Bound, Spanked and Loved: Fourteen Kinky Valentine's Day Stories (63 page)

She shook her head. “No.”

He reached around her for his cell phone and handed it to her. “Here. Call Mom and Dad and let them know you’re okay.”

“Should I tell them about us?”

“Let’s wait and do it together in person.”

Fine by her. Being with Hunter compared to winning the lottery, but she wasn’t looking forward to paying the taxes—breaking the news to her folks. Ariel hit the fast dial to her parents’ house. Her mother answered on the first ring. “Hunter, did you find her?”

“He found me, Mom,” Ariel answered.

Beneath the afghan, Hunter covered her breast and thrummed the tip. While she was on the phone to their mom! She glowered at him and mouthed, “Hunter, stop.”

“Are you all right? What happened? Where are you?” her stepmom asked.

“I’m at the lake house. Hunter, um, is with me.”

He tugged down the afghan and pinched her nipple, seemed to be fascinated by how long he could make it by tugging on it. A shaft of desire shot straight to her clit. He was so bad. She was worse for enjoying it. She shot him another censuring look and scrambled off his lap. They wrestled over the afghan, but he won, and she had to sit there naked while talking on the phone.

“I don’t understand why you ran out.”

“I’m sorry I worried you. I—” She groped for an excuse as Hunter latched onto her nipple with his mouth and sucked. He seized the other between the vise of his thumb and forefinger. She clamped her lips together to stifle a moan. “I, uh, wasn’t feeling well. But, I’m uh...fine now.”

“Are you sure? You sound a little strange.”

“Tell her we’ll both come by Sunday night,” Hunter growled against her breast.

“I’m sure. Hunter and I will drop over tomorrow evening. I’d better go. I love you. Give my love to Dad.”

“Love you, too. I’m glad you’re okay.”

Hunter grabbed the phone, pressed end, and tossed it onto a far cushion. “Finally!”

“You’re the one who told me to call her!” she protested.

“I didn’t know you were going to talk all night.”

“You started sucking on my nipple as soon I got on the phone. You were trying to tease me, to make it difficult.”

His grin admitted full guilt but showed no remorse.

“You!” she sputtered and smacked his arm lightly.

“Oh, sweetheart, you’ve just earned yourself a pussy spanking.”

He lunged. She squealed and jerked, but before she could scramble away, she found herself flat on the sofa with legs spread, while Hunter laid gentle slaps to her sex. After she was swollen and aching, he licked her to another shattering orgasm.

*****

I
n case the neighbors happened to be watching, Ariel tried to walk normally, to not hobble like a bowlegged cowgirl, as Hunter escorted her across the parking lot, but it was hard when she ached so deliciously from head to toe. They’d fucked so many times, her pussy registered every movement, no matter how slight. And her ass? Spanked and reamed. Jaw? Achy from sucking his huge cock. Her sore nipples chafed against her bra. He hadn’t allowed her to wear clothing all weekend, and her breasts and ass had been frequent targets of his affection. She wouldn’t have had it any other way, but until she’d gotten dressed to leave, she hadn’t realized how scratchy lace was.

They’d spent a lot of time in bed over the two days, but sleep hadn’t been on the agenda, so he’d brought her home to catch a nap before they broke the news to the parents—if the whisker burn didn’t give away the secret first.

Hunter escorted her to her apartment and pulled her to him for a soul-deep kiss that left her breathless when he released her.

“Get some sleep. I’ll pick you up at seven o’clock.”

“I can drive there. I have my car.” He’d followed her down from the mountain to be sure she arrived home safe.

“No.”

“It’s a waste of time for you to come all the way back here,” she argued. Since he hadn’t moved yet and lived almost two hundred miles away, he’d been staying at the parents’ house in his old room.

“Ariel.” Just her name. In that tone.

“All right, sir. I’ll be ready at seven.”

“Good girl.” He kissed her again then swatted her ass. She yelped, and he chuckled as he departed.

Ariel entered her apartment, leaned against the door, and smiled like an idiot.
Dear Diary
, she thought.
Hunter loves me!
What different entries she’d pen now if she kept a journal. She’d pinch herself if she didn’t have so many sore body parts to prove everything had been real.

In four hours, he’d come get her, and they’d be together again. Ariel padded into the bedroom. Her mind whirled too much to sleep, but at least she could rest her eyes. And take off her scratchy bra!

