by Tina Donahue
Daniel’s muscles started to hurt. He kept that pain from his voice. “Sure, but she invited all of you along simply to be polite. Correct?”
Nat’s grin spread even wider this time. “I could be wrong. Only one way for you to find out.”
“Hey,” a young voice called from the guts of the restaurant, “it’s open.” An Inupiat teen ducked his head around the door of the back room. His straight black hair fell over his right eye. “We’d like three sausage and pepperoni pizzas, pronto.”
“Now son,” Nat said, “does he look like a cook?” He gestured to Daniel.
The boy studied each of them in turn and settled on Junior. “Can you get us our order?”
“Go home,” Daniel muttered. “The restaurant’s closed. You should be in bed at this hour.”
The kid screwed up his mouth. His buddies leaned around him, looking into the small space.
“It’s Friday,” the first boy said.
Daniel headed for them.
They fled the business end of the restaurant before Daniel had reached the door of the back room.
Nat shuffled the cards. “Ready for another hand?”
Daniel grabbed his parka. “Game’s over.”
“You’re sure?” Nat said and offered a sly smile. “I’d say it’s about to begin.”
Chapter Three
Alexandra hugged her steering wheel. Her body shook from the cold and the impact of what she’d put into motion. The real fallout she hadn’t allowed herself to consider until now.
What if all the guys showed up tomorrow night except for Daniel?
Oh god.
She’d been too worried about rejection to have even thought of that. She’d played it cool so Daniel wouldn’t know what a fucking mess she really was.
Whimpering, Alexandra wondered if she’d have the guts to go through with her shameless invitation. Nat, Red, Junior mounting her one by one or all at the same time. Doing whatever the hell else they did with women.
Domination. Submission. Punishment. Oh crap, she’d mentioned that part of her fantasy, hadn’t she. Alexandra suddenly recalled that, and how Daniel had interpreted what she’d said as BDSM. The same as any normal man would.
She rolled her forehead over the wheel. Thankfully, she’d pulled off the road a few moments before, too shaken to drive, and had parked behind a group of other vehicles. The pizza parlor was visible in her sideview mirror, which ironically stated things were closer than they appeared. Tell that to her rubbery legs. Alexandra wasn’t certain she had the strength to go back and claim her indecent proposal was all a mistake, a joke, she’d been yanking their chain.
Maybe it was unnecessary. Could be they’d stand her up. After their beer buzz wore off, along with the shock of what she’d said, they might believe avoidance was the best course. Pretend none of this had happened.
Alexandra chewed her lip, uncertain whether to be comforted or disturbed at the thought of them blowing her off. She’d gone through that pain at sixteen with a boy she’d asked to a school dance. Her father’s housekeeper had helped her get ready. Alexandra’s mom had been long gone by that time, making yet another new family with her third husband.
Nervous and excited, Alexandra had waited and waited for her date to show up. He hadn’t and never bothered to apologize. Months later, when she saw him at a country club function, he pretended nothing had happened. As if standing up a girl for an important dance, a damn rite of passage, was the most natural thing in the world when it came to someone like her.
Funny how that still hurt and made her even more undecided about what she wanted to do. What she should—
Her thoughts halted at the flash of headlights cutting across the icy terrain. Snow buried miles of tundra, creating a landscape as barren as the moon’s, this one dotted with too few structures, some modest and residential, most sprawling and energy-related. Brutal winds buffeted her SUV. She gripped her wheel as the AWD pickup left the parking area of the restaurant and headed in her direction.
Earlier, she’d turned off her lights. Now Alexandra killed her motor. Seconds passed, her racing pulse the only thing warming her. The pickup drew closer, closer, closer, and finally passed.
With Daniel behind the wheel.
Alexandra would have recognized his broad shoulders and profile anywhere. Her body went limp with longing.
Instead of heading for the barracks, where all the men slept, he went in the opposite direction. Except for a few residences and her cabin on the outskirts of the village, there wasn’t anything else past this point.
