Chapter 7
I should have punished her when she threw that TV tray at me in her apartment. I’d been too preoccupied with getting her out of town, I let my judgement be swayed.
“Let me go.” The little pixie yanks down on my grip, like she can get away from me.
I clench my jaw. She’s not mine. She’s not even a target.
She’s the best friend of my friend’s woman. This is a pick-up and drop off situation. She’s already going to show up with injuries thanks to my not getting to her fast enough at the bar.
I drop her arm.
“Get in bed. This is your last warning, Mira.” The fire in her gaze suggests she’s not going to heed it .
And the hardness of my cock suggests I’m hoping she doesn’t.
“I was in bed. You’re the one who pulled me out.” She shoves at my chest, and I grab her wrist, pinning her hand to my pec.
The warmth of her skin spreads across my body.
“You’re acting like an overtired little girl. Go to sleep before you get yourself in more trouble than you can handle.” I keep my voice even, trying to remind myself that she’s not the sort of girl I can fuck and duck.
And I’m not the sort of man to stick around, so the heat building here has to cool the fuck off.
“I can handle myself fine. Stop threatening me.” She’s right.
Threats aren’t my style. And I’ve given her plenty of warnings so far. And she’s ignored each of them.
Using her wrist, I spin her around until she’s facing the bed and shove her over the side. Before she can really get a grasp on her position, I push her up so her toes are off the ground and her ass is propped up.
“No more threats,” I promise, yanking the boxer shorts she’s wearing for pajamas down to find her panties are gone from beneath.
The sweetness of her ass stills me for a beat. Only a beat, because this girl is a fighter and she’s already wiggling.
“Let me up!”
Pressing my hand between her shoulder blades, I keep her steady.
“Are you going to go to bed like a good girl, or are you still going to fight me?” I already know the answer; it’s probably why I bother asking.
Let her understand this is her choice, even if it really isn’t. The woman’s going to bed with a hot ass one way or another.
“I hate you.” She tries to push up again, unsuccessfully.
“That’s what I thought.” I bring my hand down over her ass hard, watching the way the sweet curves bounce back.
My cock strains against the fabric of my boxers at the sight before me. The harder she wiggles, the more she kicks, the harder I spank her, the more painful my erection becomes.
“Ow!” She swings an arm back trying to protect herself, but she’s only wasting her energy.
When she kicks her leg out, I get a healthy glimpse of her pussy. Arousal coats the plump lips that part slightly with her jerking movements, giving me a better look at the dark pink flesh inside.
Fuuuuck.
“Stop! All right!” She continues swinging her arm, trying to block the smacks I deliver, covering her entire ass until it’s a blushing pink.
“All right, what?” I pause, grabbing a fistful of her ass cheek and squeezing.
“I’ll go to bed.” She falls against the mattress, a small sign of defeat.
“And?”
“And what?”
“And you won’t cause any more trouble. You’ll do what I say when I say it.” I squeeze harder. Beneath my grip, she clenches her muscles.
“Yeah, fine, whatever!”
“Hmm, that’s not very convincing.” I return to spanking her, and I’m a big enough asshole to admit I’m enjoying the way her ass bounces, along with the sweet aroma of her arousal building the longer this goes on.
“Okay! Yes! I’ll do what you say!” Her legs kick straight out, every one of her muscles clenching as she holds the position.
When I let her go, she’s sucking in long breaths and pressing her face into the bedding. Slowly, she slides off the bed until she’s firmly on her feet.
“No.” I put my bare foot over the boxers that she’s kicked off on to the floor when she tries to grab them.
“Rurik.” She tilts her head with a little plea.
“Next time behave.” I grab the clothing. “Go on.”
I jerk my head to the bed, needing her to climb under the covers before I decide to give into the monster living inside of me and throw her on the bed to enjoy her in an entirely different way.
She tugs on her shirt and hurries around the bed and climbs in. Getting beneath the covers, she pulls them tight up to her chin and she rolls to her side, facing away from me.
After flipping off the lights in the rest of the room, I get beneath the covers on my side of the bed. She’s balled up on the other side, quiet.
Folding my hands behind my head, I plan out tomorrow. It’s a three hour detour but handling the prick I’ve been hired to deal with needs to be done. It’s too big of a risk to wait until after I’ve gotten her home.
With the quiet in the room and the warmth of the blankets, I ease myself to sleep.
Pain shoots up my leg, jolting me from sleep.
