The Pleasures of Summer

by Evie Hunter

  ‘You won’t be getting within twenty feet of a gun.’

  Summer pouted at him and he scowled.

  ‘I thought we’d discuss your current security profile and see how we can improve it.’

  ‘Huh?’ That wasn’t exactly what she’d had in mind. Some fishing, maybe a short hike, but not a meeting. ‘The security system at the house is pretty good now and –’

  ‘I’m not speaking about the house. I’m talking about your own personal security. How you behave when you’re out.’

  ‘I know how to avoid the paps.’ Before Adam, avoiding the paparazzi was the biggest complication in her life. But since the photographs were published she had encountered her fair share of weirdoes.

  ‘How can you tell that they’re paparazzi and not something more dangerous?’

  She had no smart answer for that one. The incident last December had caused her father to install the new security system and for weeks afterwards he barely let her leave the house. Summer shifted uncomfortably in her chair. ‘You mean what happened last Christmas? I don’t remember much about it.’

  She had no description, no licence plate number, nothing to show the police that she had been stopped except a damaged car and a few bruises. They probably wouldn’t have taken her seriously at all, if it wasn’t for the off-duty fireman who stopped at the scene. He had been too busy helping her to pay much attention to the van driving away.

  ‘I read the report. You knew you were being followed, but you didn’t go to the police, you didn’t call anyone. You could have been kidnapped, or worse.’

  There was no answer to that so she stayed quiet.

  ‘I’ll speak to Niall about organizing a defensive driving course when we leave. We’ll also work on some counter-ambush and hijack drills.’

  They were getting out of here? Summer’s smile of delight was short-lived when Flynn added, ‘But for now we’ll work on what you should do if the worst happens. The most important thing to remember is that 80 per cent of abductions take place from your home, a hotel where you’re staying or a friend’s home.’

  ‘So, the places that I feel the safest …’

  ‘Are the ones where you’re in the most danger,’ he finished. ‘You have a good security system in your home, but it’s only good if you use it properly. Make sure that all of your household are security aware. Incidentally, you have a very high turnover of staff at the house. Why is that? You can’t be that difficult to work for – and the fringe benefits are stunning.’

  The accompanying grin softened his words but Summer felt a small prick of guilt about the dark-haired housemaid. She hadn’t seen her since the day she’d pulled that naked stunt at the pool with one of the bodyguards. ‘I don’t know,’ she confessed. ‘Malcolm takes care of all that.’

  She didn’t need Flynn’s frustrated sigh to know it sounded as if she didn’t know what was going on in her own home.

  ‘Summer, you should know. Everyone new in your home is a potential threat. I’ll speak to Malcolm when we return to London. Now, let’s go outside. There’s no reason why we can’t get some exercise while we’re talking.’

  The man was obsessed with exercise. Her personal trainer wasn’t as enthusiastic as Flynn. Grumbling under her breath, Summer pulled on her shoes and grabbed a sweater. Her muscles were still aching from the previous day.

  Instead of heading towards the loch, Flynn took the path for the hills. She hadn’t been in the forest since her escape attempt. The day was cooler and the cobalt blue sky had been replaced by misty grey clouds. She wouldn’t be surprised if it rained. Bloody Scottish summer.

  ‘We’ll start with the dangers of social media.’

  Summer almost giggled and stumbled on a tree root. Hearing Flynn say the words social media with such obvious disdain, was almost as entertaining as listening to a talking dog.

  ‘Is that part of a series of lectures?’ she asked innocently. ‘Along with the dangers of drugs and alcohol.’

  Flynn grunted. ‘I am serious. How many friends do you have on Facebook and Twitter?’

  ‘I’ve no idea, eighteen or nineteen hundred, I think.’ It was probably a lot more but she couldn’t remember the last time she had checked.

  ‘And how many of them have you had coffee with in the past month?’

  Ouch. Flynn had a way of getting right to the point. Lots of them were friends of friends of friends. How was she supposed to keep up with them? ‘Maybe a dozen.’

