The Gentlemen's Ranch (Erotica Series, Book 1) (7 page)

“
I don’t need them.” He
chuckles at the look on my face. “I use them as a prop, that’s all.
Since I’m not one of the men, I don’t want women really seeing me
when I’m out and about The Ranch. They work wonders.”

“
I saw you,” I tell him
quietly.

His look softens. “Yes,
you did.”

How
strange
. Because of this incredible
rapport we have both physically and on paper, I feel like I’ve
known him forever when the reality is that I know very little about
him. “What happens next?”

He reaches for my hand.
“If you pick me at The Selection ceremony tomorrow night, that
means we’ll officially be dating. Do you want to be my girlfriend,
Tesh Morgan?”

I toss my long hair over
my shoulder. “Hmm…I haven’t quite decided what I’m going to do
yet.”

He wears a confident
smirk. “Oh, I think you have.”

“
Oh, really? I still
haven’t had my blind date with Doug,” I remind him.

“
And, you never will. I
took care of that.”

How was he able to send
both Jase and Doug away and take their places? Especially when he
wasn’t even on my list?
There is more to
Dr. Rand than he has let on. Time to probe a little
more.

“
Do you make your living
here at The Ranch exclusively? Or do you have a practice
elsewhere?”

His face flushes and he
suddenly looks like a little boy caught with his hand in the cookie
jar. “Yes, I do make a living here at The Ranch, Tesh. As one of
the physicians on staff, and…as the owner.”

I bring the bright red
lipstick to my mouth and carefully apply it to the top of my upper
lip. Slowly, I draw it down one side and then the other. I sweep it
across the bottom lip last. The red is striking against my pale
skin and black hair, and I hardly recognize the glamorous creature
staring back at me in the mirror.

I stand and smile. The red
silk gown I wear hugs my body in all the right places, and I can’t
wait for Brett to see me in it.

There is only one other woman left in the
Parlor with me. Camryn left what seems like eons ago to claim Adam
Steele and I could not be happier for my friend. For both of
us.

My boyfriend is a freaking
multi-millionaire.
It’s hard to wrap my
mind around that concept and how it could potentially change my
life if things work out between us. Money has never been important
to me personally, only in what I can do with it to make this world
a little better place. It’s not a liberal thing, it’s a practical
thing. We’re only here for a short period of time. Why hoard money
that you don’t need if it can be life changing to many others.
Fortunately, Brett and I share this philanthropic view and I love
him for it.

A knock sounds outside of the Parlor and I
stand to answer it.

It’s Doug.

“
Holy shit, Tesh, you look
fucking gorgeous!”

I laugh out loud. “Thank
you.”

He shakes his head ruefully. “It kills me to
step aside, Tesh, but he’s the boss man, what can I say?”

“
I know.” I place both
hands on his cheeks and drag his face toward mine to give him a
chaste kiss. “I hope you find your girl soon, Doug. I mean
it.”

“
Oh, I don’t doubt that I
will, although I still say it would have been fun to teach you to
surf,” he says, pressing in close.

“
Out, Mr.
Banks.”

We both pull back to see Sophia at the door
to the Parlor.

Doug holds his hands up.
“I’m going, I’m going.” He walks to the door, and I can’t help but
giggle when he leans in toward Sophia and asks her if she enjoys
water sports.

She gives him a good-natured swat and sends
him on his way.

“
It’s time,” she tells me
and the other woman.

We both move toward the
door, but Sophia stops me with a warm smile. “I am so happy for
you, Tesh. My brother is an amazing man and I hope the two of you
will be very happy together.”

Something has bothered me
since Brett’s grotto confession. “Sophia, if Brett owns this place,
why hasn’t he ever participated to meet a woman before?”

“
He devotes himself
entirely to his humanitarian pursuits and his responsibilities here
at The Ranch. But,” she seems hesitant to reveal too much, but I
prod her along with my eyes and she relents. “He did have a serious
girlfriend three years ago, but unfortunately it didn’t work
out.”

Oh, my poor Brett.
“Why?”

She shakes her head. “It
is his story to tell when he’s ready.”

“
I understand.”

She grabs my hand. “Come.”

When we get to the doors to the Great Room,
I stand behind the other woman nervously.

“
Good luck,” Sophia
whispers and vanishes.

The doors finally open and the woman ahead
of me is announced.

I get my first peek into
the ceremonial room and gasp. Overnight, the room has been
transformed into a white wonderland with a white carpet and white
walls. Crystal chandeliers hang from the ceiling lending their soft
light to the diffuse glow of hundreds of candles.

It’s a fairytale I think
again and not just because of the beautiful room made for a
princess. It’s because of the man standing just inside. My prince.
Brett is there on the other side of the room waiting for me, and I
want to cry at the beauty of him. I want to run to him, throw
myself into his arms, and claim him as mine. All mine. But, the
woman is announced and the doors close before I’m able to do any of
these things.

Soon, I think with a smile. My turn is
next.

“
Tesh!”

I glance to the side.

Jase is standing in the
shadows of an alcove under the stairs to the upper
levels.

I panic. Before I can make
a run for it, he rushes me, grabs me around the neck and presses a
handkerchief over my nose and mouth. I kick backward and connect
with his shin. He curses, but it’s all I can do before darkness
creeps in at the edges of my vision and I slump into his
arms.

I jerk awake because of
the pain. Moving hurts, thinking hurts. My head feels like it
weighs a thousand pounds and I can’t open my eyes no matter how
hard I try. Wait. I’m blindfolded! I can feel the fabric pressing
tight around my temples. I move to yank it off, but cry out when I
realize my hands are restrained in some way out to the sides. Sharp
metal cuts into my wrists when I try to pull them toward
me.

