One to Keep

Chapter Eight

Stef strode through the double doors of Trio with one thought on his mind—get Jen and get home. He’d searched all over the fucking town for her. From the moment he’d realized she’d left the house, he’d been looking for her. He’d tried Stella’s, where he’d found out she’d had lunch with Callie and Rachel. He’d moved on to the Trading Post, where Teeny and Marie had admitted they’d talked to her for half an hour about everything that had happened in Dallas, including her unfortunate incarceration. Marie had made it plain that she blamed him. Jen obviously wouldn’t have gotten into trouble if he’d had enough of a brain to marry her. Laura Niles at the Stop’n’

Shop had said roughly the same thing.

How had she left everyone high and dry, but he was the villain?

“This place is new, Stefan. It used to be a hardware store.” And he’d done all of his roaming with his father riding his ass. He wasn’t sure how much worse the day could get.

“Mr. Weldon died back in ’05, and he didn’t have any kids. The place was empty until Callie’s husband decided we needed a bar he didn’t almost get murdered in,” Stef said under his breath as he looked around the little tavern.

It was filled to the brim with tourists. Stef wanted to growl when he remembered the damn Winter Festival started tomorrow. His brain went over all the things he’d promised Callie and Rachel that he would help with. It was a lot. He was supposed to host the final night’s dinner and call out the raffle prizes. Could he get out of that?

Shit. Rachel would probably get upset. A stiff wind was all it took to get her crying these days. He was stuck. That was just what he needed, his whole damn town overrun with strangers while he was trying to keep an eye on Jennifer. Despite what Nate had said, he would feel better when that damn painting turned up.

“Which husband is that? Nathan, or the large, ill-tempered character?” His father glanced around the place with the same enthusiasm he’d shown all day.

Yeah, that was a good way to describe Zane Hollister. “It was the big one, Dad.”

His father’s brows came together in a concerned V. “And you say that Maxwell and Ryan are involved with a single female as well?”

“Yes,” Stefan replied shortly. After the incident he’d started to mentally refer to as Anal Plug Armageddon, his father had all kinds of questions about the relationships in Bliss. He’d been shocked to discover that ménage was rapidly becoming a way of life in the little mountain town.

“But you aren’t sharing Jennifer with someone, are you?” Stef felt his face flush. He reminded himself that he was thirty-two years old, independently wealthy, respected in the art world, and responsible for himself. So why did talking to his father about sex make him feel like he was an eleven-year-old boy who had just gotten caught with a Playboy? Of course, he allowed, when he’d gotten caught with a Playboy, it had been by Stella, who’d given him a stern lecture about respecting women and taken it away. Max and Rye had been so pissed off because it was the only one they had. Two days later, Mel had replaced it. He’d given Stef a lecture, too, to always make sure the women in his pornography were humans.

He had to contain a laugh at the memory. “No, Dad. I’m not even dating Jennifer, much less passing her around to my friends.” And he wouldn’t. Not ever. He loved Max and Rye like brothers.

He felt the same way about Nate, and he’d gotten to where he was rather fond of that Neanderthal, Zane. But he would never understand how they could share the woman they loved.

And he didn’t love her.

A soft, twinkling laugh flitted through the bar. There were so many people talking and laughing, but that one sound had all of Stef’s attention. He could pick Jennifer’s laughter out of a crowd of a hundred thousand.

His father pulled at his coat sleeve. “So you just tie her up? You don’t date her?”

Stef’s back was suddenly ramrod straight as his eyes found her.

She was sitting at the bar with Callie on her right, accepting a glass from Zane. That wasn’t what had his back up. It was the cowboy sitting beside her, his hand possessively resting on her back, mere inches from her perfect ass.

James Glen. He was a rancher who had inherited an enormous spread from his father a few years back. He was twenty-five and a known playboy. He was smiling at Jennifer and leaning in like they were having an intimate conversation. He was tall, dark, and, to Stef’s mind, very much the asshole since he was busy trying to horn in on another man’s woman.

Damn it, he couldn’t think that way. Except that she was his. He’d signed a bunch of paperwork making him responsible for her. Yeah.

She was his. He just didn’t love her, and she wouldn’t be his forever.

He should remember that.

