by Anthology
His smile became a grin. A sexy one at that, the kind that normally made me want to rip off his clothes and climb on top of him, but given that we were discussing his mother, I couldn’t allow myself to go there.
“She assumes we’re staying with her,” he said casually.
I swallowed hard, but the sudden lump in my throat didn’t yield a centimeter. Months ago he’d decided that I would meet his mother over the winter holidays. I liked the idea, that it cemented our relationship.
At first I’d even been enthusiastic about it, but that was before I’d seen the Parisian neighborhood where Corbin had spent the last few years of his adolescence. I’d known his family was wealthy, but one look at his former home and I’d realized that he’d grown up obscenely wealthy. His mother was likely to be formal, respectable… judgmental, I feared. I could put up with anything for a few hours, but I was going to need my own space.
“If you were a good boyfriend, you’d offer to do that anyway,” I pointed out.
Corbin caught me, pulled me close, and even though I pretended to struggle, the reality was that each attempted tug away from him only made him tighten his muscular arms around me. It was too much like being held down in bed. Goddamn, I needed to get off.
“Baby,” he whispered into my ear. He clearly wasn’t in a hurry to finish his sentence because he pressed his nose into my hair. “You smell so good.”
“Usually when you say that, you’re not near my neck,” I said.
“I’m happy to remedy that right now,” he said. He would do it, too.
I shivered.
His stubble scraped tantalizingly against my skin. “Let me ask you, baby—would you want to be with a man who would break his mother’s heart without a good reason?”
“So now you’re saying you think you’ll win?”
“No, I don’t think that.” His voice had fallen to a low, lazy growl, and I was willing to bet his eyes were half closed.
My body was primed for him, my pussy wet. Maybe I should take him up on his offer.
“Do we have a bet?” he asked.
“Yes,” I said.
Instantly, Corbin stepped away. “Excellent. Let’s get you back to the office.”
I held up a finger. “So you want to get started on Chaew,” I said, shaking my head. “You think you’ll win.”
“Nope, I still don’t think that.” He considered. “At least, I don’t think that now. It could change, of course. Tell you what. If I modify my appraisal of the situation, I’ll let you know.”
He took my hand and led me back toward the office. We hadn’t gotten very far.
I was both pissed at myself and confused. Confused because… Did I believe I was a better bounty hunter or not?
And pissed for obvious reasons.
Corbin had contacts, unlimited money, and gadgets I could only dream about.
“You can’t use anything that’s not legal,” I said.
“There’s a saying,” Corbin said, coming to a stop beside his SUV. “You might have heard it. All’s fair in love and war.”
I glared at him, but heaven help me, if he’d suggested we drive around the corner for some quick fucking, I would have agreed.
He stepped close to me and brushed a thumb over my lips until they parted for him. I was breathing hard but not quite panting.
“I love you,” he said. “I told you before, when it comes to you, I’m not afraid to play dirty to get what I want.”
“Joke’s on you,” I said. “If you weren’t being so arrogant, I’d offer you sex.”
We looked at each other. He surely realized this was my way of asking for a quick tumble.
“Maybe later,” he said. “I’ve got work to do.”
He kissed my cheek loudly—almost obnoxiously so—and pointed me toward the office, swatting my ass to get me moving. “See you tonight,” he called out.
Corbin was most certainly up to something.
Chapter Ten
I burst into Rob’s office. Startled, his eyes wide, he regarded me silently.
“We have to get Chaew,” I said.
Someone entered the office behind me, and I turned.
“Did I hear you say you’re going to get Chaew?” Jasper looked excited. “What’s the first step?”
I wanted to tell him to come back in a week, when things were calmer, but then I remembered what Dad had said. I neither liked nor disliked Jasper, though I hated his reason for being in the office.
“What did your friend want?” Rob asked me.
“We made a friendly wager,” I said. “He thinks he can catch Chaew before Stroop Finders does.”