My legs are also shackled at the ankles, and
I realize I’m lying spread-eagle on someone’s bed.

Jase. He did this. But, I
still don’t know why.

Oh, Brett.
In my mind’s eye, I still see him standing in the
Great Room with a smile on his face. Then, the doors closed and
Jase appeared. That’s all I remember.

Everything is silent in
the room and I’m terrified. All my senses are alert as I lie
vulnerable and exposed. I strain for any trace of sound that will
tell me what is happening outside of my sightless world.

Many minutes go by. I
start to cry, but the blindfold prevents my tears from falling down
my face. I wonder if Camryn knows that I’m missing. Is anyone
looking for me? Am I still on Brett’s private island?

A cold hand cups my
breast.

The contact startles me
and I whimper. “Jase?” I ask softly.

My kidnapper does not say
anything, but I can tell it is a man by the smell of his cologne
and a touch of sweat. He continues to caress my breasts with faint
touches. The bed sinks down as he sits next to me. His mouth
fastens over my areola, and he suckles and pulls at my nipple with
his teeth.

I feel so helpless. This man can do anything
he wants to my body and there is not a damn thing I can do. Tears
threaten again, but I check them. I can survive this. I have
to.

He gets up from the bed and despite my vow,
I panic, wondering what he’s going to do next.

I hear a mechanical cranking sound a second
before my legs are slowly pulled back along the edges of the bed.
The movement bends my knees until I’m displayed even more.

I know begging won’t help,
but I do it anyway. “Jase, please don’t.”

I hear his footfalls as he
comes back to the bed. He sits down between my legs.

No!

A finger touches the
inside of my leg at my knee and trails down my inner thigh. First
one leg and then the other.
He’s getting
perverse pleasure from toying with me.
The
finger disappears and I feel a soft tickle at the opening of my
sex. I hear his ragged breathing as he slowly pushes inside of
me.

My body responds and drips
with wetness as he dips in and out. I squirm beneath his assault,
not in pleasure but in humiliation. I want him off me, out of
me.

I can’t take anymore. “Why
are you doing this?” I try to sound harsh, authoritative, but it
comes out more as a terrified pant.

“
Because I
can.”

I gasp in surprise that he answered me.

He withdraws his finger and stands. He comes
around to the top of the bed and pulls the blindfold from my
eyes.

I look up at Jase. He’s wearing a pair of
jeans and nothing else. His muscled chest and abs gleam in the soft
light of a bedroom lamp.

“
That’s not an answer,” I
tell him.

He doesn’t say anything
for several minutes. “Would you like the truth, Tesh?”

I nod.

“
Because I want to destroy
Brett Rand. I want to crush any spark of happiness he ever hopes to
achieve in this life. Do you like that answer better,
Tesh?”

“
Jase, don’t do this,” I
beg.

“
Do what? You’re at the
infamous Gentlemen’s Ranch! Isn’t this what you came for? I read
your profile, Tesh. You like being tied up, you little slut. Isn’t
that what you wrote?”

I shake my head. “Not like
this.”

“
I can see why he likes
you,” he murmurs and reaches down to bounce one of my breasts in
his hand.

“
Jase…”

He walks away and I can’t
see what he’s doing.

“
I’m sorry it had to come
to this, Tesh, I really am. If Brett had just stayed the fuck away,
you and I could have had something together.”

He’s insane. He’s fucking
insane
. “What are you going to do to
me?”

He comes back to the bed
and smiles, but his blue eyes look dead to me. As though in making
his decision to take me, it stripped away any vestige of humanity
he possessed. “Unfortunately, Tesh, in order for Brett to suffer,
you must suffer.”

It is then that I notice the black whip in
his hand.

Dread fills my entire body
and I scream. Jase jumps on the bed and straddles my body. He
shoves something into my mouth, cutting off my scream. It’s a
leather gag with a ball in the center and he fastens it tightly at
the back of my head.

I feel like I can’t
breathe and start to panic. My chest heaves as I struggle to get
air into my lungs.

“
Calm down!” Jase snaps
and slaps me in the face. “Breathe through your fucking
nose.”

I do as he says, but it
takes several minutes before my breathing evens out.

He stalks to the end of
the bed and without warning flicks the whip out toward me. The end
bites into my stomach and I buck off the bed. I feel liquid seep
down my side and realize it’s blood.

Another strike hits one of my breasts.

I moan in pain.

A third lashes the
other.

I squeeze my eyes shut
against the unbearable burning throb. I’m sobbing now. When I open
my eyes again, the whip is gone and Jase’s hands move to the zipper
of his jeans.

No!
I shake my head violently, but he simply laughs and pulls his
pants down until his erection leaps free. He steps out of his jeans
and kicks them away.

The bed shifts as he
climbs over me, between my outstretched knees.

No!

“
This one’s for you,
Brett.”

“
The hell it is, you
mother fucker.”

Brett!

Brett grabs Jase around
the neck and slams him to the floor. I can’t see what’s happening,
but I hear grunts and a fist striking flesh. Repeatedly. A few
minutes later, Brett stands and looks down at me.

“
Oh, Tesh.” He looks at
the contraption holding my legs apart and then searches the room
frantically. He finds a set of keys on the nightstand and rushes to
release me. When my arms and legs are free, he sits by my head with
a look of disgust and unfastens the gag. “Bastard.”

He pulls me close and I
melt into the safety of his arms. “I’m so sorry, Tesh. This is all
my fault. I never should have let him come back to The
Ranch.”

“
Come back?” I ask in
confusion. “He’s been here before? What is he to you?”