  ‘So, you regularly let a bunch of complete strangers know where you’re going to be every evening and who you’re going to be with.’

  Put like that, she was a kidnap victim in training. ‘But I need to –’

  ‘Update your status after you get home safely. Not before. And don’t go to the same place on a regular basis.’

  ‘As if,’ she said, rolling her eyes at the very idea of it.

  ‘And remember, if anything ever happens to you, your kidnappers want to keep you alive. And I promise that I will find you. If I have to move heaven and earth, I’ll find you and bring you home.’

  She had no idea what to say.

  It was barely dawn when Flynn woke up and slid out of bed. Each morning brought increasing reluctance to move away from her. What the fuck had he done? This was more than a physical interlude. Every day, every encounter brought them closer together. He wasn’t acting like a Ranger any more. He was more like a love-sick puppy. It couldn’t go on. Checking that Summer was still asleep, he eased down the ladder and out to the Jeep. He opened the panel at the back which concealed his weapons. The Sat-phone was fully charged.

  ‘Some of us have lives, you know,’ Niall told him when he finally answered. In the background, Flynn could hear a female voice telling him to hang up.

  ‘You have to get me out of here, man,’ Flynn said.

  Niall sniggered, now fully awake. ‘What, one poor little rich girl is too much for you?’

  ‘Of course not. She –’ He broke off, not sure what he wanted to say. What the hell had happened to him? Summer O’Sullivan had tied him in knots.

  ‘So what’s the problem?’

  ‘Do we really have to stay up here? She’s going mad without her beauty appointments and crap like that.’ Flynn knew he was being unfair. Summer had complained about a lot of things, but that wasn’t one of them. But it was something Niall would understand.

  There was a rustle on the other end of the phone. Niall was on the move. Flynn heard him opening his laptop. ‘It’s the safest place for you. Her father’s still in Atlanta and there’s no sign of that stalker. There’s not a lot of sympathy from the local police. It seems your principal has a bad habit of driving too fast.’

  ‘Fuck it, Niall. I can’t take much more of this.’ Flynn clutched the phone. The image of Summer writhing in orgasm was imprinted on his mind. He’d take that memory to his grave.

  Niall laughed. ‘Suck it up.’ Summer sucking – No, he had to stop that thought, he already had a boner. ‘But I’m hearing rumours that there might be a job more to your liking coming up soon. I’ll keep you posted.’ And the phone went dead.

  Fuck, fuck, fuck. Flynn put the phone back into its case carefully, trying to put off the moment when he had to go back inside and deal with his principal. The one who had become more than a client. Who could turn him inside out. Who gave him hundreds of ideas of things he wanted to do to her. And teach her to do to him.

  The client.

  Summer O’Sullivan was his principal. He was not supposed to be banging her. He’d already broken that rule, more than once. He was just going to keep his distance from now on. That was all.

  He squared his shoulders and went back inside.

  ‘Flynn?’ Summer’s sleepy voice came from upstairs. ‘It’s cold up here.’

  Her voice echoed in a hollow spot inside him, filling him with desires he hadn’t felt since he was a horny teenager.

  ‘I can warm you up,’ he said. He kicked off his boots and climbed up the ladder. He
ll, the damage was done. He might as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb.

  Summer was warm and tousled and he couldn’t keep his hands off her. He climbed in and took her mouth in a devouring kiss. Damn it, so what if she was the client? She was still the sexiest woman he had ever met.

  She squealed at the coldness of his hands, and he deliberately ran them down her back, making her wiggle in outrage. ‘Ow! Get your hands off me.’ But her eyes were inviting.

  He pulled her hands above her head and held them there while he nipped at her neck. He wanted to mark her as his. The unexpected wave of possessiveness took him by surprise.

  The image of Summer kneeling at his feet and wearing his collar returned to torment him. He tightened his grip on her wrists and nipped harder.

  The alarm going off dragged his attention away from Summer’s early morning scent. Fuck. There was an intruder.

  Flynn bolted from the bed and leapt down the ladder, not even bothering to put on his jeans. He grabbed his gun, checked the perimeter readings and raced for the door. ‘Stay down,’ he shouted at Summer as he went.

