The Last Woman (All That Remains #1) (19 page)

“Mmm Hmm.”

“Are you pissed?”

“No, but I always keep my
promises, Abby.”

What? Promises? Oh Hell, I
eavesdropped on him.

“I did it before I swore I
wouldn’t. It’s grandfathered in.” I grin at him, and he shakes his head,
staring at me stone-faced. Joseph looks confused as I blush and try to change
the subject. “Ready?” I ask and press play.

Joseph listens closely, stunned
as she rails against me. “Abby, I had no idea.”

“I wanted to drag her out by
her hair when I first heard it this morning,” Airen admits.

“What do you want to do?”
Joseph asks me.

“If we throw her out, I don’t
know what she’ll do to retaliate. We don’t know how vindictive she can be. I
think we need to be rational and try to come up with a solution. I don’t want
to overreact because she called me a few names.”

“I don’t know. She sounds
crazy. She could be dangerous,” Joseph whispers, sounding unsure.

“She wants Airen, so she knows
better than to raise a hand toward me or he’ll hate her. Plus, I can take that
bitch on my worst day, and she knows it.”

Airen’s face softens, and he
gazes at me with a mixture of pride and amusement.

“She says she’s going to stop
trying so hard and let you come to her. She’s already doing her phony sweet act
toward me. She’s not the only one who can fake a smile.”

“How much longer before we get
the power on at her house?” Airen asks Joseph.

“I can do it in less than two
weeks, maybe a week.”

“Then we move her out and see
how things go,” I suggest. “Can we all agree that Sara stays with us?”

“Absolutely,” Airen agrees.

“Of course, I don’t know how
she’s dealt with her for this long,” Joseph remarks.

“Keep an eye on her around
Abby,” Airen warns Joseph.

“Don’t talk about me like I’m
not here!”

If you weren’t here you’d
still be listening,” Airen replies and smacks me sharply on my ass. Joseph
laughs on his way out of the room as I turn around and stare at Airen.

“That stung!” I accuse,
giggling and rubbing my behind.

“That was just a taste,
sweetheart,” he whispers in my ear.

“Beast.”

“You know you like it.”

“I know I love you.”

“Mmm, I love you too, but that
won’t save your ass,” he replies in a husky voice, squeezing my behind. I grin
and shake my head at him before I head to the shower. “When you least expect
it, darlin’,” he calls after me with me an evil little half smile. Fuck, he’s
sexy.

* * *
*

Airen and Joseph will not let
me out of their sight when Mandy’s around. It’s infuriating, but I try not to
complain. I know they’re concerned that she might turn on me.

After a few days, Airen
suggests he and I spend the night at our summer home, a night away from
everything. Joseph agrees to keep a close eye on things, and we each have a two
way radio to keep in touch if anything happens in the middle of the night. We
grab our stuff after dinner and prepare to leave.

“You have the radio if you
need us,” I remind Joseph.

“Go, have fun, make lots of
noise.” He winks at us.

Mandy sits there with that
same smile plastered on her face. It’s creepy. Airen and I rarely get a few
hours alone and never an entire night. The hum of a generator reaches my ears as
we get close to the trailer, and I look at him in surprise.

“You installed an air conditioner!”
I exclaim as we walk in. It’s hot and humid outside and the cool air against my
clammy skin feels wonderful. “You hooked it up to the generator just for
tonight?” He went through a lot of trouble.

“I thought we deserved a
little comfort,” he replies, drawing my attention to the small combination TV
and DVD player in the corner. “It’s been a difficult week.”

“Thank you.” I hug him. We
spend the next few hours cuddled on the sofa, watching a movie, and just
hanging out together. We drink a little wine, and he starts kissing me. Damn,
my man can kiss, make me forget everything that’s going on around me. Nothing
exists but him, his mouth on mine, his hands caressing me as he works his way
down my body, undressing me until I’m wearing only panties.

“I love these little boy
shorts on you,” he whispers in my ear.