Curiosity and desire compelled her to follow, meet him at her place, entice him inside. In between teasing kisses, she’d admit her desire for him, her hands running down his big, strong body, tarrying on all the best parts, cupping his balls through the rough denim of his jeans. He’d lose all control, his mouth claiming hers, his tongue spearing inside.
He’d taste of warmth, life, sex, everything a woman needed to get through another shitty day. They’d tear off each other’s clothes. She’d climb on top, straddling him, because she was the boss. He’d allow it for a second, then show her who was really in charge.
With her beneath him, trapped by his powerful form, his hands imprisoning her wrists, he’d pound his rigid shaft into her pussy, demanding his due. She’d yield as a woman should, moaning in delight at the exquisite sensations sluicing through her. He’d do her one better and bellow his pleasure.
Or he’d keep on his clothes, deflect her advances, and tell her the score. She wasn’t his type.
That awful possibility kept Alexandra from doing anything more than restarting her motor so she wouldn’t freeze to death. Her teeth chattered and her shoulders shook, not entirely from the cold but the harsh truth.
Daniel wasn’t going to her place to get a jump start on tomorrow night. He planned to have that talk he’d demanded earlier. Tell her she’d been way out of line. Order her to behave as he wanted, just as her grandfather always had.
Her earlier embarrassment faded beneath quick irritation.
So what if she’d been a little forward tonight. Okay, make that downright pushy. Since when was that a freaking crime? If a guy had done what she had, his buddies would have given him a high-five for being so damn ballsy. Why should it be different for a woman?
Up here in the deep freeze, ordinary formalities didn’t mean squat. This was literally the Wild West with all that it implied. Prince Charming wasn’t on his way to rescue her and provide a happily-ever-after. Hell, even with her “do-you-want-to-play-with-me” offer, Daniel hadn’t been ready to get down and dirty.
His taillights winked with each bump in the road, the red pinpoints of brightness finally disappearing as he turned a corner that led directly to her place.
Alexandra put her blower on full blast, gritted her teeth at the still coolish air and headed back into the village. No way was she going to make this easy. Daniel was going to have to search for her as she’d done for him earlier. Maybe by the time he finally caught up, he’d want her as badly as she hungered for him.
Maybe he’d lose his good sense beneath unbearable yearning.
Maybe he’d simply give up on her, not caring what happened. She was a big girl. According to her grandfather, too damn big. She could take care of herself.
With that depressing possibility, Alexandra blew out an edgy sigh and drove past the pizza parlor to the few other spots in the area. The grocery store, community center, her office.
Daniel frowned at the cabin’s dark windows, Alexandra’s SUV nowhere in sight.
He’d been so certain she’d come here he’d been ready to pound on her door, then read her the riot act, explaining what she should have already known. She was crazy for throwing herself at his crew. She shouldn’t have pulled rank on him like a spoiled princess. Nor should she be playing at sex with little concern over where it could lead.
She wasn’t a fucking guy. She should know better.
Hell, Daniel did, even
though he was a horny male. Not even as a teen had he behaved as she had tonight.
He’d spent those early years in the village, too much testosterone pumping through him the same as all the other boys. With little to do during the long winter nights, many of his buddies had managed to get their girlfriends pregnant and began the long road to fatherhood, endless bills, dead-end jobs. At sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, their lives were over, having never really begun.
Daniel had kept his focus on college, a career, the same as his father. His dad’s job with an oil company relocated the family to Seattle. All during the rest of his school years, Daniel promised himself he’d return to the village, help those left behind. A few of his boyhood friends welcomed the connections he’d provided them, eagerly working their asses off at the good positions they’d landed. Others resented what they called his intrusion into their lifestyle—living off the land, hunting, fishing, barely subsisting. What they’d said he should have honored given the heritage he shared with them. They had all they needed and didn’t want more.
