscles clenching around him.
He felt a hitch in his chest. He’d never seen anything more beautiful than the bliss on her pretty face, nothing more beautiful than Lexi.
She collapsed against him, her heart pounding so hard he could feel it against his chest, her body still apart from her breathing.
He waited for her to recover, wanting to hold her, wanting to kiss her. When she hadn’t budged a few minutes later, he gave a little thrust of his hips. “Hello? I’m the guy whose stiff cock is still inside you. Remember me?”
She laughed, a soft sleepy sound. “Oh, don’t worry. This isn’t over.”
She sat up, adjusted her hips, and spread her legs wider. “Ride me from below.”
She didn’t have to ask him twice.
He started slow, thrusting upward, her pussy clenching him like a fist. But he was too turned on to hold back for long. Faster, harder. Soon, he was almost beyond control bucking into her with everything he had and on the brink of coming, his fists closed around brass.
But Lexi was right there with him, her breathing ragged, her thighs drawing tight against his hips. She reached down to touch herself, her fingers stroking her clit, and it took every shred of his self-restraint not to lose it right then.
“Austin!” She cried out his name, the two of them reaching that bright, sweet crest one after the other.
They lay there together, drifting, Lexi still on top of him, his wrists still cuffed, her fingers caressing his shoulder.
“Are you going to unlock me?” he asked when he could speak again.
She sat up, looked around. “God, where did I put the key?”
“Lexi.”
She laughed and pulled it out of his shirt pocket. “It’s right here.”
She had removed it from his county key ring.
“What a sneaky thing you are.”
She reached up to unlock the cuffs, but the key slipped from her fingers and fell behind the headboard. “Oops. Sorry.”
Austin did his best to be patient as she climbed off him and disappeared from view beneath his bed.
“Why, hello, dust bunnies. You have a village down here, Austin.”
He heard the clink of metal on metal.
“Oh, shit.” After a moment, her head popped up to his right, her eyes wide. “It fell into your heating vent.”
She had to be teasing him.
“You’ve had your fun. Now unlock me.”
“I’m not joking. I tried to get it, but my fingers bumped it right in.”
Austin didn’t know whether to laugh—or get irritated. But with Lexi sitting there, almost naked, her tousled hair spilling over her shoulders, her skin still flushed from fucking his brains out, he couldn’t feel angry.
There were men who’d pay to be in his position.
“There’s a bolt cutter…” No, that was in his service vehicle.
“I could try to break the chain with a hammer.”
Austin shook his head. “That won’t work. These are made to restrain professional bad guys, remember? You’re going to have to remove the vent. You can pry it up with a screwdriver from the toolbox in the hall closet downstairs.”
“I already thought of that. The center support for the headboard is sitting right on the vent. I’d have to move the entire bed first.”
There was no way she could do that alone—especially with him in it. “Damn it.”
“I have an idea.” She turned and ran out of his room, still wearing only his uniform shirt and duty belt.
Austin relaxed into the pillow.
This ought to be good.
Lexi dialed the non-emergency number for the Scarlet Springs Fire Department. “May I please speak with Eric Hawke?”
A man moved the phone away, shouted, “Hey, chief, it’s for you!”
“This is Hawke.”
“Hi, Eric. It’s Lexi. I have a little problem, and I need your help. But please don’t send a truck with sirens or anything. Um… It’s kind of a delicate situation, so I would appreciate your discretion.”
“Are you all right?” He sounded worried.
“I’m fine. It’s Austin.” How could she explain this? “Just come to his place by yourself and bring whatever you would use to, oh, say, break chains or something.”
“Chains?”
Oh, God, she might as well come right out and tell him.
“Austin is handcuffed to his bed, and I dropped the key down the heating vent.”
“You … what? No, don’t repeat that. Are they his duty cuffs?”
“Yes.”
He coughed, a sound suspiciously like a strangled laugh. “Got it.”
“Please don’t tell anyone. I don’t want to embarrass him. You’re his best friend. He’d trust you.”
“I won’t tell a soul. See you in a few minutes.”
That weight off her shoulders, Lexi hurried up the stairs. She needed to get dressed before Eric got here and—God!—she needed to get Austin back into his jeans.
