Redeemer, p.17
Redeemer, page 17
Adrian steered King toward the stables, signaling to his cowhands his intention to head back, and caught sight of Sophie emerging from the woods. He could make out her pale face even from this distance, detect the fear in her fast steps and furtive glances into the trees, and kicked King into a trot. He couldn’t fathom what had spooked her until he rode close enough to hear the disembodied voice filtering through the dense foliage.
“Sooophie.”
“Fuck.” He didn’t require that proof of what had driven her upstairs to his rooms last week, but hearing it reinforced his belief someone was deliberately terrorizing her.
Watching her hide out in the unsafe entry to the mine propelled him to jump down as soon as he reined King to a halt. “Sophie!” he called loud enough to drown out the other person who was intent on scaring her.
“Adrian?” She ran to him without hesitation, launching herself into his arms with a full-body shudder and hiccupping sob against his throat.
“It’s all right, I’ve got you now, baby.” Tightening his arms around her clinging body, he scanned the trees, looking for a clue to the identity of her antagonizer.
“Sorry.” She pulled away, averting her face when he loosened his grip but kept hold of her arms. “I’m an idiot, and embarrassed. I thought…”
“Not thought, you definitely heard someone saying your name using a deliberate inflection meant to scare you.” He wouldn’t let her believe for one second she was mistaken again.
She jerked her head up, eyes wide with surprise and a hint of gratitude. “You heard it, too?”
“Yes, and whoever it is will pay. Come on, let’s return to the house, get cleaned up, and, if you’re interested, I’ll take you to Spurs tonight. After this, we both could use a pleasurable distraction.” And he needed to put time and space between him and everyone on the ranch before he let loose with the rage threatening his control.
Despite her recent scare, Sophie rallied quickly at his invitation and flashed him one of her irrepressible smiles. “I was hoping I wouldn’t have to check the place out without you. Nora, Rachel, and their friends in Mountain Bend mentioned going.”
“Did they?” Clasping her waist, he hoisted her atop King then swung up behind her. “It’s a good thing I brought it up, then. I’d hate to have to punish you in public your first night there for going without me.”
Her smile slipped with the wary glance she flicked him. “You wouldn’t, would you?”
“Never doubt it.” Wrapping an arm around her, he held tight and spurred the stallion into a gallop, leaning down until his lips brushed her ear. “But I’d make sure you enjoyed it.” He straightened, happy when her lips quirked with amusement. “I have good news. The vet sent me a text and Tink survived the night. He’s much more optimistic about her coming through now the worst is over.”
Tears of relief filled her eyes. “Oh, I’m so glad.”
She was so sensitive. Adrian’s gut cramped with guilt over the scare tactics she’d been subjected to by someone in his household, and he vowed to put an end to them. He considered banning Wyatt and Jessie from the ranch as that would make it much easier for him to keep track of Ashe’s whereabouts while turning the fucking place inside out for Nicole’s journal. He should have taken that step after the first incident during the storm, not waited until the culprit took it out on Tink and then came after Sophie again today, but decades of friendship held him back from executing an irreversible action like that. Either he was getting close to unearthing the person responsible for Nicole’s death, or his accusations against family and friends were taken personally by one of them and this was their way of retaliating.
Ashe rode into the stable yard in front of them, his timing perfect with Adrian’s rage sizzling a hole in his stomach. Drawing King to a halt, he dismounted and reached up to pluck Sophie from the saddle.
“Go on up to my room and shower. I’ll be right behind you after I have a word with Ashe.”
“Adrian.” She placed a slender trembling hand on his rigid forearm, her light touch searing his flesh despite the brisk, colder wind that heralded the front’s arrival. “Don’t alienate anyone on account of me. We can’t be sure what…”
“Don’t go there. You’re as sure as I am. I could see that clear as day on your face, both then and now. Go to the house.”
She wanted to argue, glaring at him before casting a concerned glance toward his cousin then doing as he ordered without another word. At least she was learning when and when not to push him.