“Stefan,” Sebastian said, his impatience obvious in the tone of his voice. “I asked you a question. I’m trying very hard to understand this lifestyle you seem to have chosen.”

“It isn’t a lifestyle. It’s just who I am, and it’s private,” Stef said on a low growl.

“But I’m your father.”

“No, you are the one who provided the male portion of the DNA that created me.” Stef couldn’t quite keep the cruelty out of his voice.

“Mel was the one who taught me how to shoot a gun, and he was the one who told me about sex. Do you have any idea how difficult a conversation that was? He’s legally insane, but he did it. Stella made sure I had lunch on the weekends when the nanny took off and didn’t bother to bring in a replacement. Callie’s mom took me to the doctor when I was sick. You are not my father, and you have no place in my life. So back off.”

He stalked off. He didn’t look back because he was sure of what he would see. His father’s illness seemed to have brought on some need to bond with the child he’d left behind, but Stef didn’t have the time or patience to deal with him right now. His father had been sick, and he hadn’t bothered to tell him. Why should it mean anything at all to him? His father obviously didn’t need him in any way that counted.

His stomach was in knots. His hands were shaking with the force of his rage.

She thought she could ignore him?

He’d been the one to get her out of jail. He’d been the one to move heaven and fucking earth to get her out of that hellhole, and she was flirting with James Glen, who couldn’t tell a Klimt from a Jasper Johns because he spent all of his time knee-deep in cow crap. He had no interest in who Jennifer Waters was as a person or an artist. He liked her tits, and she was smiling at him. She was giving him her softness.

Stef pushed through the crowded bar. He plowed his way through the tourists and locals who called out his name. His vision tunneled down to just Jennifer. Her generous lips opened, and another long, sexy laugh came out of her throat. She put a hand on James Glen’s forearm as she said something low and seductive.

“Stef, are you okay?” Callie asked.

He barely heard her. He did catch Zane’s smirk.

“No fighting in my bar, Talbot,” Zane ordered.

He’d paid for the damn bar. He should be able to do what he wanted in it. And what he wanted to do was fuck up James Glen’s unlined, pretty-boy face.

“Hey, Glen, you want to move your hand off the girl’s ass?” Stef heard the challenge in his voice. He felt his every muscle go hard and his heart start to pound. Why was he doing this? His rational brain knew he needed a bit of distance between himself and the way-too-young-to-ever-settle-down girl, but the caveman in him wanted that fucker’s hand off his woman’s ass.

James Glen turned, his Stetson moving as though it always sat on his head. “You got a problem, Talbot? I was just welcoming a friend back into town.”

“You bet I have a problem,” Stef spat.

Jen looked back at him. “What’s wrong with…” She stopped, and a little smile curled on her lips. She forcibly removed James Glen’s hand from her waist. Her smile was wry as she looked back at him.

“Better, babe?”

The endearment did weird things to his heart. It was a term for equals, for partners. He shouldn’t take it seriously. “You need to come home with me. You’ve had a rough day.”

“Yes, I have. I could probably use a little stress relief,” she said as she brought the wineglass to her lips. “Can you think of anything that might help?”

His cock stuck up her ass? That might help. His cock fucking her tight little asshole would relieve an enormous amount of his stress.

Just like that, he was hard and ready to fuck. Damn, he was glad he’d left his coat on. He grasped on to the only non-sexual thing he could think to say.

“You stole my snowmobile.”

Callie laughed. “That’s so lame, Stef. And it was me. I stole the snowmobile. I hate driving that damn SUV of Zane’s. It’s like he has to prove how big his penis is. It’s unwieldy.”

“The SUV. Not my dick, that’s completely wieldy. I wield it often and totally in her direction,” Zane said with a grin.

“Are you going to arrest me?” Jen asked with a laugh. “Because I think I’ll appreciate Bliss County Jail way more than where I woke up this morning. Zane was telling me Nate’s new admin, Hope, takes food orders for the poor people Nate tosses in there.”

“Stella and I split it,” Zane explained. “She takes the lunch orders, and I get anything after 7:00 p.m. You would be surprised what some really well-made fries can do to liven up a prisoner’s day. I make sure they’re hand cut. I figure if I feed ’em properly, maybe they won’t sue Nate. So far we’re good.”

