Rod of Correction: Taken and Tamed Page 7

  She wasn’t at all sure that he was going to be willing to let her go. She could see the headlines now . . .

  “You won’t, huh, Sir?”

  He did like how that title sounded coming from those beautiful lips. “Nope. Except for poker nights . . . well, weekends, because of the leftovers, and two cinnamon buns a week, I eat much more healthily than this, normally, and I run five miles every day.”

  Sunny snorted. “If I’m running, you’d better run, too, because there’s going to be an out of control eighteen wheeler not far behind me.”

  That got a chuckle. She liked his laugh and wished he would do more of it, although she knew it went against his serious grain, but then so did poker nights. He was gravedigger serious most of the time but poker nights he seemed to relax a lot. Apparently he let it all hang out the rest of the weekend, too, considering neither of them had worn clothes since the night before, and her impromptu theft of his shirt didn’t count.

  “What did you say?” he asked, realizing something was missing from the end of her sentence.

  “Just thinking out loud, Sir,” she mused airily.

  They hadn’t just eaten and talked, which would have been more than enough for her. He was at least as hot for her as she was for him. If she thought it wouldn’t have gotten her into trouble, she would have asked to inspect him for pre-cum the next time he decided to do the equivalent to her.

  Instead, he had caught her peeing in his bathroom – just threw open the door as if she had no right to privacy – which, according to him, she didn’t – and waltzed right in to stand there and watch her as she tinkled while she studiously avoided looking at him – and straight ahead into one of the many inconveniently and obscenely places placed mirrors he had around the place. Instead she studied the ceiling, the molding, the light fixtures – anything so that she didn’t have to acknowledge his presence.

  “Sunny.”

  He didn’t need to say more than that. She could already recognize that particular tone. She wasn’t going to be able to get away with avoiding him. As reluctantly as she could without earning herself another spanking, she finally brought her blue eyes to his black ones.

  “When you use the bathroom from now on – unless others are present – you are not to close the door. In fact, you’re not to close any door between us unless it’s a safety risk.”

  She swallowed hard. The complete lack of privacy would be a challenge to come to grips with. “Yes, Sir.”

  He continued, “And if I’m in the room at the time you’re using the facilities, you are to watch my eyes at all times, until I give you permission to leave.”

  Frowning, she answered, with a distinct lack of enthusiasm, “Yes, Sir.”

  Her ill-concealed hesitance tried to tug the corners of his mouth up into a grin but he squashed it. A sudden thought struck him. It was gorgeous outside, comfortable and dry, and it would be a tragedy not to spend some time out in it. “Have you ever made love outdoors?”

  She had to think, and Rod wasn’t at all sure he liked that idea, not that there was anything he could do about it. He very carefully avoided asking the women he slept with very many details about their prior history, and definitely preferred that they didn’t volunteer them. It was something he didn’t want to know from a one night stand, much less someone he’d become rather attached to rather quickly. He was too much of an alpha for that, and didn’t find lurid replays of the woman he was with fucking another man to be at all titillating.

  In Sunny’s case, he would probably want to kill them all, and that would be extremely messy and not to mention expensive, so he supposed it was out. But he also knew it was something he really couldn’t avoid, hoping against hope that there weren’t too many, but if she had to think about it for this long . . . If he had gotten to her when she was just on the right side of legal, he would have locked the two of them up together in the hovel in which he’d lived at that point, and he wouldn’t have accomplished much in life, but he – and she, because he would have made sure of it – would have been damned happy, regardless, he thought.

  “No, I don’t think so, Sir. It’s really not my thing.”

  He snorted. “What?”

  “The outdoors, Sir? Bugs, dirt, weather . . . Why do you think I spend all my time in air conditioned board rooms? Humidity makes my hair frizz, multi-legged creatures crawl on you without permission or bite you, or worse . . .”

  Worse? He wondered, although wasn’t about to ask but he was grinning at how prissy she could be. He wouldn’t have pegged her like that at all.

  He’d had a bit of what he thought of as a genius idea about what they could do while they were out there that would get the two of them some exercise. He also knew it would get him even harder than he seemed to be perpetually around her. There were a few things he wanted to take care of before they began, so he gave her explicit instructions. “When you’re done here, I want to you to into the bed room, make the bed, then sit at the end of it and wait for me.”

  “Yes, Sir.” She was just glad that he was gone, so she could finish by herself.

  Although he questioned her easy acquiescence, he didn’t call her on it. He wanted to get a move on so they still had plenty of sunlight to work with.

  This was why she should have her cell on her always, Sunny pouted, once he’d finally come to fetch her after what had seemed like forever. She could have been reading emails and taking care of a thousand little things while he was gone, and he wouldn’t even have known. It wouldn’t have detracted from their weekend at all, she pled as he led her downstairs and out onto a huge wooden deck that overlooked a beautifully landscaped rolling lawn. It was more like a park or a huge garden with grass. There were gorgeous groves of trees strategically grouped together, the occasional rock garden, hedges, and statues, as well as a large amount of forest beyond it.

  Instead of addressing what she’d said, he simply said, “What did I say about cell phones and computers, Sunny?”

