Guts & Glory: Ryder (In the Shadows Security Book 2) Read online

  Probably not too many. She had alienated a lot of people lately within the DAMC family and unfortunately, her roommates were flat broke. Slash didn’t have two nickels to rub together, either, so calling him would be useless.

  And she refused to call her mother. Or her sister.

  Fuck. She had no one.

  There was no one left.

  She couldn’t let that thought cloud her mind, she had to concentrate on navigating the hairpin curves of the steep lane. If she flipped Ryder’s truck, she’d be screwed.

  Holy fuck, this lane was never-ending!

  As she maneuvered around what she hoped was the last sharp corner, she slammed on the brakes bringing the Scout to a sliding halt in a cloud of dust.

  In front of her, blocking the path, was none other than one pissed-off Ryder. The man stood in front of a four-wheeler which was parked across the lane, effectively closing it off from travel. His muscular arms, scratched and bloody, were crossed over his chest and the worn Johnny Cash T-shirt clinging to his torso now had some fresh tears. His jean-encased legs were spread, his baseball cap sat on his head backwards like he was ready for battle. But what she couldn’t miss the most was his thunderous expression.

  Damn it!

  There was no room to get around him to either the left or right because of large trees hugging the lane. The only path of escape was to plow right through him and the ATV.

  They stared at each other through the windshield as she revved the engine a couple of times in warning.

  He didn’t move. In fact, he looked more determined than ever not to let her escape.

  She cranked the window open. “Don’t make me do it!” she shouted.

  “Try it,” he challenged, his eyes narrowing.

  “Just let me go.”

  “The fuck if I’m gonna let you go. That’s my fuckin’ truck!”

  “If I leave the truck, you’ll let me go?”

  Even from where she sat, she could see his lips thin and his jaw tighten even more. If it got any tighter, he’d probably shatter his teeth.

  No, this man was not letting her go. Truck or no truck.

  “Think you can walk to town in those fuckin’ flip-flops?”

  “I can damn well try.” Even though she had no idea how far town was. Hell, she’d hitch a ride. Someone would pick her up.

  A serial killer or some sort of Hannibal Lecter, most likely.

  But at this point, she didn’t care. Death might be a blessing. It would be easier than dealing with the scribbled mess that was her mind.

  It would also be easier than dealing with the stubborn man before her.

  The one that wanted to tell her how to live her life and how she should feel.

  Bullshit.

  No one... No one knew how she felt. No one knew the shit she had to deal with.

  Ryder thinking he did was nothing but a joke.

  He didn’t know shit.

  With a scream, she slammed her hands against the steering wheel.

  He didn’t know shit. How could he know anything about her? He couldn’t.

  She hadn’t told anyone.

  No one knew.

  Just her and a dead man.

  “Fuck,” she squeaked in a panic as his long legs ate up the distance between them as he wore a determined expression that would probably scare the piss out of most people. “Oh, fuck.”

  She smashed her foot against the clutch, but her flip-flop got caught on the pedal and by the time she freed it, the driver’s door was flung open. She jammed on the clutch again while desperately trying to shove the shifter in reverse.

  His long arm reached in, yanked the keys, then he slammed the emergency brake pedal with his hand. She was helpless to stop him from jerking her out of the truck by her arm.

  A cry slipped from her lips as her bare knees hit the rough dirt and stones. That was going to leave a mark. His fingers tightened on both of her arms as he hauled her to her feet. That was going to leave a mark, too.

  “Does that make you feel like a powerful man? Manhandling a weaker woman?” she spat out.

  “You’re hardly fuckin’ weak,” he said through gritted teeth. “You’re just actin’ stupid.”

  “Bringing me here was stupid!”

  “I’m beginnin’ to see that,” he said, his voice tight as he escorted her to his ATV with a jerk.

  Did he expect her to ride on that with him? If so, she might get the chance to jump off the back and—

  She squealed as he sat sideways on the wide seat and jerked her hard enough she went off-balance and fell over his lap.

  “What the fuck!”