Patting King’s rump, he unbuckled the saddle and slid it off, carrying it into the stable where Ashe had taken his. Hearing laughter coming from the tack room in the rear pissed him off as soon as he stepped inside, assuming Wyatt and Jessie were with Ashe. How could one of them have gone from terrorizing an innocent woman to joking around as if his actions were no big deal? The word psychopath came to mind as he tossed his saddle over a stall gate and stomped down the aisle with Sophie’s fear-stricken face swimming in his head.
Instead of Jessie and Wyatt, Parker and Lee, a new hire, were the ones smiling. Parker saw him first, his grin slipping, his gaze turning wary. “Hey, what’s up, boss? We were just…”
Adrian sliced his hand through the air between them, cutting him off, not wanting to hear anything from either of the hands. “You and Lee, please excuse us,” he stated, not caring if they didn’t understand his curt tone.
“Sure thing.” Lee followed Parker out, giving Adrian a nervous glance, which he ignored.
“What the hell, Adrian?” Ashe snapped, taking an aggressive step forward. “Since when do you take your pissy attitude out on our employees?”
“Where are Wyatt and Jessie?” he shot back. “They rode out with you earlier.”
Ashe frowned, thumbing his Stetson brim up to reveal his turbulent gray-blue eyes. “They both returned over an hour ago, Jessie to meet a supplier at the bar before opening tonight, and Wyatt said he had an appointment in Boise. Why? What’s the big deal?”
Both excuses were plausible, Jessie’s more than Wyatt’s though. He often met with his liquor and food handlers on Saturdays. Which left Ashe.
Ignoring the painful hurt of that deduction, he crossed his arms and forced himself to keep his tone level. “Where were you thirty minutes ago?”
“Riding in from the north pasture. Why?”
“You tell me. Someone tried to scare Sophie again, and this time I heard it for myself. I swear to God, Ashe, if it was you, I’ll get the lawyers to find a way to kick your ass off this ranch.”
He’d never thrown his authority over their business holdings in Ashe’s face before, and his throat clogged when his cousin showed a crack in his usual hard countenance before he rallied himself.
Ashe leaned with deceptive negligence against the sawhorse behind him. “I suggest you make damn sure of your allegations before you sink that low. I have the means to hire my own legal team. I’ll say this once, and only once, even though you haven’t given me the courtesy of asking. I never slept with Nicole, never wanted to cross that line with either her or Rachel. The only reason I did with Nora was because Jessie thinks the occasional ménage will keep her from wanting more from him than he’s willing to give any woman.”
Adrian couldn’t read anything from his tone or look, his calm façade either a clever ruse or he was telling the truth.
Before he started second-guessing himself, he stated, “One of you was in the woods earlier. I’ll find out who, one way or another.”
“Fuck you.” Ashe straightened and jabbed a finger at him. “You’ve gone too far with your ridiculous accusations this time.”
“I’m not accusing anyone of anything. Yet.”
“Be fucking sure of your facts when you do.” Ashe stomped by him then paused to toss over his shoulder, “During any of your fights with Nicole over her affair, did it not ever occur to you that someone close to you could also include our cowhands?”
Adrian went rigid. It was true, both he and Ashe enjoyed a lighthearted, chummy relationship with their employees, and Nicole had often flirted with the cowhands over the years. He never thought anything of it because she flirted with everyone. “They’re college age kids. She was thirty-four.”
Ashe scoffed. “What’s your point?”
Shit. He had to admit it would be like her to go after a younger guy, anything to get a dig in at him when the marriage started to sour. Or did Ashe throw that suggestion out to take Adrian’s suspicions off him? Fuck, would his questions and doubts ever end?
Ashe walked away leaving him standing there, unsure of who to suspect now. He strode out also, hoping he hadn’t just made a huge mistake. From his cousin’s last look, Ashe wouldn’t forgive him any time soon if he turned out to be innocent of Adrian’s accusations.
As soon as he entered the house, he closed his mind to everything except giving Sophie his full attention tonight. They both could use a reprieve from the ranch and all the drama that seemed to have taken over lately.