“Who were you talking to?” he asked when she walked into the bedroom.
“I called Eric, and—”
Austin’s head came up, a horrified look on his face. “What? You called Hawke?”
“What else was I supposed to do?” She searched the room for her dress and panties and put them on. “I told him to come by himself and not to use sirens or anything. He promised not to tell anyone.”
“Jesus, Lexi!” Austin started to laugh and kept laughing as if she’d just said the funniest thing he’d ever heard.
She grabbed his jeans off the floor. “What’s so hilarious?
“You called the fire department and told the fire chief that I am handcuffed to the bed?” He laughed even harder.
She nodded. “I had to do something.”
He dissolved into laughter again. “The FD … will have to generate … a report … for that call.”
“Wh-what?” Some of the blood rushed out of her head. “I didn’t mean—”
“I know you didn’t. Put my jeans on me before he gets here.”
It wasn’t as easy as she’d thought it would be, but between his pushing and wriggling and her tugging, they managed to get them up his legs and over his bare ass.
She started to pull up the zipper.
“Whoa! Stop! You need to adjust the goods, honey, or you’re going to catch my dick in the zipper.”
“Oh.” She took his now soft penis in her hand, but she wasn’t really sure what to do with it. “Up, down, left, right. What do I do?”
Austin dissolved into laughter again.
Before she could finish zipping him, there came a hard knock at the door.
“Lexi?” Eric called for her.
She tossed the sheet over Austin’s still exposed junk. “Be back in a minute.”
She hurried barefoot down the stairs and opened the back door.
Eric stood there in his turnout pants and a dark blue Scarlet FD T-shirt, a box of tools in his right hand. He grinned. “Your dress is inside out.”
“Shit.” Why hadn’t she noticed? “He’s upstairs.”
Mack whined from his crate, recognizing Eric.
Eric bent down, said hello to the puppy, then grinned at Lexi. “Let’s not keep your prisoner waiting.”
Lexi followed Eric up the stairs, wondering if she’d ever be able to look him in the eyes again after tonight.
When they reached the bedroom, Austin was no longer laughing. He met Eric’s gaze. �
�Hawke.”
“Taylor.” Eric’s gaze traveled over the room from the baton on the bed to the duty belt that sat beside it and Austin’s uniform shirt on the floor.
Lexi cringed, certain that Eric was able to tell exactly what they’d done.
“Not a word,” Austin warned him.
Eric nodded. “Hey, I’m a professional.”
He set the box down, opened it, and took out a small tool, an awkward tension stretching between the two men as he bent over Austin and went to work. A moment later, Austin was free.
He sat up. “Thanks.”
Eric bit his lower lip, clearly trying not to laugh. “Don’t mention it.”
“I won’t.” Austin reached beneath the covers and zipped his fly, then got out of bed. “And you’d better damned well never mention it either.”
“I’ll report it as a prank call—or something.” Eric put the tool away and closed his toolbox. “I just want to know one thing. Whose idea was it?”
Heat rushed into Lexi’s face. “Mine.”
Eric winced as if in pain. “Damn. You are one lucky sonofabitch, Taylor.”
“You’ve done your duty, so please get the hell out of my bedroom!”
Lexi could hear Eric laughing all the way down the stairs and out the door.
She turned to face Austin. “I’m so sorry. You’re angry with me, aren’t you?”
“No.” He drew her into his arms. “Hawke is right. I’m a lucky guy.”
She let out a relieved breath.
“That doesn’t mean you’re off the hook.” He tucked a finger under her chin, forced her to look into his eyes, his lips curving in an evil-sexy smile. “You are going to pay for that. Oh, baby, you are going to pay.”
Chapter 15
Austin awoke with Lexi in his arms, sunshine streaming into his bedroom. There was no alarm today. It was the start of his weekend. But there was a hungry puppy who needed to go outside.
Reluctantly, he slipped out of bed, threw on a pair of shorts and a T-shirt, then went downstairs to let Mack out. When he and Mack came back inside, he found Lexi making coffee. She’d put on one of his T-shirts and a pair of boxer briefs, the sight of her delicious round ass in his underwear giving him a jolt of testosterone.
