Taken and Tamed (5 page)

Cass had always been a city girl. First on the gritty streets of Chicago, then in a high-rise apartment overlooking the gleaming skyline of Charlotte. The sight of so much raw wilderness filled her with panic as the reality of her situation set in. They truly were isolated here. Just the two of them, surrounded by miles and miles of wilderness. She tamped it down and turned to Zander.

“Can you untie me and point me to the bathroom? I have to pee.”

He never glanced her way, busy rummaging around in the small kitchen set up along one side of the back wall.

“You’ll have to pee outside. Until I get the generator running, there’s no water.”

She stared at him in horror. “Outside? Like in an outhouse?”

He laughed. “No.”

“Thank heaven.”

“Like in the woods,” he went on. “And I’m not letting you loose. I’ll cut you away from that shoulder bag, but then I’m gonna retie your hands. I don’t trust you not to do something stupid.”

He grabbed a large knife from a block on the counter and walked over to where she stood.

“Be careful! Don’t cut the scarf.”

He shook his head. “You’re facing a criminal wielding a knife and the only thing you’re worried about is your
scarf?
”

“It has a lot of sentimental value,” she mumbled.

Zander muttered something under his breath. He made a big production out of untying the scarf around her wrists, then slit through the plastic tie with one swipe. Cass dropped the heavy bag on the floor and stretched, arching her back and rolling her shoulders. Zander gave her a moment. Then he took both her wrists in one huge hand, winding the silk tightly around them, crossing them together just below her breasts. He pulled the long ends of the scarf together and tied them behind her back.

Meanwhile Cass was on a rant. “I have never in my life gone to the bathroom outdoors. And now you expect me tromp out there all alone in the woods
and
get my pants off with my wrists tied together?”

“Hell, no.”

She breathed a tiny sigh of relief.

“I’m going with you.”

“
What?
”

“Just give me a couple of minutes to change. Then I’ll take you outside. You can choose which bush you want to squat behind.”

This just kept getting worse and worse. “I can’t do that!”

“Then hold it.”

He turned away.

“Wait!” She fidgeted a little, knees tightly together. “Okay.”

He sighed heavily. “I’ll be right back.”

Busy staring at the view, Cass hadn’t noticed the rustic stairway made of split logs. It blended into the wood interior, running along the short wall that made the kitchen an L-shape. The stairway led to an open loft over the kitchen and downstairs bedroom, running all across the back half of the cabin. Zander disappeared upstairs and she heard drawers opening and closing. When he came back down, he’d shed the suit for a black t-shirt, jeans, and a battered pair of hiking boots.

“This place is yours,” she declared. “That’s why you’re so familiar with everything. They’ll find us, you know,” she went on, feeling the first rays of hope. “Do a search of any property you’ve ever owned, no matter what alias you used. It’s only a matter of time. Go. Now,” she urged. “Take my car. I’ll lie, swear I came with you willingly. I’ll tell them I’m a publicity hound. What better way to sell a crime book than to pretend to be taken hostage by your subject and then write about it?”

He gave her a disgusted look. “Then why did I need to go looking for the key?”

Cass stared at him, her mouth hanging open. Damn. He had her there.

He took her by the arm and led her out the door, weaving his way through the tangled brush. She stumbled along, her heels sinking into the soft earth.

“Pick one.” He waved a hand to the line of trees just beyond the front bumper of the car.

“I… I can’t.”

“Now what?” He sounded annoyed.

“I can’t reach my hands down far enough to get these pants undone,” she said in a small voice tinged with embarrassment.

His annoyed look turned into a sardonic grin. “Are you asking me to take your pants off?”

“No!” He turned away. “Wait… could you just untie my hands from behind long enough to undo my pants and then get them back up when I’m finished?”

He gave her a searching look. “Yeah. I can do that. But first you need to know the rules. Do what you’re told, don’t try to escape, and eventually, when I can, I’ll let you go. Give me any problems and you’ll get punished and then tied up hand and foot for the whole time you’re here.”

