The Ranger and the Runaway Read online

  “But…”

  “No,” he said firmly. “That’s enough.”

  Her mouth formed a pout as she slumped down against his thighs. “Fine,” she said moodily. “Smack me until you both feel better.”

  “Never heard of being sorry for anything, has she?” Rawlins commented with a low whistle. “Travis… you’ve got a live one there.” He shook his head as Travis set about spanking her hard and fast in what was probably an attempt to make her seem more contrite. It didn’t really work. The more her bottom hurt, the more defiant she became and the more she squirmed until finally she bucked right off his lap and landed on the floor between Rawlins and Travis, her bright red butt still displayed to both men.

  It was Rawlins who hauled her up by her arm and gave her the sort of look that turned her insides to jelly.

  “If you won’t take your punishment nicely, we’ve got ways of making sure you take it hard.”

  Sandy looked at him with horror. Was… he going to punish her too? Oh, god. How was this evening going to end?

  “Get back over his knee, girl. If you come off it before he lets you up, I’ll be the one to finish you.”

  “F… finish me?” Sandy stammered.

  Rawlins pushed her back toward Travis, who caught her and pulled her down to a sitting position on his lap. “You’re lucky,” he murmured in her ear before he put her back over his knee. “He likes you.”

  If Rawlins liked her, then Sandy didn’t want to know what he would be like if he didn’t. Travis started spanking her again, heating her already hot bottom back to a simmer. She could still feel his cum sliding between her lower lips, starting to mix with fresh juices of arousal. Dammit! Why couldn’t she control herself? Try as she might to keep her arousal under control, with every swat of Travis’ palm she got wetter and wetter. The fact that Rawlins’ stern stare was locked on her bouncing bottom didn’t help in the slightest. If anything, it made her cheeks blush more, her entire body humming with desire.

  And then it happened. Travis’ palm landed not against her left cheek or her right, but dead center, low enough to catch the bottom of her pussy exposed between sprawled thighs. Somehow in the writhing and the squirming she’d ended up with one leg under his, the other over his lap, leaving her twisted and entirely exposed.

  “Good man,” Rawlins grunted with approval. “You finish that girl off, and we’ll talk.”

  He turned and left them alone, shutting the door behind himself to give them some privacy. It was a gift of time, and Travis didn’t question it. He took advantage of her position and started spanking her pussy with hard, fast slaps, catching her puffy, cum-coated lips over and over until she started to moan aloud.

  “Hands and knees. On the floor. Now. Ass up.”

  He bit the orders out in quick succession with enough authority to make Sandy scramble to obey. Positioned in front of the concrete bench that had served as Travis’ bed, she spread her legs. He pressed forward and thrust his cock back inside her tight little pussy. He was harder than ever, spreading her cunt with stroke after stroke. He held her skirt like a belt, drawing her back and forth on his cock, using her own clothing to help fuck her roughly.

  There on the cold stone floor, Sandy arched her back and took every hard thrust he had to give. If this was the last chance they ever had to make love, she was not going to hold back.

  “You know how much trouble you’ve gotten us in?” His body slid over hers, his arm wrapping around her waist as his teeth sank into the back of her neck. “I don’t know how the hell we’re going to get out of this, Sandy, but whatever happens, you have to know I love you.”

  The confession of love came just as he began pounding her pussy hard and fast, as if he wanted to sink himself inside her and never leave. He was branding her with his cock, jackhammering her tight cunt hard enough that she knew she’d be sore the next day. She didn’t care.

  “I love you too,” Sandy panted. “And I know… I know I fucked up. I’m sorry.”

  Travis’ fingers pinched her clit, made her scream and grind against him, bucking her hips until she came hard, her cunt grasping his cock tight, milking him. She heard him groan and then growl. His teeth sank into the back of her neck again in a gesture of primal ownership and then she felt him stiffen, his cum pumping deep inside her in spurt after spurt.

  Their shared climax soon dissipated, leaving them with the cold hard reality of the fact that they were in a cell and there was every chance that they’d not see one another again for a long time.

