Chapter 1 #2
Stop perving on the girl and focus on the road and the killers chasing you.
With her curves and all that attitude, that was way harder than it should be.
Luckily, they hit the outskirts of Vegas just in time. The traffic was heavy but moving steady. Relief tingled up his spine and loosened his shoulders. If there was one thing he knew how to do, it was lose a tail. Finally, something was going their way. This he could handle.
Weaving in and out of traffic, he kept an eye on his unwanted shadow. Every time he changed lanes, he gained some distance. If the Russians’ Bentley fell behind by another block, he and Bliss would be home free. He just needed to be patient and lose them bit by bit.
Movement beside him caught his eye, drawing his attention to her perfect backside. She had shifted to kneel on the seat, gazing out the back window. Her ass swayed and bounced with the truck's rhythm. The view was distracting as hell, not to mention dangerous for her.
The seatbelt stretched taut across her thighs, and when he had to hit the brakes, the back of her head almost smacked into the front dashboard. His itchy palm won. He smacked her bottom twice. Hard. He didn’t even try to hold back. She needed to learn with him that her safety always came first.
She yelped and spun around to face him, hand clutching her backside. She had the nerve to glare at him. “What are you doing?”
“Getting your attention. Even toddlers know how to keep their butts in their seats. Now sit your ass back down before you get hurt. If we get hit, you’ll wind up with a cracked head.”
Her immediate obedience went a long way toward calming his anger. The spanks to her backside helped even more. It felt right. Too right.
Once she was seated and buckled in again, he turned his attention back to the men following them. They got stuck behind a car at the light, so after the next turn, he exited onto the off-ramp. He’d never been so happy to be headed toward skyscrapers in his life.
His happiness was short-lived. He let out a string of words he’d spank Bliss for using when the Bentley followed them off the same exit. Persistent bastards. But this wasn’t Connor's first rodeo. Turning right at the next corner and then left, he spotted what he’d been waiting for.
Gotta love Vegas tourists’ obsession with glitz and glam. There was a mall on every corner. Malls with huge parking lots packed with people eager for a new outfit or twenty. Or as he liked to call them, perfect cover.
He raced to the far side of the lot and screeched into a parking space. Pushing Bliss flat on her back on the seat, he covered her with his body, ignoring the intimate feel of her body beneath him, and waited, doing his best to support his weight on his elbows.
His shirt shifted as he moved, and he almost shot straight up when her cheek brushed against the skin of his abs. Before he could get out the words “be still,” she had turned her head, and her lips branded the skin at his waist.
Her soft, warm lips. Fuck.
He willed his dick not to react. Why did she have such soft lips? What would it be like to watch her lick those lips? Minutes felt like hours of torture as Bliss squirmed beneath him. “Stop moving,” he all but snarled. He hadn’t meant to sound so harsh, but her wiggling was killing him.
If she didn’t stop moving, he was about to cross a line neither of them wanted to cross—well, a line they shouldn’t cross. But wanted to? Hell yes.
When she squirmed, brushing her lips lower, he managed to say, “If you don’t stay still, I’m going to spank your ass. Is that what you want?” His voice sounded like he’d been chewing gravel.
She reached around and poked him in the side. “I. Can’t. Breathe.”
Fuck. Winnie wouldn’t be very happy if he suffocated her sister. Which meant Reid wouldn’t, and the last thing he needed, since Reid Nolan owned Sabre Security and was therefore his boss, was an unhappy Reid. Of course, Reid was closer to him than a brother, so that wouldn’t happen. Probably.
Not that he wanted Bliss suffocated, either. So, he lifted his hips and did his best not to picture the compromising position they were in. “Just a few more minutes.”
The second he thought they were safe, he sat up. Bliss tried to follow suit, but that wasn’t happening. Pressing his hand on Bliss’s shoulder, he held her down. “Not yet.”
He scanned the area for the silver Bentley. There were many luxury cars, but none had a busted-out window. “It looks like we lost them. Are you all right?”
For half a second, he panicked, thinking he might have hurt her. One look assured him she was fine. He filed the panic away to think about later, once he knew they were safe. He’d never panicked over an asset before, but he needed her to be okay.
She nodded, even though she looked anything but okay. She was a trooper. Kidnapped. Readied for sale to a man old enough to be her grandfather. A Russian man. Escaping, only to be caught up in a high-speed chase.
He wouldn’t allow himself to imagine the things she must have endured in her short life that enabled her to hold herself together. He’d studied The Society enough to guess. She was one tough Little girl. But she shouldn’t have to be.
After buckling her seatbelt, he pulled out of the parking lot in the opposite direction from the Russians.
Luckily, this wasn’t his first trip to Vegas, so he knew his way around.
He took the back streets to a motel on the east side of the city that would give The Getaway Motel back in Darling a run for its money.
It was a dive, but it would have to do. Pulling into the parking lot, he made his way behind the building to park.
His first order of business was to get a room and get Bliss inside.
Chances were slim that Egoradov’s men would check out this skeevy motel, much less spot the truck behind it.
Taking her to the front office would be riskier.
As striking as she was, the men he’d seen working the front desk could give a description of her.
He couldn’t risk exposing her, so she had to stay hidden.
He didn’t trust her alone in the truck, but hopefully, the last hour had made an impression on her. “I’m going to get us a room. I want you back on the floorboard so no one will see you. Do not, under any circumstances, get out of this truck. Understand?”
She nodded, but the gears whirring behind her eyes had him bracing for her response. Bliss was the perfect example of a girl who was too smart for her own good.
“I understand, but what if the truck catches on fire?”
“Fire? Really? That’s what you’re going with?
” Oh, this Little girl had no idea who she was testing.He counted to ten, which did nothing but waste ten seconds of the precious time they had to get into a room.
His rope was longer than most, but he was at the end of it.
“Then I suggest you take a minute to ask yourself whether that fire is hotter than the fire I will light in your bottom if you get out of this car when I’ve told you not to. Am I clear?”
He gave himself an imaginary pat on the back. That should shut down the sass.
Eyes wide, she shook her head. “I didn't… I mean, I wasn't trying to… I mean…" She lowered her gaze to her knees, but not before he caught the tremble of that lower lip again. "Yes, sir."
Her voice had the same lilting quality most Littles had. He studied her closely. He hadn't spent that much time with her, so he couldn't be certain, but he’d be willing to bet she was teetering on the edge of her Little headspace. He could see it.
Damn if those words didn’t aim straight for his heart. Unfortunately, they got hung up around his cock and stayed there. He had an all-consuming need to hear “Yes, Daddy” from her lips. It was a dangerous thought.
What in all that was holy had happened to his self-control? He’d never had runaway thoughts. Life had taught him a long time ago that control was vital. The effect she had on him was dangerous. It was as if she knew exactly how to unravel him. He couldn’t let that happen.
Shaking those thoughts from his mind, he reminded himself he couldn't risk her getting out of the car and getting caught, so he kept his tone stern. “Get down and stay out of sight. I won’t be gone long, but you do not want to test me. This is your one and only warning.”
She nodded again without looking up. Good, he’d nipped her smart mouth in the bud. Why did that disappoint him?
Turning toward the office, he glanced over his shoulder to make sure she was doing as she’d been told. All he could see was the empty car. Since he hadn’t heard a car door open while his back was turned, he took that as a sign she’d finally gotten the message.
He was in charge, and now that she realized it, the rest of the way back to Darling would be smooth sailing. Well, with her, smooth sailing was doubtful, but no matter how turbulent the waters got, he would keep her safe.