by E A Price
Ugh. Save her from him saying ‘what’s a pretty girl like you doing in a place like this’.
“Where you been sweetheart?”
“Ummm… Homewares?” she squeaked.
He smirked. Her beast ruffled her feathers at his expression.
“Hey, you got someone?” called another voice. “Bring her over here.”
The robber she had named Smelly Greaseball rolled his eyes and reluctantly dragged her over to Santa’s village.
“Oh no, you’re not putting me in there!” she objected as Smelly Greaseball tried to manhandle her into Santa’s house. Yes, they were armed robbers, but she had her limits!
“Quiet,” he hissed.
“We got another one,” said the second guy. “Tie them up together.”
Penny gasped as she was faced with the pant-wettingly gorgeous man from earlier. He looked completely unconcerned by the two men training guns on him. They looked a little wary of him, though. No wonder. He was big and ripped. He looked like he could cause serious damage. She guessed he was a shifter, but her sense of smell was awful. She had no idea what kind.
Smelly Greaseball shoved her at him. “C’mon honey, give him a hug.”
“What?”
The gorgeous man caught her and scowled at Smelly Greaseball.
They pushed her against him, chest to chest, and tied them up.
“Make sure it’s tight,” said the second guy, eyeing her gorgeous co-captive warily.
They did, too. Penny whined as she struggled to breathe against the painful ropes. Oh god, she was screwed. Her penguin, on the other hand, suddenly seemed unconcerned. The beast was under the impression that everything was going to be okay now!
“Have fun you two,” sneered Smelly Greaseball. “Either of you move, you’re dead.”
“Great,” she muttered, her face mashed against his extremely hard chest. Not an ounce of fat on this one.
“You okay?” he asked as he tried to move against the ropes.
“Terrific.”
His chest vibrated as he silently laughed. “I’m detecting a hint of sarcasm, but don’t worry, we’ll be fine.”
Hope swelled in her chest, and she tried to ignore the fact that he smelled really good. “You think they’ll let us go?”
“I don’t know about that, but we’re getting out of here.”
“Ah…”
“I’m SEA.”
“SEA? Why did you let them catch you then? Why didn’t you take them all out?”
He chuckled. “This ain’t Die Hard. I counted eight of them – I can’t take them all at once. If I did just attack them all they probably would have killed me, and maybe moved onto the hostages, to make sure no one else pulled anything so stupid. And I am not dragging my ass through any vents or walking on any broken glass.”
“More like Die Softly then,” she grumbled. Her penguin sent her the burst of disapproval this time, but Penny was too scared to pay any attention.
“Don’t worry, I managed to call my buddies before they took my phone and they’re on their way, we just gotta sit tight, and this will all be sorted out.”
“What do they want?” Penny tried to bite her lip, but her mouth was so tight against his chest all she managed to do was drool on him.
“This is the biggest department store in the city, and this is their busiest day. The amount of money they took in today must have been phenomenal. I guess they just want the money from today’s sales – I’m sure everything will be fine. It certainly not worth anyone getting hurt.”
“Uh, I hate Christmas.”
“Your Christmases usually end in hostage situations?” he teased.
“No, but last year it was almost a murder-suicide between mom and me, and I was doing the murder.”
“So this is a step up?”
“Yeah. Look, if we get out of here I will be allowed to pick up all the things I bought, right? I had to abandon them when bullets started flying.” She tried to shudder, but she was too tightly tethered to Mr. Gorgeous.
“When you get out of here,” he corrected her, sternly, “yes, it’ll be fine. I’ll make sure you get your stuff.”
“Yeah, when,” she muttered.
“It’ll be okay; I won’t let them hurt you.”
There was a ferocity in his voice that was very appealing. Unfortunately, her nose chose that moment to become incredibly itchy. Typical - it would wait until she was tied up, and because she was tied up it immediately became unbearable.
Penny tried rubbing it against his shirt, but on realizing that she looked like she was trying to wipe snot on him, she explained. “My nose itches.”
“Yeah?” She could hear the smile in his voice. “Okay lift your chin up and tilt a little to the right, okay as far as you can. Now hold still.”
He scraped his bristly chin over her nose a few times. “How’s that?” he said through gritted teeth.
She groaned. “Oh, so good. Thank you.”
“It was good for me, too, babe. I’m Diaz by the way,” he added before she could tell him off for dirtying up a perfectly clean nose rub. “We didn’t really meet earlier when we were flirting.”
“We were not flirting!” she denied hotly, although her penguin was more than happy to agree with him. “You were trying to get somewhere with that slutty cat.”
“Bah - she’s my ex. I was hoping for an employee discount. What’s your name?”
She sighed. “Penny Jones.”
“Penny the penguin.” She could hear the amusement in his voice.
“What about it?” she snapped defensively.
“Suits you.”
Penny wriggled against the bonds. “This is really uncomfortable.”
“There’s a chair over there - maybe we could try and sit down.”
“Okay.”
They tried shuffling in the direction of the chair, but given that they could barely move, it took a heck of a lot of effort just to get an inch in that direction, and they almost fell over. It seemed unlikely they’d be able actually to bend enough to sit anyway.