  “Sandy, I’m going to come for you,” Travis said. “Don’t come back here again, okay? Every time you do…”

  “I make things worse, I know,” Sandy nodded soberly. “I’m so sorry, Travis. I messed up bad this time. I just… You saved me and they wouldn’t even let us have a night together before they dragged you off. I can’t handle being without you.”

  “You can,” he said. “But you’re not going to have to for long. I am going to find a way out of this, I promise you. You just have to trust me and not take matters into your own hands, okay?”

  He sat on the cold bench, holding her in his lap. She buried her head in his neck, inhaled his scent and tried to commit everything about him to memory. The hard lines of his body, the way he smelled, masculine and slightly musky.

  The door swung open again and Rawlins stood there. “You done?”

  “Yes, sir,” Travis said. “Thank you for… letting me deal with this.”

  “And now I have to deal with it,” Rawlins growled. “You’re one of my best men, Travis. I don’t want to lose you to a court-martial. Let me take your little lady out here and see what arrangement we can come to.”

  “Go on, Sandy,” Travis nodded, easing Sandy slowly off his lap with one last kiss. “He won’t hurt you.”

  Sandy wasn’t quite so certain about that, but she didn’t have a choice. She was being drawn out of the cell away from Travis and out into the concrete hall. Rawlins walked off, apparently expecting her to trail after him like a lost puppy. After a second of rebellious thought, she did just that.

  He led her to what she figured must be his office, a fairly large room with a great big oak desk and a huge leather chair behind it and ushered her into the masculine space.

  “What am I going to do with a girl like you,” Rawlins said thoughtfully. He spoke as if almost anything were possible. A little chill went down Sandy’s spine as it truly began to hit home that being caught in the base really did mean all her rights had been suspended. She was in deep, deep trouble.

  “All due respect,” Sandy said. “You’re being a huge jerk and blaming the wrong person for all of this. It’s not Travis’ fault he had to save me, it was mine.”

  “What about your family, girl?”

  “I don’t have any. They’re all dead.”

  Rawlins snorted. “If they behaved like you behave, I’m not surprised.”

  Sandy didn’t have a response to that. His words made her heart ache.

  “Sorry,” Rawlins said unexpectedly. “That was a low blow.”

  “Travis is the only one I have,” she said softly, looking at her hands in her lap, and not the huge commanding officer looming over her. “And he knows that. He knew nobody else would come for me, and he knew I couldn’t get myself out of trouble. He did what he had to do, and you’re punishing him for it.”

  “No, I’m punishing him for disobeying orders.”

  “Yeah, that’s what I get punished for too,” Sandy sighed.

  “I bet it is,” Rawlins said with what sounded like what could have been a chuckle. “I can see why he likes you.”

  “You can, why?”

  “Birds of a feather,” Rawlins said. “You’re a lot like him.”

  “I guess I can see that,” Sandy replied in a small voice. Talking to Rawlins was making it harder to hate him. The guy was a hard-ass, but he was also the commanding officer of a secret base; maybe he had to be a bit of an asshole.

  “Except yo
u can have your butt whacked whenever you get out of line.”

  Sandy blushed again and lowered her head. She had really not thought the whole ‘sneaking into the base’ thing over at all. In all the times she’d done it, she had never once considered what would happen if she got caught. She figured she was about to find out.

  “I’m going to take you back home,” Rawlins said. “And you’re going to keep away from the base and Travis until I’ve made my decision about what to do with the two of you. Understand?”

  Sandy’s heart sank and her face fell. “But…”

  “Young lady, do you have any idea what kind of a free pass you’re getting here? I could have you…”

  “Strung up on the gallows and sent to China,” Sandy sighed. “I know.”

  Rawlins cocked his head and gave her an incredulously dark look. “Oh, you think being a smart-ass is a good idea, do you, girl?”

  She knew it wasn’t a good idea. She was just so sad and so angry at being separated from Travis, she didn’t really care what she said.