Jen shook her head. “See, this is why I love small towns. No one offered me fries in the Dallas lockup. Though I did get a thorough body cavity search from a woman named Mildred.”

“That must have been horrible for you, darlin’,” James said, his hand stroking hers.

Stef felt his blood flare, but Jen moved his hand off her wrist.

“That’s sweet, James, but seriously, I belong to him. He might be too dumb to admit it, but he’ll do that thing where he starts a fight, and he’ll probably get his ass kicked, and then I have to listen to him whine.”

“I don’t whine.” What the hell was happening? He’d expected her to spit bile his way, not sweetly tell everyone she belonged to him.

Because she didn’t.

“That’s not what Max says,” Jen replied. “Max says you whine every time he kicks your ass.”

“Max lies,” Stef said. “And he doesn’t kick my ass. I hold my own. I have since we were kids. Let’s go home.” She hopped off the barstool. “Okay.”

Just like that? Where was the catch? She’d been the brattiest thing he’d ever met for a year and a half. Now she walked to him, placing her hand in his and turning her perfectly serene face up. Stef was at a loss. Did he just lead her out?

“Should we get your dad?” Jen asked, her hand squeezing his when she said the word “dad” as though she knew how conflicted he was and offered her support.

He found his fingers lacing through hers. “I left him in the front.” Her eyes scanned behind him. “Well, now he’s sitting at a table with Hiram and Stella.”

Stef turned and saw that his father was laughing, his head thrown back, his face more open than he could ever remember it.

“You’re going to have to talk to him, you know,” Jen said, her eyes narrowing in obvious concern.

“Why?” He didn’t have to do anything. As far as he could see, he didn’t have anything to say to his father.

“Because it’s the right thing to do.” She started walking, her hands still laced in his, forcing him to follow. “Leave him the keys. We can drive the snowmobile back. Somehow I think someone will take Callie home.”

She took the lead, pressing through the crowd, holding on to him.

She stopped in front of the table where the mayor of Bliss sat holding court with some of the town’s older residents.

“Good evening, Sebastian,” Jen said with a sunny smile on her face.

His father’s smile was slightly tight, as though he didn’t approve.

“Jennifer.”

If it bothered Jennifer, she didn’t show it. “Please, only Stef ever calls me Jennifer. My friends call me Jen.” One eyebrow cocked up. “Stefan isn’t your friend?” Her hand squeezed his as she replied with a little laugh. “Stef is just a complete coward. Calling me Jennifer is his way of distancing himself. You’ll note he doesn’t run around calling Max Maxwell or Rye Ryan. It’s okay. We’re going to work on the problem.”

“Jennifer.” He bit out her name between clenched teeth. She was pushing him. Why?

Her hand came up and rubbed across his chest. “It’s all right. No one thinks less of you, Stef. Everyone gets scared. Now, give your dad the keys, and I’ll get my coat and meet you outside.” She released his hand and strode off toward the front of the tavern.

Coward? She’d called him a coward, in front of his father.

“Now, Stef, you need to take a break and think about what you’re going to do next,” Stella said sternly.

“I’m going to blister her backside. That’s what I’m going to do.” Stella’s relief was obvious in the relaxed line of her mouth. “Oh, good. I thought you were going to do something stupid.”

“Stella, how can you say that?” Sebastian slapped a palm on the table. “I might not like the girl, but I certainly don’t want my son to inflict injury on her.”

Stella’s eyes rolled. “You’ve turned into an old man. Stef, don’t listen to him. I knew your father when he was younger. He wasn’t always a dried-up old prude. And listen here, Sebastian. That girl is the best thing to ever happen to your son, and one day he’ll wake up and see it. Maybe, if he’s smarter than his father, he’ll reach out and grab her. Maybe he won’t wait twenty years, because let me tell you, if he does, she won’t be sitting around waiting for him.” Stella pushed out of the booth and strode away. Stef could have sworn he saw tears in her eyes. The crowd swallowed her up.

Hiram put a wrinkled hand on Sebastian’s shoulder. “That was to be expected. Let’s have a beer. I’ve missed you, old friend. Let me tell you about all the craziness around here. These young folks are very entertaining.”

