“Hey Dalt,” she gave him a tight smile. “If Kendra can come in early for the evening shift can Amber and I check out early? It’s another dead one out there.”
Dalton was happy to let the younger women go and Kendra was excited to get a few extra hours on a slow night.
“So where exactly are we going?” Lucy asked as the women linked arms and walked down the sidewalk toward Lucy’s apartment. She wanted to shower and change before they went out.
Amber giggled mischievously. “I’m guessing you’ve never been to a sex toy party, have you?”
Chapter Twenty-One
Mack waited. And seethed.
He seethed, and he watched while he sat in the shadows waiting for Lucy to come home. He could have tracked her to wherever she’d spent the evening, but he knew her bodyguards were with her and they would have called if she needed him. Since he hadn’t heard a peep from her or her bodyguards, he assumed there wasn’t a damn thing wrong with her except her inability to listen. Something he was going to rectify.
Life had been simpler before Lucy. Much more bleak, but simpler. But now he wouldn’t give her up for anything, not even for herself. She was just going to have to adapt to him and his demands. He was doing it for her own safety. They lived in a dangerous corner of the world and she was connected to some very dangerous people, him included.
He dropped his head into his hands and rubbed his face. If he were honest he would admit the stranglehold he had on Lucy was more than just for her own safety. It was for his own sanity that he needed to know where she was at all times. That he needed her to be with him, under his control, doing the things he demanded of her. He knew it was too much, knew he was driving her away with his unreasonable behavior, but he didn’t care. He cared that she belonged to him and him alone. He would make her see that. Even if she hated him for it. She would just have to come to terms with their life together. She’d chosen him when she came after him, came onto him, allowed him into her life and into her body, allowed him to taste the sweetness that was Lucy. Now she would deal with the consequences. For the rest of their lives.
The door to her apartment opened and she came rushing through like a fresh breeze, smelling of wine, strawberries and happiness. The darkness within him wanted to grab hold of her and crush every bit of that happiness, box it away, until the rest of the world could no longer see her glow. She belonged to him and him alone. Her happiness belonged to him.
Her beautiful, wild multi-coloured hair swung in her face making it so she didn’t see him sitting in the shadows of her tiny kitchen. She dumped her purse and a black plastic bag onto the floor and fell backwards with a loud sigh, landing spread eagle on her mattress. Mack stood to his full height, the light from the street coming in through the window and illuminating his tall, rugged form finally catching Lucy’s attention.
She screamed and lunged back against the headboard, clutching her teddy bear against her chest like a shield. Mack turned the light on and waited a few seconds for her eyes to adjust and her panic to subside. “Oh my goodness, Mack,” she gasped. “You nearly gave me a heart attack!”
He stood silently beside the bed, fingers hooked low on his hips, eyes narrowed. As always, she looked breathtakingly beautiful in a somewhat scattered, disheveled way. Her short jean skirt was askew over top of zebra-patterned leggings. The waves of her wild hair were tangled around her head in a gorgeous halo and her bright caramel eyes glowed with both guilt and defiance. She knew she’d upset him by taking off when he’d told her not to, but she wasn’t sorry either.
“What are you doing here?” she asked him, setting the teddy bear aside and crawling away from the headboard to kneel in the middle of the bed. As close to him as she was willing to get.
He didn’t move a muscle and he didn’t say anything.
She blew out a breath and crossed her arms over her chest. “Look Mack, I’m allowed to have friends, right? Even you can’t deny me the right to have friends despite your overbearing, completely unrealistic expectations.”
Still he said nothing.
Lucy continued to defend herself. “I mean, how can I possibly maintain friendships if I can’t spend any time with my friends. You insist on monopolizing all of my time! It’s not healthy. Amber says it’s not healthy, so I’m going to continue seeing my friends when I want to and you’re just going to have to deal with it.”
His eyes narrowed further at the mention of Amber’s name. Clearly, she’d been discussing their relationship with her friends, not something he took lightly. Lucy shifted on her knees and dropped her arms. The defiance dropped from her face and she began to look distinctly haunted by his continued silence.
