by Lilly Holden
But there hadn’t been another Christmas with Mom.
Stupid tears filled my eyes. I blinked them away, furious with myself for…God, I don’t know, being weak? I tried to open the top of the bag, but the zipper was stuck, or at least my hands were too shaky when I tugged on the metal tab, snagging some of the bag’s material in the zip.
I cursed and tried again as my hair fell across my eyes, obscuring my vision. A sob escaped from me. Everything was conspiring against me to prevent me getting through this moment with my dignity intact. All I wanted was the bag to open, dammit. I roughly wiped away a tear with the back of my hand and tried again.
“Charlotte.”
Refusing to look at him, I kept my attention on the toiletry bag. If I could just keep my focus here, I wouldn’t fall apart. Wouldn’t be scared. I just needed to get the fucking bag to—
Jake’s hands grasped mine in a firm but gentle grip and took the bag from me, tossing it into the duffel.
“Look at me.”
I closed my eyes for precious seconds before lifting my gaze to his.
He gripped the back of my neck in that same firm hold he’d used on me before, demanding my attention. A flutter of pleasure raced over my skin at his masterful touch, quickly followed by a wave of guilt. How could I feel any kind of delight at the hands of this man?
The pressure on my neck increased by a tiny degree, and the excitement that raced through my veins felt so, so…wonderful.
“I know you’re scared.” His gaze flicked to the tear drying on my cheek. “But you have nothing to fear from me, Charlotte. I won’t hurt you.” He traced a thumb down my cheek and over my lips, pushing my mouth open just enough to wet the tip of his thumb, before going lower to press over the pulse point in my neck. “Not in the way you imagine.”
My heart skipped a beat at his dark promise.
“What does that mean?”
He huffed a dry laugh, the action seemingly more to himself than for my benefit. “Just know you’ve never been more protected than you are now.” The way his voice deepened on those last words, like he was making a promise to me that he’d keep at all costs, left me reeling.
One moment, he was threatening Wyatt, choking the very life out of him, and the next telling me not to be afraid. And even more confusing, I wanted to believe him, to lean on his strength and let him keep me safe.
Shaking my head, I let the words tumble out. “I don’t understand what’s happening here.”
“I know.” For a fleeting moment, I was sure the hard features of his face softened. Cupping a finger under my chin, he tipped my head back. Before I could fathom what has happening, he kissed me.
No, not just a kiss. He claimed my mouth. Gentle at first, tasting me, letting me get used to his touch, then harder, forcing my lips apart as his tongue swept inside.
I gave over to his bone-melting incursion, letting myself glory in the each shiver of delight as he moved his hand from under my chin and gripped my bottom, dragging me near, and pressing me against the rock-solid length of his body.
I didn’t fight him. Not even close. Pressing my hands against his chest, I savored the feel of the hard muscled strength under my fingers. I’d been kissed before, but never like this and never by a man as confident and imposing as Jake.
My tragic lack of experience in kissing, let alone sex, was obvious. I had innocently fooled around with guys the same age as me. Mere boys compared to the hard, commanding man who, right this minute, was turning my world upside down.
Titling his head, Jake changed the angle of his kiss, nipping at my lips. The small sting on my flesh was like an arrow of heat to my pussy, spreading warmth deep between my legs that I hadn’t felt…ever.
I fisted the material of his t-shirt, desperate to cling to something as a blinding array of new sensations left me giddy.
Slowly, as if not wanting to end our kiss, Jake raised his head.
The raw hunger in his eyes left me breathless. But there was more, not just desire, but…something…that same possessiveness I’d seen at the diner, maybe? I couldn’t put my finger on it, but I knew, right then, that if I let him, Jake would ruin me in ways I hadn’t yet begun to understand.
“I meant what I said. You never have to be afraid of me, sweetness.” He brushed my cheek with the back of a finger. “Whatever else you need, I’ll get for you.” After zipping the duffel, he grabbed my hand and dragged me out of the room toward the front door. I managed to grab my tote from the floor near the living room doorway. There was no sign of my cousin or Jake’s buddies.