Daniel hadn’t understood their scorn then and still didn’t now. It was one thing to rally against corporate interests that wanted to rape the land. It was another to be blind to the energy needs of the country. If the fuel could come from here, with little impact on the environment, that was a win-win for everyone. Besides, he hadn’t offered them charity, just a chance to make life easier, the same as his parents had done for him. His father, especially, had warned Daniel about caving to desire, letting it become the most important thing in his world. The good feelings would last a moment, while the complications they produced might linger for a lifetime.
Or for the length of this project.
He huffed out a sigh, not wanting to consider how uncomfortable it would be to see Alexandra every day once he’d watched her go at it with Nat, Red, and Junior. God, Junior most of all. When it came to women, that kid had nads where his brains should be. Fucking was all Junior could think of. He didn’t care about Alexandra except as a warm body with a cunt and boobs.
Was that what she wanted from a guy? Pure sex with a lot of kink?
She’d claimed to be into everything. Daniel wondered who’d initiated her into the lifestyle and figured it was an executive during one of her corporate jobs. Most likely an attorney in a five-thousand-dollar suit who couldn’t wait to teach her what really went on in those impressive high-rises.
Daniel frowned at the thought and dismissed it, remembering his own initiation during college, with a woman in his apartment building.
Several years older than him, she’d relished discipline. He discovered how awesome it was to be fully in charge, the ground rules of their relationship all laid out. Nothing messy. No shitty surprises. A blueprint for how he wanted to lead his life, keeping a tight rein on his feelings that could trap or wound him, destroying his future. Once he’d established his career, he traveled too much to settle down, spending months away from a home base. Hell, he didn’t even have a permanent residence anymore.
And he liked that just fine.
The same as he did BDSM role playing, the erotic games, calling the shots.
With the right woman.
He leaned against his car door and pictured Alexandra stripped to skin while he remained dressed. Her face lowered in submission, hair free and flowing over her shoulders, down her back, candlelight bringing out the reddish highlights in those silken waves. He considered what they’d smell like. Shampoo? Perfume? Something light and sweet or dark and sultry?
His cock thickened. His thoughts grew dangerous.
He imagined her hands manacled and lifted above her head, the chains secured to hooks in the ceiling. There’d be no slack in the irons, the links so taut she’d have to stand on her toes, tightening her calves to maintain balance. Shackles would circle her ankles, those restraints held to bolts in the floor, perfectly spaced so she’d have no choice except to part her legs widely. She’d be exposed, completely vulnerable. Her buttocks tensed as she prepared for the punishment to come.
He’d make her wait for it, silence filling the minutes, time crawling by at an agonizingly slow pace while he regarded her inability to get away from him. Her lack of protection from every fucking thing he intended to do. A faint sheen of perspiration would coat her skin while her breasts would quiver with each of her ragged breaths. Her nipples would be oh so firm, a rosy color rather than a light pink, her bush darker than her other hair, her cunt slick with her excitement, moist with expectation.
He’d be impatient as hell to plow into her, but wouldn’t. Not just yet, recalling how she’d mentioned punishment at the pizza place. Whatever rocked his world, she’d said. He’d warned her about not knowing what she was getting herself into. She hadn’t listened. Bad, bad girl. He’d have to show her.
Slowly, he’d pull his belt from his jeans’ loops, the rasp of leather against cloth exciting and intimidating her even more. He’d drag the end of his belt along the inside of her thigh, then to the crease where her buttocks began. There, he’d spend a long time, running the leather over her unprotected ass, up the furrow separating her cheeks, across the dimples at the top.
She’d push higher on her toes then stop and lower herself, a foolish attempt to maintain her composure.
He wouldn’t want her complacent. He’d need her crying out in delight, which would bring more punishment and an equal amount of pleasure. Every sound she made, each word uttered would earn another lick of the strap.
He wasn’t like other Doms who used ball gags to keep their subs quiet. Alexandra’s self-control would be her only means to avoid further discipline. Nor would he blindfold her during their play. Daniel envisioned a mirror next to them. Him ordering her to watch his belt connecting with her ass. For her to anticipate it…to welcome it…as she regarded their reflections.