  “Go stand in the corner,” Rawlins said, pointing to an empty corner across from his desk.

  “What?”

  “Do it.”

  Sandy shuffled slowly toward the corner, not entirely sure what was going to happen next. There was absolutely no way of telling.

  Rawlins left her standing there for what seemed like an hour, but was probably closer to fifteen minutes. With every second that ticked by, Sandy felt smaller and more sorry for herself. This was bad, so, so bad. And it was partially her fault. But she wasn’t willing to take the full blame. It wasn’t her fault she’d been targeted by a gang. It wasn’t her fault Rawlins had overreacted and thrown Travis into jail. The breaking into the base, yes, well, she guessed that was her fault. Sort of.

  “Come out here, young lady.”

  Sandy turned and stepped out of the corner warily. As soon as she saw Rawlins, she knew she was in trouble. He was holding a thick leather belt in his great big hands and pointing toward his desk.

  “Bend over,” he ordered.

  “But…”

  “Do it now and I’ll let you keep that skirt down.”

  Sandy was smart enough to know she was getting a good deal. If she could avoid having her bottom bared yet again, she’d do it.

  “Um, sir?” She spoke as she slowly bent over the desk, feeling cool oak against her palms as she rested her forearms on the wood.

  “Yes?”

  “If I, uh, apologized, would that…”

  He answered the question by lashing the doubled-over leather down against her backside. Sandy squealed and leaped up onto her toes, clutching at her bottom over her skirt.

  “Back down, Sandy.”

  She whimpered and reluctantly lowered herself back into position. Another stroke landed across the seat of her skirt, twice as hard as the one before it. She let out a little whine of despair but stayed in position, hoping Rawlins would get bored of disciplining her.

  “The problem with young ladies these days is that they have no respect,” Rawlins said, drawing the belt back again. “Are you learning some now?”

  “Yes, sir,” Sandy gasped, eager to say anything to get the punishment over with. Unlike when Travis spanked her, she was not aroused by being taken to task by Rawlins. Her orgasm had long faded, leaving her body to bear the brunt of the punishment without any happy hormones taking the edge off each searing stroke.

  “You’ve found a new word in your vocabulary. That’s a start,” Rawlins observed. He delivered another two hard strokes of the belt to her now blazing bottom. The fact that she had her skirt on didn’t protect her from the heat much; all it meant was that the fabric seemed to itch and irritate her well-spanked skin with every little movement she made.

  Rawlins cracked the belt down six more times, making for a total of ten strokes. Sandy was gasping for breath by the time the last one landed, her bottom feeling tight and hot and swollen. She was not going to sit down for quite some time, she knew that much.

  He put the belt down on the table next to her. Sandy stayed in position, figuring that things weren’t over just yet. Being punished like this made her feel like a naughty little girl. Rawlins was an old-fashioned man with carte blanche over her fate and she had made the decision not to antagonize him anymore.

  “What have you learned, girl?”

  “That I should listen to Travis when he tells me to stay the hell away from here,” she said, one hand sneaking back to rub her bottom. It was quickly snatched up behind her back and held there by Rawlins, who was not done with their conversation.

  Putting a fraction of his weight and power into holding her down, Rawlins asked what seemed to be a casual question. “How many times have you been out here without my permission?”

  Sandy’s heart sank as she realized the unintentional confession she’d just made. “Uh…”

  “I want the truth,” Rawlins said in gravelly tones. “Now.”

  “A couple,” she admitted. “Travis kicked me out both times.”

  “Oh, he did, did he. Just kicked you right out?”

  Sandy began to squirm in place, her raised bottom tingling with heat and fear. “Pretty much, sir…”

  “Pretty much. So, no.”

  She groaned against the desk. “I want to take the fifth.”

  “There’s no fifth amendment in my base, little girl.”

  “None of this is Travis’ fault,” she protested.

  “Now see, that’s where you’re wrong,” Rawlins disagreed. He pulled her up to a standing position and loomed over her, gray hair and hard jaw showing that he was too experienced to fall for her lies—and too determined to let Travis off the hook either.