“This isn’t working,” he muttered.
“Have you got a huge flashlight in your pocket?” asked Penny in annoyance.
“No,” he replied in a puzzled tone.
“Well, something really hard is digging into my… oh, seriously?!” Her penguin would blush if she could.
“What? I’m sorry, but I got a gorgeous female pressing against me – I’m not made of stone.”
It felt like part of him was, and he certainly didn’t sound sorry. “We’re in a hostage situation!”
“Which is going to turn out fine, and you feel good against me.”
Ugh, she was glad he couldn’t see her flush. Even gladder that he wasn’t a mind reader. Having his body against hers was giving her some very interesting thoughts, and in spite of the situation, making her just a little horny. “Can’t you control yourself?”
“If you’d stop rubbing against me…”
“I don’t have anywhere to go,” she grunted.
“Okay, look maybe if we lie down.”
“What?” They were only a few scraps of material away from having sex – surely lying down was just going to help hurry that process along. She wasn’t sure if she was as outraged as she should have been about that. Her penguin thought it sounded like a terrific idea.
“If we lie down, maybe we can get comfortable and stop moving and maybe I can make my flashlight go down.”
“Fine,” she grumbled.
“Okay, I’m going to try and carry you over to our right, that fake snow drift looks soft. I’ll try and fall into it as gently as I can.”
With a great deal of effort, he managed to maneuver his hands around to her back. She squeaked as he clamped them on her ass.
“What the hell?” she cried.
“I need something to hold you by and your butt’s available.” He sounded very happy about that fact.
“You don’t have to squeeze!”
“How else would I pick you up? I need to hold you by you cheeks.”
“Because they’re so big,” she murmured.
Diaz chuckled. “I’d say juicy rather than big.” She heard him sniff and his chest vibrated. “Holy shit, it’s turning you on!” He sounded like a kid on Christmas morning.
“It is not!” She was relieved he couldn’t see the heat rising to her cheeks.
Penny wriggled against him in the vain hope of dislodging his hands. He groaned. “You do that, and my flashlight’s never going down.”
“I can’t help it. You’re… I'm... well, I’m very sensitive back there.”
And it did feel nice – far too nice. Her penguin was in bird heaven just being this close to him. She could feel the heat pooling between her legs. She was already aroused by this guy, but now they were veering into actual foreplay territory. Her last boyfriend said she was far too big back there and wanted nothing to do with her ass. But she loved having her ass squeezed, and this guy was definitely enjoying himself. Was that an actual moan?
“Will you just stop?” she hissed rocking against him.
“Whoa, Penny, don’t…”
“Eep!”
They toppled backwards, or rather she toppled forward on top of him. Now she was lying on him. Their bodies were rubbing against each other – they were officially dry humping.
“Sshhhh,” he whispered. They couldn’t hear anything. “They probably didn’t hear us.”
“Am I heavy?” Another thing the ex complained about. ‘Oh no, we can’t have sex with you on top, you’ll crush me’.
“Not at all,” snickered Diaz.
“Shame,” she sniffed as her penguin thought ‘good to know’. “You’re still squeezing my ass, you know?”
“I don’t want my fingers to cramp.”
“Ugh, worst excuse for copping a feel ever. Bet you’re sorry Candace isn’t here with you instead of me.”
He didn’t even hesitate. “Nah, her ass isn’t half as juicy as yours.”
“I’m flattered,” she said sarcastically, ignoring the fact that she really was flattered.
“Stating a fact, what are you doing after this?”
“You’re seriously asking me out during a hostage situation?” Her penguin squawked at her to zip it.
“Sure, why not?”
“You wouldn’t give me a second look if we weren’t tied together,” she huffed, again thinking of tall, leggy Candace.
His fingers continued his pleasurable movements over her cheeks. “Please, I haven’t been able to get your ass out of my mind since you bent over earlier.”
“Yeah, right.”
“There’s a small blue stain in the middle of your right cheek; it looks like you sat on a pen. And the pocket on the left cheek is starting to come undone on the right side. You’re wearing red underwear – your panties were sticking out a little, and your purple vest is tucked into them,” he told her smugly.
Dang, he noticed all that in a three-second look? He really was paying attention.
“I had no idea about the stain.”
“It’s right here.” He stroked a finger over the middle of her right cheek.
“Oh.”
“So why do you hate Christmas?”
“You want to talk about this now?” Penny felt her Grinchy spirit return.
“Unless you want to continue talking about your butt? Personally, I can talk about it all day long but…”
“It’s just… so phony. Everyone pretending they like each other, the craziness and grabbing in the stores, the overspending – it’s just a load of hype and effort for one day and what do you get out of it? Indigestion and a set of body oils from your grandmother that smell like cat pee. Ugh, it’s awful!”
“Oh, it’s not that bad.”
Penny was on a roll now. “Ugh, every year I have to fend off my dentist mom and sisters trying to set me up with their patients and the last time I let them the guy was seventy and had dentures. Seventy! They thought that I was at an age where I wouldn’t be that picky. Oddly enough I don’t enjoy my family picking apart my love life, questioning my life choices and looking down on me because I’m just a waitress.”