Ariel shucked the clothes she’d worn to the party and tossed them into the hamper. Naked, she slid under the covers. The cool sheets felt delicious against tenderized skin. Hunter had been insatiable, and she, no less so.

The parents would be shocked. They had to be told, but she trusted Hunter wouldn’t let anything bad happen; he would stand up for her. Ariel stretched then rolled over onto her side and closed her eyes.

*****

A
riel’s eyes popped open. She blinked, staring at familiar walls, darkened by dusk.

BRRINNNGG
. The doorbell.

Hunter! She bolted upright, heart pounding.
What time is it?
She flung back the covers and leaped out bed, her body protesting the sudden movement. “I’m coming!” she yelled and grabbed a silk robe from the closet. It slithered over her skin as she rushed out of the bedroom, tying the belt as she went.

“I’m sorry, Hunter, I overslept,” she said as she flung open the door.

Sienna stood there. She raked a calculating gaze over Ariel from head to toe. A smirk twisted her lips. “Well, I see he’s fucking you, too.” Taking advantage of Ariel’s shock, she pushed past her and strolled into the apartment.

Ariel recovered and spun around. “What are you doing? She tightened the belt on her robe and jabbed at the open door. She saw no reason to be nice. “Get out of my apartment!”

“I came to talk to you.”

Chapter Seven

––––––––

A
fter he left Ariel, Hunter raced to the jewelry store before it closed. It testified to how lovesick he’d been that he’d gone window-shopping before he’d been sure he’d had a chance.

Before they confronted the parents, he wanted to put a ring on her finger to reinforce their commitment to each other. He and Ariel would be engaged before they ever dated, but he saw no reason to wait. They’d known each other for years, they loved each other, and he’d never met another woman with whom he was more compatible. She was the yin to his yang. The submissive to his Dominant. His. He planned to collar her before too much longer, but, for now, the ring would do.

The salesman recognized him, greeted him by name.

“I’m here for the ring.” Hunter couldn’t keep the grin from his face.

“Congratulations!”

“Thank you—but she hasn’t said yes, yet.”

Hunter completed the purchase, tucked the black velvet box into his pocket, and left the store. He had enough time to grab an hour of shut-eye before he went to get Ariel.

His mom cornered him as soon as he entered the house. “How’s Ariel?”

“She’s fine, Mom. She’ll be over later so you can see for yourself.” He gave no hints of the upcoming discussion for fear his mother would pounce and drag the details out of him. He and Ariel needed to present a united front.

On his way to his old room, he paused outside Ariel’s door and, on impulse, peeked inside. The woman he’d been meant to be with had been right down the hall for a good part of his life, and he’d been too stupid to realize it. Not that he could have done anything when he’d lived at home. Ariel had been too young then.

She wasn’t anymore.

The room’s décor was as she’d left it when she moved after college. Not too frilly, but feminine and pretty. Like she was. The space was neat as a pin, except a book lay on the floor, half hidden under the floral quilt-covered bed.

Hunter picked it up and flipped open the spiral-bound, hardcover book.

February 14

Dear Diary.
The script was loopy and girlish.

Hunter gave me a valentine!!!! I WUV YOU BEARY MUCH, it said. That must mean he likes me a little, too, don’t you think?

He snapped the book closed. He wasn’t about to invade Ariel’s privacy by reading her diary even if it was a decade and a half old. But why was it on the floor under the bed? He assessed the room and noted the nightstand drawer was slightly ajar. He pulled it open and found a stash of spiral volumes like the one in his hand. He peeked inside a couple. More diaries.

He didn’t like the looks of this. He shoved the book into the drawer then charged downstairs. He located his mother in the kitchen. “The other night—what room did you put Sienna in?”

“She used Ariel’s old room.”

“It’s not my place to tell you who you can or cannot have in your home, but I found an old diary of Ariel’s beside the bed. I think Sienna read it.”

“That’s terrible.” She shook her head. “I feel responsible. I shouldn’t have invited her to the party.”

Hunter sighed. “It’s not your fault, but I don’t understand why you did invite her.”

“I thought, well, I don’t know...” His mother turned back to the cutting board where she’d been chopping vegetables. “It won’t happen again. Are you staying in for dinner?”