  Summer watched Flynn’s very fine backside disappearing out the door, and caught her breath.

  When he came back in through the door, it had been the most natural thing in the world to call down to him to get him back into her bed. She had been anticipating another bed-shaking orgasm when something had distracted him.

  Flynn had bolted from the bed, flown down the ladder so fast he was only a blur, grabbed a gun and headed out the door. She barely registered his barked orders as he went.

  Could the mad Scot truly be planning to run around naked? Outside, where anyone could see him? An unexpected burst of jealousy caught her by surprise. No, she wasn’t jealous of the aggravating Scot. She didn’t do messy emotions. Ask Adam. Ask anyone.

  But he was her bodyguard, and running around in the buff like that reflected badly on her. They might be a long way from civilization, but all it took was one hill-walker with a phone to capture the sight of her employee with everything hanging out like that.

  A naked Flynn on YouTube would guarantee millions of hits, all female. She hadn’t realized just what a magnificent specimen of manhood he was until she saw him running out the door.

  She winced when she remembered admiring Robert Fielding’s physique. He might be taller than Flynn, well-built and more manicured, but there was no comparison. Flynn’s body was fabulous, with those ruthlessly defined muscles flexing smoothly under his skin. That dusting of body hair, which had initially bothered her, now seemed all the covering he needed.

  For a few minutes, she lay in bed, toying with the idea of introducing a bare skin policy for all the staff. Imagine having Flynn naked whenever she wanted. On the other hand, her father’s secretary Brian was carrying about thirty pounds too much weight, and all in the belly. That was not a sight she wanted to see at the breakfast table. She couldn’t even imagine Malcolm naked. Logically, she knew there had to be a body under those formal clothes he always wore, but she couldn’t imagine it. He seemed to have been born in a white shirt. As for the new maid – Summer winced. The woman hadn’t gotten over seeing Summer naked, so it wasn’t likely she’d strip off.

  She was giggling at the thought when the silence began to unnerve her. She held her breath, listening as hard as she could, hoping for any sound that would indicate what was going on. Her heartbeat drowned out any noise from outside. She sat up in bed and listened.

  This was ridiculous. How long had he been gone? It must be hours now. The loft was much brighter than when he ran out. She stared at a shadow, convinced she could see it move.

  Flynn hadn’t meant her to stay here forever. What if something had happened to him? He had gone out there naked. He could have been bitten by a snake and be lying there dying. Did they have dangerous snakes in Scotland? She couldn’t remember.

  She climbed out of bed and pulled on a shirt of Flynn’s. It smelled like him, a subtle musk which soothed her even as it aroused her again. She crept down the ladder, wondering if he would come back and catch her. Would he be more annoyed with her for disobeying, or aroused by her lack of underwear? She grinned. It could be interesting to find out.

  The silence was unnerving. Surely there should be birds singing or something? She crept down and peeped out around the door. Nothing. No movement to break up the silence.

  The sudden snarl and howl took her by surprise. She gasped. Flynn was out there, naked with whatever had made that noise. She rushed out to help him.

  The perimeter had been breached on the mountainside. Who could be approaching from there? He would have bet money that any attack would have come from the lake or the road.

  Once outside, he went into hunting mode, blending silently into the landscape. Even naked, he could make himself practically invisible. He slipped along through the trees, watching out for the intruder. There was no sound except the wind rustling the leaves and a distant motor on the lake.

  There were no birds singing, he noticed. Whoever was out there had silenced the birds that normally serenaded the dawn.

  Flynn reached the point where the perimeter had been breached without seeing anyone. There was no sign of any passage at all. He hunted around, letting his senses expand to take in any detail that would tell him who was out here. If it hadn’t been for the silence of the birds, he would have assumed it was a malfunction of the electronics, even though they were top of the range and had been set to alert him to the passage of anything bigger than a fox.

  He circled around and headed back towards the croft.