****
Sophie stepped out of Adrian’s bathroom wrapped in a towel, her heart going pitter patter from seeing Adrian enter wearing black slacks and a gray silk shirt, his hair still damp from a shower elsewhere. Her bare toes curled into the plush carpet as she stood there under his intense stare, wishing she could read him as well as he could her. Or maybe it wouldn’t help to know what was running through his mind when he looked at her with such focused attention, she mused, not having a clue what to expect tonight from him or at his club. From the little she’d heard about Spurs from others, she might be better off kept in the dark for now.
“Do you want me to fix us something to eat before we leave?” That might give her the time she needed to finish coming to terms with the fact one of his closest friends or cousin might be harassing her to get even with him for his allegations. She couldn’t think of a single other reason for one of them to taunt her the way he had today and during the storm.
“No. There’s a good restaurant in Mountain Bend we’ll eat at before going to the club.” She didn’t trust the gleam that lit his eyes as he padded to the bedside table and opened the drawer. “First, I have something for you to try. Have you experimented with any toys before?”
Sophie moved closer to see what was in the small package he withdrew and held up, heat spreading up her core when she recognized a butt plug. “Not much,” she replied, clenching her buttocks, “and never with anything anal.”
“You’ve been receptive to anal touches, so we’ll try this next. Your skirt is a good choice for the club. Bend over the bed.”
Thank God for his authoritative, take-charge manner. Otherwise, she doubted she could agree without thinking it to death or talking herself out of trying anything new. Recalling the hot tingles his stroking fingers inside her rectum had produced prompted her forward. Judging by her leaping pulse and aching nipples, her body was onboard with this experiment as much as everything else he’d introduced her to.
Bracing her forearms on the bed, she lowered her head and sucked in a breath as he flipped the calf-length, pleated peasant skirt up over her back. He lowered her silk panties, dropping them to her feet, and gave her a jolt when he tapped one cheek, saying, “Step out. You won’t need to wear them tonight.”
Sophie gasped at that, flipping her head around in disbelief. “You want me to dine in a restaurant without underwear?”
“No one can see through the dark blue material of your skirt, and it’s long enough to preserve your modesty. Deep breath.”
She recognized the two-word warning as his only concession to letting her know he was ready to act. Remembering how well that command worked before, she inhaled until her lungs filled, holding her breath as he worked the lubed plug inside her tight rear channel. The difference between his fingers and the wider toy became clear before he’d embedded the plug halfway, and she shuddered with the full, cramped sensation, shifting her hips away from his twisting hand.
Adrian slapped her butt hard, the hot sting drawing a groan. “Be still. I’m almost done and don’t want to push too hard too fast.”
Always looking out for my best interest, even when he’s in strict Dom mode. Sophie melted inside every time he revealed his protective side.
With a final nudge, the widest end of the plug wedged past her tight sphincter. Adrian’s soothing caresses up and down her thighs and over her clenched buttocks helped her relax and adjust to the tight, uncomfortable fit.
“There you go,” he murmured, helping her upright.
She didn’t bother trying to guess how he could tell she’d adapted to the strange tightness filling her backside instead of her pussy. The man could read her body language as well as her facial expressions, which would bother her some if she didn’t reap such awesome benefits from his acute insight.
Dipping his head, he gave her a quick, hard kiss before saying, “We won’t leave it in too long. I don’t want you to get sore.” He held up a small box. “This will help you get the most from the short time you’ll use it tonight.”
Sophie didn’t have time to react to the mini remote before he pressed a button, and tiny, nerve tingling vibrations erupted up and down her tender orifice. Gripping his waist for support, she swore under her breath when her knees threatened to buckle from the hot, molten flow of heat filling her empty pussy.
“Adrian.” She groaned, leaning on him.
He wrapped an arm around her, his support helping her relax. “Remember to address me as Master Adrian when we reach Spurs.”
“I’ll try,” she replied as they left his room, her mind on the decadent pleasure of going without panties in a skirt and the electric sparks zinging from her rectum to her sheath. He hadn’t said anything about removing her bra, which made her believe he had already noticed she’d opted to leave it off when donning the loose blouse.