“No, I’m going to see Ariel.” A bad premonition insisted he seek out Ariel sooner rather than later.

“That’s a good idea.”

He kissed his mother’s cheek and left.

*****

“W
e have nothing to talk about,” Ariel said.

“You mean you don’t care about Hunter and me?”

Ariel laughed at the brazenness of the ploy, not fooled for an instant. Two days ago, Sienna’s words would have cut her like a knife, but after what she and Hunter had shared physically and emotionally this weekend? Not buying it. She trusted Hunter, and he loved her.

Sienna was pathetic, really. Ariel almost pitied her because she understood the heartbreak of unrequited love. But Sienna was, and always had been a witch with a capital B, so she didn’t feel
that
sorry for her.

“There is no Hunter and you.” Ariel flipped her hair over her shoulder and dismissed Sienna’s insinuation.

“Hunter has...
special
needs,” Sienna said.

Special needs. Did that mean what it sounded like? Hunter and Sienna had been an item a long time ago. Had he spanked her? He’d spanked his college girlfriend. He was a healthy, virile—very virile—thirty-two-year-old man. She’d slept with a few people, too. But all that existed in the past and didn’t come close to the intimacies with Hunter that had consumed her body, mind, and soul. They’d bared themselves to one another in a way she couldn’t imagine doing with anyone else—or Hunter having done with anyone else. Least of all, Sienna.

The other woman sidled around Ariel’s living room, her gaze dismissive. She pivoted. “That’s why we have an...open relationship. We both see other people. You can fuck him if you like, but he’ll always come home to me.”

You wish
. “You’re full of crap,” Ariel retorted. “Get out of my apartment.”

“Aw...” Sienna stuck out her lower lip. “Does he
wuv
you
beary
much?” Ariel jerked. No...no, Hunter wouldn’t—

Sienna laughed. “Hunter and I have talked about your adolescent crush. You used to follow him around, hang on every word. He found it so amusing. He told me everything. The valentine you gave him. The one he gave you. Such a cute little bear.
I wuv yoou...”
She shrugged, eying Ariel’s robe, her bare feet. “I guess he decided to take you up on your offer.”

Betrayal hit her like a blow to the stomach, knocking the wind from her lungs. For a moment, she could only gape, her mouth working to form words that wouldn’t come. Hunter may or may not have slept with Sienna, but he’d shared with her the personal details of how Ariel had felt. He’d known of her crush and had told that bitch, had laughed with her. Her love had been real, true, and he’d treated it like a joke. It might have happened long ago, but the revelation, the pain, scissored through her as if the betrayal had occurred today.

“Get out.” Her voice came out as a hoarse choke. She was a hair away from attacking Sienna, from pounding out her hurt on the woman who’d ground her dreams into the carpeting.

Sienna must have realized it because she sidled to the door at a fast clip. Halfway out, she peered back with a smirk. “Let me know if you want to join Hunter and me in a threesome.”

Ariel lunged.

Sienna slammed the door.

Ariel dropped to her knees and sobbed. How could he have done that? She doubled over as pain racked her body.

*****

D
arkness had fallen by the time Hunter drove into the lot of Ariel’s apartment and parked next to her car. No light shone from her window. Was she in bed? She needed to sleep. He hadn’t let her grab more than a couple of hours all weekend. But the uneasiness wouldn’t dissipate.

He exited his vehicle and strode up the walk. He pressed the buzzer twice. He waited. No answer. Rang again. “Ariel!”

Even if she was asleep, the doorbell should wake her up. He could hear it ring. “Ariel!” He knocked. Nothing. Uneasiness ramped up to worry. Why didn’t she answer?

He glanced back at the parking lot to verify it was her vehicle next to his. Yep. If her car was here, she had to be, too. “Ariel!” He depressed the buzzer three times and pounded on her door.

“Go away.” Her voice, but not her voice.

“What’s going on? Open up.”

“G-go away.” She was crying. “I c-can’t talk to you right now.”

What the hell had happened? “Let me in.”

In his peripheral vision, he caught a flash of a neighbor peering through her mini blinds. Great. He moved closer to the door. “At least tell me why you won’t talk to me.”

Always trust your gut
. Sometimes he hated to be right. Finding her diary on the floor had given him a bad feeling. That was all it had given him. He had no answers for why Ariel would have done an about-face in such a short period of time. He’d only left her three hours ago.