Dare to Surrender (13 page)

She tried to ignore her pulse, now racing from his words. “I don’t think it’s a good idea, Ash. Really.”

“Are you questioning my artistic vision?”

“No… but I just don’t think people are going to want to see that.”

“See what?” he asked.

“Me, my body…”

“You’re crazy.”

She lifted her chin; this was ridiculous. “Ash! Come on. I’m no model!” Her skin burned from humiliation and shame and frustration.
The day had been too long.

She saw his jaw clench, and then he whipped the car to the right, headed up an off-ramp. They went about a quarter mile in
silence before he slowed down. He’d pulled off on a scenic overlook, and for miles beyond and below, the lights of the Bay
Area stretched before them, dazzling and blurred through the rainy windshield.

He snapped off his seat belt and faced her. “Who fucked you up?”

“What?”

“You suffer from a major case of delusion, and I want to know why.”

His words were making the nervous ball in her gut churn faster. “You have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“You like my art, right?”

“Yes!”

“Yet you question my judgment when I say I want to showcase you as a model. So, what’s the problem?”

Too many years, too many words over time, had been too deeply ingrained inside her head to suddenly become undone just because
Ash Hunter said it was so. She knew who she was; she’d lived in her body for twenty-nine years. Was she supposed to change
her identity just because he instructed her to?

Leaning her head back against the seat, she closed her eyes. “Listen. It’s been a long day. Can we just go home?”

“No.”

“No?”

“Now I’m mad at you.”

Blinking, she just stared at him. “What?”

“For not believing me when I tell you something. Take off your shirt.”

The look in his eyes had changed; gone was the harried expression from earlier, and in its place was something she was beginning
to recognize, respond to. Sex: the ultimate way to lose oneself.

He was offering and she couldn’t say no.
Girl, you are so messsed up! You need to tell him the truth and be done with it!

But then he pushed some books aside and scooted over until he sat in the center of the bench seat. He faced her, and she wanted
him so much it burned inside her like a wildfire.

“I said, take it off.”

Hands trembling, heart racing, she pulled his sweatshirt over her head and threw it in the backseat. It was then that she
smelled stale French fries from earlier, and the memory of what she’d eaten in front of him was almost more embarrassing than
sitting before him in her jeans and bra. She couldn’t look attractive, not after tonight.

“See? There you go again, thinking things that aren’t true.”

How could he read her mind like that?

He pulled her toward him, and she was surprised when, instead of kissing her, he bent her over his lap. She felt his hand
on her back roaming, calming. “Beautiful, pale skin. Were you sore from the spanking I gave you the other night?”

Her skin went hot at the words, and her pussy clenched. The memory made her throb between her legs. “Just for a bit.” She
was surprised, and surprisingly disappointed, her skin hadn’t been red from the spanking he’d given her.

She felt his palm on her bottom, cupping her through her jeans, rubbing her cheeks through the denim.

Glancing over her shoulder, she asked, “Are you going to do it again? Spank me?”

“Definitely. Every time you put yourself down, you get a spanking.”

“I’m not sure that’s the best incentive.”

“I better think of a new one, then, but for now you are definitely going to be disciplined. Now, take off your jeans and panties.”

Slowly, Joy lifted her hips to scoot out of her clothing. He pulled off her shoes, slid her jeans, then her panties, down
her legs, and tossed them aside. The air was cold on her bare skin, but now that she was naked, she felt his erection pressing
against her side and a hot flush went through her.

His hand was on her ass, his palm warm and solid on the skin above her leg. He took his right leg and slung it across the
back of her knees, and then, with one hand, he drew her arm behind her back, pinning her to him. The submissive position made
her sex start to throb.

“Are you ready, Joy?”

“Yes,” she breathed.

Smack, smack.
His palm struck her right cheek, then her left. It stung but not as much as that time in the kitchen, and the pain tingled
through her.

“Good girl.” He smacked her again, right cheek, left cheek, repeating the rhythm over and over, just enough pressure to make
her veins run hot with desire, to make her squirm, but not so hard the pain was too much.

