Page 12 of Captured Pawn
“You could have fooled me. You act like a brat, you get punished like a brat.” He added a few faster swats in a row as if to make his point.
It was too much. Too much pain. Pain from losing my only brother. My best friend. My business partner. My only living relative. It all hurt me, yet, it was the physical pain lighting my bottom on fire that finally ignited the explosion of sobs I could no longer hold back.
When the dam of tears broke, it felt cathartic. I cried out into the dark night for my brother and all he had lost. Allwehad lost. I howled for the unknown future. And yes, I sobbed from the humiliation of finding myself naked over the lap of a dominant jerk who was also possibly the only other person on the planet who had loved my brother even half as much as I had.
It wasn’t fair.
The next few minutes were a blur. I was grateful the physical assault had finally ended, but it was replaced with something far more confusing. My scorched ass burned as Nick pulled me back up into his lap. My punished skin brushed against his jeans, flaming the heat. It would be bad enough if it were only my ass he’d lit on fire. I did my best to ignore the confusing inferno he’d somehow managed to ignite deep inside—in private places where he hadn’t even touched me.
My emotions were all over the place when he wrapped me in his arms, holding me tight as I cried on his shoulder.
I was grateful he’d stopped lecturing me. My brain told me to push away from him, that he was the enemy, but his light caresses up and down my bare back were too soothing. I couldn’t help but marvel that that same soft hand had felt more like a wooden paddle a few minutes earlier.
As I did my best to get my grieving under control, I felt his other hand as he twined his fingers into my messy long hair. The gentle massages to my scalp were unexpected and for a few rare minutes, I forgot that I hated Nick Knight.
“I miss him too, you know,” he said quietly, reminding me that he’d really loved Matty too.
The moment was raw… intimate. My shivering had nothing to do with the night air and everything to do with the erection I felt growing under my warm ass. As much as I’d have loved to be angry at Nick for his body’s physical reaction to our proximity, instead I prayed I wasn’t leaving a wet mark of my own on his jeans.
And more than anything, I hated that I had to even think about that. He might have been one of most handsome men I’d ever seen in person, but it didn’t matter. He was a barbarian. He had beaten me. I should have been calling the police. Pressing charges. But instead, I was exhausted.
All the righteous fight I’d had in me had fled. Had he beaten it out of me? Maybe my anger would be back tomorrow, at least I hoped so. But tonight… I was out of steam.
As if he could read my mind, Nick stood. I expected him to lower my legs and make me walk. I was relieved when he kept me scooped in his arms and carried me toward the main house. I lay like a wet noodle, unsure if my legs would have even carried me if I’d been forced to walk.
I’d been so obsessed with escape, I hadn’t realized how far I’d been from the front door. The closer we got to the many lights illuminating the grand entrance of the huge house, the more self-conscious I became, aware that he was about to carry me past all his security goons in all my naked glory. I was grateful I at least still had my bra to cover my breasts.
As if he’d read my mind, he stopped just before making the final turn to the front lawn. He lowered my feet to the cool grass.
“Can you stand?” he asked, his voice void of all the anger he’d spewed earlier.
I didn’t have the energy to answer, but I managed a nod. He first removed the rope from around my ankle and my wrists. It hadn’t been particularly tight, but as I was shaking out my arms to return circulation, Nick pulled his skin-tight black T-shirt up and over his head.
It wasn’t fair. The once hidden parts of the asshole’s body were even more impressive than the parts I’d already seen. His toned and tanned torso left no doubt that he worked out often. I prayed the shadowed lighting hid the blush I felt as my mind tried to imagine how perfect the bottom half of that body might be if he took off his pants too.
Embarrassed at where my thoughts had run amok, I tried to focus on pushing my arms through the sleeves of that T-shirt as he held it above my head, helping to cover my body from prying eyes. It was an unexpected kindness shown by a man minutes before I’d been sure was preparing to kill me.
We were silent as he first picked up the rope before once again scooping me up into his arms to resume our trek back to the house. By the time he was climbing the front steps, I had shut my eyes. I hated myself a little for submitting so easily, but I couldn’t muster the energy to fight him. His arms felt too good… too strong… I would let his masculine scent wrap me up, just this once.
I’d let him comfort me tonight, but tomorrow…
CHAPTER6
Nick
She is Matt’s sister. She is Matt’s sister. She is Matt’s sister.
Maybe if I repeated it in my head enough it would sink in. When it wasn’t working, I switched over to a new mantra.
I don’t do soft. I don’t do drama. Stay the fuck away from Sophie Locke.
I didn’t have nearly enough time to try to figure out what the hell had happened in the gazebo. One minute I’d been roasting her cute little ass, like she more than deserved, and the next…fuck. I’d let her tears sway me. That never happened.
Soft. I was going soft.
Well, fuck that. Clearly, Matt’s death was still impacting my judgment. I would have to be more vigilant to make sure that never happened again.
As I approached the front steps, I forced myself to think of my own baby sister, Natalie. She was off at her final year of law school. I shouldn’t feel any different toward Sophie Locke than I did toward Nat. If my sister had been stupid enough to do even half of the shit Matt’s sister had pulled tonight, both Nathan and I would have had zero problems showing her the error of her ways. With our father dying when she was a baby, we’d taken our role of older brothers quite seriously.