“Where’s Wyatt?”
Jake pulled me outside toward the last of the SUVs in the driveway. “He’s no longer your problem.”
I dug in my heels, managing only to slow him down a tiny fraction. “Tell me. Where is he?”
Stopping so fast I bumped into him, Jake froze me in place with his piercing stare. “He’s no longer your problem.” Each word was announced with such precision and finality I didn’t dare question further.
Seconds later, I was lifted into the passenger seat of the SUV and my bags tossed into the back. As Jake walked around to the driver’s side, I debated making a run for it to a neighbor’s house. Since I didn’t know anyone, and as Wyatt was likely still with Jake’s cohorts, that plan lasted about five seconds. Still that didn’t stop me from looking around, hoping to catch the eye of somebody coming out of their house. Maybe if I tried to signal I was in danger?
So intent was I on getting help, I didn’t think anything was up until the silence in the car made me turn to face Jake.
How long he’d been studying me I had no idea. But from the way the muscles around his mouth tightened, he wasn’t happy with his conclusions.
He turned and stared out past the windshield. “There’s no polite way to do this, so I’m just gonna get the job done.” He lifted the lid of a storage console between the two seats and pulled out a pair of handcuffs.
Seconds later, my arms were drawn behind my back. I felt the cool metal encircle one wrist and heard a decidedly loud snick as the lock ratcheted into place. Only then did I think to struggle, but my other wrist was cuffed before I could do no more than tug uselessly against Jake’s hold.
I stared at my captor, mouth open, before I sputtered my indignation. “Why?”
He slanted me a wry look as he pulled the seat belt snug over me and snapped it in place. “You were about to try something stupid, and I’m saving both of us from unnecessary drama.”
“You said you wouldn’t hurt me.” I twisted against the cuffs and got precisely nowhere. Fear inched a cold path deep into my belly.
“And I won’t. But I never said I wouldn’t be a bastard.” He turned on the SUV’s ignition and backed out of the driveway. “Over the next seven days, you’ll learn the difference.”
I sat back, chastened by both his words and the fact I was now handcuffed and being taken God knows where by this dangerous, intimidating man.
But that wasn’t what kept me silent. It was the knowledge that every time Jake had forced me to do his bidding, he’d never hurt me. Not once.
More shocking was the intoxicating flurry of excitement his every touch wrung from me.
As the view outside the passenger window sped by, I consoled myself with the idea my weakness around Jake was me simply coping with the avalanche of emotions and shock thrown at me in the last twenty minutes.
That had to be the excuse.
No, the reason, dummy.
But what about the way my pulse raced as I kept testing the hold of Jake’s cuffs? Not with fear, but…anticipation?
And the fact that, each time I looked at his strong hands as they gripped the SUV’s steering wheel, I imagined how they would feel holding me? Containing me. Pinning me down.
On that score, I had no answers, just more questions.
Including the fact I now belonged to Jake and was his to do with whatever he pleased—for seven days.
What the hell did he have
planned for me?
CHAPTER FOUR
Jake
I scanned the horizon from my driver’s seat. Nothing but grassy paddocks and a few lines of trees. Exactly what my team wanted from their rental property. No neighbors. No witnesses to their movements except some birds flying to the creek that trickled a few hundred yards behind the brown brick ranch house. We’d left any kind of main road thirty minutes ago. It was all back country lanes here, including the two mile private road I drove over as we approached the large ranch house.
Getting the right location to base ourselves during this mission hadn’t been hard. With enough money and the right connections, a person could obtain whatever they wanted, no questions asked.
The reminder of any lack of questions had me glancing to my right. The little waitress had been quiet. Too quiet. Her gaze was fixed out the window. Was she trying to memorize every part of the journey to make her escape? Any attempt would be in vain, but it was the stiff line of her shoulders and the way she leaned away from me in her seat that made me clench my jaw.
