by Alta Hensley
“You wouldn’t tell your daddy,” he replied. “How would he ever look at you the same?” His eyes darkened. “And I’m not going anywhere. Well… not without you.”
“I don’t know who you are or what you want,” I barely squeaked. “But please. Go.”
The man nodded and his expression hardened. “You’re coming with me. And if you know what’s good for you, you won’t put up a fight.”
“You are insane.” Before the man could do anything to stop me, I tugged his hold free and hopped out of bed. The butt plug was still inside of me, and without thinking, I reached behind me and tugged it out, trying to ignore the biting stretch as I did so. Tossing it into the trashcan next to my desk, I finally began to sober from not only the champagne but from the sexual spell I was under. What the fuck had I just allowed?
Had I lost my damn mind?
I almost gave this complete stranger my virginity? Not only gave but begged for him to take.
The whiplash of emotions made me dizzy, but I snatched a robe off my closet door to cover myself from his hungry eyes.
Finally. Some sanity.
Just as I turned to run from my room, I felt his all too familiar fingers closing around my arm and was unceremoniously jerked back into his embrace.
His face had darkened considerably as he stared down at me, making me feel as if I had just crossed the Devil himself, and this was the first time I noticed the gun. I could only see the butt of it from where it sat quite comfortably on his hip, tucked into a holster that was very well worn, as if the gun had seen a lot of action, as had its owner.
Oh god, he was one of them. A bad guy. But of course he was. Why would I think anything else? He was a guest at my father’s party. Who did I expect this man to be?
After staring at the holster for a long while, I let my eyes wander over the rest of him. My bold inspection of him had him resting his hand on the butt of his gun in a manner that made me think he stood like that a lot.
Authority.
“It’s time to go. I advise you to choose the easier of the paths and come quietly,” he growled. He didn’t raise his voice, but his words sounded all the more threatening for the lack of volume. “I don’t want to shoot you, the men who will come busting through that door if you scream, or your father, if I don’t have to. But I will. And the six other men who attended this party with me won’t hesitate to fight as well. So, let’s not get anyone killed. Choose easy over death. It’s very simple.”
“What are you talking about?” I swallowed hard. “I’m not going anywhere with you. It’s you who is leaving, or I’ll have no choice but to scream for my father. He’ll kill you. Not the other way around. You know this. No matter who you are or who your other men are, you’ll be a dead man.”
“As sexy as you were lying naked on that bed, my intention was not to come to this party to fuck you.”
I was a damn fool. A dirty, used fool.
“Intention?”
“Your father took something of mine. So, it’s now my turn,” he said with a wicked grin.
“You want me? Kidnap?” I barely could ask, already knowing the answer.
He nodded. “We’re going to take a little trip. And if you’re a good girl, no harm will come to you. Maybe some more of what we just did, but no actual harm.” His jaw tightened. “But if you are a bad girl… there will be extreme consequences.”
Suddenly, I was more aware than ever of the differences in our sizes. He towered over me, and even ignoring the firearm at his side, there was no question as to who was going to end up the victor if it came to a fight.
“Please,” I asked again, unashamedly letting the tears that had been threatening spill down my cheeks. “I’m not my father. Just leave me alone. Leave before this escalates.”
I didn’t have any more energy to talk, to explain that my ruthless father would never stop looking for me, to even reason with the wild thoughts of actually wanting to go with this man warring inside my mind. But if I were going to be kidnapped, I would take the only thing that mattered to me. It was a small jewelry box that almost fit into my palm. I traveled everywhere I went with it, and I would not leave it behind. Even now. I didn’t know what was happening. I didn’t know this man. I had no idea what would happen next.
Any doubt of what would happen next was short lived, because the door to the room opened. And standing on the threshold were two of my father’s men. The look on their faces, the tension in the stranger’s body, all were a clear indication that this meeting was not going to end well.
“Who the fuck are you?” one of the men shouted while he fumbled for his gun.
Within a split second, I found myself dragged out the second story window and onto the roof while my father’s men fired at us out of the same window by which we had left. I understood them shooting at my kidnapper, but what if they shot me? Hadn’t my father told them to protect me at all costs? Not kill me?
I was so terrified that I couldn’t even begin to think. I just followed the man who had a death grip on my wrist. He seemed to know where he was going—I hoped. All I wanted was to get out of the line of fire.
We skirted around to the side of the house, and he released my arm a moment before I watched him jump off the edge of the roof. If a bullet hadn’t whizzed by my head at that point, I might have cried out, but I was struck dumb by just how close I had come to dying. Even before I got to the edge of the roof, though, I could hear him trying to order me around.
“Jump down! I’ll catch you!”
“What?” I peered very cautiously over and saw that he was standing next to a dirt bike. I held on to my jewelry box, clutching it to my chest as if it would somehow give me strength.
“Jump!”
“Are you crazy? I’m not jumping off the roof of my house! To you!”