She sighed and studied him. “I’m in so much trouble, aren’t I?”
Finally, he moved, taking the few steps that brought him to the edge of the bed and leaned forward to brace himself on his fists, which brought him face to face with Lucy. She tried to lean away, but he followed her, placing a knee on the bed until he was almost crouched over top of her. She cringed into the mattress, reaching blindly for the teddy-bear and clutching its paw.
“More trouble than you’ve ever been in, Lucy,” he growled down at her.
“Oh,” she breathed out.
The darkness in him enjoyed her fear. He enjoyed it because he could also sense her lust and curiosity. She was learning the violent sexual edge he harboured and she was beginning to crave the beast in him as much as he craved her submission. He couldn’t control his quick-fire temper or the anger that bubbled to the surface, but he could direct it. With Lucy’s help he was redirecting it away from self-destruction and toward something resembling sanity. He needed her. But he also needed her completely under his control. And he wasn’t going to apologize for that.
“What am I going to do with you?” he asked, almost conversationally, despite the thick tension vibrating between them.
“Let me go?” she suggested, staring up at him guilelessly.
He knew she hadn’t meant permanently. He hoped like fucking hell she didn’t mean permanently. But those three words gutted him, roasted him, angered him, like nothing else she’d said to him. He wanted to pin her down, fuck her raw and then chain her in his basement so she could never leave him. And the worst part of that plan? He knew how fucked up it was, yet it still seemed like a solid plan of action.
“Try again, Lucy,” he growled impatiently. “Because that will never happen.”
“Mack,” she said, her voice quivering. She reached up to touch the rigid muscles of his neck. “This is so destructive. We can’t keep doing this to each other.”
He ignored her and spoke as if she hadn’t said anything. “I’ve spanked you, I’ve spanked you harder. I’ve threatened you, I rough fucked your mouth… nothing brings you in line, Lucy. What can I do to make you understand?”
“Try conversation, Mack,” she said. “Or easing up a little. You know… maybe a little less intensity. I’m here on my Rumspringa. This is probably only temporary, I have a home to go back to. My parents, and… and…”
“Him?” Mack asked, his voice lethally quiet. “The boy you left back on the farm. You think you’ll be going back to him?”
Lucy’s eyes widened, but she wisely remained silent.
“I don’t fucking think so,” he said, his voice deeper than usual. He climbed off the bed and looked at her pointedly. “Get up and get your things, we’re leaving.”
She crawled off the bed and stood to her full height, still much less than his, even in boots with heels. She chewed her bottom lip and said, “I don’t want to go with you tonight, Mack. I’m going to stay here.”
He didn’t even bother arguing with her. He was done. He bent and swept her over his shoulder then grabbed her purse and shopping bag, ignoring her gasp of surprise, followed by shouts of anger.
“Mack, put me down right now!” she yelled as he hauled her out the door. He slammed it shut behind him, not bothering with the lock. Either her bodyguard could sit o
n the place or she could lose all her stuff. At this point he didn’t give a shit. If her obstinate ass wanted to argue with him, he wasn’t going to give her any extra seconds to lock up. “Mack, please!”
He ignored her, saluted her two bodyguards on their way to his truck, opened the door and threw her inside. He was somewhat mollified by the ‘oomph’ she emitted when her belly hit the console and the flash of her curvy legging-clad ass as she was forced to climb awkwardly over it. He reached over and grabbed her arm in case she had any thoughts of going out the other door, then pulled the seatbelt over her breasts and buckled her in while she glared bloody murder straight through the windshield. He tossed her package in between them and started the truck.
Alexandr was on his phone, no doubt checking this new development with the Boss, while the other bodyguard looked alarmed. The new guy stiffened his back and took a step forward as though he thought to intervene. Mack gave him a feral grin, daring him to step up. He relished a good fight. Unfortunately, Alexandr, who had more experience with Mack and more experience in general placed a hand on the other guy’s chest and shook his head, indicating a confrontation with the massive and permanently pissed-off bounty hunter was not in their best interests. Too bad, killing some Russians would have been a good opportunity to blow off some steam.