  He pulled his T-shirt she was wearing up and yanked his boxers down over her ass until it was exposed.

  “What the fuck are you doing?” she screamed, struggling to break free.

  “Let me tell you somethin’, darlin’. You just committed a felony by stealin’ my truck.”

  “You mean a felony like kidnapping?” she snapped. “What are you going to do? Spank me like a fucking child? Teach me a lesson? Let me tell you something, darlin’, I love being spanked. So, go ahead. Do it. You think it’ll be punishment? It’ll be just the opposite.”

  Beneath her, his thighs tensed. And that wasn’t the only reaction she had pulled from him. Jesus, his erection was hard against her hip.

  “Do it! I’ll love every fucking second of it. The harder, the better,” she sneered.

  He still hesitated.

  She waited. She wanted to feel that sharp sting against her flesh. She wanted to experience that pleasurable pain. Any pain he’d create would drown the pain that hovered from the past.

  “Do it. I know you’ll enjoy it, too.”

  “Fuck you,” he drawled, his southern accent thicker than normal.

  “Yeah, I know you want to do that, too. I can feel your dick. The thought of you spanking me has your blood pumping. Your heart racing. Your hard-on throbbing. Hasn’t it?” When he didn’t answer she continued, her thoughts spinning out of control. “You were just looking for an excuse to take me over your knee. And you now have it. So, do it.”

  When the flat of his hand came down on her ass, she bit back a whimper of pain. That also would leave a mark.

  But she didn’t care. She’d take whatever he could dish out. “Harder. Don’t be a pussy. Show me what you’ve got. Show me how a ‘real’ man spanks a woman.”

  The second strike was just as hard as the first one and she jerked over his lap, the oxygen rushing from her lungs. She sucked in a sharp breath and forced out a laugh. “You’re disappointing me, darlin’. I thought with all those bulging muscles, you’d be stronger than that.”

  He grunted with the power of his next strike and this time it hurt like fuck. Her eyes widened and she caught her bottom lip between her teeth to keep from crying out. But she quickly released it, afraid if he struck her again, she’d bite it through. “Pussy,” she managed to whisper, but couldn’t keep the shake from her voice, the tremble from her lower lip, and the sting from her eyes. Her last, “Do it,” came out on a broken sob.

  She tensed as she felt his arm lift again, and she closed her eyes and waited.

  Nothing but air brushed over the burn of her flesh. No man had ever spanked her like that during sex. No man had spanked her like that, period.

  Her legs were shaking, and the blood was rushing to her head as she hung over his lap.

  This wasn’t sex. This was punishment, according to him. He didn’t want to have sex with her, he wanted to teach her a “lesson.”

  Like he had any right to do so.

  But... if he didn’t want to have sex with her, why was he so hard? Why was his cock like a steel rod beneath her? Why was his breathing hitched and coming faster than normal? Spanking her couldn’t have been that much of an effort for him. The man was in shape, he worked out hard and often, he lived and played hard, too. Slapping her ass shouldn’t have taxed him. Not one bit.

  “Do it,” she forced out on a breath. B
ut this time it meant something else. As much as she embraced the pain, now she wanted the pleasure. It was another way to fill her head with something other than her tainted memories.

  “Do what, darlin’?” He sounded out of breath, his words as strained as his zipper.

  Did she have to explain? Would she have to tell him what she wanted? Needed?

  Her own mind fought with herself and she said the exact opposite of what she wanted. “Let me go.”

  “That’s not what you want.”

  No, it wasn’t. It had been. But she wanted something completely different right now. Something she never expected.

  He wrapped his fist in her hair and tugged her head up until their eyes met. His green ones shadowed, hiding something. “You use sex like a drug, and you want to use me.”

  “Is that so bad?”

  “It is when the user becomes the used.”

  “So, use me. Take from me what you need, too. It’ll be mutually beneficial. We’re both consenting adults. I want it. So do you.”

  He shook his head slowly, his eyes never leaving hers. “No.”

  “You can’t hide the proof.”

