by Maren Smith
“You didn’t have to spank me so hard.”
He sighs, leans over, and yanks me to the middle of the bench seat. I hiss a little at the friction.
“You know how to test me, don’t you, baby doll?” Grabbing the lap belt, he clips me in and mumbles, “So help me, you need that spanking on your bare ass.”
But despite the grumpy tone and my rigid and unhelpful behavior, he leans over and kisses the top of my head. I damn well melt inside.
“I’m not a cop. I’m just a guy who’s had his family messed with by those guys and wants them locked up. And a guy that decided he cares about you way more than revenge.”
My shoulders soften at that but I keep my face pointed out the window so he can’t see my eyes welling. He could have dumped me right there and left.
His hand finds its way back to my knee and he gives it a gentle squeeze. “I’m not a cop, I promise. Okay? And maybe I started surveilling you to get information on Satan’s Ransom, but not since that night I caught you with my pudding. Now I watch to keep you safe.” He pulls the truck back out onto the road and the gentle hum of the motor along with the ruts, dips, and vibrations of the road relax me enough to let go. Unfortunately, the anger and sexual tension was the glue that was holding me together. The shivers hit then. Uncontrollable, teeth chattering, shivers.
“It’s okay now, honey. I’ll keep you safe.”
Chapter Six
Jeff
When we pull into an overgrown tree-lined drive, my heart is pounding. Lu is barely holding herself together. She’s trembling uncontrollably, and her face is so pale I’m considering turning us around and heading for a hospital. Of course, there’s a problem with that. Satan’s Ransom is so connected they’d know the second we arrived.
“Sit tight for a minute,” I tell her in my most soothing voice and reach for the glove box where I pull out the keys for the cabin. “We’ll be safe here.”
Jumping out of the truck, I head for my family’s cabin. It needs upkeep and no one’s been here for a while, but it’ll be safe.
Too many memories assault me as I enter. Lisa lived here full time when she was pregnant with Reece. I can almost see her sitting on the old sofa, her belly round, cheeks flushed from the fire, and knitting on her lap. It’s like a punch to the gut, especially the smile I remember on her face.
My sister had never been happier than when she was in this cabin, pregnant and safe from Preacher. When I turn back to get Lu, her shivering form, vacant-looking wide blue eyes, and ghostly pale appearance sends the reverie away just as fast as it came. The emotion lingers though and I have to swallow hard to work away the thick emotion sitting in my throat.
Lu will not end up like Lisa. I won’t let that happen. No. Fucking. Way.
I scoop Lu up. “You need to wrap your arms around my neck. Hold on to me, okay?” I look down at her in my arms. She weighs less than I expected. I press my lips, a bit annoyed with myself for not pushing her to eat more. Goddammit, why didn’t I? It was obvious by the way she reacted to my dominance in the truck that she could handle it. In fact, better than handle it. But I know the answer. She didn’t trust me then. And maybe only barely now.
I had a lot of explaining to do. And some of what I told her would end that trust. Setting her on the old sofa, I grab a knitted blanket and tuck it around her.
“Lu?”
“Hm?”
Lu answers me in a tone that makes my blood run cold. No different than the way Lisa used to answer my demanding questions after she’d been in a fight with Preacher. Like she’s not even there—just as automatic as an answering machine message.
Lu’s not here right now. Leave a message and she’ll get back to you.
“Baby doll, look at me.” My words are curt, demanding, and a little fear-filled. She cocks her head, but remains neutral in expression. “Tell me what happened back there.” I swallow hard, afraid to know. After what my sister had been through, after learning what sick bastards both Slash and Preacher could be, I’m afraid to hear the answer. But she was okay in the truck I remind myself. It’s just shock.
She makes some sort of noise and I can’t tell if it’s a murmur or an actual word, but I don’t waste time trying to figure it out. I head back to the bathroom and twist the taps on to get water through the pipes. The nearest neighbor around here is three acres to the right, but he lives in his cabin full time. His cabin doesn’t have direct access to the lake but ours does so we let him use our property and dock for his boat. He returns our kindness by checking on our cabin regularly, running the water weekly and although we never ask, filling our freezer with fresh fish and keeping our wood pile high.