Stef shook his head and turned from the sight of his father and the elderly mayor of Bliss. It struck him suddenly that his father had a life here at one time. He’d lived here and built the manor house and the guesthouse. He’d been a part of Bliss. He’d seemed happy here and always spoke of it with an obvious fondness. Why had he left?

Because people left. That was what they did. His mother had left.

His father had left. Jennifer had left. People picked up and left when he became difficult, and he couldn’t quite figure out how to not be difficult.

He didn’t like the direction of his thoughts. It made his stomach twist and turn. It was easier to focus on the fact that Jennifer had defied direct orders. He was responsible for her. He’d signed papers that made him accountable for her behavior. She’d been in jail. She’d left Bliss, and not six months later she was involved with some very unsavory people. The minute she got back, she started looking for more unsavory people. Stef pushed his way through the crowd, scowling at anyone in his way. He was satisfied with the way they started to make room for him, as though no one wanted to get too close. He found her at the door, talking to Logan Green, Nate’s deputy sheriff. She laughed at something he said and gave him a big hug that seemed like it lasted far too long. Logan was about Jennifer’s age, just a tiny bit younger. He was far more suitable for her than a thirty-two-year-old man.

“Beat it, Logan,” Stef growled as he got close enough to be heard.

His dick didn’t care who was more age appropriate. “Go find Hope and bug her.”

Hope was the new receptionist at the Sheriff’s Office. Logan spent an enormous amount of his time flirting with the slightly older woman.

Logan’s eyes flared briefly, but he obviously got the point. He headed straight to the bar.

“Very friendly, Stef,” Jen said, shaking her head at him.

A nasty little impulse clutched his gut. He took Jennifer by the arm and led her down the narrow hallway toward the small office Zane kept.

“Hey, I thought we were heading home,” she protested as she struggled to keep up with him.

“I have a few things to say to you,” he ground out. He punched in the code for the door and the lock gave way. It was a good thing Zane was so predictable. Callie’s birthday was something he knew by heart.

“Don’t,” Jennifer said softly as he closed the door behind her.

They were locked in together. Stef couldn’t miss just how intimate the little room was. It was the first time he’d gotten her alone since she’d been back. No, it was the first time he’d allowed himself to be alone with her. He was in control. She was an artist he liked. She was too talented to be allowed to waste it all. That was why he was here.

That was why he had gone to Dallas.

Then why had he bought her flowers on that day when she’d left?

A little voice was sighing in his head. Why had he been ready to apologize and ask to start over? Why had he told Lana he couldn’t see her anymore? Why hadn’t he been to the BDSM club in Denver in months? Why had he turned down invitations to play parties?

Stef really hated that fucking voice.

“What do you think you’re doing?” he heard himself ask. He turned on her, though the small room didn’t allow much distance between them.

“I am begging you not to do this, Stef,” she said, her fists clenched at her sides. “I am trying really hard to get along with you.

I’m trying to be understanding.”

“Really? What are you trying to understand, love?”

“Why you act like such an ass,” she said and then groaned. “See, I did not mean to say that. I meant to be sweet.”

“Tell me something, did you mean to drape yourself all over James Glen?” Stef felt his hands twitching. She was so close. He could smell her. She’d taken a shower at some point, and her hair smelled like citrus. God, he loved that smell. She always smelled sweet, with just a hint of bite underneath. She was a juicy grapefruit who just needed a little sugar. His cock ached. He was so hard he could pound nails.

Her eyes became wide orbs in the low light. “What are you talking about? I never touched him. He was just being friendly.”

“No, he wasn’t. He was being horny.” There had been nothing at all friendly about the way James Glen’s hand had been ready to cup her ass. It had been a prelude to an invitation to go back to his ranch where he would have done any and all manner of nasty things to her.

James Glen had been looking for a lover for the night. Stef should know. He was desperate as hell, too. Why had he brought her back here? It was too quiet and intimate.

“Well, good for him. Maybe I should take him on. It’s been a long time for me,” Jen snarled. Her foot stomped at the floor, her face blushing in frustration. “Damn it. Stop it, Stef. Stop it now. You’re making me say things I don’t want to say.”