Rob barked out a laugh. “I hope you didn’t bet more than five bucks on that.”
“Really? Way to show company pride, Rob.”
“Oh, don’t get your feathers in a tizzy. Did you forget that our entire plan for succeeding was to ask him for help?”
In fact, I had forgotten it, but it didn’t matter. “We don’t need him,” I said.
Rob winced, one eye closing all the way. “Yeah… no. I think we do.”
“We don’t. We…” All’s fair in love and war? “Fine. Then we’ll stick to that plan.”
“The plan where we ask him for help and then he helps us? How exactly would that work in a wager situation?”
“I have my ways,” I said.
Rob looked so skeptical that if Jasper hadn’t been sitting there, furiously taking notes, I might have thrown something big and heavy at my brother’s head.
“Push anyone who might know anything,” I said. “Call Martin, wake him up. I want him to go back and talk to Anise again.”
“He already did. She doesn’t know anything.”
“Then get two people on her.”
“Already done. She’s being closely watched.”
“Then…” Fuck. I was out of orders to give. “Cuff Jasper. He should know what it feels like.”
“That’s a really good idea,” Jasper said. “But maybe a girl could do it?”
“Have fun.” I went to my office to grab my keys.
“Where are you going?” Rob called out as I rushed by his open door.
I doubled back. “I want you to call Cor—call my friend and ask him when he thinks we’ll be back.”
“But you’re here,” Rob said.
“Never mind that. Just call him.”
My heart pounded in my throat as I descended to the parking lot. Only four vehicles were parked there, but that was enough. Even though I knew Corbin was gone, part of me felt that he would somehow sense that I was about to break the rules.
But, really, he’d brought this on himself.
I slipped off the sweater he’d lent me—goodbye beautiful, soft sweater—and dropped it onto the ground, next to the front door.
Then I crouched behind my car to wait.
It seemed like an eternity before Corbin’s SUV roared into the parking lot, but it had probably only been about three minutes. Despite how serious the situation was, or perhaps because of it, I felt inappropriate giggles bubbling up.
Corbin was going to kill me.
He jumped out of the truck—I allowed myself the luxury of lifting my head just enough that I could peek—and strode to the door.
My heart pounded in my throat as I shifted position to watch. If he got really freaked out, I’d have to give myself up.
“Audrey,” he called out. He had the sweater in his hands. “You’re out here. Do you want to know how I know?” He walked to Rob’s car, crouched, looked under it.
Oh, shit.
There was something terrifying about having a man Corbin’s size pissed and looking for me. The hysterical giggles threatened to start again.
What the hell was wrong with me?
“Temperature, baby,” he said, moving to the next vehicle. “The sweater is still slightly warm from your body heat. And no self-respecting abductor would leave the sweater sitting out like that. When I find you…” He was nearing my ca
r now. I wasn’t looking, but I could hear the footsteps approaching, which was impressive considering that my heart was hammering like double bass drums.
He stopped walking.
“When I find you, there’s going to be punishment. I can’t let something like this go, baby.”
I popped up. “All’s fair in love and war,” I yelped as I sprinted to Corbin’s SUV and threw myself through the open door.
I scrambled into the back, put on the safety belt and dug my fingers into the seat. Through the dark-tinted windows, I watched Corbin staring at the SUV.
He looked astounded, and I couldn’t help but be impressed with myself. It certainly wasn’t easy to surprise him.
With long, sure steps, he approached the vehicle. The look on his face would have stricken fear into the heart of a lion. Light perspiration covered my entire body, and I was going to end up soaked with sweat if I couldn’t calm down.
Corbin would never hurt me. I knew that.
But his expression… His handsome features were rigid with cold fury. “Get out,” he said quietly. “Now.”
“No.” I slapped my hands over my mouth because now I was laughing, my body shaking.
“Are you… You think this is funny?” Corbin seemed even more surprised than before, which made me laugh even harder.
