relationships. While Tiffany hadn’t gone into the reasons for Taylor’s attitude toward men,
Austin suspected it had to do with their father leaving them and their mother when they were
little. Regardless, from what Tiffany had said, that bitterness was the main reason she had never
mentioned her boyfriend or her plans to marry him. She’d felt that Taylor would go to
outrageous lengths to prevent her from marrying anyone.
After reading the diary, Austin felt he had a really good idea where the couple had gone.
Baker was on a straight line between LA and Vegas, and if a young couple wanted to go off and
elope, what better place to go than Vegas? He didn’t know for a fact, which was why he was
going to go check out gas station lead, but he was pretty sure. He couldn’t imagine how Taylor
was going to react if her sister actually had run off and gotten married without telling her.
Austin shook his head. Taylor was definitely not going to be happy. In a funny way, he
almost felt bad taking her money. Tiffany would probably be coming home on her own in a
couple of days, with her husband in tow. But Taylor had hired him to do a job, and if he didn’t
do it, then she’d just find another PI that would. Possibly someone less scrupulous and honest
than he.
Of course, she was going to make him earn every penny of the money he made. He had
no doubt that he hadn’t seen the last of her stubborn and irritating nature. In all the years he’d
been a private detective, and even before when he was with the LAPD, he couldn’t remember
dealing with anyone who could push his buttons like that, which was saying something. The way
she had acted when she’d found him reading the other girl’s diary, snatching it out of his hand
like that and then refusing to give it back to him, had infuriated him so much that before he even
realized what he was doing, he had put her over his knee and was giving her a spanking.
And she had richly deserved it, he told himself. She had quickly changed her tune once
he’d given her a dozen good smacks on the bottom. Of course, she wasn’t the only one who had
benefited from the spanking. If he had thought her ass was amazing the first time he’d seen it,
he’d decided that it was even better once she was over his knee. He’d only wished she’d been
wearing a skirt instead of jeans. If she had, then he might have gotten a chance to get an even
better view. Not that the view of her jean-clad ass hadn’t looked great, too. Spanking Taylor had
been arousing to say the least. Even now, just thinking about having the beautiful dark-haired
woman wiggling around on his lap was enough to get him hard all over again.
But no matter how much she had deserved the spanking, Austin was still a little surprised
he’d actually done it. Sure, he’d spanked other women before, but it had always been as a form
of foreplay, and they had asked him to do it. He’d never just grabbed a woman and pulled her
kicking and screaming over his knee for a spanking before. He wasn’t exactly sure why he’d
done it. Yes, she was beautiful, and yes, she had been acting like a brat, but it was still unusual
for him to behave like a caveman.
Austin shook his head. Giving her a spanking might have been fun, and if the hard-on in
his jeans was any indication, his inner caveman would probably love to do it again, but it was
completely unprofessional. And there was absolutely no way he was going to let it happen again.
Taylor glanced at her watch with a frown. It had been almost half an hour since the
private detective had gone inside. How long could it take Austin Malone to go up to his office,
pick up a fax, and come back down? she wondered impatiently. Maybe he was still waiting for
his friend at the LAPD to fax over Andrew Wallace’s DMV picture. Or maybe he had just been
giving her a story about checking out a lead at that gas station. Maybe he wasn’t going to look
for her sister at all. It wouldn’t be the first time a man had lied to her, she thought bitterly.
She was just wondering if she should go up to the private detective’s office and confront
him when he came out of the building and walked over to his Wrangler.
“It’s about time,” she muttered.
Starting the car, Taylor waited for Austin Malone to pull out onto the street before doing
the same. Afraid that she would lose sight of him in the heavy LA traffic, she followed more
closely than she would have liked, but since he hadn’t seen her car, she wasn’t too concerned
about him recognizing her. Plus, there was so much traffic that there was no way he could
possibly notice her car behind him.
As she followed him through the city and onto the Interstate heading east, she discovered
that tailing him was a lot easier than she’d thought it would be. So, she had to run a couple of red
lights, but everybody in LA did that. It really wasn’t that hard at all, she told herself again. In
fact, by the time Austin stopped at the gas station in Baker, Taylor was thinking maybe she
should have gone into the PI business, she was so good at it.
Thinking Austin might spot her if she pulled into the small gas station, Taylor decided to
pull into the parking lot belonging to diner beside it. Choosing a space from where she could see
his Wrangler clearly, she turned off the engine and sat back in her seat as the private detective
got out of his truck and went into the gas station.
From her vantage point, Taylor had a clear view of the interior of the gas station and she
could see Austin talking to the clerk behind the counter. After a moment, he showed the man
both her sister’s picture and that of Andrew Wallace.