She nodded earnestly and he reached behind her to untie the scarf, leaving her wrists still bound together and the long ends trailing on the ground. Cass put her bound wrists out in front of her for balance and took a few hesitant steps into the undergrowth, then a few more.

“Hurry up. Once the sun goes down behind that mountain, it gets dark fast here. I still have to get the generator and the well pump running—unless you want to trot out here in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom again?”

Her voice came from behind a tree. “Okay, okay.”

Cass looked around to make sure there weren’t any nasty creatures or thorny bushes behind her, then squatted. She really did have to pee, but she realized this might be her only chance to get away. A few sharp tugs told her the only way she’d get the scarf off her wrists would be to find something sharp enough to cut through it. Her eyes darted around frantically, settling on a broken branch nearby.

With a pang of sorrow, she snagged her beloved scarf on the branch, right where her wrists were tied together, and worked it back and forth. It didn’t take long. The fragile silk ripped, giving her enough play to slip her hands out. She tossed it aside, yanked up her pants, and dashed off into the woods.

* * *

His body gleamed in the firelight, shadows dancing across sleek muscle and sculpted abs.

“Please. Don’t.”

“Too late. You broke the rules. Now you have to pay the consequences.”

“I… I swear I won’t do it again.” She choked back a sob as she strained against the bonds holding her in place.

“You told me when I met you that you’re a naughty girl.” His voice lowered, took on a dark intensity. “You were right. You’ve been
very
naughty. And now I have to punish you. First, your clothes are coming off. All of them. I’m going to lay you across my lap and spank your bare ass until you’re begging me to stop. And then I’ll spank you some more—until
I
think you’ve had enough. You can yell, you can cry all you want. There’s no one to hear you.”

Cass’s heart pounded in her chest, fear warring with arousal at his words. There was no doubt in her mind that he meant what he said. To her shock, a hot bolt of lust shot through her at the thought of being draped stark naked over the hard thighs of this muscular stranger. Completely at his mercy.

Zander came closer, a sleek and oh-so-sexy predator. She took a few deep breaths to calm herself and caught the scent of his maleness—a mixture of testosterone and musk, with just a hint of healthy sweat. He bent down and untied her hands and feet, then pulled her out of the chair.

“We can do this one of two ways. Your choice. You can stand here in front of me and take your clothes off yourself. Or I’ll undress you. But if I do it, my hands are going to be all over your body, not just on your ass.” He paused, giving her time to consider the implications. “Which will it be?”

She tried to swallow but nerves had tightened around the lump in her throat. “I’ll undress myself,” she replied, her voice barely a whisper.

She’d already been subjected to his hands all over her. That sad attempt at escape had been a disaster. She hadn’t gotten more than fifty feet into the woods when he grabbed her from behind. The next instant, she found herself tossed over his shoulder. He carried her back to the cabin caveman-style, screaming all the while, with her head hanging down over his back and her feet kicking wildly.

Once inside he tied her hand and foot to a chair with rope he found outside in the shed, adding to her humiliation and helplessness by making sure after he bound her that his hands roamed over her breasts and ran up her legs to linger between her thighs. Then he ignored her threats and curses as he bustled around the cabin. Eventually she quit yelling and fell silent. He disappeared outside for a long time and she heard the low hum of a motor when the generator kicked on. He came back in with an armload of wood and set to work building a fire.

Cass tried flattery. She appealed to reason. She even cracked a few jokes. He ignored every effort she made at conversation. Finally she gave up and simply sat there, squirming now and then to get the blood flowing back into her arms and legs.

Darkness fell, but he never turned on a light, relying on the flickering fire to illuminate the room. Finally, he went over to the kitchen sink, stripped off his sweat-stained t-shirt, and let the water run for a long time while he washed the dust and dirt off his upper body.

Once the pipes had cleared, he filled a glass with water and brought it to her. Like a stubborn toddler, she clamped her lips shut and turned her head away. He shrugged and drained the glass. She mentally kicked herself.

“Not thirsty? Okay. We might as well begin.”