“No,” I gasped out, wiping tears away from my eyes. “We need to talk about the bet. Stroop Finders can’t get basic assistance from the sheriff’s office. The playing field is too uneven.”
Corbin tossed the sweater next to me, swung himself into the truck and slammed it into reverse.
Instantly, I changed my mind. Planting myself in the SUV was a bad idea. “Ok, I’ll get out,” I said, my amusement drying up.
“Yes, you will,” Corbin said. “But not until I say you can. Now shut up.”
“Yes, sir,” I muttered, because I had to give him some kind of response.
Corbin’s eyes met mine in the mirror, and he shook his head tightly in disapproval.
He wasn’t taking me home. I wasn’t sure where we were going, but when he pulled into the parking lot of a cheap motel, I knew I was in trouble.
Chapter Eleven
“Come on,” he said. I opened the door and got out. Corbin came around to grab my hand, and he yanked me with him to the motel’s front desk.
A grandmotherly type looked up as we walked in. The room smelled like roses. The scent took me back to the most romantic night of my life, and despite everything, I smiled.
“I need a room for thirty minutes,” Corbin said. “I assume you do that here.”
“Thirty minutes?” the woman asked, patting the counter like it was covered in an invisible tablecloth that she wanted to smooth out. “Thirty minutes is forty-nine dollars. If you stay for an hour, it’s only fifteen more.”
“All I’ll need is thirty minutes,” Corbin said. His voice was a controlled growl. Heaven help me, but I was getting turned on. Sure, I knew there was going to be serious punishment in the near future, but I didn’t care.
“Then forty-nine dollars,” the woman said.
Corbin pushed a fifty across the counter. The woman licked her fingers, rubbed the bill’s surface, and held it up to the light.
“It’s either real or a damned good counterfeit,” she said. “You wouldn’t try to bilk an old lady, would you?”
“No, ma’am, I would not, but if you don’t mind, I’d like to get my money’s worth. We’ll take a room in the middle of your emptiest section. We don’t want to disturb our neighbors.”
The woman looked at me, and I swallowed hard. “He’s my yodeling coach,” I said. “We just need a little privacy.”
That made her laugh. “I didn’t think you were here for the decor.” She took four quarters out of an index card box and placed them on the counter before turning around to look at the wall of keys.
She chose one and handed it to Corbin. “Thirty minutes. If you’re late checking out, I’ll have to charge you another forty-nine. I won’t be able to give you the full hour for another fifteen dollars. Now, are you sure—”
“Thank you.” Corbin grabbed my hand again and pulled me out of the office. I turned to wave goodbye to the woman, who stared at us with such yearning… like she was remembering someone she’d once known.
Corbin turned to me. “Audrey, I’m so mad at you. I could…”
But he wouldn’t say it. Corbin had killed plenty of people, so that wasn’t something we joked about. Ever.
“Come on,” I said. “You knew nothing happened.”
He leaned in close. “I knew it was a ploy, but Audrey…” He shook his head.
“You said all’s fair in love and war.”
“Then this is war.” He grabbed me, tossed me over his shoulder like I was weightless, and clamped a hand over my ass to keep me in place. I hung upside down, the blood rushing into my face and making it hot as a furnace.
And just my luck, our room was on the second floor, so I had to squeeze my eyes and grit my teeth while Corbin slowly… so fucking slowly… carried me up the stairs.
When he reached the top, he stopped. “Maybe I’ll just stand here for the next twenty-nine minutes,” he said. The anger was gone from his voice, and now his tone was light.
“No,” I said. “You don’t need to do that.”
I made the mistake of opening my eyes and discovered that because Corbin was standing at the very back of the top step, it was like we were hovering in space. My body went rigid with fear.
“No,” Corbin said. “I don’t need to do that. Just like you didn’t need to scare the hell out of me.”
“Can’t you just spank me?” I pleaded.