The water is clear and warms quickly so I pop the plug in the bottom of the clawfoot. I glance around for something girly to put in the tub and find some lavender bath beads. I dump in the rest of the jar.
I glance at Lu as I head to the front to grab wood, her gaze catches mine and she nods as if reading my mind. You still okay? Yep, all good.
I load my arms and carry the wood to the stone hearth, dropping the logs with a clatter before heading back to turn off the water. I eye Lu, still shivering under the blanket, as I pile kindling in the fire. As soon as I get the fire to take, I leave it, grabbing Lu off the sofa, again noting how light she is, and carry her, blanket and all, to the bathroom.
The tub is full. The water has a purple hue and steam curls up from the tub. The silence seems heavier in the small moist bathroom. I lean down, kiss Lu’s head and set her gently onto her feet.
“Daddy’s going to take care of you, okay? You can trust me.” I start by taking the blanket, setting it on the commode. Then watching her, reading her expression, I ask, “Do you trust me? Can I help you get into the tub?”
She nods.
“I need to hear it, baby doll.”
“Yes.” It comes out quietly and she’s not looking at me when she says it, but then her eyes flick to mine. “I trust you. Please take care of me.”
I release a breath knowing how hard that was for her, for the strong survivor to ask for help. She lifts her arms and I remove her sweatshirt. She hadn’t changed into her coveralls for work when she was taken by the MC brothers so she’s wearing a grey hoodie with too many holes and a faded concert tee underneath. I look up at her, suddenly wondering what kind of music she’s into.
“Did you go to this concert?” I ask, to distract her as she raises her arms again for me to remove the shirt.
“Gage—” she stops suddenly and her vision clears. Her brow wrinkles. “You know Gage?”
“Yes, he’s… he was the MC’s best dealer.” I chew over the decision to add more and decide honesty is best. “I had him under surveillance until you found him that night. After that, you were my focus.”
She looks sad but nods. “He’s my foster brother. Saved me more times than I can count growing up. And took me to that concert. Good Charlotte too.” She smiles at that. “We’d lost touch but reconnected a few weeks before I found him on the floor that night. He wanted my help getting clean.” She sucks in a shaky breath. “I guess I was too late.”
“You know he’s okay, right?”
She nods.
“I was so upset. With him. At the drugs. Once the ambulance arrived…” She shakes her head, knocking a few tears loose from her lids and they slip down her cheeks. “I dumped them all.” Her eyes flick to mine. They’re wild for a moment as if she can’t believe she did what she’s telling me. “I dumped Satan’s Ransom’s drugs down the toilet.” She curses, “So stupid.”
“Not stupid,” I say, rubbing the cold from her arms. “Impulsive.”
She looks at the water. “Python was there when I took off out back to avoid the police. I had to get away because I couldn’t explain what I’d done to the authorities. What if they thought I was involved, charged me with evidence tampering?” She swipes a hand over her cheeks brushing away more stray tears. “Then Satan’s Ransom said I had to pay them back for their loss.
They didn’t know I dumped them at first. Just thought they were confiscated by the cops.”
“Baby doll, I’m so sorry.”
“They told me tonight that Gage disappeared after getting out of rehab.” Her eyes find mine again. “That’s why they decided I was going to start—” she swallows. “Hooking?” Her brow lifts. “I don’t even know what they call it now.” She laughs but her eyes well again so she turns her gaze to her feet.
“I thought I escaped that bullshit. The way we grew up, Gage and I, no one would be shocked by his lifestyle. But I fought. I put myself through school.” She stops and her eyes rise to mine. “You know this? How much do you know about me?”
I press my lips, kneeling to help her out of her leggings. She doesn’t look upset by the thought of me watching her now. “I know you. I know your basic background too, but, Tallulah, I know you.” I take her hand. “You’re full of spunk and sarcasm. And you’re tough, yeah, but funny too, and there’s a sweet little girl on the inside as well. I see it. In your eyes. In the way you dance to that little radio on your cart when no one’s around and the way you respond to my…” I smirk, my lips quirking up. “My daddying you.”