  She hung her head, pursing her lips in displeasure at having been asked. “That there wouldn’t be any for the weekend, Sir.”

  “That’s right, for either of us. I have to confess that I did use my laptop this morning while you were sleeping but it was for entirely selfish purposes, and I didn’t do any work or even get into my email at all. I bought something online and chatted a bit with a friend, then I went and made us breakfast. I just wanted to come clean to you about that. I haven’t and I won’t use it again, and my cell is in the safe with yours.”

  “What did you buy, Sir?” Sunny admitted to curiosity about what it was, but she never expected it was an old gun. That wasn’t where her mind had gone at all. “You’re kidding!” she’d said when he told her.

  “Why?”

  “A gun? I thought for sure it was going to be a sex toy of some sort – restraints, a paddle, Viagra, I dunno. Something . . . less . . . mundane, I guess, Sir.”

  He couldn’t tell whether she was relieved or not that he hadn’t bought something sex-related. Rod took a step towards her and grabbed her hand, placing it over his raging erection. “I don’t need Viagra as a rule, and I most certainly don’t need it with you, as you might have noticed. As to sex toys, I’m not much of one for toys like that. I’ve got some medical stuff, but I don’t keep vibrators on hand because I think that’s supremely tacky.” He pulled her into his arms and whispered, “And I don’t use restraints usually because I expect you to find it within yourself to obey me and keep your hands where I told you to keep them or to stay where I’ve put you. And I already have most of the implements you’ve ever seen online, or did have at one point – I’ve whittled my collection down a bit or I’d have had to move out to make room for it - and a few you probably haven’t because I happen to have a friend who’s tastes run along the same vein as mine and he’s a very skilled woodworker.”

  She could have lived without knowing those last couple of bits.

  “Oh.”

  “Yes, oh.” He st
ood a bit apart from her to explain the game he’d thought up. “Here’s what we’re doing. I take it you’ve never gone hunting . . .” he trailed off at her look. “But that’s what we’re going to do. I’m the hunter, you’re the prey.”

  “That’s silly, Sir, why would I run from you?” And you already know I hate running, she thought, but didn’t say.

  It was then that she noticed a small bundle on the table that appeared to be a towel with something concealed under it. “This would be where the implement collection comes in.” He showed her three items, one of which was a frighteningly heavy and stiff looking leather strap. The next was a beautifully hand crafted wooden double paddle that had two good sized ovals, a little bit apart, obviously created in order to whack both cheeks of a poor girl’s behind with one stroke, and the last was a ping-pong paddle.

  “Now. This is where the ‘you running’ – and hiding to the best of your abilities – comes in. If I catch you within the next ten minutes,” he said, handing her a watch, “then I’m going to consider that you weren’t trying very hard and I’m going to use that leather strap on your fanny.” Her attention was diverted from him to the implements, so he caught hold of her chin and forced her to meet his eyes. “If that happens, I can promise you that, even as late as this Friday morning, at your weekly nine o’clock staff meeting, you’re still going to need to have an extra pillow on top of your cushy executive chair.”

  He watched her nibble her bottom lip apprehensively, for a moment then continued, “If I catch you within the next twenty minutes or so after that, you’re going to get this paddle right here. It’s one of the ones my friend makes and I’m partial to it. It tends to be very effective.

  “And if you can stay out there, for another forty minutes on top of that, and you can get back to this spot, right here,” he pointed to a small star that no one who wasn’t looking wouldn’t have seen, “then you get the ping pong paddle, which, after what you’ve already tasted, is going to feel like I’m swatting you with a Kleenex.”

  She highly doubted that. He was strong enough to make any implement a misery if he really wanted to. She was thinking something else, too, wondering just how many women he’d done this with before. Not that she thought she was in a position to ask.

  The man read her mind like a cheap dime novel. “Just in case you’re wondering, that star is used by my nieces and nephews. The table’s usually over it, and we use the table as base when we play hide and seek.” He moved closer to her, because she looked a little forlorn. “I haven’t done this with anyone else, Sunny. But I’m a hunter by nature, and I love the idea of going after prey that’s even more of a challenge – and that I’m very much looking forward to catching you, one way or the other. And I bet you know that, once I’ve given you your spanking, I’m going to lay you back on the ground and take you.”

  His little speech didn’t seem to have eased her mind much. She was still very tense and looking worried, not at all interested in playing along.

  “Tell me, honey, what is it? You can tell me anything, you know.”

  “Are there going to be guns involved in all of this hunting?”

  He looked appalled at the suggestion, and hauled her up against him. No wonder she’d been so apprehensive! He’d wanted this to be more lighthearted than he had turned it into with all of his blabber mouthing, he guessed. “No, sweetie. No guns. I would never, ever put you in any kind of danger like that, ever. I would never ever do anything that might make you so much as uncomfortable anywhere but your backside or your lady parts. I should have said that to you when we first made the bet. I thought you knew.