I shouldn’t run. I was innocent in all of this. I was the one who was taken against her will, I supposed, although I wasn’t at all sure if what happened really fit the description very well. I didn’t want to follow him—did I?
But then again, the men shooting didn’t seem to care just how innocent I was in all of this.
Fucking idiots. They were going to kill me in their arrogant and prideful determination to capture the invader. Earn points with Vittorio Costa.
Sorry about your daughter getting shot.
“Jump, Aria, or so help me I’ll come up there and beat your ass for not doing as I told you, even if I have to come back from the grave to do it! You don’t want to get shot, and those men don’t give a fuck who you are. They won’t stop until we are both dead. You will just be collateral damage in what they want… which is me.”
Collateral damage. Death.
Escape. Escape. Yes, I could escape. But who did I want to escape?
“Aria.” One word, one very powerful word, said by a man who clearly expected to be obeyed.
But it was the next, even closer bullet buzzing by me to lodge itself in the side of the garage next door with a spray of wood chips that had me closing my eyes and jumping.
6
Aria
I was surprised, hours ago, to have ended up in my room with a man lying on top of me doing unspeakable things to my body. But the thing that had surprised me the most out of the past several hours had to be that I had actually jumped off the roof of my house and been caught—plucked out of the air by the man who had kidnapped me, settled in behind him on his Indian motorcycle, and driven off my father’s estate through a hail of gunfire. And this all clearly wasn’t a dream. I couldn’t blame the champagne for this one. I was as alert and awake as ever.
I had kept myself as physically separate from him as I possibly could, which wasn’t by much since there wasn’t very far to go on the motorcycle seat. But I leaned as much as I could away from him. It made me feel better psychologically, anyway, as I tried to work my way through what I was barely beginning to come to grips with about what had happened to me.
But even as the truth began to sink in
, I found myself settling back against him, even though I was in the middle of the woods stuck on a bike with a man who was apparently on the wrong side of my father’s law. My kidnapper was the closest thing to safety I had at the moment, and I had to come to grips with that fact.
Plus, it was cold.
Why in the world were we on a motorcycle in Aspen with snow all around?
“You could have picked a better getaway vehicle,” I yelled above the hum of the motor, speaking for the first time since we’d left my roof.
“Don’t worry, we won’t be on the bike for long. This was for a fast getaway if needed.”
“Did you come to the party planning on kidnapping me from the beginning?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I told you. He stole from me. Tit for tat.” His reply was short and to the point.
We sat in silence with the only noise being the hum of the motor and the tires grinding along the dirt road that he had found off the main highway. There was snow and ice, and I knew there was no way we were going to get far on the motorcycle, but seeing a truck parked in the distance, illuminated by the lights of the motorcycle, I could see that this stranger had every detail of tonight orchestrated.
He pulled up to the truck and hopped from the bike, helping me off as any gentleman would do.
“Now what?” I asked, looking up at him as I crossed my arms against my chest, still clinging to my jewelry box with my life. I only wore a robe and was barefoot against the snow-covered ground.
The man took off his suit jacket—the first item of clothing that had been removed of his all evening— and draped it over my shoulders. He took the jewelry box from my hands and placed it in the pocket of the jacket for safe keeping and to show me he wouldn’t make me get rid of it. He then swooped me up and carried me to the passenger side of the truck and placed me inside.
“So, you just expect me to sit here and ride off to God knows where with an insane man who has a serious death wish and not try to fight or run away?” The absurdity of my situation really kicked in at that point.
“Well, the way I see it, you don’t have much of a choice.”
“So what? I’m your captive?”
“Call it what you will.”
My spine stiffened at his words.
“Fuck this,” I said as I considered jumping out of the truck and making a run for it.
“You have a dirty mouth, princess.”
“Call it what you will,” I retorted. “And stop calling me princess.”
The man surprised me with a small chuckle mixed with a huff. I couldn’t quite tell if he found humor or annoyance in my response.
“Where are we going?”
He took his time responding. “Somewhere safe.”
I snorted. “Safe?” Although as long as bullets weren’t flying by my head, I was safer than before. But was I safe with this man? And the bigger question was if I was safe with myself and all the emotions that caused me to feel dizzy in the mountain air. “I haven’t been safe since the minute you came into my life.”
I could see how he stiffened, as if I had insulted him. And maybe I had. But at this point I didn’t feel like being polite, nice or even bearable. My thighs ached, my ass throbbed, I was freezing, scared, and I really wanted a shower to rid me of the smells of leftover arousal. Riding off into the sunset with my father’s enemy wasn’t as romantic as a romance novel could make it seem. And yet still… I had no desire to escape my captor. Not yet, anyway.
Matthew
* * *
“Safer, then,” I growled. I didn’t like admitting that she was right about my inability to truly keep her safe. At least not until I got her to my safe house.
