Hard Time Read online

  “My leaving puts our entire operation in jeopardy,” I tell him. “The aftermath of such a decision will be disastrous for many.”

  “I don’t care about many,” he says and his blue eyes flame with sincerity. “Just you.”

  With an effort that tears at my heart, I remove his hand from my cheek and pull away from him.

  “Fine,” I tell him. I’ll let him believe I’m agreeing to this. It’s the only way I’ll be able to escape. The only way I can save him from the wrath that will come.

  It’s dark when we reach our destination, and I jerk myself awake. I fell asleep just long enough to drift into a dreamless sleep, and when I wake I’m shivering with cold.

  “We’re here,” he says. Like we’re on a date, he walks to my side of the car, opens the door, and reaches for my hand. I take it curiously. What’s his next move? It’s so dark here I can’t see anything until someone a few yards ahead of us opens the door and a voice cuts through the quiet.

  “Rico.”

  I squint, trying to see who’s waiting for us, but can’t see much beyond Rico. He stands in front of me, a wall of nicely-clothed alpha male, as if he’s blocking me from seeing anything. Or maybe blocking anyone from seeing me.

  “I’m starving,” I snap, grumpy after being woken up from sleep and shivering with cold.

  Rico grunts unintelligibly and tugs me along beside him to the door.

  “Proving you’re related to the Neanderthals,” I mutter, but he doesn’t take the bait. His gaze flickers to the left and right and he moves faster than I thought a man of his size could. We reach the steps and he has me go ahead of him. When I reach the entrance, I look up to see Rico’s associate Colt, his dress shirt open at the collar and his eyes tired with fatigue.

  “Miss Francoise,” he says with a stern nod, his lips thinning when I give him a nod back.

  “Thank you,” Rico says, shutting the door with a bang. “Jasmine, have a seat.” He yanks a chair out and points. I’m too tired to argue. The men have a hushed conversation, their voices rising and falling until I hear Rico mutter, “It’s my call.” Colt sighs, nods, then takes his leave.

  I suspect Rico’s got me in a safehouse off record. I’m glad someone warns Rico of the danger he’s in by housing me. It was getting a little tiresome being the only one.

  I look around the small room, but I’m tired and don’t notice much. There’s a fireplace with a small but comfy-looking brown leather sofa, a small kitchenette, a bathroom to the side, and near where I sit, the entrance to a bedroom. I do notice there’s only one bed.

  Interesting. I wonder where we are.

  In silence, Rico prowls through the small house. His agent cleared it for our arrival, but I suspect he has to check out of pure habit. Maybe he can’t help himself.

  “Right, then,” he says. “Off to bed with you.” I wonder where he’s put my phone. I need to get it from him somehow, though I’m not exactly sure how that would work. “We’ll discuss more details as to what we’ll have to do in the morning. Consider yourself under house arrest.” His lips quirk up in a sardonic grin. “Agent Rico style.”

  “What?” I snap. What exactly does that mean?

  Sitting on the edge of a sofa, he props one foot on his knee and unfastens his shoe, then slides it off while levelling a stern gaze at me. “You should be serving time for what you’ve done. I gave you the offer of jail or a safehouse. Need I remind you I apprehended you for speeding?”

  “Excuse me, but the last time I checked, speeding earns a fine, not jail time.” My pulse races with anger. I don’t know if I like the idea of Agent Rico’s house arrest. I reach into my bag and yank out a pile of bills, then toss them at him. Green flutters through the air and cascades around him like leaves tossed about in the wind, but he doesn’t even blink. He places his second foot on his other knee, and calmly unfastens his shoe. When he’s in his stocking feet, he leans back and tucks his hands behind his head as if he’s leaning back to watch a game of football.

  “Pick those up, Jasmine,” he says, his brows raising as he looks pointedly at the money strewn all around him. “You have precisely one minute.”

  I cross my arms on my chest and glare at him. “I agreed to come here, not be bossed around by you,” I sputter.

  “Fifty seconds.”

  “Or what?” I snap.