Fear. She feared me.
Fuck. I should be happy. Fear would encourage her to obey me and not try something stupid.
But the protective side of me wanted to reassure her like some fucking knight in shining armor. Back at her piss-weak cousin’s house, I’d stated I wouldn’t hurt her. Christ, what a joke. In her shoes, I wouldn’t believe me either.
The SUV shuddered as I drove over the cow grate between the private road and the driveway. Charlotte adjusted herself in her seat, her arms still cuffed behind her.
Seeing her there, cuffed, had blood rushing to my cock. Bondage and domination were my kinks. I liked a woman tied for my—and her—pleasure. The way Charlotte had earlier kept testing the hold of the cuffs and twisting in the passenger seat made me want to burn the miles, get her home, and teach the sweet-looking woman all the filthy things I’d do to make her beg for my cock.
Maintaining the discipline needed for me to get the mission done and also secure her to me in all the ways I wanted would be a fine balancing act. But first priority was keeping her safe.
Part of achieving that was establishing who was in charge. That lesson, although begun earlier, was due for reinforcement now.
I parked the SUV in front of the ranch house and a couple of minutes later had Charlotte sitting on a chair in the kitchen. The wooden spindles that formed the back of the chair suited my plan nicely.
I turned on the house AC as my guest glanced around the room, likely noting the seventies décor of burnt orange cabinetry and old appliances, plus the wooden table and chairs. The bare bones needed to feed people and store food. What she couldn’t see was the alarm system we’d rigged up, nor the locks attached to each of the windows. The latter had been done in the two hours after my team and I had rushed home from the diner to put my updated plans for Charlotte into action.
I moved behind Charlotte to one of the kitchen drawers that held handcuffs, tape, rope and other items I might need at any time. Call it all those years as a SEAL, but I liked being prepared no matter what part of the house I was in. Besides, if in an emergency I needed to secure the little waitress more stringently, wasting precious time to run back to the bedroom for supplies wasn’t an option.
“Look, uh, Jake…” Charlotte began, glancing back over her shoulder at me. “Can we set some ground rules?”
“You read my thoughts, sweetness.” I pulled out a spare set of cuffs from the drawer, noting the widening of her eyes as I walked over. Without pausing, I attached one cuff around a wooden spindle on the chair’s back and then locked the other metal ring around chain at the middle of her cuffs, making it impossible for the little waitress to get up out of the chair if I left the room.
I sat down and pulled a stunned Charlotte close, chair and all, so she was between my legs. Leaning in, I spread my hands over her thighs, reinforcing both her helplessness and purposely crowding her space.
Touching her, feeling the warmth of her skin was a nice side benefit. I tightened my grip, noting her slight shiver. From fear? No, her gaze was more wary, her slight frown indicating confusion more than anything else.
“The house is wired with an alarm, plus there’s hidden cameras in some places.”
Her gaze darted to the high corners of the room. In truth, only the living room and the outside had cameras, which were monitored by my team. But she didn’t need to know that.
Nor did she need to know that, this afternoon, the guys had moved out of here and into the bunk-house located a hundred yards to the west of the house.
I squeezed her thighs, immediately reclaiming her attention.
“There is nowhere you can hide, Charlotte.”
She swallowed, the full enormity of her lack of power hitting her. “You don’t need to use handcuffs.”
“I know.” Slowly, I let my fingertips trail over her thighs to her knees as I leaned back in my chair. “But I want to, and this week is all about what I want and you obeying me.”
There. Right there. That quick intake of breath. The way her eyes widened.
Now she fully understood.
“I…” She licked her lips. “I didn’t… You said you wouldn’t hurt me. But I didn’t agree to”—she tugged on the cuffs—“this!”
With a fingertip, I drew tiny circles over the soft skin above her knee. “You’re not here against your will. Say the word and you can leave any time.”