Taylor held her breath, waiting for some sign of recognition as the clerk studied the
photos. As she watched, the man pointed at Andrew Wallace’s photo and gave a nod of his head.
So, Wallace had been there, she thought. Her pulse quickening, Taylor leaned forward in the
seat, wishing she could hear what the man behind the counter was saying. When the clerk had
finished, Austin handed the man Tiffany’s photo. The gas station attendant stared at it for what
seemed like a full minute before he finally nodded.
She knew it, Taylor thought. Her sister was with that creep!
Over at the gas station, Austin had come outside and was walking back to his Wrangler.
As he went, he pulled his cell phone from the pocket of his jeans and dialed. A moment later,
Taylor’s own cell phone rang. Startled, she jumped. Reaching into her purse, she took the cell
phone from the little pocket where she always kept it and, flipping it open, held it to her ear.
“Hello?” she said.
“Ms. Cavanaugh?” The private detective’s voice was deep on the other end of the phone.
“It’s Austin Malone. I just left the gas station and wanted to give you a report.”
Taylor’s hand tightened on the phone. “What did you find out?” she asked anxiously.
Over in the other parking lot, Austin had reached his SUV and was standing beside it as
he spoke to her. “The attendant remembers seeing both your sister and Wallace the other day.
She was in the car and looked like she was asleep from what he could tell.”
Taylor frowned at that. Had Tiffany really be asleep, or had she been drugged to make
her easier to kidnap? she wondered. It wasn’t that far-fetched.
On the other end of the line
, Austin Malone continued and she forced her attention back
to him. “Lucky for us, the gas station attendant is the type that likes to make small talk with the
customers,” the private detective said. “He asked Wallace where he and your sister were headed,
and Wallace told him they were going to Vegas.”
Taylor’s frown deepened. “Vegas?” she echoed. Good heavens, surely Tiffany couldn’t
have gone there to get married to that creep!
“I’m headed there now,” Austin was saying. “I’ll give you a call when I know something
else.”
He hung up before she could say anything, much to Taylor’s annoyance. Muttering about
how rude the man was, she snapped the phone closed and tossed it back into her purse, not
bothering to put it back into the neat little side pocket in her haste. Over at the gas station, Austin
had gotten back in his Wrangler and was already pulling out onto the street. Remembering how
fast the private detective had driven once they’d gotten out on the open highway, she quickly
started the engine and pulled out onto the street to follow him.
By the time they drove into Vegas it had already gotten dark and Taylor was grateful for
the neon signs that lit up the strip as she followed Austin’s Wrangler. Wondering where he was
going, she was surprised when he pulled up in front of one of the more expensive casino hotels
in the city. Surely this Wallace guy didn’t have enough money to be able to afford a room there,
she thought. Grabbing her purse from the seat beside her, she handed the valet her car keys when
the man opened the door for her, and then hurried into the plush hotel after Austin Malone.
The private detective made his way across the marble lobby and over to the front desk.
Not wanting to get too close, Taylor stood off to the side and pretended to look for something in
her purse while Austin spoke to the woman behind the desk. Though they were speaking softly,
Taylor was able to pick up snippets of their conversation, and she was surprised when Austin
neither asked the woman about her sister or Andrew Wallace, nor showed the desk clerk their
pictures. She was even more surprised a moment later when the clerk handed him a room key.
Taylor forgot all about pretending to look through her purse to stare at Austin Malone in
disbelief. He was getting a room at one of the most expensive hotels on the strip? And on her
money, no doubt! So much for being reputable, she thought bitterly.
Taylor was so focused on her mental tirade that she didn’t even realize Austin had
finished up at the front desk and was heading for the elevators. Her first impulse was to confront
him right there in the lobby, but then she thought better of it. Quickly ducking behind the huge
potted plant she’d been standing beside, she waited for the elevator doors to close behind the
private detective before coming out of her hiding place. Watching to see which floor he got off
on, she took the next elevator up.
By the time she stepped out on his floor however, Austin was nowhere in sight. Taylor
stood in the hallway for a moment, wondering how she was ever going to find out which room
he was in when she spotted one of the hotel maids. The girl was standing beside her cart of
cleaning supplies and towels, and she looked up from her clipboard at Taylor’s approach.
“Can I help you?” she asked.
Taylor smiled, which was a real effort considering how furious she was. “I hope so,” she
said. “A man came out of the elevator on this floor a minute ago, and I was wondering if you saw
which room he went into. He’s tall with dark hair, wearing jeans and a leather jacket.”
At Taylor’s description of Austin Malone, a grin spread across the maid’s face. “And
majorly good looking, right?” she said. “Yeah. He went into room eight-twenty-five, down the
hall on your right.”