  The ghost of a smile crosses his lips and he pats his knee. “You really need to ask that? Forty.”

  “Mon dieu,” I fume, running off my mouth in French because it’s somehow more satisfying to curse him out in French than it is in English. I pick up the money or he’ll punish me. I stare at the floor and let myself wonder if he’ll really follow through, and realize I don’t really have a way of winning here. If I defy him, he punishes me. If I obey him, he wins.

  My brattiness doesn’t make him so much as flinch. I can’t manipulate him with the promise of sex, and my family’s power and influence won’t sway him at all.

  How will he handle compliance? In a split second, I make my decision.

  I fall to my knees and gather up the money with one massive sweep of my arms. Two bills still sit beside him, so I crawl to him on my knees and grab the last of the bills just before he says, “Time’s up.” Bowing my head in submission, I hand him the money and cast my eyes downward.

  “I’m sorry I’ve been so difficult,” I tell him. I need to play this well. “I slapped you. I baited you. I tried to seduce you and threw money at you.” I shake my head, feigning repentance, but shiver as a cold wind picks up outside and leaks through the floorboards.

  “Mmm,” he says, reaching his hand around the back of my neck again. “You’ve been a bad little girl, haven’t you?”

  I nod. The warmth of his hand makes me close my eyes, even as my stomach rumbles with hunger. For a moment, I’m not sure how much of this is real and how much is pretend.

  “Jasmine.”

  I look up, reminding myself to the look the part of a repentant, submissive woman. “Yes, sir?”

  I’m not prepared for how I feel kneeling before him, shaking with hunger and thirst and completely at his mercy.

  Then he’s gathering me up in his arms. My hair swings like a veil between us, but he brushes it back with one hand and nestles me on his lap. He’s warm and so large, I fit comfortably between his arms, and without thought, I do what I’ve fantasized about. I put my head on his shoulder. I tell myself this is part of the act. If I’m to get away, he needs to believe I’m behaving myself.

  When he tucks me against his chest, I lean my head on his shoulders. I try not to enjoy how perfectly I fit here. I try not to revel in how good it feels to be held by him. This is just part of my act.

  Then he says the last thing I expect him from him. “Do you like macaroni and cheese?”

  I can’t help but laugh. I lift my head off his shoulder and fix him with a curious stare. “Excuse me, Ricky?”

  His brow furrows. “I’m not sure what we have here for food, but I do know there’s mac and cheese.”

  “At this point, I’ll eat anything,” I admit.

  “Good,” he says, but neither of us moves.

  “It’s awfully cold in here,” I muse.

  “I could build a fire,” he offers. Still, neither of us moves.

  “We’ll have to share a bed,” I tell him. “This couch is far too small for you, and there’s no way you’ll let me sleep by the door.”

  “Damn right,” he growls. “That’s what my agent was giving me shit about. Sorted it, though.”

  “You mean you pulled rank.”

  He doesn’t respond.

  I finger the button by his neck. It’s warm from his skin, and glides easily under my finger. “Well, Ricky,” I tell him. “I promise I won’t try to seduce you under the covers.”

  “Good,” he says. “I make no such promises.”

  My belly swoops, but I cover my reaction with a little laugh. “What are the rules of house arrest, sir?” I try my best to
imbue my questions with what I think a submissive would sound like, but it’s quite foreign to me. I’m not sure if he buys it or not.

  “You will stay within the confines of this house. You don’t open the door, or even so much as open a window without permission. No phone. No internet.”

  “This sounds like house torture.”

  He shrugs, and I feel his muscles bunch and tense beneath me. “I’ll keep you busy.”

  I smile to myself. I like the sound of that. “Will you be here the whole time?” I ask.

  Frowning, he shakes his head. “Unfortunately, no,” he says. “I’ll have a man here at all times to be sure you’re safe, but I’m afraid if I take a leave, your family might suspect something’s up. I’ll have constant surveillance, though.”

  “And how long do I stay here?” I ask.

  The thought of days or weeks or even longer in this tiny place without so much as a shopping trip sends a shiver of dread through me.