  “Many soldiers get hard during combat. It’s not sexual. It’s adrenaline.”

  “This isn’t combat,” she reminded him.

  “No?”

  “If that’s all it is, let me go,” she whispered, finding it difficult to catch her breath.

  “We’re not done here.”

  “Aren’t we?”

  “No, darlin’... we’re not.” With his one hand still fisted in her hair, he used the other to grab her upper arm and pull her up.

  As she opened her mouth, he smothered her words, trapping whatever she was going to say between them as he crushed his mouth to hers.

  She groaned and gripped his T-shirt within her fingers, holding on for dear life. Or maybe she was trying to hold onto the thin threads of her sanity. Sweeping through her mouth, his tongue twisted around hers, making her hungry for more.

  He tasted so good. Who would’ve thought an asshole would taste so delicious?

  No, he wasn’t an asshole. He’d done nothing but try to help her and she’d just thrown it back in his face. Over and over again.

  That thought swirled away as he shoved his tongue deeper, forcing her head back and another groan to slide up her throat.

  Because she didn’t have a bra, the tight tips of her nipples brushed against the worn cotton of his tee that she wore, making them more sensitive than normal.

  She jerked herself free from his hands, letting the boxers drop to the ground. When he scrambled to catch her again, she slammed both palms into his chest, knocking him off balance and sending him backwards over the seat of the ATV. He landed on the ground with a grunt and she rushed around the ATV to shove her foot into his chest to pin him down.

  “Don’t move,” she growled, jerking his T-shirt over her head and tossing it aside.

  He could easily escape her, snap her ankle, tackle her to the ground. He didn’t. He laid in the dirt, staring up at her, panting as hard as she was. Now his eyes weren’t shadowed, they held a gleam.

  She let her gaze roam over him from the top of his light brown hair, now hatless, over his strong jaw covered in whiskers, over those lips she had studied earlier this morning and tasted just seconds ago. His shoulders were broad, his arms corded, his Levi’s fit him perfectly. His hips, his length of thigh, the hard line of his cock covered in denim.

  Combat, my ass.

  She licked her lips as his fingers curled lightly around her ankle and traveled in a caress up the calf of the leg she used to press him to the ground. Then, before she could react, he jerked her leg and she fell backwards. He surged up, wrapped his arms around her waist and twisted her until it was she who landed hard on her back in the dirt this time. All the air rushed from her lungs from the impact and she couldn’t catch her breath when his weight held her down.

  “Like it dirty, do you, darlin’?”

  “The dirtier the better,” she could barely get out.

  Suddenly, she could breathe again, because he was up on his feet, staring down at her with hands on his hips. She had no idea how he could move so fast. “I’m not desperate enough for Slash’s sloppy seconds,” he growled. “Get up.”

  He grabbed his baseball cap, smacked it on his thigh twice, and pulled it over his hair with a jerk, then picked up his discarded T-shirt and threw it at her. “Get dressed, too.”

  The cotton tee had landed on her chest and she balled it within her fingers. “Slash didn’t get a chance to fuck me the other night. You rudely interrupted us beforehand.”

  He yanked the bill of his cap down lower. “Yeah? Sorry to mess up your romantic evenin’.”

  She rolled up to a seated position. “Sometimes it isn’t about the romance, it’s about wanting a good fuck.”

  His lips thinned and his nostrils flared just enough so she caught it. “He must be an expert then, since you keep goin’ back to him.”

  She pushed to her feet and brushed her bare backside off, taking her time to do it since she could feel his eyes boring into her.

  He could deny it all he wanted, but he wanted her.

  “It’s foolish to turn down a good fuck.”

  “’Good’ is relative, darlin’.”

  She continued to run her hands over her body, brushing away the now non-existent dirt and debris.

  She lifted her head, pushed her hair out of her face, and met his eyes. “You’re right. ‘Good’ is relative.”

  “And you’re up to no good,” he grumbled as she approached him.

  “Being up to ‘no good’ is a lot more fun than being ‘good.’”

  “You’d know.”