“I’m just warming you up, baby. I can barely see the way your ass is turning red. Is it starting to burn?”

“Yes…” It was a slow burn, getting hotter and hotter as he continued.
Smack, smack
. He never lost his steady rhythm.

“Oh, please…” She tried to move, but he’d immobilized her; she felt her hand clenching behind her back as she writhed on his
lap. “It hurts; fuck, it’s starting to hurt!”

“I bet. But I also bet you’re fucking wet for me. Let me check.” He lifted his leg so he could reach between her thighs and
slide a finger across her wet folds, and, she cried out in pleasure.

“Yes, you love this, don’t you?” he asked, his voice husky.

“Yes,” she breathed. “Don’t stop, not yet.”

“I wasn’t going to. I’m not stopping until you beg me to.”

He used his fingers to tease her one more second, and then his leg was clamped down behind her knees again. Then his hand
struck her, harder than before.

“Ow!” But it was a good pain, the kind that made everything around her fade away as sensation took over her body, her mind.

“That’s right. Tell me how much it hurts.” He picked up where he’d left off, switching sides, her ass burning more and more
with each slap. She was on fire; it was spreading from her ass to her pussy, to her blood.

“Oh, fuck! That fucking hurts!”

“Good.” He tugged her arms tighter behind her so she had to arch slightly back, and he clamped his legs around hers a bit
harder. So helpless as he continued to spank her; and she continued to lose herself.

“Let me hear you, Joy. Tell me how much it hurts.”
Slap slap slap.

“Oh my God, it fucking hurts!” She tried to writhe, to ease the ache between her legs, but he had her totally restrained.
“Yes, Ash, it hurts so fucking much!” She pressed her legs together. “I’m going to…”

But she didn’t want to come yet. “Please, Ash,” she panted. “Please, stop…”

He softly rubbed her burning ass. “Ah, yes, my beautiful girl. You can’t take it one more second, can you? You need to come
with me inside you, don’t you?”

Her heart was in her throat, and her brain was fuzzy. She couldn’t think; she was floating.

He lifted her until she straddled him, and she dropped onto his body like a useless heap, nestling her face next to his. But
between her legs, she felt his erection through his jeans, felt the hard surface of the button-fly against her pussy. “Fuck
me,” she whispered into his ear.

He brushed a wild strand of hair off her face. “Oh, Joy. Beautiful girl.”

She smiled against his ear. When he said it like that, she nearly believed him. It was such a strange feeling, so unfamiliar,
it would have frightened her in any other situation, but she was too far out of her head right then to fight it, to fight
anything. When she felt like this, it was so easy to forget everything else, and she welcomed it.

He lifted his hips, sliding his jeans down his legs. Eyes closed, she heard him open a condom and roll it onto his erection.
Reaching between their bodies, he took the base of his cock in his hand. She didn’t need any instructions; she sank onto him,
filled herself as deeply as she could. They both stilled, savoring the moment their bodies joined. Linked, connected. She
met his gaze, and his eyes were dark, reflecting the dim glow of the streetlight.

She didn’t know what was happening. She felt like an entirely different person than she had just one week ago, like something
in the universe had shifted. When she was with Ash, everything felt right. And yet she barely even knew him.

This was the longest booty call in history.

Pushing all other thoughts away, she lifted her hips and sank back down on him. He tilted his head back on the seat, his eyes
drifting shut. “That’s it, Joy. Fuck me.”

His hands gripped her burning ass and sent a new wave of lust over her. She braced her hands on the seat, riding him, using
him the way he’d used her. Fucked him until she saw a sheen of sweat on his brow.

“Yeah, baby. Fuck me until you come. I want to feel you come, Joy.”

“Yes. Oh, Ash.” She sank deeper, closer to his body so she could rub her clit against his pelvis. Tilted and lifted her body
to get it just right.

“Yes, right there, oh my God…”

“Touch your breasts, Joy. I want to see you touch yourself.” His eyes were half closed, and his voice was throaty.