  “I’m going to have my MPs drive you home,” he informed her. “And you will stay there until such time as you hear otherwise, understand? You are forbidden to set foot in this forest, little lady. If I find out you’ve put so much as a toe anywhere near this base, I’ll have you picked up and I’ll deal with you myself. For a very. Very. Long time. Understand?”

  Sandy nodded furiously, her hands locked on her backside, rubbing constantly to try to get some of the blazing heat out of her butt. “Yes, sir. I understand.”

  “For your sake, I hope so,” Rawlins said, his hands on his hips. “You’ve got a tender hide, Sandy. You won’t stand up to the punishments that will be handed down if you end up on my base again.”

  Chapter Ten

  With Rawlins’ warning still ringing in her ears a week later, Sandy sat in her bedroom, staring out her window and feeling thoroughly miserable. From the heady excitement of sneaking into a military base to see the man she’d loved, the last few days had involved nothing but waiting. She’d quit her job at the grocery store and more or less sat in her room and pined. She’d not heard from Travis, and judging by the way her last conversation with Rawlins had gone, he probably wouldn’t see the light of day maybe ever.

  Mrs. Brown and Kurt had tried to cheer her up, but nothing made up for the fact that Travis was in jail because of her. He hadn’t just gotten in trouble, he’d gotten in life-destroying trouble—and it was all her fault.

  “Sandy, you need to eat something,” Mrs. Brown said for the umpteenth time. She had been delivering an almost unbroken stream of sandwiches and soup and such, none of which Sandy had wanted to eat.

  “I’m not hungry, thank you, Mrs. Brown.”

  “I’ll make some scones,” Mrs. Brown said, undeterred. “You’ll like scones.”

  The door closed again and Sandy was alone. All alone.

  It seemed like only a minute later that it opened again.

  “I don’t want any food, Mrs. Brown,” Sandy said without turning around. “I don’t want anything anymore.”

  “Well, that’s a pity,” a deep voice drawled. “You always used to have a healthy appetite.”

  There he was. Handsome, strong, with those glinting eyes and that body she knew every part of. Travis was standing in her room,
smiling broadly with his arms outstretched.

  Sandy turned, screamed and ran into Travis’ arms. “You’re out!” She screeched the obvious into his face as she hugged him with every bit of strength she had.

  “Easy,” Travis drawled, pressing kisses to her cheek. “I’m out. And I have to ask you something.”

  Sandy was too excited to think about what it meant when he sank to his knee in front of her. In fact, she was so excited she followed suit and ended up kneeling in front of him while he knelt in front of her. Only when he produced a ring from his shirt pocket did her breath catch in her throat.

  “Sandy, will you marry me?”

  The question hit her dead between the eyes and almost knocked her backwards. “You want to marry me?”

  “I want to do a whole lot to you, Sandy,” Travis said. “I want to love you, I want to protect you, I want to give you the discipline you need…”

  “I don’t need discipline,” she argued.

  “Oh, yes, you do,” he replied. “You need a whole lot of discipline, and you need someone making sure you stay safe. I want to be that man, Sandy. I don’t ever want to leave you again. Ever.”

  “Yes!” Sandy squealed, her eyes filling with happy tears as he slipped the ring onto her finger. “Of course, yes.”

  Travis grabbed her up in a big hug and rose to his feet, carrying her easily as if she weighed nothing at all. She buried her head in his neck, drinking in his scent, almost unable to believe that he was actually there at all. She’d missed him so terribly it had been like a physical hole inside her, a gnawing emptiness that did not relent even for a moment.

  “There’s one catch,” Travis murmured. “Rawlins has decided to implement couples housing on the base, but it’s a secret so you couldn’t tell anyone where you were living, exactly…”

  “Okay,” Sandy nodded. She would have agreed to swimming with crocodiles if it meant being with Travis.

  “I mean it, Sandy. Not a word to anyone. And you’ll have to follow protocols when you’re on base. No going where you please, how you please. There will be consequences—and not all of them will be from me.”