Page 11 of Captured Pawn
I couldn’t see her eyes through the night’s darkness, but I could feel her trembling in my arms as I carried her up the steps to the gazebo. She’d finally stopped fighting. The May air was cool, but I knew it wasn’t the temperature that had her shaking, at least not if she was half as smart as I thought she was.
“You can’t keep me here! This is kidnapping,” she argued.
There was finally enough of a shimmer of light from the gazebo’s low-volt lighting to see the fire still burning in her eyes. She had graduated from a kitten to an untamed hellcat, and I had no doubt she’d love nothing more than to scratch my eyes out.
I went on offense. If anyone would be doing any scratching or ripping around here, it would be me. I thrust my fingers through a two-inch tear in the skirt of her dress. It took me all of two seconds to rip the black fabric from hem to neckline. My cock was already enjoying the game of cat and mouse more than it should. The sight of Sophie’s perfect curves coming into view as I shoved the fabric off her shoulders to pool on the floor of the gazebo had me hard enough to press for release from my jeans.
I took a seat on the wrought-iron bench, keeping her close in my arms as I answered, “No, this is called babysitting. And I don’t like it any more than you do, believe me.”
She flailed with all her might to be free as she shouted, “I’m not a baby. I don’t need your help.”
“You damn well could have fooled me. You could have killed yourself back there falling from the tree.”
“I didn’t fall! You pulled me down! And so what if I did die. Why would you care?”
“I’d care because of Matt. I know you don’t believe me, but I would do anything if we could bring him back. But I can’t. And the only thing I can do now is follow his last wish, which was to keep you safe.” I forced myself to take a deep breath before adding, “And you are about to see just how seriously I take my job.”
I didn’t give her a chance to object. I was able to open my legs enough to let her feet drop to the floor as I pushed her top half forward across my left thigh. It was so easy to trap her nearly naked and lithe body between my legs and hold her captive while I used some of the rope still hanging from her leg to pull her arms behind her, wrapping her wrists together at her lower back.
She had spunk, I’d give her that. I had to take a few seconds to catch my breath after wrangling her under control. A string of curse words that would make a truck driver blush were spewing from her mouth, but I paid it no mind. I’d certainly heard worse.
“Time for your next lesson, little girl. This one is going to make the one earlier in the car feel like love taps.”
CHAPTER5
Sophie
He was too damn strong. I should have fought harder when he’d been walking. Now that he had me upside down and tied, I was truly at his mercy.
Things were moving too fast. The jerk had ripped my one and only dress. I could feel the cool night air on my back just before I felt his fingers pulling my panties down my legs along with my last shred of dignity. I was grateful he couldn’t see my face blushing from knowing that he was up there staring at my naked body. Not only because it was damn humiliating, but the blush would only make him believe he was right that I was just a kid.
The brute’s flat palm connected with my ass like a lick of fire. I’d never been spanked, not even as a child. Well, not until today in the car and that had been more than enough for a lifetime. Unlike earlier in the day when he went back and forth between my cheeks, spreading out the heat, tonight he went to town on my right cheek until the pain was so fierce, I screamed.
“Enough! You made your point!”
The jerk had the audacity to laugh at me. Not a little chuckle—a full-blown chortle as if he were watching a comedy show. And I guess, to him, this was all some sick game that he relished playing.
The only thing my screaming appeared to have accomplished was him moving his attention to the other half of my butt. Thwack after thwack his huge hand connected with my ass. I couldn’t have stopped myself from flailing to escape if I’d wanted to.
Next, he started to lecture as his swats continued on without interruption.
“Let’s get a few rules straight.”
I didn’t think the humiliating punishment could possibly get worse, but I was wrong.
Smack. Smack. Smack.They just keep coming like a metronome keeping beat.
“I don’t take instructions from barbarians!” I finally mustered the energy to shout.
“Wrong answer,” he said much too calmly, just before shifting me so my head almost banged against the wooden floor of the gazebo. I pulled at the rope at my wrists, wanting desperately to be able to push off the floor instead of uselessly thrashing my long hair as I flailed, back and forth in rhythm with the relentless punishment to my burning globes.
The new position, unfortunately, gave him even better access to my vulnerable behind, and he wasted no time in taking advantage. Those paddle-like hands started raining down on the spot where my butt met my thighs. Each blistering crack of his palm hurt more than the one before.
I felt the first pinpricks of tears as my panic rose. I was going to die. He was going to kill me.
He didn’t miss a beat as he spoke calmly—as if he wasn’t in the middle of murdering someone. “Like it or not, little girl, I’m in charge here. I’m now your guardian and unlike easygoing Matt, I don’t put up with bratty behavior.”
I choked back a sob. I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of knowing he was getting to me. I struggled to answer him. “You do realize I’m twenty-three years old, right? I’m not a child!”
