Fear and adrenaline kept her rushing forward, turning right at every intersection until finally the pound of her own heart pained enough for her to nearly topple over, gasping for breath. Clamping a hand over her mouth, she tried to restrain the heaving sounds even as she strained to listen for the crash of oncoming men.
Only silence, crickets, and frogs echoed down the moonlit corridors. It painted the leaves of the upright bushes with a pale, waxy sheen. The ethereal glow wrapped the night in its seductive embrace, trying to mask the menace lurking the speckled shadows. They waited out there for her.
Rachel straightened up, glancing either way down the narrow alley she’d stalled out in. They should have been here. She hadn’t honestly outrun them. She couldn’t. That meant they let her escape, that they had something more in mind than catching her and ravishing her right on the ground.
Glancing up at the camera mounted overhead, she wondered how hard all those people would laugh if she started burrowing her way right through the walls of this maze until she found her escape. The answer didn’t matter, not given the consequences of failure.
Failure and several scrapes from the pointed leaves of the bushes were all that greeted her attempt. Buried behind the wall of shrubs, caught between spindly arms of the bushes, the bastards had run a chain link fence. No doubt to assure nobody cheated at this game.
With no option to go through or over the walls, she had to make her decision—left or right. What did it matter because they’d probably already surrounded her. For no other reason than a desperate need to keep moving, Rachel chose to go forward instead of backward. This time she didn’t run, panting down the aisle, but crept along, keeping a careful eye on the darkness surrounding her.
Nothing stirred around her as she came to another decision point. Right or left, the fork stalled her out as she studied both options. Both passes curved quickly, blocking her view and making it impossible to know what lay beyond.
“You know, if you turn right every time, you’re never going to get out of here.”
Halfway to stepping in that direction, Killian’s smooth comment startled Rachel so badly she actually screamed in fright. She shouldn’t have turned. She should’ve run, but some primitive instinct made her confront him.
From the smug smile tugging on his lips to his relaxed slouch against archway she’d just come through, Killian looked down right amused. Strung high on fear and anticipation, Rachel snapped under the provocation of his slow chuckle.
“And if you let me make my own decisions, we might not be in this mess to begin with.”
Perhaps she shouldn’t have said anything at all. That was the last thought that occurred to her before Killian made her forget every damn thing with his kiss. In one second, she went from standing on her own two feet to being plastered against his hot, corded length.
Literally sweeping her off her feet to capture her lips with his, Killian’s broad hand flattened like a heated brand over her ass as he ground her pelvis against his mouthwatering erection. He humped her right there, through their clothes, as his warm lips moved against her own with torrid intent.
He tasted like beer and man, penetrating her with his intoxicatingly addictive flavor until her tongue tangled with his in the endless dance of desire that had her hips flexing in time with his. The blatant intimidation of his possessive embrace made her ache to feel him flesh-to-flesh, softness rubbing into hardness, heated palms and rough grips that clung, gripped, bit…oh, God, she wanted him to bite her and then pin her down and ride her until they dripped with sweat.
It wouldn’t be enough. It would never be enough no matter how hard, how long they fucked. The fires searing through her stomach would always smolder. That’s what scared Rachel. There would be no line she wouldn’t cross with this man. Nothing she wouldn’t let him do.
“Ah, baby, you’re all wet,” Killian groaned, his hand curving around her ass to dip in between her legs.
His touch seared through the layers of fabric as he cupped her mound and began rubbing her panties over her slit. Swollen with lust, her clit blossomed out from her folds, getting caught and teased by the hard brush of such soft cotton.
The unbelievable pleasure only left her aching for more. Arching into his touch, Rachel’s fingers dug into Killian shoulders, using his strength as leverage to grind her pussy back into his palm.
“All wet and ready to ride,” Killian chuckled, “but I think these boys were hoping to see more than just you pinned up against the shrubs with your skirt around your waist, don’t you?”
