Payback Time, Baby

by Sabel Simmons

  His hand clasped her neck and he yanked her chin closer with the fingers still pinching it tightly and his mouth covered hers in a hard, unyielding kiss. She gasped in pain when he bit her lower lip sharply for entry and his tongue surged inside, like a serpent on a mission. He possessed her mouth … completely, with his hard lips and unyielding tongue surging deep as if he would devour her, claiming his mastery over her.

  “Harrumph … is there a problem here ma’am?” Tristan stiffened and lifted his head, his eyes globes of silver fire holding hers capture. His voice suddenly sounded hoarse in the still night.

  “No, problem here. The lady slipped.”

  His eyes glowed like liquid silver. Her tongue stroked over her lips and his eyes dropped to her mouth, then furiously drilled into hers again.

  “Ma’am?”

  She glanced over Tristan’s shoulder and noticed the police officer standing behind him. Her eyes briefly closed in relief and Tristan bristled in anger and growled for her ears only.

  “Don’t even think of it!”

  She needed no further encouragement and scampered back, forcing him to release his hold on her. She jumped up the moment her legs cleared his knees. She gasped painfully and grabbed her butt, her eyes clashing furiously with his. He knew what was coming before she opened her mouth, and he was ready to strangle her. He rose slowly to tower over her again, ignoring the man behind him.

  “Oh officer, thank you. Please, take me away from this man!”

  Although he was tall, he was of slight build and next to Tristan he appeared ridiculously small. The police officer stiffened and his hand dropped to rest on the holster of his gun, at which Tristan laughed out loud.

  “Ma’am, please come to me and I will take you home. My vehicle is just over there.”

  She didn’t wait for a second invite and sprinted around Tristan to walk beside him, albeit with a slight limp, towards his police vehicle.

  “Don’t think this is over, Savannah. Not by a long shot!”

  The policeman stopped and glanced back at Tristan, then at Savannah. He turned back and glared at Tristan.

  “First you abuse the poor woman and now you threaten her, in the presence of a police officer. I am afraid I cannot allow such conduct in public. I hereby place you under arrest for assault and threatening conduct in public.”

  Tristan growled and Savannah’s eyes widened. His eyes clashed with hers, the order in them clear. She deliberately rubbed her hands over her still stinging butt that would undoubtedly turn black and blue and stubbornly kept her mouth shut.

  “Will you come of your own free will, sir, or do I have to use force? The latter of course will result in a court case and a number of days in jail. You choose.”

  She watched in amazement as Tristan held out his hands, his eyes promising retribution and she shrank back. The one cuff went around his one wrist and with a loud click locked around it, before she snapped out of her surprise and approached the officer wearily.

  “Officer I don’t think this is really necessa …”

  He barely glanced at her and snapped the other cuff in place before he looked at her and smiled.

  “Oh, but it is. I have seen this many times; besotted females too much in love allowing men to shove them around.”

  “Besotted, my foot.”

  Tristan grumbled but stood glaring at her when she glanced at him. She tried again.

  “Officer, really it is not as it appeared. I only … slipped and he was leaning over me to see if I was hurt. We are not even … a couple, so it really is not necessary to lock him up.”

  “She’s lying.”

  “Tristan!” Was the man daft? Did he want to be locked up?

  The officer looked from the one to the other, frowning irritably. “Now see here …”

  “She is my fiancé.”

  “I am not!”

  “Then whose ring is that on your finger?” That shut her up and she glared at him.

  The police officer had a daughter close to Savannah’s age and he knew love when he saw it. He sighed and frowned at her.

  “Are you sure about this? It can only do him good to spend a night in jail.”

  Savannah glanced at him, smiling at his clenched jaw. It would serve him right too! She bent over and took her high heels off. She nodded at the officer.

  “Yes, I am sure.”

  She didn’t wait to see if he took the cuffs off, but swung around and high tailed back to the Country club. The officer chuckled and took his time searching for the cuff keys and only found them when she stopped at the top of the stairs of the Country club to look back at them, stepping back into her shoes.

  Tristan stood looking at her with pensive eyes. His body was tightly wired and the rage inside him now reduced to simmering anger. He made a phone call earlier and he knew a full team surrounded the country club within thirty minutes thereafter. When she left here tonight, he would know where she went. This time, she would not escape him again!

  “We’re being followed,” Graham, the drummer driving the car, glanced in the rearview mirror again. Over the years they became adept at noticing things like that in protecting the Purple Pearl’s identity.

  Savannah sighed and wished she’d rather accepted her mother’s invitation to go home with them. She should have known he would put his hounds on her. What she was not sure of, was if he intended doing something about it tonight. His anger was explosive and he scared her earlier. He clearly had no compunction in hurting her … and relished the doing of it! At least the twins were safe in Los Angeles! She just needed to avoid him until the next day and be on her flight home late afternoon.

  “What do you want me to do?” he asked spearing her a glance.

  She rolled her head on the back of the seat. The early morning flight and all the emotions of the past few hours wrung her dry and she was dead tired. All she wanted was to take a long hot bath and go to bed.