  “As long as it takes,” he answers. “But I’m not done with the rules.”

  “Oh?”

  “You’ll obey me, Jasmine.”

  Keeping up the pretense of good little submissive, I nod my head. “Of course, sir.”

  “I mean it,” he says, clearly not buying my act. “If you obey me, I’ll reward you.” His eyes glitter. He wraps his hand around my hair, weaving my hair between his fingers. “And believe me. You’ll like your rewards.”

  “And if I don’t?” I ask with a pout, my heartbeat racing. I don’t need him to tell me what happens.

  The grip in my hair tightens to painful. “If you disobey me, I’ll punish you,” he says. “You don’t want to earn my punishment, Jasmine.”

  I shake my head, but I’m not so sure. Still, I give him what he expects. “Yes, sir.”

  Chapter Nine

  Rico

  Looking down into those beautiful eyes, I don’t believe a word that comes out of her mouth. If there’s one thing I know about Jasmine Francoise, it’s that this girl doesn’t know how to submit. She’s either trying or lying. It’s impossible to know right now, but I intend to find out. Having her like this, crawling to me, kneeling in front of me, curled up with me. It’s doing things to me, breaking down the last barriers of internal resistance I have.

  It’s time.

  I stand up, let her feet find the floor. Slowly, I walk her back toward the bed, my hand still clasped in her hair. She can’t see behind her, she has to take step after step backwards, trusting me to guide her back into the bedroom.

  “I thought you were going to make me mac and cheese.”

  “Later,” I say, my voice a low growl.

  “But I’m hungry…”

  “So am I.”

  The backs of her knees find the end of the bed. I guide her down onto the soft mattress, strip my shirt from my shoulders and follow her down.

  I want to fuck her.

  She’s mine. Here, in this place, in this room, I finally have the woman I’ve wanted for years. And I’m going to take her.

  “This is wrong, Rico.”

  She becomes the voice of my conscience, but her submission, whether it was an act or real, has made my need for her almost uncontrollable. I know this is wrong. I’ve never done anything so wrong in my life. But I need to be inside her. I need to take this sassy little girl who plays submissive so nicely, and I need to wrap her around my dick.

  I push my hand between her thighs, my fingers finding her still wet slit.

  “You’re a bad girl,” I growl, letting my head drop, my lips and teeth finding the side of her neck. “Do you know what happens to bad girls?”

  “Tell me…” she moans.

  “They get fucked.”

  I run a finger up the wet seam of her lips, pushing her panties against her pussy. I let that finger circle around the hard little bud of her clit. I watch her face flush, her eyes gleaming with desire. She’s been teasing me with her body and her voice and her mind for years. And now I’m going to claim it.

  “Do you want me to fuck you, little girl? Do you want daddy to fill you with his cock?”

  “Oh my fucking god,” she gasps to herself, her hips rising to meet my hand.

  “Tell me, Jasmine.”

  “I… want you.”’

  “What do you want me to do to you?”

  I toy with her wet sex, the hand in her hair keeping her in perfect position for me to examine her face. I want to see every bit of what this does to her. I want to take her to the edge, where that submission is real, where her seductive desire becomes wanton begging.

  She looks at me under her lashes, and she whimpers the words I want to hear. “Fuck me, daddy…”

  Oh fuck yes.

  My cock is free in an instant. This should be different. More controlled. This should be a slow act of domination. But my dick is rock hard and I have to feel what this hot, wet little hole feels like around it.

  My hand leaves her hair as I take hold of each of her legs, spread them wide so that short little skirt rides up over her ass and only those little panties are in the way. I don’t bother to take them off, I push them to the side, revealing the pussy I have already tasted. She’s delicious.

  With her lying beneath me, her legs spread and pushed back to expose her wanton little slit, I can see the hot red blush of the spanking I gave her earlier playing around the backs of her thighs.

  “You’re such a bad girl,” I growl down at her. “Daddy is going to have to punish this pussy so hard.”

