He laughed and tugged the leash to bring her closer to him. “Too bad for you. Keep those hands down, or I’ll bind them with my belt behind you.”
He tugged again, watching her stumble but not reaching out to help her. She shot him an ice-cold look then dropped her hands to her sides.
Appeased, he started walking again, but pulled her closer to him until he stood behind her. When she tried to look back at him and move behind again, he nudged her bare ass with his boot, leaving behind a dirty smudge on her cheek.
“Walk or crawl,” he dictated, and she turned away from him, heading a few paces in front. He let the slack grow again and watched as her hips gently swayed with her steps and the tail dance with each movement.
When she glanced back at him, he took in the soft blush overtaking her cheeks. Fuck. He wouldn’t make it much longer.
The cabin came into view, and he marched in front of her again, shortening the leash while he moved toward her.
Once they were on the porch, he snapped his fingers and pointed to the deck. “Kneel, and don’t get off your knees until I say. If you come inside, you crawl, if you need to go anywhere in the cabin, you crawl.”
Her eyes widened, and her chin moved up an inch in desperate defiance. But he was past the point of allowing that shit.
“Now, Aubree. Or I’ll just put you there myself.” He would, too. No point in making an idle threat. If he said it, he’d do it.
“I don’t get you, Blake. Why are you doing all this?” She plucked at the leash with her fingers.
He bridged the gap between them, bringing his face directly in to hers, giving her nowhere to look but at him.
“Who is your contact at the station and with the Pecadores?”
She swallowed; her eyes tried to divert from him, but she couldn’t manage it for long given their proximity. And there was the little fact he had grabbed the collar and controlled her movements.
“I can’t tell you. Don’t you understand? If I tell you, you’ll tell the police, and then I really will be a rat. And I’ll never…” She possessed enough sense not to finish her sentence.
The damn dog fights again.
“That’s fine, sweetheart. If you won’t tell me, then get on your knees. Because until you do, you’ll stay this way. I’d be lying if I said seeing that plug in your ass didn’t turn me on, because it does. And I know it’s making you even wetter than up at the house. I smell you, Aubree. I can smell your cunt from here.”
Without delay he reached down, cupping her sex. Her juices ran over his fingers.
She turned, pulling away, but he gripped her harder. “Either spill the information or kneel.”
Another degree of defiance, and she slipped down to her knees. Once there, her face leveled with his cock, and she eyed the bulge in his jeans.
He ran his hand over it. “Good girl. Keep this up, and you’ll have a treat inside.” He patted her head and turned to the door.
The little growl she gave made him want to laugh. She played so nicely into the palm of his hands; if she would just give over, just stop with the stubborn charade and let him help her, she could learn to enjoy this sort of play.
Samuel ran up to them, going straight for Aubree and licking her face as she crawled through the living room. She swatted him away gently, and tucked her face into her shoulder to protect herself from further attack.
“Samuel, go lie down,” Blake ordered with a pointed finger to the kitchen.
The dog gave Aubree one final lick and pranced away into the kitchen where Blake had set up a blanket for him to sleep on when he wasn’t dozing in bed.
“One day, you won’t be there to give all the orders, and he’s not going to listen to me,” Aubree grumbled from the floor.
Blake unhooked the leash and went around the room flicking on a lamp before returning to her. He squatted down in front of her, raising her chin with his knuckles.
“I’d rather not think about there being any days I’m not with you.” His throat dried. He couldn’t remember a time when he’d had a similar thought about a woman. Had he ever? Had any woman ever brought him so much irritation and joy at the same time?
She shook her head. “You don’t mean that. You’re only saying it to make yourself feel better for sticking this tail in my ass.”
He brushed the back of his hand down the length of her nose. “No, sweetheart. I don’t feel bad for doing that at all. And I don’t feel bad about what I’m going to do to you in a few minutes, either. But I don’t like this wall you’ve put between us. I don’t like that you won’t tell me the truth, that you won’t give me what I need to protect you from this shit storm raining down on you.”
“I can protect myself.”