Rescuing A Runaway Bride (4 page)

She ought to find out especially if she was seriously considering hiring him on as her love lesson instructor. Besides, it really was her duty as the owner’s daughter to find out what he was up to. Her mind made up, she started to climb. If she was going to do this, she had to be quick. It was a good thing her fear of heights was a thing of the past.

At the top, she stopped to peer around and sighed with relief when she saw there was no sign of another woman. She could now admit it had been her biggest fear. So why was this forbidden territory to her? Then she noticed some items he must have brought with him, a laptop computer, and a telescope on a tripod. The scope was matt black and kind of funny looking reminding her of something a sniper used in the movies.
What might that scope be homed in on?
The knowledge she would be invading his privacy by peeking made her hesitate.

She was probably jumping to wild conclusions. At least a big part of her hoped so. She’d have to face the consequences if he found out. An outraged growl from below made her freeze.
Damn caught in the act.
She looked down and went still seeing Jake at the bottom of the ladder glowering up at her.

“You just couldn’t resist sticking your pretty little nose in where it doesn’t belong, could you, brat?” Ramsey gritted out. “Damn it all, I really am going to take you over my knee for this.”

Samantha scowled down at him even as her knees wobbled because of her fear of heights. She wasn’t scared of him because he would never really hurt her.

A nerve pulsed in Jake’s jaw.
“In that case, why don’t you come on down from there?”

She met his eyes and thought she saw a glimmer of understanding dawn there. “I don’t think I can.”

He shook his head. “Don’t tell me you’re still scared of heights?”

“I thought I was over it, but I guess I’m not. No thanks to you.” Through clenched teeth, she muttered, “Get me down from here, Ramsey.”

He grinned back. “Hold still and I’ll take care of you.”

She wanted to clobber him for finding this situation amusing. Instead, she conjured up a picture of a dewy meadow filled with wild flowers and changed her mantra to
I hate Jake.

Jake scaled up the ladder, coming to stand with his feet on the rung below hers. The ladder swayed, and she screamed, closing her eyes, sure they were going to fall.

“You’re not going to fall.” Jake’s voice was soft and reassuring. “Can you step down with me?”

She gave a tiny shake of her head.

“Yes, you can,” he said. “I’ll never forget you going down on me.”

Hearing his seductive tone, she flashed back to licking every salty sexy inch of his cock last night and forgot all about her fear for a moment. “You won’t?” she asked, wanting to believe him but she knew how unstudied she was at it.

“
Abso
¼
fucking
¼
lutely
,” he said, pressing against her.
“Blew my mind while you blew me.”

She heard the teasing lilt of his voice and relaxed a little more. Then she felt his hand smoothing her hair back and melted securely pinned between him and the ladder. He let her feel his heat, his arousal, as he pressed tight to her ass and placed a warm kiss on her exposed nape. She gasped. Her knees wobbled again, but not from fear this time.

“Feel good?” he asked suggestively. “Come on, baby, let’s go down.”

“Oh yeah,” she murmured at his coaxing provocative tone, automatically moving with him. At last, her feet touched the floor, and she slumped against the ladder, trembling from a combination of relief and excitement.

Jake’s hands clasped her shoulders in a firm grip making her shudder. Then he spun her around and she saw a heady mix of emotions flash in his gray eyes before his mouth came down to claim
hers.An
excited languor surged through her as she kissed him back. Her lips parted under his letting him claim her mouth the way she wanted to claim his body.

He pressed her back against the ladder and she reveled in the sexy contact, her thin dress leaving her in no doubt of his arousal. His hard cock practically throbbed against her and she couldn’t resist rocking her pussy against him teasing them both. She swallowed his fierce growl of reaction dragging her tingling nipples against him as they beaded into aching hard points. He pushed between her open legs forcefully rocking against her sending a spark through her clit that almost made her come and she clung to him. Just one touch, one bump and she
was
his for the taking. It wasn’t fair that she didn’t make him feel the same but she was through fighting it. She rubbed against him and shivered, sucking at his tongue, as a pressure built up inside her. This was what she ached for. Waves of anger, fear, and betrayal washed away under his ministrations. He groaned into her mouth and pressed tighter.

Then he put his foot on one of the ladders rungs, and draped her over his knee, in a sneaky move so swift it made her head spin. Stunned she could only gasp in surprise as he casually flipped up her skirt baring her panty-covered bottom. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” she demanded with a shriek and then gasped when his big hand landed in a splat against her bottom. She gasped as heat went through her. “Stop that.”

“Make me,” he said then chuckled.

She groaned mortified as he parroted her words back at her. Damn the man he knew just how to push her buttons. Then he drew back his hand to spank her other cheek and she gasped letting out a moan as her clit bumped against his hard thigh sending out sparks of pleasure through her and making her wet.

“Better,” he said, rubbing a hand over her panties.

She bit back a sigh of pleasure as he rubbed her hot bottom. God she couldn’t let him know she was getting off on this. Then he drew back his hand and she shuddered with anticipation.

“Five more and you’ll count them for me, sugar,” he demanded.