Her jaw dropped. “How can I? You’ll hurt Wyatt.”
Time for some honesty. “And? You owe him nothing. You could have walked away back at his house and left that piece of shit to his fate.” I let the words sink in for a second. “But you chose to come with me. Maybe there’s a part of you that wanted to be here even if the idea scares you.” Rising from the chair, I gently pushed back a wave of hair that had now fallen over her face. The blonde strands were silky to my touch. Twisting them in my hand, I tugged hard, forcing her head back. She caught her breath, but the kicker was the way her pupils dilated at my rough hold. Fucking gorgeous. “I’ll let you think on that while I get your bags and fix us some dinner.”
Why not add something extra to her deliberations?
I bent down and captured her mouth with mine, hard enough to force her lips apart and push my tongue inside. It wasn’t a polite kiss. I was branding her in a way that went deeper than marking her skin.
Right when I felt her relax into the kiss I lifted my head.
Leaving her wanting more was key to forcing Charlotte to question whether she really wanted to leave.
As I walked down the hallway to the front door, I heard the clink of the cuffs. No doubt the little blonde was testing her bonds. Good. She’d have even more chance to get used to restraints over the next seven days.
Once Charlotte’s gear was stored in the main bedroom, I rustled up turkey and cheese sandwiches and glasses of iced tea for both of us. Not the fanciest of dinners, but one that would do for tonight. Setting the meals down on the table, I released her from her cuffs, noting the way she rubbed her wrists.
I silently cursed at the faint red marks that ringed her wrists. But metal cuffs worked when a guy was in a hurry. In the future, I’d have time to plan the stages where I would introduce her to my brand of kink.
Right now, I wanted to get to know Charlotte. After a phone call to my boss, Lance, I’d received an email detailing all the updated intel on my target. But I wanted to hear the story from her lips.
“Why were you living with your cousin? Your accent says you’re not from Texas.” I picked up one half of my sandwich and took a bite.
Charlotte stared at me a second before reaching for her glass of iced tea. A delaying tactic. No problem. I could be patient.
When it suited me.
“I’m from Chicago. I moved here after…” She glanced to the side. More avoidance. “…the lease was up on my apartment. Seemed a time for a change.”
I nodded, hiding the fact I knew she was lying. No m
ention of the death of her mother? Too personal to share with me, a man she probably saw as a threat? Or would it reveal too much pain? “How long have you been here?”
“Three weeks.”
I took another bite of my sandwich, and she reached for her own.
Good, she was letting down her guard, even if she wasn’t aware.
“What about you?” she asked.
I lifted a brow in silent question.
“Your accent isn’t Texan either.”
“I’m from Philadelphia.” That much was true. I didn’t want to give her the standard cover story I used when on a mission. Hell, I wanted to claim her fully and then see her sitting across from me at breakfast long into the future.
Starting off with lies, even small ones, wasn’t ideal. But until the guys and I finished this job, the safety of all us outweighed my urge to share all about me.
The finer details of my life would remain hidden for now, but there was plenty I could divulge. Anything I did share would be used to gain more of her trust.
“Big change, Chicago to a small town in Texas. I’d have thought there were more interesting places to try than Longreach.” I sipped my iced tea, before adding, “I guess having family here was the deciding factor.” The only family she now had according to the information Lance had emailed.
Her laugh was without any humor. “Look how that turned out.” She tossed her half eaten sandwich on her plate. “I would have been better staying in Chicago.” Reaching again for her iced tea, she asked, “Do you have family?”
“My parents died when I was in my late teens.” Hell, if you could call them parents. Hank and Brenda Carter. Most of the time they were drunk or arguing during the rare times they were both sober. “Car accident. Hit a tree while speeding.” And drunk. Thankfully, nobody else had been killed along with them. “I didn’t have any siblings.”
Not until I joined the military. Then I found the brothers I’d always wished for.