I unbutton his shirt and push
it off his shoulders so I can run my tongue across his chest. “Do you want to move
to the bedroom?”

“No, I’d rather spank you on
this couch.” A wicked grin flashes across his face, and before I can react to
his words, he pulls me across his lap, trapping my legs under one of his.

“Airen!”

“Mmm,” he hums, rubbing his
hand up and down my back, across my behind, down my thighs, and back up.

“Let me up.” I giggle as he
caresses my behind gently. “Airen, you better never!” I laugh.

“You may as well relax, darlin’.
You’re going to get it either way,” he says, his voice husky.

Oh shit. My laughter fades with
his serious tone. “You wouldn’t dare!” Would he?

“Unless you care to apologize
for eavesdropping on me,” he replies smugly.

“Let me up, you asshole!”
Struggling is pointless, he has my legs in an iron grip. Being restrained, held
down and at a man’s mercy, I’d be in a panic if it wasn’t Airen, but I’m not
afraid. He’d never hurt me.

“It’s your choice. Just two
little words.”

“Bite me?” I suggest, trying
to turn over. His palm cracks across my ass, once on each cheek, and then rubs
away the sting.

“Ow! Airen!” My face burns.
This is so embarrassing! I’m going to kill him!

“Still not the right two words.
I’ll give you a hint, the second one is
sorry
.”

“I’m going to kill you!” I
swear, trying not to laugh. He swats me again, lower, on each cheek. It doesn’t
really hurt. I barely feel the sting through my panties. I can feel him pressing
against me, getting hard underneath me, and it makes me giggle.

“There seems to be something
trying to escape from your shorts,” I tease.

“Oh, Abby, must you always
learn the hard way?” My panties slide down, baring me to him, and I hide my
face in the couch cushion, too humiliated to look at him. I know all I have to
do is say I’m sorry, it’s his way of giving me a way out, but I just…can’t. I’m
trying not to think about how I must look with my big, naked ass in the air
when he caresses me and murmurs, “You look so fucking sexy across my lap,
Abigail.”

Suddenly, I’m hot. I’m
burning, and it’s not from embarrassment.

He smacks me the same way,
twice, just above my thighs, and I’m surprised by how loud his hand on my bare
ass sounds. Without my panties to protect me it stings, but it also feels
thrilling. I’m shocked by my body’s reaction. I’m drowning in a myriad of
sensations, arousal, humiliation, excitement, and fear. Before I can recover,
he does it again, and I moan involuntarily.

“Mmm, I love to hear that
sound,” he murmurs.

His hand goes back to stroking
and caressing, and I’m so turned on. All that exists in the world are his hands
on my body.

“Ready to apologize?”

“No,” I whisper. His hand
falls again, a little harder, making me jump and claw at the cushions. When he
lands two more, I instinctively twist away and try to cover my behind with my
hand.

“Oh no, darlin’. You’ve got
four more coming.” I can hear the lust in his voice as he holds my wrist and
pins my hand against my back. A finger slips between my folds, dipping inside
me, sending a wall of heat radiating outward. “So wet, baby. You like this. You
like being taken across my knee.”

“No.” A low, dark chuckle
rumbles across my skin at my weak denial. Two hard, firm swats on the bottom curve
of each cheek pull a cry from my throat. Oh Fuck, it stings.

“Two more, you sorry yet?” His
palm rubs my cheeks in slow circles.

“No,” I whisper, barely
audible. I shouldn’t like this. I don’t know why I want this, but I don’t want
him to stop. The last two swats are the hardest. Ah! Airen!” I shout. My wrist
is released and I instantly rub my sore spots until he takes my hand again,
running his thumb across my knuckles. Soft lips press against the heated skin
of each cheek.