With his hand on the curve of her hip, he’d keep her still, captive to whatever he desired. His belt would whistle through the air, the first lick of it sounding too loud as it struck her flesh.
She’d stiffen, then moan, a disobedient act. A faint stain on her buttocks would register where he’d marked her. He’d follow it with another, punishment for the sound she’d made. Disciplining her with care and resolve, not stopping until she obeyed finally, and he had her full surrender.
Once she gave it and he mounted her repeatedly, she’d move on to Nat and Red and—
“Shit.”
Daniel hit the heel of his hand against the steering wheel, not wanting to see her with anyone else. And not because of what Nat had claimed. It wasn’t jealousy motivating him. It was…
Crap. He wasn’t sure.
Something kept gnawing deep inside, giving Daniel an urge to run, while also making him too listless to move. Weird. Like her continuing effect on him. On one hand, he wanted to protect Alexandra. On the other, he’d just gotten a monumental hard-on from his fantasy of punishing then taking her.
Swearing, he drove toward the village. She had to be somewhere close, unless she’d skidded off the road into the sea. Craning his neck, he searched for tire marks in the snow or her SUV stranded on the frozen body of water, but saw neither.
She hadn’t returned to the pizza place, nor had she gone to the other restaurant in the village.
He tried her office. Her SUV wasn’t in the lot. The grocery store had a few customers, none of them her. She wasn’t at the community center either.
Could she have made friends with one of the village women and gone to that lady’s place for some girl talk and giggles about what was going to happen tomorrow night?
Alexandra had warned him that he wouldn’t be able to stop it.
Okay, so he couldn’t. However, that didn’t mean he’d have to join in.
Shoulders bunched, Daniel went to the barracks, grateful he had his own quarters. His room wasn’t much bigger than a prison cell, but at least he didn’t have to sleep next to a bunch of other sex-starved guys.
He punched his pillow and
jerked from side to side on his narrow bunk, trying to get comfortable. Impossible. He kept thinking of Alexandra, the hunger he’d seen on her face for him. Only him. It had lasted a fraction of a second before she’d invited his crew to enjoy her.
Daniel threw his pillow across the room. It hit his alarm clock, knocking it to the floor. The digital numbers went crazy, blinking in time to his sprinting pulse and racing thoughts.
Nat, Red and Junior would definitely show up at Alexandra’s place tomorrow. They’d made that quite clear. However, that didn’t mean they were going to get everything they expected or wanted.
Daniel grabbed his cell phone and placed his call to make certain of it.
Chapter Four
Saturday arrived cold and dark with the threat of snow.
Perspiration clung to Alexandra’s neck and back. She’d been cleaning for hours as she’d never done in her life. Hadn’t been necessary. Before coming here, she’d always had a housekeeping staff trailing after her, picking up stuff, making certain everything was spotless.
Her cabin, or rather her grandfather’s cabin, hadn’t looked this good since she’d arrived then started to trash it like the slob she was. Bad move. She’d broken two nails and pulled countless muscles scouring every inch of the place. As though Better Homes & Gardens was stopping by for a photo shoot, rather than four brawny men who’d been without a woman for weeks.
You can do this… You want to do—
A noise shot through the room. Alexandra flinched at the crack, pop, whatever it was, and turned to the front door, her pulse thumping in her throat. She tensed, waiting to hear the sound again, what she feared had been footfalls crunching ice on the porch. Daniel ready to knock, wanting in so he could holler at her until she listened and obeyed.
Yeah, like that was going to happen. She got even hotter, annoyance building in her again, momentarily pushing away her dread.
Go on, pound on the door, yell all you want. It won’t change my mind.
Nothing happened except for a new blast of wind whisking around the cabin, followed by another loud pop. She started at the sound then looked over. A spray of sparks erupted from a crumbling log in the stone fireplace.