“I’m not making you do anything.” This was what he needed. He needed a good fight to remind him why she was a bad idea. She was a little brat who always tried to push him. She’d tried anything and everything to get her way. Maybe now she was trying to make him jealous. It was working. “You were the one making a spectacle of yourself. You were the one flirting. Tell me something. Is your taste in men really that bad? James has fucked just about every girl in southern Colorado. You really want to be one in that long line?” Her face flushed, her eyes narrowing to angry little slits. Her mouth opened, and he knew venom was just about to spew out of that pretty mouth of hers. Then it closed. Her shoulders relaxed, and her hands went, shockingly, to the waistband of her pants. He watched in a mixture of abject horror and rampaging desire as she pushed her jeans over her hips and presented that gorgeous ass to him.

“How many, Sir?” Her voice was calm, but there was a throaty, aroused quality he couldn’t mistake.

He coughed. He couldn’t help it. He couldn’t find air to breathe in. Her hands were pressed against the wall, her ass thrust out and prepared for the slap of his hand. She was a little awkward, but her presentation was close to perfect. Everything about her called to him, and he wasn’t sure he could refuse the invitation.

Those twin globes were beautifully round and juicy. There were two perfect dimples above her ass, calling to him to kiss the skin there. The line dividing her cheeks was a sweet arrow leading to her pussy. Of their own volition, his hands moved out to caress her ass.

Her skin was soft and hot against his fingers.

“Ten,” he heard himself say. Ten smacks. Two for letting James Glen touch her. Two for smiling at Logan. Six for leaving him. Even as he thought it, he knew he wasn’t being fair. Nothing about this was fair. His brain felt fried. The only thing he could see was her soft, white flesh. She was ready for him. She was submitting to him.

“Yes, Sir. I’ll count.” Her voice was breathy and deep. Her jeans were around her knees. They were skinny jeans, tight when she wore them, and they formed a near perfect binding now. She couldn’t move freely. Her legs were tied together as surely as if he’d wound a rope around them. If he shoved his cock in, it would be tight, so tight. He would have to fight his way in. Thrusting would be hard. He would have to force his dick in and then grind in a slow circle until she moaned and he felt her cunt vibrate around him, sucking at him, milking his cock. Then he could let go. He would spew his cum until he had nothing left. He would grind into her until he was dry and she was full, the exchange complete between them.

Fuck, he didn’t want to wear a condom with her. He hadn’t the first time and didn’t want to now. He wanted to fill her up with nothing in between them. His cock was obsessed with getting inside her bareback. He couldn’t do this. This wasn’t some sub he was training. This was Jennifer. He couldn’t send her away at the end of the weekend. He had to see her every day.

Stef tried to take a step back, his thighs coming in sharp contact with Zane’s desk.

“Is there something wrong, Sir?” Jennifer asked. She hadn’t moved from her position, but her head was turned as she attempted to look at him. “Did you change your mind? I did spend some time with the doctor. Maybe I tried to seduce him, too.” It was the smile on her face that did it.

He reached out and picked up the ruler on Zane’s desk. It was flexible metal with a corked back. He tested it against his palm and then brought it down on her ass.

Jen gasped. Her body stiffened for a moment. Stef waited for her to get back up and tell him to go to hell.

“One,” was all she said.

His cock felt like it was trying to claw its way out of his pants.

The ruler in his hand felt good, but something was off. “This is wrong.”

Now she stood, a fine sheen of moisture in her eyes. “No, Stef, don’t stop. I want it. I like it. This isn’t some lifestyle I want to live, but I love to play with you.”

Stef turned quickly, looking for what he needed. Earbuds. They were connected to Zane’s laptop, but Stef easily removed them. She wasn’t where he’d left her. “Did I tell you to move? That’s two more.

Now, give me your hands.”

She turned, hopping a little because her jeans were caught at her knees. “Sure, let me get out of these.”

“Two more for questioning me, love,” Stef said with great pleasure. Ten had been far too easy, but Jennifer seemed determined to give him more. She didn’t seem to fear him at all.