“Good enough,” he replied, accepting her answer.
Instead of going to his truck out front, he led her to the garage and opened the door to a sporty Lexus. Sliding onto the leather seat, she glanced up at him, a funny quiver tickling her abdomen. “I haven’t seen this vehicle, never realized you drove anything except your truck.” She figured his oversized, top-of-the-line truck outfitted with every updated gadget available was all he needed or wanted. “I guess there’s a lot I don’t know about you.” Yet here she was, sitting in a luxury car, prepared to spend the evening at a kink club with a boss she’d met less than a month ago, and hoping to spend another night pressed naked against him. What did that say about her or the desperate straits that had prodded her into making the decisions in the last weeks that had led up to tonight?
“Sometimes you think too hard, Sophie. I knew my wife for decades before we married but realized fast how incompatible we really were. Think about that instead, and that we get along fine both in and out of bed. That’s all that matters right now.”
Adrian shut the door, and she watched him stride around to the driver’s side, the jitters in her abdomen replaced with a warm fuzzy that spread outward. Whether she labeled it lust or something more meaningful could wait. Like he said, she didn’t need to think so hard tonight. With Tink out of danger, she could relax and concentrate on having fun.
“Nice ride,” she commented as he pulled onto the main road going into Mountain Bend.
His lip curled in a boyish smirk. “Sometimes I like to wash off the ranch dust and play rich man.”
“You do it well.” Sophie relaxed, having gotten used to the titillating sensations from the vibrating plug, the stirrings now a comfortable hum that distracted her from the cramped pressure of sitting. Curiosity and concern finally got the better of her, and she asked, “You haven’t said if the guys knew anything when you confronted them.” Most of the time, she loved the sexy look of his Stetson brim tipped low across his forehead, but this wasn’t one of those times, not when it shielded his eyes.
“Wyatt and Jessie had already left, and Ashe didn’t have much to say on the matter.”
His clipped tone didn’t reveal much, either, except he didn’t want to discuss it, so she dropped the subject. After checking the rearview mirror, he pulled to the side of the road near the welcome sign to Mountain Bend and shifted toward Sophie, flicking off the anal vibrator.
Before she could ask, he explained. “Lift up. You’ve used the plug long enough.”
“Here?” Sophie cast a quick glance up and down the road, spotting a vehicle coming up behind them.
“Hurry up. No one will see anything.”
Uneasy, she gritted her teeth at his usual impatience and bunched the long skirt under her butt, rolling her hips sideways. Adrian removed it easier than it had gone in, her breath whooshing out as she shoved the wadded up material under her. Her relief only lasted until he tossed the toy in her lap the same moment someone rapped on his window, startling her. The sudden appearance of another Stetson-wearing cowboy, this one with a badge pinned to his jacket, elicited a cold shiver of mortification when his gaze landed on the plug. A slow grin curled his lips as she tried covering it with her hand.
“Adrian, everything okay here?” His humor laced drawl of Adrian’s name proved they were acquainted.
He reached over and squeezed her hand without looking at her. “Just looking out for my girl’s safety, Sheriff. Will we see you at Spurs tonight?”
Sophie could barely make out the sheriff’s nod in the darkening evening. “We’ll be there shortly. See you then.”
She would have cringed in further embarrassment when he tipped his hat to her before sauntering back to his cruiser if she hadn’t latched onto Adrian labeling her his girl. Sophie had never been any man’s girl, and whether he meant anything by it or not, she would hug those words to her for the rest of the night.
Adrian lifted his hand, nodding toward the plug still in her lap as he got back on the road. “You can toss that in the glove compartment.”
“Now you tell me.” She did as he suggested, missing his comforting touch. “You knew he was behind us, didn’t you?”
“I’m always observant when driving. To save you from asking, I thought that little scene would help break the ice for your first visit to a private club. Most newbies seek information on the lifestyle after finding an interest in submission. Your curiosity didn’t manifest until I gave you a taste of what it offered.”