“I don’t really give a damn what they want to see,” Rachel ground out, not about to let him ruin her moment with irritating worries. She’d gone too long without his touch to bother with modesty or decency right then.
“Yeah?” Killian pressed one thick finger between her puckered lips to trap her clit beneath its toying caress. “Maybe this location can work. They might like seeing you naked, being ridden on all fours. Hell, we could do the wheel barrel. You’ll be the bucket, your spread legs the handles, and my cock can be the hitch. What do you say, darlin’? Want me to take you for a walk?”
Rachel blinked at the very idea he planted in her mind. He had to be kidding, but the thing about Killian was she could never tell. Time to flee and wonder later. Of course, getting free to escape would require some deception, like smiling down at him and cooing.
“Let me slip out of my dress.”
He knew. The bastard knew she intended to run, which made Rachel almost sure he had been joking. Still, if she didn’t run, he might feel honor bound to go through with his threat. Either way, Rachel didn’t linger once her feet touched the ground.
Giving him a shove that never would topple him over, she took off as fast as she could down the right path. If he didn’t want her taking all the right turns, then he shouldn’t have said not to. Convinced that she must have discovered the hidden secret, she ran for nearly five minutes straight, certain that freedom awaited around every corner until she ran right into a dead-end.
Well, shit. Now she had to go backward, but that way felt dangerous, looked darker than it had when she’d come tearing down the aisles. Perhaps if she made nothing but left turns she could end up back at the patio. Then maybe she could lock them out.
Or maybe she should come up with a good idea because Killian and Adam could easily come over those gates. Hell, they could probably come right through them if properly motivated. She had to stop panicking and think. The stars.
Rachel glanced up at the heavens, not recognizing a single thing in the sky, but that didn’t matter. All she needed to do was pick one and always walk toward it as best as she could, and eventually it would have to lead her to the edge of this maze. It seemed wise to pick the brightest one, that way she couldn’t lose it in the glimmering sea of millions of stars.
This time, she moved forward, concentrating on keeping to the shadows, staying as quite as possible. At every turn she glanced up, making her choice based on the direction of her star. Things felt like they progressed more quickly. Now that she had a plan, Rachel felt more in control, more confident as she moved along the paths.
Using her intellect and reason, she’d find her way out of this maze. Then Killian and Adam could take her home to celebrate in private. It could work. After all, man hadn’t climbed to the top of the food chain by brute strength alone. Intelligence, that’s where true power lay. These Cattlemen had probably never had to deal with prey armed with that kind of weapon.
No. She was a new breed of woman to them and…she was totally fucked. Rachel froze in the middle of another Y-intersection. With her eyes shifting down from her star, she caught the slightest glimmer from the shadows. A hint of reflected light there and then gone. It had her gaze narrowing in on the darkest part of the path to the right until slowly the blacker shape of a man became visible.
He shifted forward, barely moving into the light, leaving most of his face clouded in darkness but for that feral gaze glinting wi
th full focus in her direction. Adam. From the crunch of a heavy footstep not but a few feet behind her, Rachel knew Killian had come in to block her escape. That left her one option. Without pausing to take a breath, she took it and fled down the path to the left.
This time, she could hear them chasing after her. Not crashing in from behind, but circling all around her. For a moment, she could have sworn one of them raced right past her, just on the other side of the bushes. Clearly, they knew this maze well, too well, because as they appeared in every turn, Rachel began to realize they were controlling her decisions, chasing her toward something.
The only way to escape would be to go through one of them. The only way to win would be to disable one of them completely. She couldn’t do it, or didn’t think so, until the dim glow of electric light brightened the sky over the hedge line.
She could hear the babble of water. That had to be freedom because they were trying to block her from it. Every time she tried to turn toward the small sign of civilization, one of them appeared to force her back into the maze.
Somehow, she had to break their line. Rachel bet Killian would be an easier choice than Adam. He didn’t appear to have half as much pent-up aggression as Adam did tonight. Whatever trauma lay in his childhood, he’d never told her about it. That didn’t mean Rachel couldn’t sense the depth of hurt masked by his anger and lust.