Her mouth opened, then closed, and she held her wrists out to him without another protest. He wound the earbuds’ plastic wire around her wrists, palms together. He worked quickly, winding it in a pattern that would restrict her movement, but not cut off circulation. Now that he was tying her up, a sense of calm, almost fatalistic acceptance had come over him. He should walk out the door, but he couldn’t. He needed her. He’d never needed another woman the way he needed her. She’d haunted his dreams since the day he met her.

She was an addiction, and he’d decided, just for the night, to fall off the wagon.

“I like the way those jeans keep your legs together. They make a good binding.” He picked her up and moved her to the desk. “Lean over, put your hands out, chest against the desk, ass in the air. I owe you some discipline, love.”

Discipline. Even saying the word made his cock jump. Saying the word while he contemplated Jennifer’s gorgeous ass had his breath ragged. He had to remember to stay in control.

She did as he asked, sliding seductively against the desk. Her eyes were hot as she craned her neck to look up at him. “Is that all you owe me, Sir?”

He brought the ruler down on her perfect ass. A pretty line of pink formed, and her flesh quivered. He owed her so much more than a little spanking. “What else do you want, Jennifer? What else should I give a bratty little submissive who obviously doesn’t know her place?”

A couple of hours at his feet might start to satisfy the Dom in him.

She could kneel at his feet in the studio while he worked. When he needed to relax, he’d open his pants, and she would suck his cock.

Otherwise, she would sit there, and he could stroke her while he worked.

A slow smile crossed her face, like a cat who had just found the most perfect cream. “Where’s my place, Stef?” Beside him, underneath him, with him always. But he would never let her know that. He wanted something she couldn’t give him.

He wanted something that it wasn’t fair for him to ask of her. He was a selfish bastard. If he had his way, she wouldn’t have a career at all, and she was far too talented for that. Tonight was all he could allow himself. “This is your place, Jennifer. Right here. Right now. Bound and waiting for me.”

He brought the ruler down in short arcs, spreading the spanking all across her gorgeous ass. He counted in his head because he didn’t want to hear the sound of his voice. He preferred the breathy, desperate gasps and little moans that escaped her lips. She was trying so hard to hold still for him. Her chest hitched, and her ass swayed as though anticipating the next stroke. He slowed down after stroke number five. Anticipation was part of the game.

Her skin was pink and perfect. No welts, just a nice, hot color. By the time he reached eight, her head was pressed to the desk and not a single snappy remark had come out of her mouth. She simply whimpered, and the sound went straight to his cock.

“I didn’t like that rancher’s hand on your ass, love,” he explained as he put his own hand on her warm flesh.

“Yes, Stef,” she said, a dreamy quality to her voice.

She was so submissive when it came to this. She would rail and rage at him outside of sex, but she was a little kitten when he got her pants off. The combination was intoxicating. “No more ranchers. He wouldn’t understand you anyway.”

“Yes, Stef.”

That’s what he wanted. Yes, Stef. Just yes.

His hand moved up and down, the ruler snapping back after each tap. He rained down on her until he was perfectly satisfied that she was on the edge. Her breathing was choppy, and she was trying to clutch the front of Zane’s desk with her bound hands.

Stef stopped. What was he doing? He’d lost count. He wasn’t sure how many he’d given her. Damn it. He never lost count. He was shaking as much as she was, his breath sputtering in and out of his chest. He’d come close to losing control. He could have hurt her. He hadn’t even talked about her safe word. Had he hurt her?

“Are you okay?” he heard himself ask, though he was afraid of her answer.

“No, damn it. I am not okay.” She pounded her bound hands on the desk.

His heart felt like it would fall out. This was just one of the reasons he’d stayed away from her. He couldn’t keep himself in check around her.

Jen made no attempt to get up. She wiggled her ass, pressing her legs even closer together. “Look what you did. I ache, Stef. I swear to god, if you don’t fuck me, I’ll hate you for life.” The way she moved had her pussy on full display. He felt his mouth fall open as he caught sight of her wet lips. She was swollen and so wet she glistened in the low light. His hands came out. He put his left hand on her hips, steadying her, while his right hand slid through her juices. He was fascinated by the way his hand looked against her soft, pink flesh. It was a gorgeous coral color, but the juice gave it a sheen he’d love to capture on a canvas. If she were his submissive, he’d order her to spread her legs so he could paint her. He would look at her pussy until he could get its perfection just right.

