Hero Undercover: 25 Breathtaking Bad Boys

by Annabel Joseph

  He watched with great fascination as his slip of a girl, in the middle of chaos, calmly spooned watered rice gruel into the mouth of a small child who most assuredly questioned his desire for it. Hunter couldn’t imagine eating it himself but knew it was nutritious, and the child probably couldn’t hold anything stronger on his stomach.

  Hunter made himself known.

  “Hunter,” came her stunned greeting. “I’m sorry.”

  “I’m not in the mood to discuss your apology at this moment. We have more pressing things to talk about.” They discussed the incident earlier. “Good, I know you understand why you are leaving this place today.”

  “I heard this already from the villagers and my cousin, Gunn, a few minutes ago. I can handle myself. I do every year.”

  “I’m sure you can, under normal situations but these are not typical, and you have done a good job of pissing people off, sweetheart. Terin is here too, watching out with a few other guys so I can get you out of the village.”

  “None of you are going to make me change my mind. Someone has to stand up for these girls, Hunter.”

  “Kayla, we’ll launch a campaign to get the word out. I can use the Foundation to make people listen, but only if you come now under your own steam.” He continued after she nodded her head. “Listen, baby, as I said, these are not normal times. These guys will kill you without blinking an eye.” He looked down at her hands, “at least your hands seem to understand the full issue here. They’re shaking. Your whole body should be shaking. Look, what good are you going to be for these girls if you’re dead? There is no martyrdom in this part of the world.”

  Hunter’s voice went low and even, but it was obvious to any who could hear him that there would be trouble if his words weren’t heeded. She didn’t appear as though she would take good advice. He didn’t want a confrontation, but didn’t mind if it got his woman out of harm’s way. He felt she wasn’t going to step away from the situation on her own.

  Kayla began to stand after his last warning. She turned to walk away but stopped suddenly and flipped around, putting both fisted hands on her hips. Hunter had an instant desire to laugh except this was extremely serious, and the sound choked in his throat. There she was, standing hands on hips, her face contorted in anger, defiant to the end, and she was no match for the majority of the men surrounding her. She reached out quickly and cinched her ponytail tighter, eyes flashing.

  “Look, I don’t need to leave. These people never bothered me before, and I doubt they’re going to bother me now. It’s not like the last time. I hadn’t gotten to the village yet when that happened. Here it’s a show of bravado. I’ll bet they don’t come back tomorrow.”

  “Are you willing to take the risk?”

  “Yes.” But was she really willing to risk her life and his? No, not his, or the others and maybe not hers.

  She jerked around to leave again when she instantly felt something like a vise-like grip on her upper arm, stopping her in her tracks. It took her a moment to process what was happening. She reached up with her right hand to peel his fingers off her left arm only to be met with a grip no less tight. It was what she would have expected a death grip to feel like. The other hand began pulverizing her butt.

  “Hunter, that hurts. Please let me stay. If I go, it will be as though they won.”

  Her butt had grown quite warm before he stopped punishing it. Kayla jerked her arm hard, trying to loosen it from his grasp.

  He released his hold enough for Kayla to yank her arm out. She immediately reached her right hand over to rub the painful impressions left in her left arm. She didn’t look down. She didn’t break his gaze. She shivered as his voice got that familiar low and dark quality about it.

  She watched his eyes squint, and his face become tight and menacing. She’d seen ‘the look’ too many times for it to have the same effect on her, as she was sure Hunter expected. Part of her wanted to go with him. The other part still wanted to walk away from him, effectively blowing off his offer for assistance and his analysis of the situation. She couldn’t help but admit she was scared. And deep down she feared he was right.

  She knew if he hadn’t challenged her she might have considered leaving with them quietly, but the dye was cast, her path marked. She didn’t know how to back down now, though she wanted to, even though she should. Hunter would say she needed to work on that. He would make her practice releasing her pride and do the right thing. Could she do that?

  “Listen, little girl, I don’t know who you think you are right now, but you’re not going to put an end to these men from coming back. As much as I admire what you’re trying to do, you are not going to be able to stop them from taking whomever they want, including you. And they will be back. I promise you, you won’t be here when they do return. We have a lot of things to work out. I want you to be happy, but nothing is going to happen except what I say will happen. Fahmo?”

  No choice, she could say she was given no choice, and she did want to agree with him.

  “Yes. I understand.”

  “Good answer. Grab your gear.” She saw his face relax for the first time since she’d defied him.

  Before Hunter stalked off in the other direction, presumably to initiate his plans, he left Kayla with a parting remark. “You’re not going to be here tomorrow when the soldiers come back, no matter how I have to get you out. I’m going to make sure of that. But when we are safe, I am going to torch that ass of yours every day, possibly for the rest of your natural born life.”

  Kayla shivered in regret and anticipation of a long life with her irritated lover. It was worth the sore rump to sleep in his arms the rest of their days.

  Hunter instructed the rest of his group to pack up their things and be ready to leave the next morning. He informed his entourage he and Kayla would already be gone and would meet up with them later. If there was trouble, they were to go to the backup plan. Keeping the connection distant between Kayla and the group was the only way to keep the peace and continue to allow him to do his own benevolent work in the area.