Her brow rises and a crooked smile spreads on her face. “I do respond to that, don’t I?” Her cheeks flush and she bites her bottom lip. “I really responded to that little spanking today.” Her words are quiet, shy, and the pink on her cheeks brightens. She looks down at herself in nothing but a pair of pale pink panties.
“Only one thing left.” Her eyes find mine. There’s something in them that makes my cock tighten. “Gonna make me do it myself, Daddy?”
I swallow. “Nope.” I reach for the band and she stops my hands.
“Distract me.” Again, she nibbles that beautiful lip.
“Tell me what you want, baby doll. Be clear, because I want you, but I won’t take advantage.”
“I need you. Make me forget what happened tonight.” A little smile, sexy-as-hell, plays on her pretty mouth. “Fucking dirty-daddy the hell out of me tonight.”
My mouth curves up on one side and I shake my head. “You are one hell of a sexy woman, Tallulah Jane Olsen.” I slide the panties down. The scent of her arousal hits me and my heart rate spikes. “Step out.”
She does and even though she’s too thin, she’s gorgeous.
“Into the tub now, baby doll. Daddy’s going to take care of you.”
I steady her as she steps into the hot liquid, my cock painfully hard, but as she slips down, hissing when the water hits her pink bottom, and then pleasure blossoming on her face, I barely notice my dick. “Close your eyes.”
Her lids slip closed while I wash her. Soaking her hair with warm water, I suds the shampoo into a foamy lather with massaging fingers before moving on to work soap against her skin.
When my hands wash her small but beautiful breasts, I note her thighs squeeze and she gasps a breathy sound that fills the room and makes my tactical pants too tight. I take my time, massaging, lathering with care and working her nipples into tight buds.
I help her sit forward and scrub her back, and then tell her to stand. She does without hesitation, clearly eager for my thorough attention.
I don’t disappoint, at least according to her arching back. I wash thoroughly between her thighs. Her head falls back, and she spreads wider for me.
“Is my pretty little girl eager for more?”
Her eyes stay closed while her head bobs. “Yes.”
I rinse her and she hisses as my hand slips between her slit. “Still cold?” My voice is husky, my words a little broken with the intensity of my own need.
She chokes out a little laugh. “God, no.”
I reach forward and tweak a nipple. “Then why are these so tight and your skin so pebbled with goosebumps?”
“Because…” She gasps and arcs her body as I rise and take her nipple into my mouth. I suck hard and she twists, simultaneously pulling away and pushing closer. I hum a laugh against her and flick my tongue against the hard bud.
Pulling off just enough to speak, I say, “Back in the water now, baby doll.”
I grab her ass and squeeze, helping her lower. “Water okay?” I ask as my hand finds its way between her legs again.
“Mm yeah,” she murmurs.
When she’s lowered enough for the water to cover her shoulders, I take her leg, hooking it over the edge of the clawfoot tub. She’s open to the water, and my eyes. I lean closer to her face, one hand cupping her head while the other slides between those open legs to her pussy. I kiss her, slow, deep and hot, matching the invasion of my tongue in her mouth with my fingers gently probing between her pussy lips. I massage her clit—slow and thorough. She’s eager for more and pushes herself against my fingers.
“Please. Faster,” she says on a gasp against my lips.
“Hush, baby, daddy won’t always be so gentle.” I growl into her mouth when she squirms, rolling her hips against my hand.
She moans, giving me a sense of her urgency. But I control the speed and intensity. I’m running this show because right now that’s what she needs whether she realizes it or not. She’s been faking being in control for so long now.
I slip a finger inside her and she lurches as I stroke her. Her breath hitches as the pad of my thumb circles her nub and she calls out as I add another digit and stroke her g-spot. I work her while she tenses, tighter and tighter, her breath heaving and catching, her thighs squeezing and opening.
“That’s it, baby doll, feel it.”
She makes a strangled noise and her breath comes out in pants.
My mouth clamps down over her nipple and I nip, roll and suck. She clutches the sides of the tub with both hands and holds her breath.
“Let me feel you come undone, Tallulah Jane.”