Incensed by the order she snorted.
“Not bloody likely, Ramsey.”
Then his palm landed splat against the bottom curve of her ass making her shriek and go on tiptoe again and she found herself saying, “O-one”

“Good girl,” he praised.

“Bastard,” she bit back then ruined her complaint by moaning when his hand smacked her left cheek.
“T-two.”

He spanked her again cupping her other cheek with his hot palm and she quivered, crying out, “T-three.”

“Nice panties,” he said, rubbing her ass.

She pushed back arching against his hot hand wanting more. Did he really think them nice and her sexy? Then he raised his hand to smack her bottom and she whimpered holding still for it.
Crying out in pleasure when heat bloomed through her.
“F-Four,” she whimpered beside herself.

“Excellent,” he praised.

She noticed his husky tone and felt his growing bulge against her belly and knew he was just as turned on. Then his hand smacked down splayed open covering her ass and she cried out her pussy clenching as the move drove her clit against him hard. And then he cupped her heat in his hand, his fingers sliding along her wet heat over her silky panties to hone in on her stiff little clit and pinch it and she came with a shout as he held her safe.

Her eyes were still closed, her toes still curled when he whirled her around to sit her astride his thigh. She gasped at the pressure against her still quivering pussy feeling oh-so vulnerable and at the same time powerful. One look at the storm clouds in Jake’s gunmetal gray eyes told her he was just as involved. Hell this was no way to set boundaries for a possible affair.

She felt her cheeks flame, gazing into the smoky depths of his eyes. Good grief, she’d come from a spanking. He’d probably think she was the sex-starved princess Grayson called her while he was screwing the blonde bimbo but even so there was no way she’d take what just happened back.

Jake frowned. “Get in your car and leave while you still can.”

The pain of rejection that caused would have made her crumble if he wasn’t still holding her fast. That was until she saw the banked heat in his eyes. He said go away but he held her fast. Something weird was going on here and she couldn’t figure it out when he had her tied up in sensual knots. “And how am I supposed to do that?” She looked pointedly at his big hands currently clamped on her arms holding her fast. She saw the flash of self-disgust that went through him and knew exactly how conflicted he probably felt. Then in the next instant he was setting her down, catching her when she might have fallen until her wobbly legs could hold her.

Hell she didn’t want his pity. She jerked away from him knowing how wrong he was and how close she’d come to surrender. That was what it’d be like with him, absolute surrender. At least she had the power to turn on one man, Jake. She had his hard-on for proof.

“Don’t worry. I won’t jump your bones again.”

“Some other place, some other time,” he said regretfully, reaching out to trace the curve of her bottom lip, brushing it softly with his index finger.

Samantha felt like she’d been pole-axed. Knowing when to retreat she grabbed her bag and keys heading for the door. She had to get away before he clouded her mind with lusty thoughts. But she wouldn’t run away for good. A trip into town and a conference with Kathy would put things right. “Don’t think this means you won. I’ll be back.”

“It isn’t going to be that easy, sugar. Not easy at all.”

Chapter 4

Jake watched Samantha drive away and cursed himself for the ham-fisted way he’d handled things. It was only her ability to twist him that made him decide in the cold light of day that he had to make her leave.

He did the one thing he’d vowed not to
do,
he picked up his SAT phone and punched in Samuel Logan’s private number on speed dial. He paced the confines of the room while he waited for his boss to pick up. No doubt, big Sam was in a foul temper by now with the wedding canceled.

“Logan here.
This better be important.”

Jake stifled a grin at his gruff tone. “It’s Ramsey.”

“God damn, Ramsey, you must be psychic!” big Sam shouted into the phone. “I was just about to call you. You’ve got to drop that fool stake-out you’re on and hunt down my runaway daughter. She jilted Grayson and took off.”

“Leave her alone. There’s no need to hunt her down. She’s here at the cabin.”

“I don’t believe it,” Samuel said after a shocked moment. “Do you mean to tell me that she ran off to meet you of her own free will? The girl can’t stand you.”

Jake winced hearing his thoughts confirmed. He might be good for a tumble in the woods but he wasn’t the kind of man she’d keep. He thought back on her licking every inch of his body making him burn and then sinking into her hot pussy hard and deep enough to make them both gasp. Then her delighted shock when he put her over his knee this morning and spanked her sexy ass. The heat she’d given off threatened to burn them both alive. Body tightening he gritted his teeth fighting down his arousal. “She isn’t here for me,” he said bitterly even though the hidden Dom in him hated to admit it. “She’s here to hide out.”

“Hide
out,
what the hell’s she hiding from?”

“One guess.”

“The grieving would-be bridegroom.”

“Grieving?”

“He was crying his ass off on the phone when I talked to him ten minutes ago.”

“Let’s just say that Grayson St. James wasn’t the injured party, no matter what kind of sob story he tells you.” He scowled, thinking about the incident Samantha had described. It was on the tip of his tongue to tell Sam about this incident and put out a BOLO, a Be
On The
Lookout order, on the slime but he’d promised Samantha he wouldn’t. Hell he wanted to keep at least one promise he made to her.