  A sudden growl and howl came from the woodlands. He raced over and was just in time to see a feline shape disappear into the shadows. A mangled rabbit lay on the ground, blood still seeping from its wounds.

  What the hell was that?

  Flynn picked up the rabbit, which struggled weakly, and snapped its neck neatly to put it out of its misery.

  A moment later, Summer emerged from the croft, wearing one of his shirts and a pair of sandals. ‘Flynn? Are you okay? What’s happening?’ she called.

  She saw the bloody corpse in his hands and screamed. It was the last straw. Rage and fear swamped Flynn. ‘What the fuck do you think you’re doing out here? I told you to stay inside.’

  ‘What?’ But she wasn’t paying attention to him. All her focus was on the dead rabbit.

  ‘You disobeyed me,’ he bit out. ‘I told you to stay inside, and instead you come out here, where there might be an intruder, and you’re half naked and totally unarmed. You’ve just put yourself at risk, and by god, you are going to learn not to do this again.’

  Flynn caught her arm with one large hand and pulled her into the croft. She stumbled after him, barely able to keep up. Once inside, he dropped the rabbit and turned to her. Those hazel eyes were dark, stern and focused. ‘You disobeyed me. You put yourself in danger. Again.’

  Summer tried not to shrink back from that steely gaze. God, he made her feel like a naughty schoolgirl. She didn’t like the feeling. She straightened, thrusting her chin up, and forcing herself to meet his eyes. ‘Big deal.’ She managed to keep her voice breezy. ‘I was in danger from a killer rabbit? Yeah right.’

  His eyes kindled, narrowing dangerously. ‘Last time you did something like this, I warned you that there would be consequences. Has anything given you the impression that I was joking?’ He washed his hands at the sink, all without taking his attention off her.

  She shrugged, determined not to be intimidated. ‘Joking? You’d have to have a sense of humour for that, and you clearly don’t.’ She was aware as she said it that she was pushing it too far. He was right; she knew she had done the wrong thing. She should admit it and apologize. Instead she heard her own voice saying, ‘Lighten up, for god’s sake.’

  The next moment, she was face down on the kitchen table. ‘What?’ she gasped, but there was a large heavy hand between her shoulder blades, holding her in place.

  ‘You disobeyed, and now you�
�ll be punished.’ Flynn flipped the shirt – his shirt, damn it – up, revealing her bare bottom. She barely had time to register what he was doing when the first spank landed.

  The blast of pain shocked her. For a moment, she could barely comprehend what was happening. The second blow restored her to her situation.

  He was spanking her. Flynn Grant was spanking her.

  The third spank landed in a blaze of pain that caused her to jerk against the table. The hand on her back held her in place.

  ‘You bastard!’ She finally found her voice.

  ‘You bastard is masochist for “thank you”,’ he said, not bothering to hide the satisfaction in his tone. A fourth spank landed, this time on the other cheek. The sting was extraordinary. This was nothing like the club and definitely nothing like her fantasies.

  ‘You can’t do this.’ She gasped the words out from her ignominious position.

  ‘I can and I will.’ Whap! Again.

  ‘I’ll have you fired.’ He ignored her and kept going.

  ‘You disobeyed –’ another spank ‘– a direct –’ another one, this time harder than before ‘– order.’ This spank was harder again.

  He was getting into a rhythm, hitting left and right, punctuating each spank with a lecture on her shortcomings, delivered in that maddeningly reasonable voice.

  She yelled and cursed, trying to kick him, scratch him, anything to break up that inexorable rhythm. He caught her wrists and held them in the small of her back.

  She wanted to howl. This hurt. It was nothing like she had imagined a spanking would be. But there was something about Flynn’s strength, his determination, that turned her to mush. When was the last time a man had just imposed his will on her? She couldn’t remember. Despite herself, a flicker of arousal stirred. A tiny, primitive, cavewoman part of her gloried in his domination.

  She was not going to get out of this. She knew it. He was going to punish her for breaking his rule. Something inside her softened, relaxed into the spanking. She continued to curse, but without any expectation that he would be affected by any names she called him or threats she made.