  He wanted it to look like Kayla had finally come to her senses, the militia had scared her out, and it had nothing to do with the American military in the area. Gunn and his brother Axel, whom Hunter had never met, agreed. Terin was pissing mad at his sister, but Hunter intervened.

  “Shove it, Terin. We don’t have the luxury of you having a sibling squabble out here in the middle of nowhere.”

  “Yeah, I get it.”

  The little village settled down when darkness fell. True to her routine, Kayla left soon after dinner to the little hut considered unclean. She shared it with some of the young girls who’d been defiled by the troops and traffickers. Kayla worked hard during the day, and normally it didn’t take much for her to fall asleep, but tonight it took longer. She was afraid and laid there thinking about what would happen the next day. She hoped Hunter was right because she didn’t want to die, but her stubbornness made her irrational at times.

  She appreciated how stupid it was to trade her life when nothing good would come of it. She realized Hunter was right. She was not good dead. He loved her. Was she willing to fight so much that she lost the only man she had ever loved for the sake of her pride? She could come back later. And they could make such a big difference overseeing the distribution of information on a larger scale.

  She no longer felt safe and no longer wanted to anger her lover. She knew there were men in the village who stayed awake during the night to listen for danger. She always felt that was a security until today. Tonight nothing made her feel safe except Hunter. Always Hunter and he wasn’t taking her freedom, he was keeping her safe because he loved her. Time to wake up, Kayla, and time to quit being so selfish by drawing the soldiers to the village, endangering more children.

  Kayla got up and dressed. She needed to find Hunter. She would be sorry to leave the village, but it was time. She grabbed her small survival kit and smiled as she left the rest of her things to the girls. The
y would be excited for the assorted luxury items she’d brought. She wished she could watch their excitement.

  Stepping out of the little hut, she ran into something hard. Abject horror over took her as she went into automatic fight mode. She’d trained in self-defense, but it was true what the instructors drilled into her.

  “The only useful defensive tools are the ones you use without thinking, because when you are fearful, they are all that will come to your mind.”

  She dipped out of the arms that surrounded her, quickly returning with a kick towards a vital organ. Her attacker was ready and blocked her. Every defensive kick she executed, he countered with ease. Then a hand covered her mouth, and an arm wrapped her tight to his body. Before she realized it, she found herself being carried out of the village.

  Kayla knew that if anyone recognized them, they would not stop a man carrying a woman. They’d tried too many times before and been thwarted. They would let it happen. She also knew it was her own fault. She’d put herself in this predicament, but she refused to go without a fight.

  Sweat and body odor permeated the air around them and slickened their skin where it touched. She twisted violently to try to gain her release from her captor’s arms. The man placed three hard swats to her shorts covered bottom in quick succession, and she instinctively stilled her movements but yelled her objections.

  “Hush, woman, it’s me.”

  Hunter followed his actions with menacing words softly spoken. “Quiet now, unless you need a full on spanking and a gag to help you."

  She shook her head.

  “Damn woman, you have a nasty kick.”

  “You scared me to death.”

  When she attempted to demonstrate her displeasure again, Hunter placed his hand on her bottom.

  “Kayla.”

  She relaxed. She fully expected him to make good on his threat if pushed.

  She heard a familiar chuckle that belonged to Terin. “You let him do that to me? Scare me like that? Just take me?”

  “This man has my undying respect. He can handle the beast. And yes, you deserved it for what you put us all through. You deserve that and more.”

  “What happened to familial connections? Protection? Sister?”

  “He is your man, sweetheart. There isn’t another person in the world who could love you as this man does. Only a fool would stand in the way of his protecting you. And I’m no fool.”

  A big warm hand belonging to Hunter splayed across her bottom once again, and Kayla quieted. She could almost hear the satisfaction from both men that they could bring the situation under control with simply a well-placed hand. It would work for now.

  Finally home, Kayla worried. Hunter said very little to her in the first forty-eight hours after they left the village. When she refused to allow him to cut his trip short because of the issue with her, he had gone silent. He’d placed her on the plane with Gunn, Axel, Terin, and the rest of her father’s crew, which she now accepted would occasionally include Hunter. She watched stone-faced as she taxied away, mirroring his look. She stopped watching when he was no longer visible to her. She slept most of the flight home.

  When it came out that Hunter worked for her dad a couple times a year, she still felt anger that no one ever told her. When she got the full story from her dad after she returned home, she refused her family’s calls. She felt betrayed. She had been living a lie. True, it had only been a few jobs so far, and Hunter worked hard at the Foundation and for his family’s business, but still, he should have told her. What type of honest relationship could they be in if Hunter didn’t even tell her he was helping her father strategically on some missions?

  The short-lived kind. You kept secrets just as big. You are just as guilty.