Mira kicks her legs beneath the blankets, hitting me right in the knee a second time. She’s inched her way over to my side of the massive bed.
Her hands press against the headboard over her head like she’s trying to lift it, while her head thrashes from side to side.
“Mira,” I say her name softly at first, not wanting to scare her more. She seems terrified of whatever she’s dreaming about already.
Her foot makes contact with my leg again, and I hover over her, holding her face with one hand.
“Mira!” I pat her cheek. “Wake up, you’re dreaming.”
She screams, but her eyes aren’t opened yet.
Fuck. Her hands smack against the headboard and she thrashes to the side, but still, she doesn’t wake up.
“Mira.” I run my hand over her cheek, speaking in a soothing tone.
I’ve seen this before. She’s not dreaming, it’s a night terror.
She kicks me again, but it’s not as hard as before. She seems to be losing steam. Her muscles soften beneath me as I keep petting her cheek.
“Shhh, it’s all right.” I slide to her side, pulling her into my arms as she goes limp.
A thin sheet of sweat covers her brow, so I wipe it away, brushing her hair back at the same time.
“Rurik?” She goes rigid. “What’s happening? What are you doing?”
“Keeping you from kicking me.” It’s a protective measure but also holding her like this isn’t so bad.
“I kicked you?” She sighs. “Was I screaming?”
“A little but mostly thrashing around.” I continue stroking the hair away from her face. “Do you get night terrors often?”
“I don’t know. I mean, I didn’t used to all that often, but my landlady said she heard me screaming a few times.”
“And you’re not having a nightmare?”
“Not that I remember. I’m just tired and sweaty when I wake up.” She touches her head. “Like now. I’m sorry I kicked you.”
“You should be. Hurt like hell waking up like that.” I squeeze her a little. “When did this start?”
“After I left home.” She rolls out of my arms, onto her back. “I’m okay now.”
“What happened with your boyfriend?”
“I told you, Marco shot him.”
“Where you helping him deal?”
“No.” She turns her head to look at me. “I don’t do drugs, and I don’t sell them. Nico…was a mistake.” She ro lls her eyes. “One more mistake in a long line of mistakes.”
I check the time on the clock sitting on her nightstand. It’s four in the morning.
“How was he a mistake?”
“You mean other than he got me into this mess? He was just a horrible boyfriend.”
“How?” I have no idea why I’m asking.
Why should I care if this guy treated her well or not? She’s just a delivery. Nothing more.
“He didn’t care about me, and the more he didn’t care the more I wanted him to. I think I was just scared of being alone. But after the last six months, I don’t think that’s going to be a problem anymore. I do fine on my own.”
“Really? You had one can of green beans in your kitchen. You think that was doing fine?”
“I had to save every dollar I earned to send home. I ate at the diner when I had a shift and at the bar. I was doing fine.” It seems important to her that she believe that. “I had things handled.”
“Right.” I laugh. “That’s why I’m here.”
She sobers for a moment, like she’s almost forgotten her best friend was left behind with the monster she was running from.
“Is Megan okay? For real. Has Marco gotten her involved in something bad?” She rolls to her side, facing me.
“She’s fine as far as I know. I can’t get a hold of Alexander, though. In the morning, I’ll call his brother. He should have some information for me. ”
“Maybe if I call her on my phone, the one I had before I left home, she’ll pick up. It’s probably charged by now.” She starts to roll back over to scoot to her end of the bed, but I stop her with a hand on her hip.
“No. Don’t turn it on yet.” I warn her. “If that detective is looking for you, he might be watching your cell. He can see if it pings a cell tower. Let me get in touch with Alexander’s brother in the morning, and if that doesn’t get us any information, we can use your phone later.”
Like after I deal with the prick holed up in a cabin out in the woods. Why do people think they can’t be found in the woods? Especially when they own the property they’re hiding on.
“So, this is what you do? You hunt down people for a living?” She pulls the blankets back up to her chin, suddenly aware of the fact she’d had them pushed down to her waist.
“Among other things.” I wrap my arm over her stomach and pull her closer to me.
My cock is hard and without anything covering her ass, it easily fits between her asscheeks. She must realize it too because she goes stiff.
“We can talk about it in the morning, time to sleep,” I emphasize through gritted teeth.
“I’m not having any more nightmares; you don’t need to hold me like this.” She tries to wiggle free of my arm, but I’ve gotten comfortable with her like this.
“Just in case.” I squeeze her a little. “Go to sleep, Mira, unless you want a repeat of the lesson from earlier?”