What fueled him tonight would make for a hell of an explosion if he caught her. That made Killian her obvious choice, but she had to wait through two more turns before he appeared as the shadow in the bend trying to force her in the opposite direction. With Adam bearing down hard behind her, Rachel didn’t have any time to question her decision but threw herself in a full throttle run at Killian.
He lunged, and she ducked, shockingly clearing past him to sprint in an all-out dash for the light at the end of the alley. Feeling them pounding over the ground and swearing their heated breath brushed over her nape, Rachel threw everything she had into making it to the lit archway to freedom.
Racing beneath its blossoming canopy, she welcomed the warmth of the light and the soft granules of sand beneath her feet…Pulling up hard, she skidded through the dirt, nearly stumbling into the tailored stream that surrounded not her victory but her defeat.
She knew this place. She’d seen it flash by on the television as Adam had flipped through the channels earlier. All those differently styled beds and they’d chosen this one for her.
She took in the sight of the thatched roof cabana buried in the lush and the tropical foliage that grew thick on the other side of the rocked lined pond encircling the little oasis. No amount of elegant lighting or decadent looking bedding could disguise the savage purposes of the little hut.
The danger glinted in the sheen of the metal rings encircling each of the wooden posts. It whispered out in the soft whoosh of the sway of the metal bars that spanned their distance and had nothing to do with support. At least not for the cabana, but as she studied the bed stretching the entire length and filling the full width, Rachel realized it hung off the ground by several feet, suspended almost like a large swing.
Similar to the patio, the small hut stood as the altar in the center of the rock enwalled garden. The stacked stones crumbled artfully into the waterfall and grew out the other side to enclose the back of the garden with all the modern conveniences, including more cameras.
“Custom made of a prehistoric baboon,” Killian drawled from the archway behind her. “What do you think?”
Rachel had to hand it to the good old boys, they’d done things right and spared no expense. Despite the rapid chase, ending up corralled into an exotic garden obviously designed for luxury and excess didn’t exactly put terror into her stomach.
“It’s a little too romantic looking for that.” She offered him a smirk over her shoulder, catching sight of Adam prowling determinedly closer. She ignored him to turn back and inspect the location they’d picked to ravish her.
“More like Tarzan’s honeymoon hideaway. Tell me, are those vines real or used for something else?” Rachel nodded at the thick, woodsy branches curling around the edge of the roof and falling down nearly to the sides of the bed.
“Metal reinforced.” Adam’s words washed across her shoulder with the sultry heat of a promise. “Why don’t you take a closer look?”
With one hand he might have gestured, matching the politeness of his request. His other, though, pressed into the small of her back, forcing her to obey when she hesitated. Once she crossed over the small arch of wood bridging the two sides of the pond, there would be no escaping the unblinking eyes of the cameras.
There would be no escaping anyway, not with Adam prodding her forward. As much as she wanted to play it calm and cool, fear nibbled away at her arousal, making her all too aware of the spies in the sky. She tried to focus on something else, like the cool breeze whispering around her ankles and tickling up her sides.
The obviously artificial cold distracted her, giving her sanity a much-needed break as her mind began to obsess over its origins. The vents she found artfully cut into the cabana’s post made her smile with both triumph and wonder.
“An air conditioned gazebo?” Rachel arched a brow at Adam, who only shrugged.
“Gotta keep things cool when you’re getting sweaty.”
Rachel rolled her eyes at that but couldn’t help the smile that tugged at her lips. Despite the coiled tension keeping him stiff as he angled her closer to the bed, there had been a hint of true humor in Adam’s tone. It quelled the chattering nerves in her belly and sent Rachel a few more steps into her doom.
Still, that didn’t carry her far when her gaze caught the stretch of blackness against the far wall. The sight of the television stood as a grim reminder of everything she’d been trying not to think about. Appearing to catch the direction of her thoughts, or possibly her gaze, Adam growled beside her.