“Your ass is glowing, sweetheart.”
He moves me off his lap, lays me on my back on the couch, and stretches out
beside me in one smooth, fluid motion. Wearing an insufferably arrogant smile,
he pushes my hair out of my face and gazes down at me, “I own you” written all
over that pretty face. I can’t look him in the eye. I’m appalled at my response
to the spanking, but I’m also so turned on I can hardly stand it. My face is
flushed, and I’m breathing hard.

“You okay?” he whispers,
gently trailing his lips across my throat. He knows exactly what he’s doing to
me.

“Yes.” When his lips close on
mine, I attack. I can’t get enough of him. I want to bathe in his scent, his
taste, his body. I have to touch him and feel him inside of me. He returns the
onslaught, ravaging my body with his. He thrusts into me harder and harder as I
grip his ass and spread my legs, desperate to get every inch of him. God, it’s
so primal. A scream tears from my throat as I’m hurled into an overpowering
orgasm that leaves me weak and shaking.

“I’m nowhere near finished
with you, baby.”

Three hours and countless
orgasms later, I’m seated between his legs in a tub of warm water, leaning back
against his chest.

“Air? How did you know that
I’d...um…”

“Like to be spanked?” he guesses.

My face burns, but I nod. I
can’t deny it. My reaction was kind of obvious.

“I didn’t know you’d like it,
but I knew you’d stop me if you didn’t.” He runs a soft cloth over my
shoulders. “It’s okay to enjoy it.”

“I’m embarrassed.”

“I know, sweetheart. I just
wanted to try something new.”

“You’ve never spanked anyone
before?”

“No.”

“Have you ever been spanked?”

“No, I don’t think I’d like
it,” he admits.

“It is really embarrassing,
especially if you have a big butt like I do,” I mumble.

“Abby! I swear I’ll never
understand women,” he says with a sigh.

“What?”

“You have an incredible ass. I
can barely keep my hands off of it. Why do you think I wanted you over my lap?”
Oh wow, really? I lean my head back against him. “Do you want to try it again
sometime?” he asks.

I consider it. It was kind of
humiliating, but it awoke something in me, and damn, I came so hard! “You can
never tell anyone,” I exclaim, getting to the depth of my real concern over the
spanking.

“I wouldn’t do that.”

I turn to face him. I need him
to understand how important this is. “I mean it, Airen. I know you and Joseph
talk about stuff. I’ve heard you, and I get it. He’s your friend, and guys talk.
Hell, girls do too, but you can’t tell him about this, Air, ever. Not even when
we’re all teasing and trying to embarrass each other. It’s just too private. I’ve
never done anything that made me feel so vulnerable before.”

Soft dark eyes meet mine. “It
takes a lot of trust. I didn’t really consider how much. You can trust me,
Abby. I’d never hurt you, and I’d never tell anyone.” He kisses my forehead
tenderly.

“I know. I never would have
done that with anyone else.”

“If anything we try makes you
uncomfortable, you have to tell me.”

“I will. Why? Do you have
something else in mind?”

“Maybe,” he says with a seductive
grin. “Have you ever done anything...you know...”

“Kinky?”

“Mmm Hmm.”

“Depends on what you consider
kinky.”

He laughs and plays with my
hair. “Have you had sex in a car?”

“Yes, you?”

“Yeah.”

“Have you ever had a
threesome?” I ask. He’s quiet for a moment, and I try to let him off the hook.
“You don’t have to answer.”

“I have,” he admits. “I just
don’t want you to think I’ve been with a bunch of women.”

“Airen, you’re gorgeous. I
assume you’ve had plenty of experience,” I remark dryly. “I’d never ask how
many.”

“Okay, and you? Any three
ways?”

“No,” I reply.

“Have you ever kissed a girl?”

“No, you?”

“I’ve kissed lots of girls.”

“Very funny. Have you ever
been with a guy?” He looks away from me, his cheeks coloring, and presses his
lips together. Have I actually managed to embarrass him?

“I experimented a little when
I was young,” he whispers. “That’s something you can never tell anyone, Abby.
I’ve never told anyone.”