  I feel the way she clenches her lower body, I see the motion of her hips. It’s a dead giveaway. Her nipples are like two little rocks underneath that tank top, her blonde hair flowing across the bed.

  Pushing my hips toward her, I let the hot head of my cock glide along her sex.

  “Oh my god… oh my god…” she pants.

  Her juices coat me, leaving a gleaming slick wetness over my head. Already, her pussy feels amazing. She’s soft and she’s hot and I can feel a hint of the tightness to come when I let my cock press against that little hole.

  “Daddy is going to fuck you now, baby,” I mutter, pushing forward. My cock spears inside her, spreading her lips. I let out a growl as I feel the tight, hot walls of her cunt start to grasp me, and then I am lost, driving inside her with a rough stroke which makes us both cry out.

  She wraps her legs around my back, and now I am inside her, I reach up and pin her hands above her head. I want her to feel my power. I want her to know that I am strong enough to hold her, fuck her, protect her. I want her to be branded with my cock, I want her to know that she is mine now. All mine.

  The sex is rough, passionate and possessive. She writhes beneath me, her pussy taking every hard thrust while she cries out and moans. There’s nothing calculated about her responses now, I’ve made the Francoise ice princess turn into a wild little whore, arching her hips up and welcoming every stroke of my punishing cock.

  I pull out, flip her onto her stomach, and slap her red bottom nice and hard. “You’ve been a bad girl for a long time,” I growl. “Time you had a proper daddy to teach you how to behave.”

  She cries something incoherent, and I slap her ass again, hard enough to leave a handprint, before pushing back inside her pussy from behind. Her lips are starting to get puffy, the way a woman’s do when she’s being very well fucked. I take a couple strokes inside her, then pull out and spank her bottom again.

  “Such a bad little girl, daddy’s little slut needs more cock, doesn’t she?”

  “Yessss!” She cries out and I push back inside her, feel the way her cunt grips me so fucking tight.

  Pulling her hands behind her, I lock her forearms behind her back, one hand holding both her wrists in the small of her back, my other hand running down her neck and grasping her hair as I slam into her over and over, fucking her the way she deserves to be fucked, giving her what she absolutely needs.

  She starts to orgasm, and I fuck her right through it, listening to her guttural f
emale cries as my cock plunges inside that soaking pussy, wet fuck sounds filling the room. I fuck her through that climax and keep going. No mercy. This little girl needs to know exactly what I am capable of - making this pussy belong to me in every way.

  Releasing her hair, I bring my other hand back down. Her hands are still locked behind her quivering body as I keep stroking, then push my thumb against the cute little bud of her asshole.

  “Daddy!” She shrieks the word and almost immediately starts to cum again. Oh fuck yes. I push the tip of my finger inside her bottom and feel the clenching of her ass and cunt as she shakes uncontrollably.

  I’m going to cum. I can’t hold it any longer. The animal in me wants to do it inside her, but the sliver of sanity I have left makes me pull out just as my cock starts to shoot hot seed all over her spanked ass, her winking little butt hole, and her freshly fucked pussy. I cover her in my cum, I make her feel it dripping over the holes I now own.

  “You’re mine,” I say, leaning over to press a kiss to the back of her head. “You’re daddy’s little girl now, and he’s going to keep you safe.”

  The next morning.

  Jasmine is still curled up in bed when I have to leave. She’s a late sleeper. I’m an early riser - especially when there’s this much on the line. She hasn’t given me any information yet, but she’s given me her body. It’s so tempting to stay in bed with her, watch her sleep. She’s beautiful, more than any other woman in the world. I’ve fallen for her, hard.

  The sex was as incredible as it was wrong. Reaching out, I let a strand of her hair slip through my fingers. It’s so soft, just like she is. A feeling of pure protective desire rushes over me.

  I have never been in territory this dangerous before. I have never crossed the line like this before. I promised Jasmine I would keep her safe. I intend to keep my word. As to what happens after that, I don’t know. In order to cut a deal with the prosecutor, she’s going to need to cooperate with the investigation. Fucking me doesn’t count. I have to show material ways she assisted, and right now I have nothing.