“You’re a waitress? Where?” he asked with genuine interest.
“Hell’s Belle’s it’s a…”
“That place where the hot waitresses come out to your car on roller skates?” he asked in frank excitement.
“Yes,” she giggled – and it was a genuine giggle.
“That place is awesome – I can’t believe I’ve never seen you there before.”
“Well, I have the morning shift – I’m such a good skater they trust me not to burn myself with the morning coffee.” She was proud of that fact. Her mom just laughed at her when she tried to explain it. ‘Roller skating isn’t a career, Pingu’. That was their nickname for her. It was some penguin from a cartoon – it was annoying.
“I gotta swing by there in a morning then,” said Diaz thoughtfully.
“Oh well, it’s ah, two for one on Tuesdays.” She cringed the moment she said it.
“Cool, you could skate on into my car and join me then.” This was punctuated with a squeeze.
“Like I’ve never heard that one before.”
His hands stilled. “The customers hit on you?”
“We wear tiny skirts and roller skates, what do you think?” The men at the diner hit on her automatically because of both those facts, not because they were actually interested.
Penny felt the irritated rumble through his chest. “Well, I could come along and beat up any dick who tries to flirt with you.”
Her penguin fluttered. “Actually, I would enjoy that.”
He grunted and his fingers resumed their massage of her orbs, which she was enjoying far too much. “As for Christmas, you’re thinking about it too much. Isn’t it fun watching your family open their gifts, you know that they may not like their gifts, but they enjoy opening them.”
“Okay, that is quite nice.” Those few moments were enjoyable. The four-second look of wonder and excitement on their faces was fun.
“And the food,” he continued in boyish glee, “what other time of the year can you go nuts and stuff yourself full of sugar cookies shaped like stars?”
“I do like sugar cookies.” Her ass he was lovingly kneading was a testament to that.
“And as for your family, I’m sure they just want you to be happy.”
Penny grunted. “You’re very touchy feely for an SEA agent.”
“I thought we’d established that.” She didn’t have to see his face to know he was leering as he caressed her cheeks.
“Ugh, you know what I mean. What are you anyway? Other than a pervert. Wolf shifter?”
He snorted. “Hell no, I’m no dog - I’m a jaguar.”
“Alley cat more like.” Although her own little bird was impressed. But then the bird was impressed when a guy opened a car for her – she didn’t have high expectations.
“You are one grumpy penguin,” he teased.
“Humph, it’s an unfair stereotype that penguins have to be cute.”
“You’re wrong, grumpy is cute.”
“Uh, your… your flashlight… it’s getting even bigger!”
Laughter made his chest expand, and she groaned around a mouthful of shirt. “You sound surprised. Seems like the men you dated before me were serious let downs.”
“It’s just… what do you mean dated before?”
“Hey, you want my flashlight to go down, you gotta stop turning me on.”
“Well what turns you off?” she snapped because it was seriously getting uncomfortable down there. Yes, she was starting to enjoy it, and that was unacceptable!
“Well… if I ever find out, I’ll let you know!”
“Ugh!”
She was about to launch into a complaining rant when they heard a scream.
“Oh no! That doesn’t sound good,” she whimpered.
“No,” h
e added grimly. He shuffled under her. “You know I think that it might have loosened things up a bit when we fell over. It won’t be easy, but if you could scoot up, I could get my claws out and cut through the ropes.”
Panic blossomed in her chest. “You want to get out? But you said your friends would work it out – and those men said they…”
“I won’t let anything happen to you, I promise,” he told her fiercely.
No, but what about him? Would he be okay? “But…”
“I don’t like it, but I can live with them stealing stuff – insurance covers that, and we can catch them another day. But I can’t sit by if they’re really hurting people.”
“Okay,” she whispered.
With a great deal of squirming and yelping, because the ropes were really digging into her skin, she managed to crawl up his body.
“Yes, it’s working!” Steadily she moved up his body until her breasts were mashed against his face. “How’s that?”
He made some muffled grunting noises and she squeaked. The ropes loosened and she sat up crossing her arms over her chest.
“You just put my breast in your mouth!”
“No,” he said while also sitting up, and pulling the ropes from their bodies. They were sitting face to face with her straddling him. His flashlight was still enormous. “I opened my mouth to say something and your breast was all I could taste… not that I’m complaining.”
“Ugh, you…”
“Babe, can we save our flirting for later? I gotta make sure everyone’s okay out there.” He gave her a devastating smile, and she almost melted right then and there. Not that she’d admit that to him.
“I’d argue, but you’re right. What do I do if they come back?”
Diaz cupped her cheek and stroked his thumb over her skin in a surprisingly tender move. “Babe, it’ll be okay. You can’t get out; they’ve got people on the exits. So I want you to hide behind that reindeer over there.”
She glanced over at a disturbingly big and fearsome looking Rudolph. He looked like he should have been pulling a sleigh in hell – he had fangs!
“If they find you, scream like hell, and I’ll come running.”
Penny nodded. “Okay.”
“I’m just going to take a look around, and I’ll be back soon.”
“Okay.”
“Remember my promise?”