“Just?” Corbin laughed, his shoulders moving, and I squealed, squeezing my eyes tightly closed again.
“I didn’t mean it like that,” I said. “Your spankings are terrifying. Really.”
Thank the heavens, he began walking again. He unlocked a door the thickness of a sheet of tracing paper and stepped into a room that smelled like it had been used to store wet rags.
Corbin crossed the room with big, angry steps, and then I was sailing through the air.
I only had a moment to enjoy my relative freedom before I fell onto the mattress.
“Oof,” I said. Sex with Corbin could get rough, but when he threw me onto one of the beds in his condo, it was like being caught by an angel. This mattress seemed to have been stuffed with knives, or maybe used hypodermic needles.
“Get off the bed and pull down your pants and underwear,” Corbin ordered. He unbuckled his belt.
“No, no, no,” I said, my eyes wide.
“One. Two. Three…”
My hands shaking, I unbuttoned my fly, yanked down the zipper and pulled my jeans down to my knees.
Corbin’s face was expressionless, but he watched my hips. A quick glance confirmed that he had an erection, and I wondered when that had shown up. Had he started getting hard the moment he’d concocted this evil punishment? When he was carrying me up the steps?
Or had he gotten hard when I started begging him not to spank me with his belt?
“Bend over,” he said. He slipped the end of the belt through the buckle, creating a makeshift noose.
No, not a noose. A collar and leash, which he slipped over my head.
Ok, well, at least I wasn’t going to be spanked with it.
He jerked on the end of the belt, and I staggered forward. It was difficult to walk with my pants down around my calves, hobbling me, and I swayed.
Corbin thrust out an arm to help me get my balance, but the second I was on sure footing again, he jerked his hand away as if touching me was uncomfortable. “Bad girls don’t get comforted,” he growled. “Now walk.” He led me to the window and pulled back the shades. “Open your mouth,” he said.
I opened it, and Corbin adjusted the belt so that the wide strap pushed between my lips.
“You’ll want to be quiet,” he said. “Or not.”
He too
k a firm grip on the edge of the belt and gave it a little tug. The strap creaked. He tugged again, and I moaned. I was hobbled and gagged, and Corbin was 6’3” of powerful, dominant male who wanted to take a layer of skin off my ass.
“What the hell is this?” he murmured. His fingers pinched between my legs, and I groaned as my inner muscles clenched. I wanted him inside me, but I knew that probably wasn’t going to happen. It was difficult enough to convince him to fuck me when he was in this kind of mood even if I hadn’t done anything wrong.
“Are you wet?” he asked. It was a rhetorical question, first because I couldn’t speak, and second because my pussy was dripping. My arousal dribbled down my thighs like liquid silk. “Such a naughty, depraved girl,” he said. “Let me see if I can spank some sense into you.”
Corbin’s broad, warm palm caressed my left cheek, then the right. Sometimes when he did this, it was because he wanted to soothe and comfort me.
Not now, though. As he’d said, I didn’t deserve it.
“Later,” he said, “I’ll punish you for trying to scare me, but these first ten slaps are for getting into my truck and not facing me like an adult.”
I bit onto the belt’s strap and closed my eyes.
Corbin pulled his hand away, and I didn’t know when it would come, but my entire body was tense.
Then all the air rushed from my lungs, and I saw stars. I moaned as poker-hot arrows of pain shot through my skin.
Usually when Corbin spanked me, he started off relatively soft and worked up to intense. This was harder than his intense spankings, and it was only the beginning. I squeezed my fingers, searching for strength and comfort.
“One,” Corbin said quietly, a strong measure of satisfaction in his voice. “Keep your hands where I can see them. I wouldn’t want to miss you using your safety gesture.”
Chapter Twelve
If Corbin’s intention was to scare the hell out of me, he succeeded and then some. He’d been dominating me long enough that we didn’t really have to think about safe words. He knew my limits, knew how to read the signs of when I was getting near them.