Taking her nipples in both hands, she pulled and pinched, watching his gaze on her body. His grip on her sore ass went even
tighter, sending her over the edge. She climaxed, her breasts in her hands, body clenching around his cock. With a powerful
groan, he stilled between her legs, and she felt his own orgasm buried deep inside her.

She wasn’t sure how long they stayed that way, but after a while, reality began to set in. The rain had stopped. The air was
chilly on her naked skin. The light feeling she’d been enjoying was slowly being replaced by panic at what she needed to tell
Ash.

Unless…

She climbed off him and gathered her discarded clothing. “Ash?”

He was straightening his pants, buttoning them back up. “Yeah?”

“Are you serious about doing this show?”

“If you let me use you as the model, sure.”

“That’s… wonderful.” A plan was starting to form in her head, and as they drove the rest of the way home, she bit her lip,
thinking. For the first time, she began to see a way out of this mess, and Ash wouldn’t be any the wiser. If she could pull
it off, Ash would never need to know she was a thief.

A
sh had no idea what he’d been thinking.

He’d driven Joy home, parked her car, and then hopped a cab back to his place and fallen into bed. By then it was dawn, and
he’d woken up in time for lunch, starving.

Now it was afternoon; he sat at his computer, waiting for it to boot up. The team was scheduled to do a transport later, and
Ash would have to be online much of the night, which left the remainder of the day for printing photographs. For at least
the twentieth time, he wondered what the hell had gotten into him. Why had he agreed to put on a show for Joy?

It was, by far, the last thing he needed. But when he was with her, he wanted to please her, wanted her to be happy. Hell,
he felt like that even when she wasn’t around.

And he needed to capture her: on film, in rope, in his bed. His balls went tight, and he shifted in his chair, pushing the
thoughts away.

His computer screen flashed, and his instant-message window popped up; he already had several messages from the team. They
needed him. This and his family, that’s what needed to take priority. When he was with Joy, he wasn’t himself; he lost track
of time; he made crazy promises. And he had no control over his libido.

Things were progressing over there faster than anyone had expected. He’d routed three transfers for American businessmen in
the last three days between Baquba and Diyala, two of the most dangerous cities in Iraq. And today the team was escorting
a British oil tycoon across the same area. Ash needed to be on top of his game; planning a route free of terrorists, arranging
delivery of the appropriate weapons—it was up to him to make sure his team was as safe as possible, and he wasn’t about to
let them down because he was distracted by a woman and some photographs.

A sudden urge to hop on a plane and join his team in the Middle East rushed through him. He recognized the feeling: Run, flee,
go.

But he couldn’t, could he? He’d made promises to people, and he never broke his word. But soon the exhibit would be over.
And should he decide to go overseas, his income would triple due to the increased safety risk. The extra money would buy his
sister a lot of state-of-the-art equipment.

His computer beeped with another message, this one indicating the guys needed to know road conditions on a new route. Apparently
there had just been a bombing on the track Ash had planned out for them, and now he needed to find alternative, safe roads
for the team to travel. Ash immediately snapped his attention to his job. Now, this had to be the priority.

But he’d made a promise to Joy, and he wouldn’t let her down, either.

He’d get it done. He’d get it all done. He didn’t know how, but he would.

The first thing Joy did when she woke up was send an e-mail to start her plan of returning the sculpture before Ash could
find out what she’d done. Then she called in sick and didn’t get out of bed except to eat the only thing she could find in
the house—microwave popcorn and chocolate ice cream.

Poor Andrew had to deal with telling Pain-in-the-Ass Panos she wouldn’t be in, but Joy simply wasn’t up to arguing with her
surly boss. She hadn’t fallen asleep until dawn, and when the alarm had woken her an hour later, she knew she’d be useless
for many hours to come. Her body was sore; her head was sore….

Her ass was really sore.

Yeah, she needed a break.

So much had happened in too short a time period. Had she really only started this thing—whatever it was—with Ash last week?
It seemed like months had passed since that night in the museum.

The night she’d stolen from Ash. But all was not lost: She had a plan.

Ash. Her stinging butt reminded her of the spanking he’d given her in the car, and desire washed over her.