“Don’t worry about them, Rachel.” Deep and husky, Adam’s words rumbled through her head to sink their warmth and assurance into her quivering stomach. “There ain’t anybody here tonight but you, me, and Killian. That’s the way it’s always going to be, just the three of us, and who really cares what the rest of the world knows of it? Thinks of it?”
The rough edges wore on her panicked nerves, melting them until she rested against the hard wall of his chest. He smelled like alcohol and musk, sexy as hell. The scent drugged her, making her muscles go limp beneath the soft brush of his lips along her nape. The slow, sensual slide sent shivers racing down her spine until his kiss paused at the edge of her dress’s strap.
“You have the softest skin.” The rough sprout of whiskers along his cheek both tickled and scratched as he rubbed his chin along her shoulder. The sharp, almost jagged shards of pleasure had her flinching slightly, shrinking back just enough to let him nudge the strap out of the way.
“There’s nothing like grinding into all your plush, silky curves, darlin’. It’s a small taste of heaven that I’ve been aching for these past two weeks. Wanting you awake, asleep, always.” The words peppered out across the sensitive dip in her nape as he strung them, kiss by kiss, across her shoulders until his lips rested at her other strap.
“I want to feel you like that again, sweetheart, all naked and wet, hear you moaning my name and begging me for all your pleasure. I need to have you my way, Rachel. At my mercy, mine to please and to demand my pleasure from.”
Rachel shivered, trapped not in his arms but by the very heat of his words. They slipped out with such longing and echoing the very pain she’d carried for the past few weeks that Rachel couldn’t deny him.
“Let me have you,” Adam pleaded in a whisper no louder than the soft swoosh of her strap being nudged over the rounded edge of her shoulder. “And I promise to take very good care of you.”
He already was. Rachel couldn’t stop the whimper that slipped from her lips as Adam’s rough palm scraped up her arm. The small touch sparked fissures of electricity through her. T
he tingles tightened her nipples, puckering them to points that caught the edge of her dress as Adam slid the second strap down. It clung there for a moment before dropping to a puddle at her feet.
“My sweet Rachel, you’re not wearing a bra.” Wrapped in the strength of his arms, Rachel sucked a breath in and arched as his hands slid around to cup her breasts. Already puckered with need, her nipples sent out spasms of pleasure as his thumbs rolled over their pebbled tips.
“You really shouldn’t go about not properly dressed,” Adam warned her. “It puts all sorts of ideas into a man’s head. Doesn’t it, Killian?”
Chapter 38
“Mmm-hmm.” That soft savory sound tickled over her stomach, making Rachel’s eyes flutter open. Somewhere along the way, the slow, rolling wave of liquid heat Adam’s tone had whirled to life inside her had slid her lashes down. She’d let go of the rest of the world to drift in that sensual tide.
Knelt at her feet in the puddle of her dress, Killian’s gaze gleamed up at her with undisguised hunger. Her breath caught in the back of her throat as his chin dipped to press a small kiss over her quivering muscles. His tongue lapped out to twirl over her belly button before sliding straight up to where Adam held her tit captive for him.
Heat sizzled through her veins as his velvety tongue curled around her nipple and drew her into the liquid suction of his kiss. The sensual pull unleashed a torrent of molten need sliding down skin already flushed by the rough rub of Killian’s clothed body.
Cocooned in the comforting scent of her men, Rachel let herself melt into them and gave over to their will. Slowly, her body began to roll and grind, matching the smooth, easy rhythm of Killian’s mouth as he loved on her…and he did love her.
Those big, callused hands caressing up her sides to chase Adam’s from her breast held her in a slightly possessive grip. Even though they were both hers, they warred over who got to enjoy what. Adam admitted defeat with a soft growl.
Penn, Jenny - Rachel's Seduction [Cattleman's Club] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Page 39