  “Don’t worry about it. No one knows we are here, so it is not a Purple Pearl chase. I know who it is … and I know why. Hopefully he will leave his retribution until tomorrow. Let’s just get to the Hotel please, I am very tired.”

  She was relieved to reach her hotel room and took her shoes of the moment she walked through the door. The room was encased in the soft glow of the bedside lamps and she was tempted to just fall on the bed and sleep. She headed to the bathroom and froze. All her luggage was stacked next to the small writing desk and she frowned. She unpacked when they arrived and stacked them inside the cupboard. Her eyes searched the room and her heart stopped when they lit on Tristan lounging on the comfortable wingback chair in the corner.

  His watched her with an expressionless face and she swallowed.

  “How did you know … we were being followed … how are you here already?”

  “I am good at what I do. Yet, you have led me a merry chase for four years. But once I found you and knew where to look …”

  “You were looking for me all this time?” she asked in astonishment.

  His expression didn’t change but his mouth tightened in a thin line. He rose from the chair and closed the gap between them slowly; his eyes glowed in the soft hue of the room.

  “How … when … you knew it was me before I took the mask off. I saw it in your eyes.”

  “This morning only, but then I was looking for Purple Pearl to leave the Hotel Matize … imagine my surprise when my long lost fiancé walked out of the back door … with a purple highlight in her witches black hair!”

  She blanched and searched his eyes. “How …”

  “We have access to technology … we hacked into their security video streams. Unfortunately only the outside ones were accessible, which is why it took us slightly longer.”

  She relaxed visibly. He didn’t know about the twins and even had he noticed them leave with Hetta, she was dressed as a hotel nanny so he would not have made the connection.

  “We’ve wasted enough time.”

  He picked up her
shoes and held them out to her. She just glanced at them and then back at him.

  “Put them on, we’re leaving.”

  She retreated from him and shook her head. “I am not going anywhere with you.”

  “Do you think you have a choice in the matter?” he growled at her.

  She spun around and ran into the bathroom, slamming the door shut only to immediately be thrown back against the shower wall as he threw it open with a hard shove. Before she could straighten his hand closed around her upper arm and he hauled her back into the room.

  “I should have let him lock you up!”

  He laughed at her, grabbed her luggage and pulled her after him to the door.

  “Wait! My shoes!”

  “Too late! You had your chance.”

  She pulled desperately against his grip around her arm. Her eyes pleading.

  “Please Tristan. Don’t do this … I’ll walk with you … don’t degrade me like this.”

  He glared at her, willing his heart not to soften. “You deserve to be!”

  “No, I don’t! All I did was to give in to temptation in LA! I know it was wrong, but not deserving of this type of treatment.”

  He went as still as the deep sea, his eyes cold as ice. He threw her luggage down and turned to her, vehemence in his every movement. His hand joined the other and he clasped her in front of him, lifting her on her toes.

  “You think this is all about LA? Your slutty seduction of me?”

  She gasped and struggled desperately against his grip that tightened ruthlessly around her arms.

  “Let me go … you jerk! If I was such a slut in LA, what does that make you! At least I knew who you were … you took me without knowing who I was! I was not the only one there! LET. ME. GO!”

  “Oh, no my darling, dear fiancé! You will not get away from me this time. This has got nothing to do with LA and everything to do with you leaving me four years ago.” He snarled in her face.

  “Me leaving you? My God! You are such a hypocrite! I suppose you are going to deny any guilt in the part you played that made me leave! I am not going anywhere with you! Let me go, Tristan!”

  He yanked her against him and his eyes spat fire at her. “What the hell are you talking about? What guilt? You are the one that walked out on me, with nothing more than a typed letter spitting bullshit! You, Savannah Seagers owe me an explanation and it had better be the truth!”

  “I don’t owe you anything!”

  His eyes ripped her in two and he turned around and gathered all her luggage dragging her to the door.

  “We have wasted enough time!”

  He cursed and threw the luggage down again; bent down to pick up her shoes and shoved them on her feet.

  She had too much dignity to struggle as they left the hotel and she watched morosely as he threw her luggage in the boot of his luxurious SUV. All too soon they sped down the motorway; his face once again devoid of any emotion.

  Chapter Five

  Savannah fell asleep within thirty minutes of leaving the hotel. She gave up asking where they were going. He completely ignored her.

  Tristan glanced at the beautiful woman curled up in the seat, sleeping like an innocent baby. He smirked. Only she was anything but innocent. He wiped his hand tiredly over his face. He frowned remembering some of the things she said and his anger started bubbling to the surface again. He should have expected her to try and absolve herself of any guilt and shift the blame to him.

  She moaned softly and turned to rest her head on the console between the seats, her hand under her cheek. The weight of her long hair settled on his groin and his shaft jumped to attention immediately. He gritted his teeth and then frowned when he noticed the feint bruise on her upper arm.

  He cursed and opened the window to take deep breaths. He was a hard man, the SEALS made him that way and he did violent things over the years in the line of duty, but he has never hurt a woman - until tonight. It was as if he couldn’t help himself. Something inside, drove him and he acted without thinking. Lord, it had to stop! Dropping her on the ground from over six feet … he did not even realize what he did until she hit the ground … she could have been hurt really badly.