  “I’m going to be as naked and vulnerable as you are. My gun collection is safely locked up, elsewhere, and my hunting rifles are in a locked gun safe in my study.” He hugged her tightly, as if trying to will her to believe him. “I was thinking more like hide and seek, I guess, really, and I explained it all wrong because the idea of chasing you gets my blood boiling even more than it already is around you. I’m so sorry.”

  She caught that compliment and flushed with it. “I’m all right. I just wanted to know.” He let her go, keeping a hand on her lower back as if he didn’t want to lose contact with her. “In that case, if I can make it into home safe, I want no spanking at all.”

  He chuckled. She’d always had a reputation as a skilled negotiator, and he guessed he should have expected her to come up with something like that. “All right. I’m much easier on you than I should be, but you got it. If you can make it all the way in to home without me catching you, then you get an automatic ‘get out of that spanking free’ card.”

  She looked much more relaxed now, and as if she could get into the spirit of the game, competitive sort that she was – despite that it was outdoors and involved running.

  Suddenly, he couldn’t deny the impulse any longer and he reached down and lifted her up in his arms against him, leaving her feet dangling in mid air as he merged his mouth with hers in a manner that was exquisitely gentle, whispering once he’d ended the kiss, “God forbid I should ever seriously hurt you, Sunny.” He had been about to say that he didn’t know what he’d do without her, but didn’t want to get too heavy too soon, not that it wouldn’t have been true, but it just didn’t need to be said at this juncture in their budding relationship. “I’d cut my arm off before I let that happen.” Although it killed him to say it, he wanted her to know: “And if any other man ever does, you just come to me and I’ll personally see to it that he pays dearly.”

  She drew back a little and looked into his eyes, seeing the absolute, unflinching truth of what he said there, then hugged him tight.

  “Well, let me set you down and we’ll get this thing started.” He stood, facing away from her, right on top of the star. “Oh, one more thing. The playing field is just the back yard here, not the side or front yards, and the woods are strictly off limits. They would be too rough on your exposed skin and feet anyway.”

  Sunny nodded.

  “Good. You’ll notice, of course, that I’m being my usual extra generous self and giving you a head start, just like I do my brother’s kids.” He felt her swat his arm at that, which was just as he expected. “So I’m going to turn my back,” he said, “and count to twenty five slowly. I suggest you get a move on if you want your free pass.”

  He didn’t know it, but she was already gone.

  Counting only that far didn’t sound like very long, but for Rod, whose adrenaline had been pumping every since he’d had this foolish idea, it was an eternity. It must appeal to his cave-man instincts, which, as an alpha male weren’t very far beneath the surface, and she brought them to throbbing prominence.

  “Twenty-two . . . twenty-three . . . twenty-four . . . twenty-five.” He took several strides and stood at the edge of the stairs down into the yard. “Mark the time, Sunny. I’m coming to get you,” he yelled in what he thought was more than fair warning. He was quite confident that he could find her relatively quickly, despite the size of the grounds and many natural and man-made places where a tiny little thing like Sunny could hide. His niece – who was only four but smart as a whip – managed to get the whole household in an uproar one time by barely setting foot off the deck when she’d hidden herself away under it, where she couldn’t be seen, and had quickly been fast asleep in the noonday heat as they called and called for her.

  Just in case his quarry had decided to do something stealthy like that, he peered through the lattices he had put up to discourage Charlotte from doing that again, and saw nothing, as he’d expected, but he wanted to be thorough. He wasn’t surprised that she hadn’t run the risk of being found that quickly, though. That belt would tear up her poor bottom something fierce.

  So Rod turned and started out onto the lawn. The game was on!

  Chapter VII

  Sunny spent the first five seconds she in a panic, wishing she’d been more athletic all her life. Why, oh why, had she skipped so many Phys Ed classes? Then she headed for the furth
est clump of big bushy pine trees she could find, just at the edge of the forest, hunkering down behind them and watching him. She was so far away she couldn’t hear him counting, but she definitely heard it when he yelled that he was coming after her. It was two-fifty. She had to last out here long enough to at least avoid that strap, and although her real goal was always to win the ultimate prize, she had no illusions about her ability to elude a trained hunter.

  Rod was cursing the fact that they hadn’t mown the lawn today. Just afterwards, when it was pristine, footprints could be seen easily in the grass, and it wasn’t tall enough for her to have left a more blatant trail.

  He curved around to the left until he encountered the fence line, then cleared the perimeter of the property, with six minutes to go till the wooden paddle took over. He went to the back of the property and began to work back towards the house, systematically clearing each of the obstacles he met.

  She wasn’t anywhere to be found. By the time he got a third of the way up the lawn, the strap was out of the running. He had to hand it to her; he didn’t know what she was doing, but she was doing something right. He hadn’t seen so much as a glimpse of her yet.

  She almost made it, too, but he got her in the wide clearing between the house and the closest outcropping of bushes. She’d made it that far on pure instincts and adrenaline. She didn’t see him coming at all, she was so intent on making it up to that star. He darted up behind her and tackled her, rolling carefully to make sure that he took the brunt of the impact, keeping himself securely wrapped around her until they came to a stop. He made sure the tumble left her beneath him; he had forgotten about the spanking she was to receive, because all he could think about was getting inside her and marking her as his.