He threw the truck into drive and roared up the street, an annoyed Lucy muttering to herself in the seat next to him, arms crossed tightly over her breasts. He was just going to have to think of another way to blow off some steam. Something he would enjoy, but Lucy… not so much.
“Where the fuck were you?” he growled.
She didn’t even pretend she didn’t know what he was talking about. “Out with friends,” she snapped. Clearly, she was over her fear of him and on to being pissed that he’d dragged her around like a sack of potatoes.
“Where. The. Fuck. Were. You?” he demanded. “Don’t make me ask again.”
“You are such an asshole!” she huffed and reached down to pick up the black plastic bag, smacking it down in between them. “If you must know, I went to a sex toy party with Amber. Her friend is a hostess and needed a few more women to fill numbers.”
She tipped the bag defiantly. Mack couldn’t have been more surprised if she’s punched him in the face completely out of the blue. Spilling out of the bag was a box containing a pink dildo, a small silver bullet vibrator, something that looked like chapstick, but he was pretty wasn’t, and a bottle of flavoured lube.
“Eyes on the road,” she giggled, trying to gather her new toys while he gaped down at them trying to rearrange his brain around this new development.
Mack jerked his head up and realized he was indeed crossing lanes on the solid. Luckily there was no oncoming traffic. He made his way back onto his side of the road and reached for her bag, jerking it easily out of her hands and rummaging through while keeping a closer eye on the road. Yup, his eyes had not been deceiving him.
“Fuck, baby, the surprises just keep coming with you, don’t they?” he asked huskily, his dick perking up with each item he touched.
“Am I forgiven then?” she purred from across the seat, licking her lips mischievously.
He grinned, teeth flashing in the dim interior as they headed out of town toward his acreage. “Not by a long shot, baby,” he assured her. “But I’m sure gonna have a shit ton of fun punishing you tonight with this haul.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Lucy was glad she hadn’t wasted her money on the fuzzy handcuffs. Mack had two sets of his own handcuffs, though neither were fuzzy. She guessed the bond jumpers and cops would probably laugh at him if he cuffed the perps with fuzzy pink handcuffs.
She was laying belly down, her arms stretched over head, her wrists handcuffed to the headboard. He’d propped her hips up with a couple of pillows. She was already dripping with excitement, knowing this could only end happily. Although… there was that whole ‘punishment’ clause in their earlier discussion. She didn’t know how that was going to go. But the contents of her goody bag seemed to be mollifying the big man.
She rolled her head to the side and watched him as he re-entered the bedroom from the ensuite, eyes glowing with anticipation. He wore only his jeans, slung low on his hips, showing off the delicious indent on either side and an insanely chiseled stomach that never failed to make her want to lick every part of it. A trail of dark blond hair scattered from his broad chest, down over his abs and disappeared into his denims where she could see the top edge of his erection begin to swell. Her mouth watered.
He grinned at her as though he knew exactly what she was thinking and set the freshly washed toys down one at a time on his bedside table. He leaned over her, his naked chest brushing her naked back. She lost the ability to breath as he spoke, his lips against her ear. “You ever hear of edging, baby?”
She shook her head. “No,” she said, releasing her breath.
He chuckled and moved back from the bed. She heard him rustling around, reaching for something on the floor. “Wasn’t going to spank you, because we both know how much you love it. Like you were born for that bite of pain, born for my pleasure, darlin’. But with that perfect ass raised up like that, I don’t think I can resist punishing it… just a little.”
“Oh…,” she breathed out, her eyes nearly crossing in anticipation.
Until she heard the sharp crack of a belt being snapped together. Before she could protest, Mack was kneeling on the bed, thrusting her legs apart and bringing the belt down on her ass. She screeched, a sharp cry leaving her lips as fire burned across her ass cheek. She squeezed her eyes shut and grimaced as she went taut against the handcuffs.