  She got so close to him that her bare toes were now touching his boots. “And you want to know, you’re just resisting.”

  “I don’t need someone else’s leftovers.”

  “Isn’t that what we all are? Someone else’s leftovers? Or are you a virgin?”

  “Cover yourself up and get in the truck.”

  She stared at him and he stared back, neither of them breaking their locked gaze. “I want off this mountain.”

  “We don’t always get what we want, darlin’.”

  Wasn’t that the fucking truth.

  Chapter Five

  With every rut she hit with his baby, he cursed. She had to be hitting the deepest ones on purpose now as his Scout slowly crawled back up the lane. He followed behind her on the ATV, ready at any moment for her to make a run for it. He had a gun safe with a combination lock in the shed and he would throw both sets of keys in it so she couldn’t steal them again.

  He’d never dealt with such a hard-headed woman before and, while he didn’t mind a challenge, he wasn’t sure he liked this one.

  He’d been a cunt hair close to fucking her over his four-wheeler. And that would’ve been a mistake he might not have recovered from.

  He was already regretting spanking her. He’d never taken a hand to a woman before, except for when they’d begged for a few playful slaps on their ass during sex. But he’d never fucking hit a woman as hard as he’d struck Kelsea.

  Did she deserve it? Hell yes.

  Did he feel like a bastard afterward? Unfortunately, also yes.

  He’d always had a natural instinct to protect women, but he wanted nothing more than to throw the woman driving his truck right now off of a cliff.

  What pissed him off the most wasn’t her attitude. It was his response to her.

  He’d lost his temper, but he’d reined it in in time before they’d taken a step he didn’t want to take.

  He didn’t want to fuck Kelsea.

  He didn’t want to fuck Kelsea.

  Fuck. He wanted to fuck Kelsea.

  He roared with frustration as the Scout’s brake lights lit up when she maneuvered around the last curve before coming to the clearing where his cabin sat.

  He stopped his ATV at the narrow part of the driveway bef
ore it widened. Once again, so she couldn’t try to escape. When she parked the Scout in front of the deck of the cabin, he waited until she got out and looked in his direction.

  Jesus Christ. Her hair was a wild mess, his old tee she was wearing did nothing to hide her curves or the hard tips of her nipples. His boxers she wore did nothing but show her bare legs that he wanted wrapped around him. Smudges of dirt dotted her arms and legs, including a large one on her cheek.

  There shouldn’t be anything about her right now that would make her desirable to him.

  But, fuck him, it was the exact opposite. He pictured her in his bed, her lips swollen from his kisses, her hair messy from having sex, her attitude sweet and mellow from multiple orgasms.

  He snorted and shook his head. Now he was expecting miracles. He couldn’t imagine Kelsea ever being sweet and mellow.

  The woman was as stubborn as a fucking hellcat with claws that could rip a man’s sac wide-open with one swipe.

  And he liked his balls just how they were, thank you very much.

  When she plugged her hands on the hips he wanted to grab onto while he fucked her hard from behind, he realized she was waiting for some sort of response from him.

  Besides his dick being rock hard.

  Motherfucker.

  “Bring the keys to me,” he yelled over the noise of his four-wheeler’s exhaust.

  She tilted her head and lifted one hand, his keys hanging off one finger. “Come get them.”

  He set his jaw. “My order wasn’t a request.”

  Her eyes narrowed and her lips curled up slightly at the corners. Then she shrugged and headed in his direction.

  Damn. That was too easy. Scheming, that was what she was doing.

  When she got close enough, he snagged his keys from her and stuffed them deep into his pocket. Right next to his hard-on that was pulsing with every beat of his heart.

  Her eyes landed on the evidence of his bad judgement and she smiled.

  “You steal my truck again, and you will not enjoy the punishment. Guaranteed.”

  Her smile fell and she began to turn.

  He grabbed her arm to stop her. “Get on. You’re not leavin’ my sight and I need to put the ATV away.”

  She gave him a look that was way too innocent. “You have the truck keys.”