“That was stupid, girl,” he said roughly. “Very stupid. You made me look bad in front of my friends and they aren’t the kind of people to forget something like that. Neither am I, for that matter. You’ll be sorry you did this.”
She had no doubt he told the truth. She was sorry already. Her legs were already cramping, and she knew she’d ache in the morning. If she survived to see the morning.
“I’ll do what you say,” she muttered quickly. “Please don’t kill me. All I want is to live. Please.”
“Oh, you’ll live,” he said, his voice rough. “After the hassle you’ve given me, I’ll be damned if I’ll let you go this easy. You owe me now.”
She didn’t respond to the patently illogical statement, knowing that arguing with him was foolish. If he said she was the problem, she’d accept responsibility. Whatever it took to keep him happy was good enough for her. He pushed himself up slowly and reached one hand down to her. She took it with resignation; she was beat. Whatever chances she might have to get away were over for the moment.
Now she needed to conserve her strength.
He pulled her to her feet and marched her along next to him, one hand wrapped firmly around her upper arm. It hurt and she knew she’d have bruises there the next day. Then again, she’ probably have bruises all over.
They walked in silence back through the parked planes. Del sat on the tarmac near the jet, clutching his jaw and giving her a look of such hatred that she shivered. How had he gotten hurt? The other man, Valzar, watched her with cool speculation in his eyes, as if she were some sort of strange and exotic bird he was considering eating.
She didn’t like that look at all.
Sean stayed silent, marching her past both of them toward the jet. She was freezing cold now, and covered in mud, but nobody seemed to notice or care. They reached the foot of a small flight of steps leading to the open hatch of the jet. Sean pushed her up ahead of him, and she stumbled. One of her shoes was gone, she realized. She was walking half barefoot through the rain and she hadn’t even noticed. Her toe throbbed, and she wondered if she were bleeding.
They entered the plane and he pushed her toward the back. Along each side were comfortable loungers.
Nobody was in them. He kept her moving until they reached the end of the hall where a narrow door awaited them.
“Through that door,” he said roughly. “We’ll be able to get cleaned up in there. I’m sure Valzar doesn’t want us getting mud all over his pretty airplane.”
She opened the door, finding herself in a surprisingly spacious room. A large bed stood against one wall, as well as several chairs and a closet. Another door, just past the bed, seemed to lead into a bathroom.
“We’ll shower in there later,” he said coolly, letting go of her arm for the first time. “We’ll be taking off in a couple minutes, and until we’re in the air, we shouldn’t be moving around the cabin. Take off your clothes.”
She stood frozen, unable to process his words.
“I said take off your clothes,” he said again, opening the buttons of his own shirt. His fingers revealed a well-muscled chest covered in springy black hair. It was broad and finely muscled. She gaped at him, hardly believing this was real. Was he going to rape her like this? It seemed so… sudden. She shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts.
“Do you want me to take off your clothes for you?” he asked coldly. “I don’t want you getting mud all over the plane, and you’ll do that if you don’t get that stuff off right now.”
“Oh,” she said, turning away and blushing. She started pulling the shirt over her head, and then froze.
He’d stopped moving behind her. She turned to find him watching her.
“Take them off.”
She pulled her wet T-shirt up slowly, wishing desperately that she’d worn a plain white bra. Why had she gone with black that morning? What had she been thinking? The shirt was gone all too soon, and she reached down to unzip her jeans.
They were soaking wet, and the zipper stuck.
She turned away from him once more, working at it and feeling her breath come in short puffs. Then she felt the warmth of his body behind her; she froze. His hands reached around her, grasping the zipper in firm fingers. He worked it down slowly, and then reached his hands into the waist of her jeans to slide them down. His touch was almost gentle, a complete contrast with his tone of voice. She felt fingers graze her flesh as he pushed the wet fabric lower, across her hipbones and down the side of her thighs. The jeans clung to her, but he slid them down with the same strength he’d used to capture her earlier. She had no doubt in that moment that he’d be able to rip them off if he wanted.
As her jeans moved lower, he knelt behind her. She felt his hot breath on her back as he dropped down, could feel the start of surprise he gave as her red thong panties came into view.
Oh Lord. She’d only worn them because she needed to do laundry. They’d been a gift from Matt, the idiot who’d dumped her two months ago for a grad student. He’d said she bored him. Oh, to go back to those boring days again… And to think she used to wish for a little more excitement in her life!
Sean stopped moving as the thong came into view, his breath hitting the small of her back in short, sharp puffs. He was seeing her bare ass in a way only a lover should see it, she thought miserably. Then he started moving again, sliding his hand within the jeans down to her knees.
“You can get it from here,” he said roughly. She nodded, unsure of what to say, waiting for him to step back.
He didn’t move.
She tried to kick her feet free of the fabric but she kept getting tangled. With a sinking feeling, she realized she was going to have to bend over and pull the jeans off. She did so slowly, wondering if the blush she could feel in her face extended all the way down her body. He had to be getting quite the view of her ass. Matt had always said it was her best feature, usually in conjunction with some kind of a comment about how her brains weren’t worth a damn. Sean didn’t say anything, though. He didn’t touch her, either, and then she was free from the heavy fabric. She stepped forward turning slowly to face him.
“What now?” she asked, afraid to hear the answer. From the feel of his erection earlier, she had a pretty good idea what his plans were. She thought about fighting him, refusing his touch, but dismissed the idea with frightening ease. She wanted to live. If that meant accommodating him sexually, so be it. She wasn’t some shrinking Victorian flower, she knew what it meant to do it. Hell, it couldn’t be worse than Matt’s drunken caresses and stinking breath.
“Get in the bed,” he said, jerking his head in that direction. “You’re freezing and you need to warm up.
It’s the best we can do for now.”
“What about the sheets, won’t they get wet?” she asked, and then wondered why she bothered. This was a kidnapping, not a decorating show. To hell with the sheets.
“They’ll be fine,” he said in a bemused tone of voice, apparently sharing her thoughts. “We can change them later. Right now I just want to get warmed up.”
She turned away from him and walked slowly toward the bed. They would have sex now, she was certain of it. Maybe she could make a break past him and run out the door?
The plane’s engines powered up, and she heard a thudding noise. The doors had closed. Too late. They would land eventually—she’d try to escape then. The key was to stay alive long enough to take advantage of whatever opportunities might come down the line. Staying alive meant sex.
“Come on, move,” he said roughly. “We’ll be taking off soon, and I don’t want you to get hurt.”
She smothered an absurdly inappropriate laugh, and climbed into the bed before pulling the sheets and covers up around her. The fabric was slippery, and very smooth. Any other time she might have taken a moment to simply enjoy the texture of the silk, but not now. He walked across the tiny cabin all too quickly, pulling off his shirt as he moved. He stood beside bed and unzipped his pants slowly, watching her with an intensity that frightened her. She tried not to watch, tried not to see those fingers pull down the zipper slowly and steadily, but she couldn’t help herself.