  Driving up the driveway to his house in South Beach on Staten Island, he recalled the week after their engagement when she designed the house. She was so excited about the prospect of them building their dream house together. She used to be a brilliant architect, even at the young age of twenty five. A shadow flashed over his eyes and he looked back at the three story house rising against the rocks on the one side and facing the beach on the other. The property was on the curve just where South Beach started and was set far apart from other beach properties. It cost him a pretty penny as it was part of the National Park, but he was adamant that was where he wanted the house built. On the spot he asked her to marry him four years ago.

  He sighed and glanced at the sleeping woman. What would her reaction be when she saw the house? For that matter, would she even remember? He pulled the door open, slammed it shut and walked around to open hers. She woke when he slammed the door and looked up sleepily. As an architect specially designed structures always caught her eye and she gasped when the sleepiness cleared from her eyes at the beauty of the three story mansion rising in front of her. There were lights everywhere and enlightened the house as if in a fairy tale.

  She followed the outline of the house and her breath snagged in her throat when she recognized the boldly designed rooftop and open balconies facing the rocks and the drop into the sea below.

  Tristan opened the door and stood watching her. She breathed shallowly and her one hand covered her mouth, the other gripped at her heart. She lifted tortured eyes at him. He stared at her expressionlessly.

  She looked back at the house and stammered, “You … this is the … you built our house?”

  He smirked. “No, this is my house. It was a good design; I did not see the need in paying another architect.”

  She flinched and then struggled when he lifted her easily from the seat and strolled towards the front door. He ignored her and tightened his grip around her legs and back in warning.

  “I can walk! Put me down.”

  He continued walking, easily running up the stairs leading to the front door, which opened at the same time. He smiled and nodded in the direction of the SUV.

  “Evening James. There is some luggage in the back. Please bring them up to my room.”

  She watched the youngster jog down the stairs before she intensified her struggles. Tristan stopped and sighed heavily, looking down at her impatiently.

  “Please put me down.”

  He shook his head and headed for the stairs. She struggled again and this time he snapped at her.

  “I dropped you once tonight! Don’t make me do it again!”

  “I am not staying in your room! You brought me here against my will; you can’t force me to stay in your room.”

  He smiled sardonically, “Can’t I?” and ran easily up the stairs with her clasped in his arms. He walked into his room and put her down next to the massive bed clearly custom made to fit his large frame and she swallowed hard. She looked around the masculine earth colored room. Everything in there was made for a man his size. There were large comfort chairs, a writing desk and chair on the one side and even the bedside lamps were big and encased the room in a soft hue, adding warmth and depth. It was a room that suited him perfectly.

  He turned around when James walked in with her luggage, but only took her vanity case from him and asked him to put the rest in the room next door. Relief flowed through her and she turned to follow him.

  “Where do you think you’re going?”

  She frowned and took the vanity case he held out to her, sighing heavily.

  “Go and take a shower, or a bath.”

  She turned and aimed for the bedroom door again when his hand fell on her shoulder. She glanced at him over her shoulder.

  “Now what?”

 
“You are sorely trying my patience. The bathroom is over there.”

  He turned her towards the en-suite bathroom. She turned to him and pointed to the door.

  “I need my clothes.” His face remained impassive.

  “No you don’t. At least not for the next week or so.” Before she could object he turned and walked out the door. “Be done by the time I return, otherwise I will scrub you down myself!”

  Not need her clothes for the next week! Oh God, he couldn’t keep her here for a week! She told the twins she would be back within two days. She has never been apart from them for more than a day or two! Cognizant of his threat she took a quick shower and wrapped a large towel around her body and walked hesitantly back to the room. She sighed in relief when she found it empty and went to sit on one of the comfort chairs brushing her hair.

  The door opened and Tristan walked in rubbing his hair dry with a small towel and another one wrapped around his hips. A shiver ran down her spine and her eyes galloped over the muscles straining in his arms as he briskly rubbed his hair then moved down lower, slowly caressing over his wide chest and rippling stomach. She thrilled at his arousal rising against the towel, higher and higher under her gaze.

  Her eyes shot to his and they scorched her skin everywhere it touched. He threw the towel on the floor and ripped the other one from his waist starting towards her. His shaft stood fully erect and expanded even more under her hungry gaze. She sat frozen and held out her hand as if to ward him off.

  “Tristan …”

  “You should not have done that.”

  “What?” Her voice was husky and she sounded breathless.

  “Ate me up with your eyes.”

  She gazed up at him, extremely conscious of his large, swollen member a mere centimeter away from her fingertips. Her eyes dropped helplessly and his shaft jumped when she licked her lips.

  He uttered a vicious curse and yanked her into his arms, ripping the towel from around her body so that when she slammed into him it was naked flesh against naked flesh. Before she could even moan at the heated contact his mouth devoured hers. He kissed her so deeply she had no other recourse but to open her mouth wider as he delved deeper and deeper into the recesses of her mouth.