Georgia O’Keefe would have nothing on him. Jennifer’s pussy really was a flower opening up for him.

She sighed, her body relaxing as though she was finally getting some much-needed relief. “Yes, that’s much better than what Mildred did to me.”

He couldn’t help his chuckle. Her humor always brought him back to earth. Sometimes he lost himself, but she knew how to bring him back. It was good to know he pleased her more than some guard from the county lockup. He let a single finger circle her clit. “I take it Mildred wasn’t a skilled cavity searcher?” Her hips swayed, inviting him in to play. “I’m sure she’s really good at finding any drugs I might have shoved up my hoo ha, but all in all, I didn’t care for the experience. She definitely wasn’t as good at spanking me.”

His hand came straight out. “She hit you?”

“I was joking, Stef,” Jennifer said. “No one hit me, except you, and that was very erotic. I was neither sexually nor physically assaulted while in prison, as I told the good doctor. I’m fine. I’m of sound mind, and I would really like to have an orgasm.” He slapped his hand across her ass for teasing him. He’d been horrified at the thought of her in a cage at the mercy of guards. It wasn’t something to joke about. “You didn’t let Caleb look you over.

You simply walked out and didn’t even bother to leave a note telling me where you were going.”

Maybe he hadn’t spanked her enough. If they were at the guesthouse, he would tie her to the St. Andrew’s Cross and use a single tail on her.

“I was hungry,” she said, biting her lip, a sure sign that she was nervous. She would always nibble on that plump bottom lip when she was attempting to find the right thing to say. “I’m sorry, Stef. Next time I’ll let you know when I’m fleeing from the somewhat insane doctor you sic on me. Now, let’s get to the good part. Come on, I can see that you want me.”

He was sure she could. His cock was standing at full attention. His slacks were pressed out as far as the wool would go. Still, he had standards to uphold. “You’re not supposed to be in control of this.” But she was. He could see it. She’d herded him to this place. First, she’d left and sent him running around town to find her. Then, she’d waited in a bar, where it was inevitable she’d get hit on. This was what she wanted. She’d turned sweet and submissive because she’d changed tactics on how to get him to give her what she wanted. It worked so much better than the way she’d tried to deal with him before. She was much more dangerous this time around, and he’d thought she was fatal before.

Her face turned up, and all of the sauciness was gone now.

“Please, Stef. Don’t think. Just for tonight. We can go right back to circling each other warily in the morning, but I need you tonight. I need you so much, babe.”

Her words sliced through him. She’d been through hell, and she’d smiled all day. Stef felt his heart seize. She needed him. He needed her. Damn it.

He got to his knees and did what he’d wanted to do for six months. He shoved his face into her pussy and surrounded himself with her. He buried his tongue in her cunt and let his senses fill. His mouth was full of her tangy, sweet taste. His nose breathed in the scent of her arousal. His skin pressed to her softness. The connection he’d felt to her from the moment they met was fully open, and he gave in.

“Oh, yes, Stef, please.”

His ears took in the sounds of her growing need. She pressed against him. He pulled her open gently and lapped at every inch of her pussy. He ate her, not wanting to miss an inch of her delectable flesh.

He fucked her with his tongue, pressing up into her cunt over and over. He showed her exactly how he wanted to fuck her. When he got his cock in, he’d show her no mercy. He stabbed at her with his tongue and then countered with long, luscious strokes until the cream just poured out of her, honey across his tongue.

He had to press in to get his tongue to her clit, but he managed it.

Her clit felt like it swelled against the tip of his tongue as he lapped at it. Every breath he took was filled with the smell of her arousal. A primal need ripped at Stef’s gut. This was what he’d been missing.

This hot urgency that had little to do with lust and everything with need, it was what was missing from his previous sexual encounters.

Those had been fun. Jennifer was more.

He began his journey from that pulsing little nub all the way back to her ass, where he kissed her pink cheeks as he pressed a finger deep inside her cunt. He slid in easily. She was soaked with cream. It poured from her body, a gift to him.

“God, that feels so good, Stef,” Jennifer said on a low moan. He added a second finger and twisted up. He scissored them inside her, seeking that spot that would make her groan. “So good.” It would feel even better once he got inside her.