My words seem to knock away the last of whatever’s holding her back and she explodes around my fingers, rocking against my hand. One second she’s shoving against my chest as I continue to play with her sensitive clit, the next she’s tugging me closer. My cock is hard, my balls heavy and begging for release, but this isn’t about me. It’s about this girl finally coming undone in my tub. It’s about the woman I’d do anything to protect.
And when she’s sated, lying limp in the now tepid water, I lift her, tossing a towel over her, and carry her to the bed. I dry her off, help her into one of my t-shirts and cover her up tight before tucking myself behind her blanketed body to hold her.
“You’re mine, baby doll, all mine. And I’ll tear down anyone who tries to hurt you.”
Chapter Seven
Lu
I wake to the sounds of nature, birds, frogs, and buzzing against the window occasionally. Light pours into the room and the deep woods’ smell of pine and earth soothe my senses.
I’m safe. And I’m in a real bed. With that I give a languid stretch and smile because I’ve always been more of a glass-half-full kinda girl, at least since I escaped from the system and redefined myself. Yes, all those years ago when I set foot on campus, I decided Tallulah Jane Olsen was an optimist. She took every storm with the idea a rainbow would follow. I admit, since my run in with Satan’s Ransom I’ve let that part of me die, but here in this incredibly comfortable bed with the birds singing and— I sniff—is that bacon?
I sit up, too quickly, noting the tweak in my spine where Slash bent me at an unnatural angle for too long, and then, the tightness in my other muscles and who doesn’t want that kind of ache? The kind born of indulgence in pleasure. My smile turns to a crooked grin and my eyes close as I let myself fall back on the bed, arms outstretched because the giver of that pleasure is here and all signs point to him cooking me breakfast—with bacon!
“Hot damn, Grizzly Daddy, I hope you’ll help me stretch these muscles out after breakfast.”
“Grizzly Daddy, huh?”
My eyes burst open and I fly up to see Jeff, all sleep rumpled and sex appeal, standing in the doorway. Before I can even think about being embarrassed, a wide, wicked
grin spreads on his face. And even better than the steaming plate of food in his hand, is the way he looks with his hard chest bare and happy trail heading south, down his goofy but still sexy boxers.
“Call me that again, baby doll, and I’m pretty fucking sure this breakfast will be getting cold.”
I swallow hard and for a second I’m really not sure which I want more, the aromatic food on the plate, or the manhood that’s tenting his blue undershorts.
That’s when I do it. Even though I’ve only known him a few weeks, and we’re in a helluva mess with Satan’s Ransom, I repeat my earlier statement. Only this time, I say it slower, huskier, and throw the blankets off while doing it.
“Good morning, Grizzly Daddy.”
His smile halts, his eyes flying to my now open legs. I swear his eyes flare heat and he looks feral standing there. In an athletic display worthy of his perfect wrestler body, he launches himself onto the bed all the while balancing the plate and not letting a crumb of food drop.
Straddling my waist, he sets the plate on the pillow beside me. “Hands up,” he demands with a jut of his chin. I don’t even have to think about it. Obeying, I raise my hands and he grabs the t-shirt. With a swish it’s off and tossed across the room. His mouth curves into an approving smile and he gently pinches my chin between his thumb and crooked forefinger.
“Now keep your hands where they are, baby doll.”
Opening my mouth, he puts a piece of bacon in. It’s crisp and salty and I can’t help but moan. Holyfuckingshit! It’s been so long. I whimper as I chew.
He leans down and whispers, “Good girl,” in my ear.
Shivers scatter all over my skin.
He feeds me like this, my hands above my head, his legs straddling me keeping me in place. And in between bites of glorious food, he teases me with his whispers, caresses, tongue swirls, and love bites. God, it’s the best of both fucking worlds.
My belly sated, he moves the empty plate to the nightstand and with a cocky grin, moves down my body, pressing kisses between my breasts, down my belly and onto my mound. No longer pinned by his straddling legs, my hips push up, greedily. Jeff chuckles before tugging my legs over his shoulders and letting his tongue tickle a gentle stroke over my pussy lips.