Ditching the motorcycle, I hopped into the truck to start phase two of my plan. We began to drive into the mountain range and the air was cool, both with the cloak of night and the elevation. Small flecks of snow hit the windshield and I was happy we were off that bike. It hadn’t been a long ride, but any longer would have put Aria at risk of getting sick or simply freezing her ass off. We had a long drive ahead of us to get to our final destination and by glancing over at Aria who was sitting against the passenger door with her arms across her chest, a scowl on her face, and an aura that screamed to leave her the fuck alone, I felt it was going to be even longer for her.
Just before sunrise, I stopped the truck, pulling up to a one room cabin where I knew hunters would sometimes crash while hunting in the area. I got out of the truck, walked around to the passenger side and reached to assist Aria off the seat. She surprised me when she didn’t resist me lifting her out of the truck. I expected a good punch to the face, a claw of the eyes, or a jab in the gut. Something.
“What do you plan on doing with me out here?” she asked as she took in the small shack before us.
With my own fatigue coming on fast, I didn’t have the time or energy to have that discussion now. I needed to hurry and assure Aria’s comfort, as well as securing her, as best as I could. I removed a bag from the back of the truck, throwing the strap over my shoulder with her still in my arms. The juggling act was fairly easy since she held on to my neck to assist. Again… this surprised me.
Although in all reality, where would she run to? She was barefoot and in a white fluffy robe. Not exactly running through the mountains alone attire.
I walked toward the cabin and placed her at the door so she could enter of her own free will. Although she was first in line, Aria stopped at the door and stepped to the side. “You go first and kill anything with more or fewer legs than I have, please. If it crawls, hisses, or bites, I believe it’s time it meets its maker.”
The way she put it made me smile. She wasn’t admitting to any fears, but simply asking me to prevent them, and I was surprised to find myself quite happy to do that for her. I hadn’t always been a monster. I’d had model parents who had done their best to instill manners into me. Although I definitely hadn’t been the best of their pupils in that area as of late. But some things had set in and watching out for helpless women was one of them.
The men I worked with had teased me about that fact—that I rarely partook in the women who practically threw themselves at me simply because of my money and status. I liked challenge. I liked spit and fire. I liked the give and pull. But I also did respect women. I truly did. I didn’t show it all the time, but I tried my best. It was one of the reasons I insisted that every woman working at Spiked Roses was paid exceptionally well and always treated with the highest respect. We had hired Tennessee Williams to not only supervise the staff, but to watch over and protect them.
There were more birds nested in the cabin than insects of any sort, although I ushered everything I found either out or into the next world. Then I made sure that the lock on the back door—which was directly opposite of the front door—worked and was in place before opening the front door and motioning her in. There was a thin mattress on an old bed frame that looked as if it had seen much better days and a small fireplace. It wasn’t much, but it was better than lying on the ground in a cold room.
“I’m going to go gather some firewood. I’ll be back shortly.”
Would she try to leave?
Doubtful.
But even if she ran, I would catch her.
I think we both knew that fact.
Aria
* * *
Although I didn’t like the idea of being left alone in this place for any length of time, I recognized the necessity of us finding a means of heating the cabin. We were so far up the mountain that it was freezing, and we didn’t have the proper clothing and boots to fight against the elements. We would need a fire to keep us warm and especially at night. How long would we stay here? How long would it take for this stranger to get what he wanted from my father to return me? How long would I have nothing to wear but a robe and a borrowed jacket to keep me warm?
Shivering, I tightened the man’s coat around me. I could smell him in the fabric and for some unkno
wn reason, I inhaled deeply. I should have cast off the coat, but I was too cold.
Yes, that was the reason. The only reason. Temperature.
Liar.
I refused to consider any alternate methods of generating heat such as the one he was very likely to suggest… or maybe even take.
Luckily, he had left me with a small candle, the flame of which I guarded obsessively as I moved about the cabin trying to clean it up a bit. There was a small table that had been knocked onto its side, and I righted it and put it under the one window. There were no chairs at all, so it looked as if we were going to have to sit on the bed together to eat whatever it was he planned on feeding us while we remained here.
Would we play a fucked up version of house together in this cabin?
When I had done about all I could to make the place somewhat livable, I sat gingerly down on the very edge of the bed, hugging myself. The lack of activity quickly reminded me that my attire assured I had nothing much for warmth right now, or protection when it came to the colder weather. Alone.
I looked around. Uncertain what to do next.
Where was he? How long would he be gone?
I looked down at the dirty mattress. He was going to expect me to fall into bed with him—again. Although there hadn’t been much falling done before—but I wasn’t going to. I had already made that resolution. I couldn’t believe how far I’d gone with this man. The things I’d allowed him to do me… Just thinking about our kinky experience had my face heating up and a prickle of sensation forming between my legs. It was so unlike me, and yet at the same time, felt so natural. I always watched from afar. I never participated. But with this stranger…