That was when he announced she’d be punished for breaking the rules. She tried to swallow, but her mouth was dry as dust. Zander settled down on the chair she’d been in, leaning back and folding his arms over his bare chest. The bastard. He was going to sit there like a horny sailor in a strip club, watching every move and adding to her shame.

Don’t let him humiliate you. If he wants a show, give him one,
whispered a perverse demon in her head.
You’ve been naked in front a man before. Pretend he’s your lover and you’re trying to turn him on.
Cass straightened her shoulders. Her hands moved to the hem of the tight shirt she wore. ‘Sympathy for the Devil,’ the song Zander had been singing along with in the car, popped into her head. She swayed a little to the driving beat of music only she could hear as she slowly pulled the shirt over her head and dropped it on the floor.

Getting into the groove, she rocked her hips a little as she unbuttoned her slacks and let down the zipper. She rocked harder and they slid to the floor, pooling around her ankles. She stepped out of them and kicked them away, standing before him defiantly in only her lacy white bra, matching bikini panties, and black heels.

“You’re determined to show me just what a naughty girl you are,” he growled. “We’ll see if you’re still this proud and stubborn after your ass is on fire.”

Her eyes widened as the reality of her situation sank in. He really did mean to spank her. Fear kicked in, driving away any trace of arousal and flooding her mind with horrible images from the past. Her eyes darted frantically around the room, landing on the glass wall framing endless miles of empty wilderness outside.

She backed away, hands covering her bra and panties. “No. No.” Her voice broke. “Nooo.”

“So you want me to undress you after all.”

Zander shot out of the chair. He seized both her wrists in one hand, pinning them together while he reached around and unsnapped her bra. He pulled it off and ran a hand over one breast, tweaking the nipple roughly between his fingers until it stood out in a tight peak. Grabbing her by the arm, he dragged her back over to the chair. In one swift move, he sank down and pulled her across his lap.

Cass breathed a tiny sigh of relief when he left her panties on. But it turned into a harsh gasp a second later when his hand descended on her bottom with no warning.

Hot. Raw. Pain. She had hardly absorbed the shock when he smacked her again. His large hand managed to cover most of her bottom with one whack. Frantically, she struggled to escape, writhing around and kicking her feet. He put one brawny arm across her back, holding her in place, and whacked her again.

A blast of heat seared her backside. Cass shrieked at the top of her lungs.

“I think you’ve been lying to me. If you were really as naughty as you say you are, you’d know I haven’t even begun punishing you yet.”

She shuddered as his words sank in, then began struggling even harder when she felt his fingers slide beneath the elastic on her panties. He took his time, easing them down over her bottom, running his hand arrogantly across her stinging cheeks.

“Not even a little pink yet,” he announced, leaving her panties bunched just below the fullest part of her curves. He started smacking her again, this time alternating back and forth, first on one cheek then the other.

Cass screamed frantically. This spanking was nothing like her innocent bedtime fantasies. Licks of fire seared her skin every time his hand connected. She bucked against him, then froze when she rubbed up against an unmistakable hard bulge.

Zander laughed and ground himself against her, then whacked her again. “Now you know
my
dirty little secret. Spanking your ass turns me on.”

He worked her panties down to her knees and slid a finger between her tightly clamped thighs.

Cass squirmed, but he took advantage of her wiggling to delve further.

“You’re wet. And that’s
your
dirty little secret. Getting spanked turns you on too. You really are a naughty girl. But this spanking isn’t meant to be a reward. It’s a punishment.”

He started whacking her in earnest, hard smacks from the flat of his broad hand, delivered one after another without stopping. The agonizing burn built until she couldn’t stand it any longer. She fought, she kicked, she screamed. But he kept on. Though she hated herself for being weak, she couldn’t hold back the tears. Finally she found herself pleading for him to stop.

He did. Gratefully, she sagged across his lap. She was crying so hard by then that she barely noticed when he began speaking.

“Remember when I said I’d spank you till you begged me to stop—and then I’d spank you some more until
I
thought you’d had enough?” His hand roamed over her stinging cheeks. “This is so you’ll think twice next time you decide to run away.”