  Storming around his apartment for a day didn’t make her feel better. She tried her efficiency apartment, but she couldn’t relax. She returned to his penthouse to feel closer to him. Her favorite wine didn’t help nor did chocolate. Her sappy chick flicks made it worse. Finally, on day six, she settled her tears and started to work on her pictures in the study where he had lovingly created a shared workspace. That’s where Hunter found her on day eight, sleeping with her head on her project table.

  “Hey,” murmured Hunter in her ear, “I’m home.”

  Kayla jerked awake and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. In her half sleeping state, she didn’t have the filters of logic to stop her words.

  “Oh, Hunter, I love you. I’m sorry. I thought you wouldn’t come back, that you’d leave me because I was too much trouble. Please stay with me. I was wrong, I—” Tears streaked her face as he lifted her from her chair and carried her into the bedroom.

  “Hey, hey, don’t cry, baby. I came home early because I missed you and wanted to make sure you were all right. I’m sorry about my own behavior. I was such an ass when you flew out. I had a hard time letting go of my fear for you. I only wanted to get you home. I love you.”

  “I was stupid to try to sneak behind your back and to not make it easy to take care of me.”

  “And I shouldn’t have kept you in the dark about the help I offer your dad and brothers. I should have brought you with me.”

  “It’s okay, we can work it out later, just love me.”

  “You read my mind, sweetheart.”

  Epilogue

  Six Months Later

  How did she find herself over his hard thighs again? Right, it was Friday.

  “Hunter, honey, please? I’ve made safe choices for a while now so you can stop with the maintenance spankings. I obviously got your message. Your strategy has worked wonderfully.” Her whine did nothing but illicit a raised eyebrow from her man, and it certainly did not slow his stripping of her clothing off her lower half.

  “I can see the results. I’m not sure we will ever end this Friday night ritual. It has kept my wife sweet and obedient.”

  “But I’ve been good, and you said it was only until I kept safe.” She continued to lie over his lap as she spoke, her movements rote.

  “How about another type of spanking, the type you like?”

  “Does that mean maintenance is officially over?”

  He sighed as though he was giving up a favorite toy. “For now. It’s perfect timing actually because I need to check on the wells. I want to see they are being used and negotiate another couple of sites.”

  Kayla tried to roll off his lap, but his strong arm stayed her. “Hunter, I could go with you. It would be great, really. I could check on the girls of the village, and take more pictures, get more information for my articles and be fresh for the next foundation board meeting.”

  A substantial slap landed on her upturned bottom. “Ow! That isn’t the good kind of spanking!”

  “And so maintenance begins again.” He landed three more swats. “No, you are not going with me.” A flurry of smacks landed on her plump derriere.

  “But, honey, it would be perfect. Ouch! You could protect me and…”

  The End

  Alyssa Bailey

  Alyssa Bailey is a dyed in the wool Texan living in the beauty of Southeast Alaska with her husband, her youngest four (of eleven) children, two dogs and two cats. Her first memory of books was when her mother read to her as a small child. She began writing as soon as she could put letters together to form words. Her first story at the age of six was about a performing horse that ran away from the circus. As she got older and read more of a variety of books, she would say, “I can do better than that” and then rewrite them in her head. She was writing fanfiction before fanfiction was a 'thing'.

  In high school and college, she won journalism and special recognition for her academic and fictional writing. Alyssa is a firm believer in all things spanking. She loves writing about domestic discipline and power exchanges between strong, intelligent women who are not afraid to make a stand and men confident enough to give them their space but Alpha enough to keep his woman safe, in spite of herself. Her characters predominately live in Regency Engla
nd amongst lords and ladies, in the contemporary realm amongst men and women of the world, and all things Cowboy. Contact her, she loves to chat, and as always, have a Spankolicious day!

  You can find Alyssa online:

  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alyssabailey.romance

  Twitter: @blushingalyssa

  Blog/web page: http://alyssabailey.com/

  Email: alyssabaileyromance@gmail.com

  Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/Alyssa_Bailey

  Also by Alyssa Bailey and Blushing Books!

  Lord Thayer’s Choice

  Cowboy Welcome

  Taming Texanna

  Chase Abbey Series

  Lord Barrington's Minx -Book 1

  Becoming Lady Barrington - Book 2

  Lady Caroline's Defiance -Book 3

  His Improper Lady -Book 4

  The O'Connor Series

  Liam & Jocelyn's Story

  Her Sweet Complication, Liam O'Connor Book 1

  Liam's Lessons, Liam O'Connor Book 2

  Loving Liam, Liam O'Connor Book 3

  Ciaran and Katherine's Story

  His Gentle Persuasion, Ciaran O'Connor Book 1

  Rancher's Creed, Ciaran O'Connor Book 2

  Katie Consents, Ciaran O'Connor Book 3

  Quinlan and Cheyenne's Story

  Quinlan's Quest, Quinlan O'Connor Book 1

  Accepting His Ways, Quinlan O'Connor Book 2

  Her Balancing Act, Quinlan O'Connor Book 3

  Anthologies

  Hero Undercover

  Audiobooks

  Accepting His Ways

  Her Sweet Complication

  His Gentle Persuasion

  Quinlan’s Quest