Refusing to acknowledge the maid’s comment about Austin Malone’s good looks, Taylor
thanked the girl, and then edged around the cleaning cart to march down the hallway to room
eight-twenty-five. Lifting her hand, she knocked on the door and didn’t stop until it swung open.
When it did, she brushed past the private detective without an invitation, and then spun around to
face him just as he closed the door.
“What the hell are you doing here?” he demanded.
She glared at him. “I could ask you the same question, you jerk!” she shot back. “What
are you doing in a hotel room when you should be out looking for my sister?”
Austin opened his mouth to speak, but Taylor hurried on before he could say anything.
“You thought you could come to Vegas and stay in some expensive hotel on my money,
and I wouldn’t notice when you billed me, didn’t you?” she demanded. “My sister isn’t even in
Vegas, is she? You made up that whole story back at the gas station. This was all some ploy so
that you could come here and gamble! You lying son of a...”
“That’s enough!” Austin said sharply.
If she hadn’t been so mad at him, Taylor might actually have heeded the warning glint in
his eyes, but instead, she charged on. “No, it’s not enough!” she told him. “You’re nothing but a
crook, and when I get back to LA, I’m going to report you for the low-life criminal you are!”
“I said that’s enough and I meant it,” Austin growled.
Taylor opened her mouth to hurl another set of insults his way, but all she could do was
gasp as Austin grabbed her arm and marched her across the room to the bed. He was going to
spank her again, she realized, and opened her mouth to protest even as he sat down and flung her
over one leg so that she was half draped over him and half lying on the bed.
“Let me up, you jerk!” she said, trying to push herself off the bed even as his hand came
down on her back to hold her in place.
“Not until I’m through giving you the spanking you’ve got coming to you, Ms.
Cavanaugh,” he said. “And trust me, I’m not going to be through for awhile.”
While the position she was in was better than being completely draped over his knee, it
was still just as humiliating, and the spanks, which started right away, stung just as much too,
Taylor quickly found out. She bit her lip to stifle her protests as he began to methodically apply
his hand to first one cheek and then other. She told herself that she wouldn’t give him the
satisfaction of crying out. After a moment, however, the heat was beginning to build up to an
almost intolerable level and it was all she could do to keep silent. She started kicking her legs,
hoping it would relieve some of the sting, but of course, it didn’t. Especially when his hand –
which felt as if it were bigger than she’d remembered – began to focus right on those spots where
her thighs met her asscheeks.
“Owwwww!” she cried, struggling even harder against him. “That hurts!”
“Good. Maybe you’ll remember that the next time you accuse me of being a criminal,” he
told her. “You hired me to find your missing sister, Ms. Cavanaugh, and that’s exactly what I’m
doing.”
Taylor yelped as his hand came down on her sit-spots again. How the heck could the
smacks sting so much? Surely the jeans should offer more protection. But they didn’t. Every
time his hand came down, it felt like her ass was going to burst into flames!
“Of course, if you hadn’t followed me, then you’d be sitting in your apartment right now
waiting for me to call you with a report instead of being here over my knee. But you can’t seem
to do what you’re told, can you?” Austin said. “And by the way, I spotted you in my rearview
before I even got out of LA.”
Taylor gasped, not sure if she was more surprised at learning that Austin had known
she’d been following him, or at the hard smack on each cheek that accompanied the words. If
he’d known she’d been following him, why hadn’t he stopped and confronted her? she
wondered. The spanking he was presently giving her made it difficult to come up with an answer
to that question however, especially since the smacks seemed to be falling even harder now.
“I specifically told you to stay in LA, didn’t I?” he asked, punctuating the question with a
hard smack on her jean-clad bottom. “Didn’t I?”
“Owwwww!” she cried. “Yes, dammit!”
“Then why the hell did you follow me?” he demanded.
Did he have any idea how hard it was to have a conversation while getting spanked? She
wondered suddenly if anyone else in the hotel could hear her getting spanked and whether they
would call security. God, she hoped so. She’d love to see some big security goons drag him out
of there! But this was Vegas, she reminded herself. She doubted anyone would pay attention to
anything they heard.
A particularly hard smack pulled her attention back to what he was saying. “I’m still
waiting for an answer. Why did you follow me?”
“Because I...owwwww!...wanted to make sure you were...owwwww!...really going
to...owwwww!...look for my...owwwww!...sister, that’s why!”
“So, you didn’t trust me?” he said.
Taylor bit her lip to stifle another cry. “And I was obviously right not to, wasn’t I?” She
squirmed on his lap. “Dammit, let me up!”
“Only if you agree to shut up long enough to let me explain why I checked into the
hotel,” he told her.
She wanted to argue and tell him that she knew exactly why he had checked into the ritzy
hotel, but her bottom was throbbing so much that it took the fight right out of her. She didn’t care
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