“You haven’t had anyone since me.” He didn’t make it a question.

He just knew. She hadn’t made love with anyone. And neither had he.

He couldn’t.

“No,” she replied, her hips pumping against his hand. “I don’t want anyone but you. I never have since the day I laid eyes on you.” Sweet words. He felt the same, but he’d lived far more than she had. He had almost a decade on her to figure out that he wasn’t cut out for one woman.

That voice was back. If he wasn’t cut out for one woman, then why had he stopped seeing Lana? Why hadn’t he taken a lover in the whole six months she was gone? He hadn’t even taken on a single training session, not even one that didn’t end in sex. Since he’d started having sex he’d never gone six months without it, until he’d become involved with her.

And he couldn’t go another single night.

He fished through his pocket and found the condom he kept in his wallet. Despite what had happened all those months ago, he needed to protect her. The pill didn’t always work. They had been lucky the first time. He wouldn’t tie her down like that. The vision of his kids with Jennifer playing with Max and Rye’s and Callie’s assaulted him with a sweetness he couldn’t have imagined.

He pushed it ruthlessly aside. A child would be a cage for her. Her future was far bigger than being a wife and a mother.

He opened the condom. He hoped it wasn’t expired, because he wasn’t going out to the bar to see if Logan had one on him. He pushed his slacks down, freeing his rampaging cock. He was throbbing, desperate. There was already pre-cum seeping from the head, and he could practically feel the blood pulsing. With shaking hands, he slid the condom on. He managed it and then pressed his cock to her soaking flesh, making his dick wet and ready to fuck. He slid through her labia before lining himself up to her pussy.

She was so tight this way. She was tight and perfectly helpless underneath him. He wished he’d taken off her shirt. She should be naked, but there was no time. He had to get inside her. He pressed in and held her hips. This was what he’d needed for months.

Under him, Jennifer was trying to push back against him, trying to take him deeper inside.

“Calm down, love,” Stef said, running his hands along her skin.

He reveled in the connection between them. One hand at her waist, he let the other force its way to her breasts. Her nipples were little pebbles against his fingers. “Let me take control. Don’t fight me.” She stilled beneath him. Her willingness to trust him gave him the control he needed. Her pleasure was at stake, and he didn’t intend to fail her. He pressed in, her cunt tight all around him. He pushed in until he was plastered against her, his legs flush against her thighs, her ass pressed against his stomach.

“You feel perfect,” he said as he twisted his hips. The sensation raced from his cock up his body.

He pulled out a short distance and then pressed back in. He loved the sound of her pussy sucking at his cock. Regretfully, he slid his hand back down her body and circled her waist for better support. He reached around to find her clit with his fingers. He pressed on the little nub in time with his thrusts. He wouldn’t last. She felt too good, and it had been far too long for him to last any length of time. He wanted her with him so badly. He circled his hips, seeking her G-spot while his fingers rubbed at her clitoris.

She went wild beneath him. Her whole body shook as she came.

She pushed back as she screamed out her orgasm.

Her pussy spasmed around him, and he couldn’t hold back. His balls drew up, and he forced his cock as deep as he could go. His own moan filled the room as he came. He ground into her again and again, until he was empty. He let himself fall forward on top of her, his chest to her back. He let himself relax, a pleasant languor infusing his blood.

“Thank you, Stef,” she said, pressing her cheek up to his, seeking connection. “I know you don’t believe me, but I missed you. I missed you so much. I won’t leave again.”

He could feel her heart pounding against his, but now his sleepy pleasure was replaced with panic. What had he done? That hadn’t been sex. He’d made love to Jennifer again, and she was promising him things. She was saying exactly what he wanted to hear.

Stef pulled himself up and quickly cleaned up, tucking the used condom into a tissue and tossing it into the trash can. He righted his clothes and turned to her.

She’d managed to stand up, and she looked so young and sweet standing there.

“Too much, too soon, huh?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he muttered. “I need to get you home. It’s getting late.”

She held her hands out. “Fine. I’ll play it your way, Stef.” He quickly unbound her hands, and she pulled her pants up.

Stef did not miss the final phrase she uttered.

“For now.”