Then she took stock of the situation while Mack paused and allowed her a moment. Streaking pain turned quickly into sizzling pleasure centered right, directly between her legs, pooling wetly. Oh yes. She liked the belt just as much as she liked his palm when he wasn’t wielding it with vicious intent. She wiggled her butt a little on top of the pillows, trying to entice him on.
“More?” he asked, his voice darkly amused.
“Yes, please,” she said eagerly and tensed, waiting for the next lash.
She peeked over her shoulder, her heart damn near stuttering to a stop as fear collided with utter, intense lust at the sight of her man wielding the belt, his incredible muscles bunching in preparation, his brow furrowed in concentration as he decided the right amount of force. Then he brought the leather down on the curve of her other cheek making her jump as pain and pleasure collided, streaking through her, first out from her ass, hitting all of her erogenous zones, then whirling back toward her centre until she was writhing underneath him, begging for more.
“Fuck, baby,” he growled with a laugh. “Ain’t never seen anything like you. You know I’m gonna have to keep you forever, don’t you?”
“Shut up and keep hitting me,” she growled back, wiggling her ass.
He did as she commanded, smacking her several more times, setting her ass on fire and making her pussy so wet with need she thought she would die if she didn’t get fucked in the next few minutes. Of course, Mack had other ideas. He still had punishment on his mind and she still had toys that needed playing with. After a few more delicious hits with the belt that nearly drove her right over the edge of an orgasm without a single touch to her pussy, he stopped. She heard the belt hit the ground and moaned in disappointment.
Her moan turned quickly to a long groan of pleasure as he reached underneath her and ran his fingers across her sopping wet pussy, teasing and gathering the moisture that had gathered during her delicious non-punishment. She wiggled and thrust her hips as best she could from her cuffed position as he moved his hand up to her ass, spreading the moisture to every available part of her. The breath caught and stuttered in her chest and her eyes widened as he drew his finger to her ass.
Mack was never shy in worshiping her ass. He loved playing with every part of her and he didn’t allow her to shy away from her own body either. But it wa
sn’t easy for her to overcome twenty-one years of having modesty beaten into, despite desperately wanting to let her inner hussy free. Still, her body had a mind of its own and, as soon as Mack began pushing his finger into her forbidden hole, her eyes rolled back in her head and her hips followed the movement. Too soon he was pulling away and reaching for the toys.
“Edging is where I get to drive you crazy and you don’t get to come until I say,” he told her, his voice harsh from excitement.
“What…?” she asked, her voice high and thready. She had no idea what he was talking about at first and then she remembered his earlier comment. “But that sounds like torture, Mack.”
“Exactly,” he chuckled darkly. “Since you don’t seem capable of taking a spanking or belting in the manner that it’s meant, we’ll try edging instead.”
She frowned and then lost track of the conversation when he picked up the tube of strawberry Nipsicle. She twisted around and tried to see what he was doing with the tube. “Uh… Mack? That stuff is supposed to go on nipples only and I’m laying facedown, so…”
“Yeah, I read the package,” he grunted. She heard the distinct sound of a lid being removed. “But I like to experiment.”
He wedged his hips between her thighs and leaned down. She could feel his warm breath rushing across her dripping core. All thought scattered from her brain as he used two large fingers to spread her labia apart and she momentarily forgot about the Nipsicle as she silently hoped he would use his wicked talented tongue down there. Then she felt something foreign and definitely not his tongue circling her slippery clitoris.
“Mack!” she screeched. “It’s not supposed to go there!”
He chuckled and ignored her loud complaints, tossing the recapped Nipsicle back on the nightstand. Then he picked up the dildo and vibrator. “Not that I’m complaining here, because I’m having me some real fun, but what were you planning with all this stuff? Got to say, I’m a little jealous if it was a one-woman party you had in mind.”
In His Sights Page 14